John Devereaux Wrather Jr. (May 24, 1918 – November 12, 1984), was an entrepreneur and petroleum businessman who became a television producer and later diversified by investing in broadcast stations and resort properties. He is best known for producing The Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, and Lassie television series in the 1950s as well as marrying actress Bonita Granville. Biography Wrather was born in Amarillo, Texas on to Mazie (Cogdell) and John Devereaux Wrather, Sr. They moved to Tyler, where he grew up and graduated from the local high school in 1935. He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin in 1939. He worked in the oilfields of East Texas as a wildcatter and pipeline walker as his college summer job. When his father became ill in the early 1940s, he took over as president of his father's oil company, Overton Refining Company. First marriage and military service On , he married Molly O'Daniel, the daughter of Democratic Governor and later U.S. Senator Wilbert Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel. They had two children before divorcing in 1945. Wrather served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve during World War II (1942–1947) in three campaigns and commanded a Marine air group in the Philippines. Film business After the war, Wrather bought a home in Hollywood and became a movie producer, founding Jack Wrather Pictures Inc. In 1946, he produced his first movie, The Guilty, starring Bonita Granville, whom he later married. By 1955, he had produced six more movies, including High Tide, Perilous Waters, Strike It Rich and Guilty of Treason. The films were produced for Eagle-Lion Films, Warner Bros., Monogram/Allied Artists and United Artists. In 1947, he married movie actress Bonita Granville. They had two children. Granville appeared in over 40 movies during the 1930s and 1940s and on many dramatic television series during the 1950s, and later became a producer for the Lassie show. She is best known for playing Nancy Drew in a series of movies in the late 1930s and being the narrator for Lassie. Wrather purchased 70% of television station KOTV in Tulsa, Oklahoma from fellow oil millionaire George Cameron. The other 30% was owned by station manager Maria Helen Alvarez and commercial manager John Hill. Wrather knew nothing about the management of a station and offered to increase Alvarez and Hill to 50% of the stock in