Tyler MacDuff, born Tyler Glenn Duff, Jr. (September 12, 1925 – December 23, 2007), was an American actor, primarily on television westerns and dramas who was cast as Billy the Kid in The Boy from Oklahoma.

Biography

A native of Hollywood, California, MacDuff was the son of Tyler Duff, Sr. (1890–1967), originally from Indiana. His mother was Cecil W. Duff (1893–1978), a Illinois native. In 1943, at the age of eighteen, MacDuff joined the U.S. Navy. In 1944, he drove an LCVP landing craft in the first wave of the invasions of Saipan and Guam. In late 1944 and 1945, he was part of General Douglas MacArthur's invasion forces in the Philippine Islands.

In 1952, MacDuff graduated from the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California, where his classmates included Dana Andrews and Harry Dean Stanton. From 1953 to 1961, he was married to the former Beverlie Mae Anderson (born 1930), and the couple had three sons, Brandon (born 1954) and Dana J. MacDuff (born 1955), both film producers, and Tyler Glenn, III (born 1959) is a musician (electric bass and guitar) and an entrepreneur. Dana MacDuff is named for Tyler MacDuff's friend, Dana Andrews. MacDuff added the "Mac" to his name to avoid confusion with actor Howard Duff.