Brace Beemer

<!-- Deleted image removed: -->Brace Beemer (December 9, 1902 – March 1, 1965) was an American radio actor and announcer at radio station WXYZ, Detroit, Michigan.

Born in Mount Carmel, Illinois, Beemer was six foot, three inches tall and was an expert horse rider. He served as the deep-voiced announcer for The Lone Ranger soon after its first broadcast in 1933. Beemer also appeared as the Ranger in public appearances because station owner George Trendle felt that Earle Graser, the actor who played the part on the radio, did not look right for the part.

The son of WXYZ staffer Erskine Campbell recalled:

Brace Beemer was voice of Lone Ranger as early as 1938 because my father, Erskine Campbell, worked for him at WXYZ in Detroit that year, as a continuity writer and a sound-effects man, also ran a farm Beemer owned outside nearby Pontiac, Michigan. My sister and I, pupils in a one-room elementary schoolhouse outside Pontiac, often visited our father and "Uncle" Brace while they did the show.

In 1941, Graser was killed in a car accident, and Beemer took over as the voice of The Lone Ranger from 1941 to the last new episode on September 3, 1954. During the 13 years that Beemer played the title character, he was required by contract to restrict his radio acting to that one role until the program left the air.

The experienced and popular Western film actor, Clayton Moore, was chosen to take over the role for the television series. Although Beemer had the right...
Read More