{{Short description|American actor and businessman (1924–2025)}} {{moresources|date=December 2024}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Ted Hartley | image = Ted Hartley Chopper One cast 1974 (cropped).JPG | caption = Hartley in ''Chopper One'', 1974. | birth_name = Theodore Ringwalt Hartley | birth_date = {{birth date|1924|11|06}} | birth_place = Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2025|10|10|1924|11|06}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | alma_mater = U.S. Naval Academy<br />Harvard Business School | years_active = {{circa}} 1951–2015 | occupation = Fighter pilot, actor, businessman, film and stage producer | spouse = {{marriage|Dina Merrill|1989|2017|end=died}} | website = }}
'''Theodore Ringwalt Hartley''' (November 6, 1924 – October 10, 2025) was an American U.S. Navy fighter pilot, investment banker, actor, film and stage producer and CEO of RKO Pictures. His last acting credit was in 2012 and his last producing credit was in 2015.
==Early life== Hartley was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on November 6, 1924, to Dorothy Ringwalt and Eugene Hartley.<ref>{{cite web |title=Notices |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/864617170/ |website=Omaha World-Herald |access-date=April 29, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Moin |first1=David |title=Former Fighter Jet Pilot, Hollywood Actor and Producer Ted Hartley Exhibits His Artwork in Chelsea |url=https://wwd.com/pop-culture/fashion-features/ex-fighter-jet-pilot-hollywood-actor-producer-ted-hartley-exhibits-his-artwork-in-chelsea-gallery-1236884114/ |website=Women's Wear Daily |access-date=April 29, 2025}}</ref> He attended Shattuck Military School in Minnesota, and, by the age of 16, he had won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. After flight training, among other tours, he served as a carrier-based fighter pilot, flying F-11s following their introduction in 1956.
==Career== As a Navy officer, Hartley had tours as a congressional liaison for the Pentagon, as a Presidential aide, as well as a carrier-based fighter pilot. In May 1964, his F9F8 fighter crashed during a carrier landing. He was thrown from the jet, suffered a broken back, and was medically retired from the Navy. After Hartley's military career prematurely ended, he attended Harvard Business School and pursued a career in investment banking, becoming Vice President for First Western Financial Corporation. His next career was in Hollywood, as an actor, where he took on the role of Reverend Jerry Bedford on the 1960s television series ''Peyton Place''. Hartley had featured roles in films with Cary Grant, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood, and then in the mid 1970s was cast in the series ''Chopper One'' (on ABC), about helicopter flying police officers. The series was short lived, and thereafter Hartley moved to Aspen, Colorado, where he volunteered as the Managing Artistic Director at a local theater, and then turned to commodity trading full-time.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}
In 1987, Hartley became involved with Pavilion Communications Inc., a company designed to acquire smaller entertainment companies. Through this, Hartley learned of an opportunity to take over RKO Pictures. He and wife Dina Merrill purchased 51% of the company and merged Pavilion Communications with RKO Pictures Corporation in 1991, forming RKO Pictures, LLC. Their first major project was the 1998 remake of ''Mighty Joe Young''. Concord Originals re-acquired RKO Pictures from Ted Hartley in 2025.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://deadline.com/2025/06/concord-originals-acquires-rko-studio-1236423140/|title= Concord Originals Acquires Historic Studio RKO, Along With Derivative Rights To Classics Such As Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Suspicion’|publisher=Deadline|access-date=June 21, 2025}}</ref> As lead producer and chief storyteller of RKO Pictures, Hartley had led RKO's worldwide development and production activities in movies and television as well as the expansion of the RKO brand to stage and other entertainment and distribution venues. He produced a remake of ''Mighty Joe Young'' (1998) with Disney, ''Ritual'' (2002) with Miramax, a remake of ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (2002), and ''Shade'' (2003). For RKO Stage, he produced the musicals ''Never Gonna Dance'' (2003), ''Curtains'' (2007), ''Gypsy'' (2008), ''13'' (2008), all on Broadway, and ''Top Hat'' (2012) in the West End, winner of the 2013 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical.<ref name=olivierawards>{{cite web| title=Olivier Award Winners 2013 – Best New Musical| url=https://officiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/winners/olivier-winners-2013/| website=olivierawards| accessdate=September 24, 2015| date=April 28, 2013}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== In 2013, Hartley was elected chairman of the board of Orbis International, a nonprofit eye-healthcare organization dedicated to saving sight worldwide that he had been involved with since 2010.<ref name=orbis>{{cite press release| title=Ted Hartley appointed chairman of Orbis International board of directors| url=https://www.orbis.org/news/entry/ted-hartley-appointed-chairman-of-orbis-international-board-of-directors| publisher=Orbis| accessdate=November 21, 2014| date=August 6, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129145010/http://www.orbis.org/news/entry/ted-hartley-appointed-chairman-of-orbis-international-board-of-directors| archive-date=2014-11-29| url-status=dead}}</ref>
Hartley was married to heiress, actress, and philanthropist Dina Merrill<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.tedhartley.com/articles/article%20-%20people.pdf |title=Encore, Encore: Now behind the camera, Dina Merrill and Ted Hartley make movie magic together |first1=Samantha |last1=Miller |first2=Danelle |last2=Morton |first3=Vicki |last3=Sheff-Cahan |date=April 19, 1999 |magazine=People |accessdate=April 19, 2012 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090847/http://www.tedhartley.com/articles/article%20-%20people.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> from 1989 until her death in 2017.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/movies/dina-merrill-dead-actress-and-heiress.html |title=Dina Merrill, Actress and Philanthropist, Dies at 93 |first=Aljean |last=Harmetz |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 22, 2017| access-date=January 26, 2026| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170523020205/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/movies/dina-merrill-dead-actress-and-heiress.html |archive-date=May 23, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Hartley belonged to a number of motion picture and television guilds and associations, was a board member of the Steadman Philippon Research Institute (formerly, Steadman-Hawkins Sports Medicine Foundation), and served as director of the Harvard Business School Association of Southern California. He was also a painter.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tedhartley.studio/about.html |title=Ted Hartley Studio: About |website=tedhartley.studio |access-date=December 4, 2024}}</ref>
Hartley turned 100 in 2024,<ref>{{cite web |title=Fine Art: Ted Hartley's ONWARD Exhibition |url=https://lescarats.com/2025/02/11/fine-art-ted-hartleys-onward-exhibition/ |website=Les Carats |access-date=April 29, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A Brush with Time |url=https://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/a-brush-with-time/ |website=New York Social Diary |access-date=April 29, 2025}}</ref> and died in New York City on October 10, 2025.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Segal |first1=Mark |title=Ted Hartley, Actor, Studio Head, Banker, Painter |url=https://www.easthamptonstar.com/obituaries/20251113/ted-hartley-actor-studio-head-banker-painter |access-date=14 November 2025 |publisher=The East Hampton Star |date=13 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ted-hartley-dead-actor-producer-rko-chairman-1236427224/ |title=Ted Hartley, Actor, Producer and Former Chairman of RKO Pictures, Dies at 100 |first=Mike |last=Barnes |date=November 14, 2025 |website=hollywoodreporter.com |access-date=January 26, 2026}}</ref>
==Producer credits== ===Film=== * ''Barely Lethal'' (producer) * ''A Late Quartet'' (producer) * ''Beyond a Reasonable Doubt'' (producer) * ''Are We Done Yet?'' (producer) * ''Laura Smiles'' (producer) * ''Shade'' (producer) * ''The Gin Game'' (executive producer) * ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (executive producer) * ''Ritual'' (producer) * ''Mighty Joe Young'' (producer) * ''Milk & Money'' (producer) * ''False Identity'' (executive producer) * ''Women And Men: Stories Of Seduction'' (executive producer)
===Stage productions=== * ''Never Gonna Dance'' - 2003 Broadway musical * ''Curtains'' - 2007 Broadway musical * ''Gypsy'' - 2008 Broadway musical (revival starring Patti Lupone) * ''13'' - 2008 Broadway musical * ''Top Hat'' - 2012 West End Musical
===Actor credits=== ====Film==== * ''Walk, Don't Run'' (1966) - Yuri Andreyovitch * ''Murderers' Row'' (1966) - Guard * ''Barefoot in the Park'' (1967) - Frank * ''Ice Station Zebra'' (1968) - Lieutenant Jonathan Hansen * ''The Man'' (1972) - Press Secretary * ''High Plains Drifter'' (1973) - Lewis Belding * ''Aloha, Bobby and Rose'' (1975) - Cop * ''Moving Violation'' (1976) - Prosecutor * ''Matilda'' (1978) - Payne Smith * ''Caddyshack II'' (1988) - Club Member * ''False Identity'' (1990) - Inn Keeper * ''The Player'' (1992) - Party Guest (uncredited) * ''Milk & Money'' (1996) - Lingerie Salesman * ''Shade'' (2003) - 'Teddy' The Surgeon * ''Laura Smiles'' (2005) - Therapist * ''Race to Witch Mountain'' (2009) - Four-Star General V. Lewton * ''A Late Quartet'' (2012) - Winning Bidder
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0366894}} * {{IBDB name|109902}} * ''People'' magazine, April 19, 1999 [http://www.tedhartley.com/articles/article%20-%20people.pdf (pdf)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090847/http://www.tedhartley.com/articles/article%20-%20people.pdf |date=2016-03-04 }} * [http://www.tedhartley.com/articles/article%20-%20US%20Naval%20Academy.pdf U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association newsletter, "Ted Hartley '46" (PDF)]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartley, Ted}} Category:1924 births Category:2025 deaths Category:American men centenarians Category:Businesspeople from California Category:Businesspeople from Nebraska Category:American male film actors Category:American male television actors Category:Film producers from Nebraska Category:American chief executives Category:Harvard Business School alumni Category:United States Naval Aviators