Richard Boone(1917-1981)
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Richard Allen Boone was born in Los Angeles, California, to Cecile Lillian (Beckerman) and Kirk Etna Boone, a wealthy corporate lawyer. His maternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants, while his father was descended from a brother of frontiersmen Daniel Boone and Squire Boone.
Richard was a college student, boxer, painter and oil-field
laborer before ending up in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After
the war he used the G.I. Bill to study acting with the Actor's Studio
in New York. Serious and methodical, Boone debuted on Broadway in the
play "Medea". Other plays followed, as did occasional TV work. In 1950
20th Century-Fox signed him to a contract and he made his screen debut
in Halls of Montezuma (1951),
playing a Marine Corps officer. Tall and craggy, Boone was continually cast
in a number of war and western movies. He also tackled roles such as
Pontius Pilate in The Robe (1953) and a
police detective in Vicki (1953). In 1954
he was cast as Dr. Konrad Styner in the pioneering medical series
Medic (1954), which was a critical but
not a ratings success. This role lasted for two years, though in the
meantime, he continued to appear in westerns and war movies.
In 1957 he played Dr. Wright, who treats Elizabeth for her memory
lapses, in Lizzie (1957). It was also in
that year that Boone was cast in what is his best-known role, the
cultured gunfighter Paladin in the highly regarded western series
Have Gun - Will Travel (1957).
Although a gun for hire, Paladin was usually a moral one, did the job
and lived at the Hotel Carlton in San Francisco. Immensely popular, the
show made Boone a star. The series lasted six years, and in addition to
starring in it, Boone also directed some episodes. He still kept busy
on the big screen during the series' run, appearing as Sam Houston in
the John Wayne epic
The Alamo (1960), and as a weary
cavalry captain fighting Indians in
A Thunder of Drums (1961).
After
Have Gun - Will Travel (1957)
ended in 1963, Boone hosted a dramatic anthology series,
The Richard Boone Show (1963),
but it was not successful.
Boone moved to Hawaii for the next seven years. During this time he
made a few Westerns, including the muscular
Rio Conchos (1964), but he was
largely absent from the screen. In the 1970s he moved to Florida, and
resumed his film and TV career with a vengeance. In 1972 he again
appeared on television in the
Jack Webb-produced series
Hec Ramsey (1972) (years before he
had played a police captain in Webb's first "Dragnet" film,
Dragnet (1954)). Based on a real man, Hec
was a tough, grizzled old frontier sheriff at the turn of the 20th
century who, late in life, has studied the newest scientific theories
of crime detection. His new boss, a much younger man, doesn't always
approve of Hec, his nonconformist style or his new methods. The series
lasted for two years. Boone continued working until the end of the
decade but died as a result of throat cancer in 1981.
Richard was a college student, boxer, painter and oil-field
laborer before ending up in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After
the war he used the G.I. Bill to study acting with the Actor's Studio
in New York. Serious and methodical, Boone debuted on Broadway in the
play "Medea". Other plays followed, as did occasional TV work. In 1950
20th Century-Fox signed him to a contract and he made his screen debut
in Halls of Montezuma (1951),
playing a Marine Corps officer. Tall and craggy, Boone was continually cast
in a number of war and western movies. He also tackled roles such as
Pontius Pilate in The Robe (1953) and a
police detective in Vicki (1953). In 1954
he was cast as Dr. Konrad Styner in the pioneering medical series
Medic (1954), which was a critical but
not a ratings success. This role lasted for two years, though in the
meantime, he continued to appear in westerns and war movies.
In 1957 he played Dr. Wright, who treats Elizabeth for her memory
lapses, in Lizzie (1957). It was also in
that year that Boone was cast in what is his best-known role, the
cultured gunfighter Paladin in the highly regarded western series
Have Gun - Will Travel (1957).
Although a gun for hire, Paladin was usually a moral one, did the job
and lived at the Hotel Carlton in San Francisco. Immensely popular, the
show made Boone a star. The series lasted six years, and in addition to
starring in it, Boone also directed some episodes. He still kept busy
on the big screen during the series' run, appearing as Sam Houston in
the John Wayne epic
The Alamo (1960), and as a weary
cavalry captain fighting Indians in
A Thunder of Drums (1961).
After
Have Gun - Will Travel (1957)
ended in 1963, Boone hosted a dramatic anthology series,
The Richard Boone Show (1963),
but it was not successful.
Boone moved to Hawaii for the next seven years. During this time he
made a few Westerns, including the muscular
Rio Conchos (1964), but he was
largely absent from the screen. In the 1970s he moved to Florida, and
resumed his film and TV career with a vengeance. In 1972 he again
appeared on television in the
Jack Webb-produced series
Hec Ramsey (1972) (years before he
had played a police captain in Webb's first "Dragnet" film,
Dragnet (1954)). Based on a real man, Hec
was a tough, grizzled old frontier sheriff at the turn of the 20th
century who, late in life, has studied the newest scientific theories
of crime detection. His new boss, a much younger man, doesn't always
approve of Hec, his nonconformist style or his new methods. The series
lasted for two years. Boone continued working until the end of the
decade but died as a result of throat cancer in 1981.