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(Courtesy of Larry Blanks)

Larry remembers this as being taken in 1990 because Sunset Carson passed away shortly after this photo was taken. Above from left to right are:

Lee Aaker (Impostor!)
Jim Brown (Lt. Rip Masters on RIN TIN TIN TV show)
Fred Poteet (Larry's brother-in-law)
Tony Young
Gail Poteet (Larry's sister-in- law)
Sunset Carson
Mike "The Chickenman" Culver (performer at the restaurant)
Dick Jones (co-starred in the RANGE RIDER and star of BUFFALO BILL JR. TV show)
Robert Colbert (TV shows MAVERICK, THE TIME TUNNEL, YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS)
Lash LaRue




(Courtesy of Larry Blanks)

From L-to-R are Larry having dinner with Sunset Carson and his wife Jeannie Carson at the Lone Star Cafe in Fayetteville, GA in 1990.  Less than two weeks after this photo was taken, Sunset Carson passed away.



(Courtesy of Larry Blanks)

Atlanta Film Festival in 1989 - from left to right are:

Fred Poteet (Larry's brother-in-law)
Kirk "Superman" Alyn
Hank Gallop (a fiddle player at the restaurant)
Lash LaRue
Jock Mahoney
Mike "The Chickenman" Culver (performer at the restaurant)


Jock Mahoney passed away a few months after this was taken.  He was a great stuntman; was TV's RANGE RIDER and YANCY DERRINGER; played Tarzan on the big screen; did a lot of westerns for Columbia in the 1940s - 1950s; even was in some Columbia Three Stooges' shorts; and Mahoney was the stepdad of actress Sally Fields.



(Courtesy of Larry Blanks)

Atlanta Film Festival in 1995 - from left to right are:

John Hart (LONE RANGER and HAWKEYE TV series)
Paul Peterson (THE DONNA REED TV show)
Bernadette Withers (BACHELOR FATHER TV series and niece of Jane Withers)
Jan Merlin (TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET TV series, lots of film and TV roles)
Sonny Shroyer (Enis from DUKES OF HAZARD TV show and Bear Bryant in FORREST GUMP film)


The above group shots were taken at "The Lone Star" restaurant in Fayetteville, Georgia, which was owned by Fred Poteet (Larry's brother-in-law).  They always brought the stars to The Lone Star when there was a Festival in Atlanta.  Each time the stars would come down, Fred would have them sign the flag in back.  It has some pretty good signatures --- from Newt Gingrich to Chuck Yeager to Richard Petty, and all the stars that came to the Atlanta film/nostalgia conventions.

Larry also remembers the following about the "Lee Aaker imposter" shown in the top photo on this page.  Apparently, he started appearing at the festivals as Lee, even knowing all the films and details about his life.  One day at a show in Phoenix, Paul Peterson (from THE DONNA REED TV show) was attending and someone told him "Lee" was also there.  Since they were the same age and use to double-date and run around together, Paul found him and started the old, "remember when we did this and that" routine, and the imposter had no clue.  Ultimately the imposter was exposed, and Peterson was able to find the real Lee Aaker.

There's a webpage from Marlene Morris at her Horse Fame site that has more on the "Lee Aaker / Imposter" story: http://horsefame.tripod.com/saddlebag2.html



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