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IMDbPro

Richard Boone(1917-1981)

  • Actor
  • Director
  • Producer
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Richard boone, c. 1955.
Trailer 1
Play trailer2:15
The Big Sleep (1978)
16 Videos
88 Photos
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.
BornJune 18, 1917
DiedJanuary 10, 1981(63)
BornJune 18, 1917
DiedJanuary 10, 1981(63)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Nominated for 5 Primetime Emmys

Photos88

Richard Boone in The Arrangement (1969)
Richard Boone in The Arrangement (1969)
Richard Boone in The Arrangement (1969)
Richard Boone in The Arrangement (1969)
Kirk Douglas and Richard Boone in The Arrangement (1969)
Richard Boone in The Arrangement (1969)
Richard Boone and Anne Hegira in The Arrangement (1969)
Kirk Douglas and Richard Boone in The Arrangement (1969)
John Wayne, Richard Boone, Charles G. Martin, Bill McKinney, and Hugh O'Brian in The Shootist (1976)
Richard Boone in The Shootist (1976)
John Wayne and Richard Boone in The Shootist (1976)
Lauren Bacall, John Wayne, and Richard Boone in The Shootist (1976)

Known for

Have Gun - Will Travel (1957)
Have Gun - Will Travel
8.4
TV Series
  • Paladin
  • Smoke
The Richard Boone Show (1963)
The Richard Boone Show
8.6
TV Series
  • Judge
  • C Robert Mitchell
  • Captain Alberto Sanchez
  • Chris Dale
  • Coles
  • Dan Falco
  • Doctor
  • Dodo
  • Elevator Operator
  • Frank Richie
  • General Campbell
  • Henry Fell Shannon
  • Jim Hensel
  • Johnny Otis
  • Lineman
  • Luke Stringer
  • Maravelli
  • Orville O'Connor
  • Paul Marchand
  • Photographer
  • Pilot
  • President Jackson
  • Prison Guard
  • Steve Gregg
Vicki (1953)
Vicki
6.5
  • Lt. Ed Cornell
  • 1953
John Wayne, Richard Boone, Christopher Mitchum, Bobby Vinton, and Patrick Wayne in Big Jake (1971)
Big Jake
7.1
  • John Fain
  • 1971

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • The Bushido Blade (1981)
    The Bushido Blade
  • Winter Kills (1979)
    Winter Kills
  • Robert Mitchum and Candy Clark in The Big Sleep (1978)
    The Big Sleep
  • The Hobbit (1977)
    The Hobbit
    • (voice)
  • The Last Dinosaur (1977)
    The Last Dinosaur
  • Jack Palance and Lee Van Cleef in God's Gun (1976)
    God's Gun
  • Lauren Bacall, James Stewart, John Wayne, Ron Howard, Richard Boone, Sheree North, and Hugh O'Brian in The Shootist (1976)
    The Shootist
  • Against a Crooked Sky (1975)
    Against a Crooked Sky
  • The Great Niagara (1974)
    The Great Niagara
  • Hec Ramsey (1972)
    Hec Ramsey
  • Goodnight, My Love (1972)
    Goodnight, My Love
  • Deadly Harvest (1972)
    Deadly Harvest
  • In Broad Daylight (1971)
    In Broad Daylight
  • John Wayne, Richard Boone, Christopher Mitchum, Bobby Vinton, and Patrick Wayne in Big Jake (1971)
    Big Jake
  • Madron (1970)
    Madron

Director

  • Marlon Brando, Richard Boone, and Pamela Franklin in The Night of the Following Day (1969)
    The Night of the Following Day
    • (uncredited)
  • The Richard Boone Show (1963)
    The Richard Boone Show
  • Have Gun - Will Travel (1957)
    Have Gun - Will Travel

Producer

  • Joan Blondell, Richard Boone, and Vera Miles in Kona Coast (1968)
    Kona Coast

Videos16

Trailer
Trailer 1:22
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:00
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:54
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:18
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 3:04
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:45
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 3:09
Official Trailer
Have Gun Will Travel - H&I Network Promo
Trailer 0:16
Have Gun Will Travel - H&I Network Promo
The Garment Jungle
Trailer 2:36
The Garment Jungle
The Tall T
Trailer 2:08
The Tall T
The Big Sleep
Trailer 2:15
The Big Sleep
Against a Crooked Sky
Trailer 1:37
Against a Crooked Sky

Personal details

Edit
    • June 18, 1917
    • Los Angeles, California, USA
    • January 10, 1981
    • St. Augustine, Florida, USA(throat cancer)
    • April 27, 1951 - January 10, 1981 (his death, 1 child)
  • Other works
    (12/11/60) With his young son, hosted the 1960 TV broadcast of The Wizard of Oz (1939).
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Print Biography
    • 4 Articles
    • 1 Magazine Cover Photo

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Served in the US Navy during World War II.
  • Quotes
    [about John Wayne] He was an heroic figure and a hero. He stood up for causes when they weren't popular at all and he never hesitated to stand up and get counted, he was that kind of a person.
    • Deep commanding voice that sounded more raspy and gravelly in later years.

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