Actor Richard Boone was born on this day, June 18th, in 1917. While he was in some great movies in his day, he’ll probably always be remembered for the iconic role of Paladin in HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL. The first time I ever heard this song was when the boys were walking down that train track and singing it in the movie STAND BY ME (1984). Since then I’ve seen many episodes, and I can certainly understand how Paladin became an icon.
Happy Birthday in cinema heaven, Richard Boone! Enjoy the “Ballad of Paladin!”
Through the Shattered Lens 
I watched this show when I was a little tyke. I loved westerns – and still do!
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I started watching it mainly because Charles Bronson did 5 different episodes. That’s when I realized how good it was!
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Small story of Karma, here. Richard Boone was an acting teacher, as well as actor. He befriended John Wayne, and Wayne produced THE ALAMO (1960) and asked Boone to do a small part. Boone was happy to do so, they laughed about “no small parts, only small actors!” and Boon was out of there in 1/2 day and would not take pay from Wayne. When the movie wrapped up, Richard Boone woke up one morning to a 1960 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow in his driveway, a gift of thanks from his friend.
Boone had a chance to ‘pay it forward’ while working on his contemporaneous series, HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL (’57-’63) 225 episodes. While filming in Lone Pine, CA, stuntmen were struggling to double Richard Boone’s ‘Paladin’ rapidly climbing up a tree. Tree cutter was working nearby, saw what was happening, and showed the director how to do it. More to it, described in Hal Needham’s wonderful autobiography, STUNTMAN! Boone and Needham became friends, and when the series ended Boone gave Needham a Cadillac as a gift of thanks from his friend.
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What a cool story!! Thanks for sharing John!!
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