Alvy Moore

Jack Alvin "Alvy" Moore was born on December 5, 1921, in Vincennes, Indiana, to Roy and Elice Moore, both Indiana natives. When Moore was young, the family relocated to Terre Haute, where his father worked as a grocery store manager. Moore served as president of his senior class at Wiley High School in 1940–41 before enrolling at Indiana State Teachers College, now Indiana State University. His studies were interrupted by service with the United States Marine Corps during World War II, during which he saw combat at the Battle of Iwo Jima. He subsequently returned to Indiana State Teachers College to complete his education.

Moore pursued acting through training at the Pasadena Playhouse, where he met fellow actor Carolyn Mohr in 1947. It was there that he succeeded David Wayne in the role of Ensign Pulver, performing opposite Henry Fonda in the Broadway production of Mister Roberts in 1948. Moore and Carolyn married in 1950 and subsequently traveled together with the national touring company of Mister Roberts for 14 months before settling in Los Angeles. The couple had three children: Janet, Alyson, and Barry.

Moore made his screen debut in the 1952 film Okinawa, playing the role of a quartermaster. That same year he appeared in My Little Margie as Dillard Crumbly, an efficiency expert fresh out of Efficiency College. In 1953 he took a small role as a member of Marlon Brando's motorcycle gang in The Wild One and appeared as one of the Linda Rosa townspeople in The War of the Worlds. He co-starred with Dick Powell and Debbie Reynolds in the 1954 film Susan Slept Here and the following year appeared alongside Brian Keith and Kim Novak in 5 Against the House. His television work during this period included hosting "What I Want to Be" segments as the Roving Reporter on The Mickey Mouse Club.

In the early 1960s Moore was cast in the recurring role of Howie across 11 episodes of the CBS sitcom Pete and Gladys, starring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams. He appeared in two episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show — "The Impractical Joke," in which he posed as an Internal Revenue Service agent, and "The Case of the Pillow," in which he played a home goods salesman named Mr. Wiley. A 1964 episode of Perry Mason, "The Case of the Wednesday Woman," featured him briefly as a cab driver. In 1965 he appeared in an episode of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. titled "Old Man Carter" and in the third-season premiere of The Beverly Hillbillies.

From 1965 to 1971, Moore starred as county agricultural agent Hank Kimball in 142 of the 170 total episodes of the CBS television series Green Acres. The character was known for making a statement and then immediately negating it, only to negate the correction as well, continuing until interrupted by Eddie Albert's character Oliver Wendell Douglas. Moore also appeared as a guest on The Andy Griffith Show and later on Little House on the Prairie. In 1978 he played stagecoach station master Swenson in three second-season episodes of How the West Was Won — "Cattle Drive," "Robbers Roost," and "Gold." He served as actor, producer, and uncredited scriptwriter on A Boy and His Dog, attending DisCon II, the 1974 World Science Fiction Convention, to help promote the film.

During the 1980s Moore appeared in several cult horror films, including Scream (1981), Mortuary (1983), They're Playing With Fire (1984), Intruder (1989), and The Horror Show (1989). One of his final television appearances was a guest role on the sitcom Frasier. Outside of his professional work, Moore umpired Little League baseball in Lake View Terrace and Toluca Lake, California, during the 1960s and participated in charity golf tournaments. He took particular pride in his role as Hank Kimball and drove a white Chrysler bearing the license plate "GRNACRS."

Alvy Moore died of heart failure on May 4, 1997, at his home in Palm Desert, California, with former Green Acres actor Tom Lester present. He and Carolyn had been married 47 years at the time of his death. Carolyn Moore died in 2009 at the age of 79.