Ty Hardin various Warner productions. When Clint Walker walked out on his ABC series "Cheyenne" in 1958 during a contract dispute with Warner Bros., Hardin got his big break. Warner bought out Hardin's contract from Paramount Studios and installed him into "Cheyenne" for the remainder of the season, as the country cousin "Bronco Layne". Walker and Warner Bros. came to terms after the season ended, but Hardin had made such a big hit on the show that Jack L. Warner gave him his own series, "Bronco", under the Cheyenne title. "Bronco" alternated weeks with "Sugarfoot", starring Will Hutchins, and "Cheyenne" for four
Ty Hardin (1958) and "Last Train from Gun Hill" (1959). Hardin tried to obtain a support role in the 1959 film "Rio Bravo" that had been promised to singer Ricky Nelson. John Wayne reportedly saw Hardin while visiting a film set at Paramount and was impressed with Hardin's appearance. Wayne introduced him to Howard Hawks and William T. Orr at Warner Bros. Television; they bargained for his seven-year contract and he moved to Warner Bros., who changed his stage surname to "Hardin", reminiscent of the Texas gunfighter John Wesley Hardin. He attended actors' school at Warner Bros. and landed small parts in