Biography
John King, originally named Miller McLeod Everson, was a band singer and light leading man who progressed to starring roles in a series of B-Westerns. Born to Ernest and Ruth Brumfield Everson on July 11, 1909, in Cincinnati, Ohio, he attended the University of Cincinnati. After finishing school, he briefly held various jobs including working at a grain elevator, selling furniture, lumberjacking, meat inspecting, and bookkeeping. At 23, he became an announcer for WCKY radio in Covington, Kentucky. Within a year, he was hosting a musical variety show and singing on WKRC in Cincinnati. He then joined Ben Bernie's band as a vocalist and traveled to Hollywood to appear in Stolen Harmony (1935) with the band. Remaining in Hollywood, he began securing small film roles, occasionally singing. After a supporting role in a serial, Universal signed him for several parts, including the lead in the serial Ace Drummond (1936). He worked with Universal for the next four years in various roles. In 1940, he joined Monogram Pictures as one of the three leads in the Western series The Range Busters, playing a character named Dusty. He continued as Dusty in 18 more films, billing himself as John 'Dusty' King. Although he sang occasionally in the series, he never rivaled the top singing cowboys of the time. The series concluded in 1943, and King retired from acting three years later. He then opened a waffle restaurant in La Jolla, California, near San Diego, where he passed away in 1987 at the age of 78, more than four decades after his final film.
