Hank Patterson (born October 9, 1888 in Springville, Alabama, died August 23, 1975, in Woodland Hills, California) was an actor and musician. His birth name was Elmer Calvin Patterson. He is most known for playing stableman Hank Miller in Gunsmoke and Fred Ziffel in Green Acres.

He had intended to be a serious pianist, but became instead a vaudeville piano player, eventually moving to Hollywood where he played in a series of movies, largely Westerns and science fiction. He also played in a number of television westerns.

Hank Patterson was born in Springville, Alabama to Green and Mary Newton Patterson. Hank's great-grandfather, James Pearson, was an original settler of St. Clair county, AL as was his mother's great-grandfather, Thomas Newton. Between 1894 & 1897, the family left AL to live in Taylor, Texas where Hank attempted to work as a serious musician only to settle for playing piano in traveling vaudeville shows. He worked his way out to California in the 1920's and here began his film career followed by long runs on two television series "Gunsmoke" (1955) and "Green Acres" (1965).