John Frederick "Fred" McCarthy (August 14, 1876 – July 14, 1957), known professionally as John Todd, was an American actor.

Stage

Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, Todd acted in stock theater in Minneapolis. He performed with the Bainbridge Players for five years in the 1920s before making a transition from acting to directing. On Broadway, Todd appeared in ''The Flower of the Ranch'' (1908), ''Experience'' (1918), ''Lusmore'' (1919), ''Macushia'' (1920), ''The Mask of Hamlet'' (1921), and ''Money in the Air'' (1932).

Radio

Known for

Shakespearean William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

roles, Todd soon gained work at

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

radio station WXYZ, as part of director James Jewell's repertory company, with roles on the various series produced by the station. His most famous work was on ''

The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

''. He played a local sheriff in some of the show's earliest episodes, but on the twelfth broadcast, which aired February 25, 1933, Todd first played his most famous role, the masked man's Native American companion

Tonto Tonto is a fictional character; he is the Native American (either Comanche or Potawatomi) companion of the Lone Ranger, a popular American Western character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. Tonto has appeared in radio and tele ...

. Todd was a bald and stocky man of Irish descent, though he occasionally donned a wig for publicity photos. He was usually replaced by a Native American performer for public appearances. With the exception of a brief period where he was replaced by a real Native American, Todd played Tonto for almost the entire radio run, and was the only original cast member heard on the final broadcast, on September 3, 1954. Station owner

George Trendle George Washington Trendle (July 4, 1884 – May 10, 1972) was an American lawyer and businessman best known as the producer of the ''Lone Ranger'' radio and television programs along with ''Green Hornet, The Green Hornet'' and ''Sergeant Preston o ...

wanted to replace Todd in the role of Tonto because he was "too old". Todd's replacement, a college educated Native American, refused to perform the "me do" and "him go" type lines as written and Todd was given back the role of Tonto. Trendle had a reputation for keeping his performers working for low pay even when the show was a big money maker. This episode may have been another of Trendle's maneuvers to demonstrate that the actors could be replaced. Other radio roles for Todd included recurring but less significant parts on ''

The Green Hornet The Green Hornet is a superhero created in 1936 by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, with input from radio director James Jewell. Since his 1930s radio debut, the character has appeared in numerous serialized dramas in a wide variety of media ...

'' as Dan Reid, the title character's father and the now elderly version of the Lone Ranger's nephew, and on ''

Challenge of the Yukon ''Challenge of the Yukon'' is an American radio adventure series that began on Detroit's WXYZ and is an example of a Northern genre story. The series was first heard on January 3, 1939. The title changed from ''Challenge of the Yukon'' to ''Se ...

'', as Inspector Conrad, Sgt. Preston's superior in the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...

Death

On July 14, 1957, Todd died in Ford Hospital in Detroit.

References

1876 births 1957 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male radio actors American male stage actors American people of Irish descent Male actors from Pennsylvania {{US-radio-bio-stub