Talk:Ted Hartley

Better references needed

I poked around a bit on the web and found a few references, but they're all pretty weak. In other words, there's an article in the Los Angeles Business Journal, but they're not known for rigorous fact-checking. Ditto with IMDB. Much of the bio stuff that I found looks self-written, and especially considering that this is about a Hollywood personality, I'd feel better if we could find some solid sources to verify the claims in this article: Fighter pilot, investment banker, producer, actor, Olympic athlete, etc. --Elonka 04:14, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Consistency needed

The article says he was born in 1935 and was appointed to the Naval Academy at age 16, which means he wouldn't have started until 1951, yet one reference (http://www.tedhartley.com/articles/article%20-%20US%20Naval%20Academy.pdf) has him as a member of the Academy Class of 1946. The IMDB reference has his birthday as November 6, 1924, so since no date appears on his web site and "35" could be a transposition of "24," I'm going to change the date in the article. Stargzer (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 19:29, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

Correct Year of birth?

Very puzzling case. In the official records Theodore Ringwalt Hartley appears in various places as both 6 Nov 1924 and 6 Nov 1934. The military records tend to always say 1934, whereas his residency records say 1924. I honestly have no idea which is correct. I tend to think the military may have recorded his DOB wrong and then the error was repeated. Then again, if he was born in 1924, wouldn't he have served in WWII? He signed up for military service on 14 Nov 1949, so surely 1924 (aged 25) is correct and not 1934 (aged 15). Could you sign up at age 15 then? --Jkaharper (talk) 12:50, 14 March 2021 (UTC)

Theodore Ringwalt Hartley is not the same person as our Ted Hartley. The former was born a decade earlier. Similar names evidently conflated. Ted Hartley has never claimed to be a WWII veteran and was 64 years old in April 1999 when he and then wife Dina Merrill were interviewed in People magazine. 65.88.88.56 (talk) 22:21, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

The source above is a good find. Unfortunately it's self-published (even though it contains a different source within it) and some users have a problem with this, so we will need more. It would be good if we could retrieve his birth name as well. Several articles on Newspapers.com refer to him as T.R. "Ted" Hartley so Theodore R. Hartley is probably correct. I agree that Ringwalt could be wrong though. I have another slight problem with your self-published source claiming circa 1934... this newspaper article is from late November 1989, the year of his marriage to Merrill. It says "Hartley, 59". That would suggest a birth year of 1929 or 1930! The mystery deepens. --Jkaharper (talk) 22:43, 4 December 2024 (UTC)

I've revised my opinion on Hartley now. He was 100% born in 1924, WAS a WWII veteran, and his name IS indeed Theodore Ringwalt Hartley. Here is a photo of him in uniform in 1946 (I think we can both agree that he's not 12 here!!). His OLD website had photos of his father Eugene and his sister Mary, which matches the 1930 Iowa census we used to cite on his page. In 2022, he said his father "died suddenly when I was five years old". If you take him as literally as possible, this still rules out any DOB later than 1926/1927 (Eugene C. Hartley died in April 1932). There's a birth notice for him in the Omaha World-Herald, November 9, 1924: "A son was born Thursday at the Omaha Maternity Hospital to Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Hartley. Mrs. Hartley was formerly Miss Dorothy Ringwalt." This all seems to add up. It also makes more sense (only a year's age difference with him and Merrill as opposed to being 11 years her junior with a 1934 birth year). Not uncommon for actors to fib about their ages. Far more common with female actresses in the past e.g. Zsa Zsa Gabor and Doris Day – who were eventually found out but not until they were in their 90s. I still favour keeping the birth information omitted from his page for now, but I guarantee you that when the obituaries land from the Hollywood Reporter, Variety etc. they'll say he was born in 1924. Then we can add it back. Thanks --Jkaharper (talk) 22:36, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

Great work, @Jkaharper. 148.75.59.49 (talk) 23:07, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Impressive work, Jkaharper. I think you are correct. Speaking of Americans showbusiness people of this generation, I created an article for Alan Shayne a few months ago, if you want to help out or add to your watchlist.OscarL 13:42, 13 December 2024 (UTC)