Hank Patterson

 Hank Patterson, born Elmer Calvin Patterson (October 9, 1888 – August 23, 1975)

He was known foremost for playing two recurring characters on three television series: the stableman Hank Miller on Gunsmoke and farmer Fred Ziffel on both Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. Patterson had intended to be a serious pianist, but he instead became a vaudeville piano player. By the end of the 1920s he moved to California. He entered the movie business as an actor during the 1930s. His earliest identified screen work was an uncredited appearance in the Roy Rogers' Western film The Arizona Kid (1939). Patterson found plenty of movie work, mainly playing cantankerous types as well as blacksmiths, hotel clerks, farmers, shopkeepers and other townsmen, usually bit roles and character parts. He had roles in many Tv series, such as Maverick, Wagon Train, Daniel Boone, The Rifleman, and Bonanza, among others. On Green Acres, the association of Patterson's character with the popular character Arnold, the pet pig whom Fred and his wife Doris treated as a son, ensured Patterson a place in TV history. Arnold attended school, watched TV and was a talented artist, piano player, and actor. He even "talked" (snorted, grunted and squealed) in a language that everyone in Hooterville seemed to understand except Oliver Douglas (Eddie Albert).

Hank Patterson died at age 86 on August 23, 1975 of bronchial pneumonia. He is buried at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills. He was also the great-uncle of actress Tea Leoni.