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Ted Hartley is the current husband of the actress Dina Merrill. He has been a Navy fighter pilot, actor, producer and CEO of RKO Pictures.

Early life

Hartley was born and raised as a farm boy in Iowa. He lost his father at age five and his family did not have a lot of money. At fourteen, he entered a contest sponsored by Warner Bros. and won flying lessons by writing fifty words on “why I like to fly”. Hartley attended Shattuck Military School in Minnesota and at the age of sixteen won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. He ultimately trained and served as a carrier-based fighter pilot. He also served two years as a congressional liaison for the Pentagon and had a tour as a Presidential White House Aide.

Career

In May of 1964, as a United States Navy Lt. Commander, Ted Hartley had a life altering experience: his F11 fighter jet crash landed on the deck of the Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Hornet in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. His aircraft exploded as it toppled over the side of the carrier, but Hartley had already been thrown from the plane. His back was broken and his military career finished. The crash on the Hornet ended his career. Later Hartley attended Harvard Business School, which led to a career on Wall Street.

Successful on Wall Street, Hartley quickly became a Vice President for First Western Financial Corporation. Sent to Nevada to investigate a potentially large business investment, he found that the deal the client was proposing amounted to insurance fraud. When he reported that back to his boss, he was told he was in the wrong business was fired. Allowed to keep the company convertible car and given a large cash settlement, he decided it was time to fulfill one of his boyhood dreams and become an actor, so he headed for Hollywood.

It was not long before he won a plum role, cast as the Reverend Jerry Bedford in the hit television series Peyton Place.

After successful movie roles opposite Cary Grant, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood, he finally landed his own series in the late 1970’s on ABC: Chopper One. The Spelling and Goldberg series about helicopter cops, failed badly. His agent, Alan Ladd Jr., recommended he take a year off. Instead he went to Aspen and became the volunteer Managing Artistic Director of the theater there. He brought his actor and director friends in from LA and the theater thrived during the winter months. Soon after he returned to investment banking full-time.

In 1987 he became involved with Pavilion Communications Inc., a company designed to acquire smaller entertainment companies. Hartley became aware that there might be chance for him to forge a deal to take over RKO Pictures.

Hartley offered to buy fifty one percent of the company and that he, along with his wife, actress Dina Merrill, would bring it back to its former greatness. The deal was agreed and Hartley and Merrill merged Pavilion Communications with RKO Pictures Corporation. By 1991, the deal was completed and RKO Pictures Inc. was reborn.

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