His father, James W. Horne, was a prolific director of both silent films and talkies, best known for his work with Laurel and Hardy, including Big Business and Way Out West.
For about 15 years beginning in the late 1940s, Horne was ubiquitous, perhaps the most widely seen male model in the country, appearing in hundreds of advertisements in magazines and newspapers, on billboards and catalog covers, in television commercials and industrial brochures.
[2] He auditioned for the part of Joe Bonaparte, the violinist who wants to be a boxer, in the film version of Clifford Odets's play Golden Boy, but the role went instead to another unknown actor, William Holden, who shortly thereafter became Horne's bunkmate in Army basic training.
Male models were something of a new breed, weirdly anonymous and perceived by many as suspicious or threatening; once, dressed spiffily for work and passing an hour in a bar while he waited for a photographer who was late for an appointment, Horne was badly beaten by thugs who didn't appreciate his taste in clothes.
But the job allowed him to lead the high life, traveling with pals like Mickey Mantle, whom he met at Toots Shor's restaurant, and Clark Gable, a sometime fishing companion.