Richard Boone

The Face Hollywood Couldn't Ignore

Richard Boone had a face that looked carved out of bad news. He didn't fit the leading-man mold of the 1950s, but his presence outweighed that of any star with a perfect jaw and a toothpaste smile. His skin was weathered, and his stare could intimidate casting directors before he even opened his mouth.

In 1947 he slipped into classes at New York's Actors Studio to learn that acting wasn't about posing. He had come from serving in the Navy during World War II and had no patience for the nonsense of stardom. His training with Lee Strasberg gave him the tools to turn his rugged looks into a competitive edge over more conventional actors.

Television gave him the money, and film gave him the respect.

While filming Medic in 1954, he already made it clear he would not be just another forgettable supporting actor. But his real breakout came with a character who broke the mold of the traditional Western. He played Paladin in Have Gun – Will Travel from 1957 to 1963. He was a cultured gunman who dressed in black and preferred to settle conflicts with words rather than with his revolver.

He earned a thousand dollars per episode at a time when that figure was a fortune for a television actor. The public became obsessed with that gunslinger who quoted the classics and lived in a luxury hotel in San Francisco. Boone gave the character a moral ambiguity that is still studied in screenwriting schools.

And the gamble paid off.

The Gunslinger Who Read Shakespeare

Many actors hate being typecast, but Boone used it to build a personal brand based on toughness. He appeared in more than fifty films and never needed to be the hero for the camera to stick to his face. In 1960 he appeared in The Alamo alongside John Wayne and proved he could hold his own against the biggest legends in the industry.

His relationship with Wayne was an interesting one, since both shared a tough outlook on life even though they stood at opposite ends politically. Boone never held back what he thought. In 1967, he shot Hombre with Paul Newman, and his villain performance at times overshadowed the lead. His baritone voice and flawless diction made every threat sound like an inevitable death sentence.

He was a difficult man in a business of soft people.

By the late 1970s, his health began to take a toll after years of smoking and grueling shoots under the Mexican sun. But Boone wasn't looking for retirement. In 1976 he appeared in The Shootist, playing Mike Sweeney. It was John Wayne's last job, and Boone took the role almost as a personal tribute to a way of understanding film that was fading away.

He turned down dozens of mediocre scripts in his final years to focus on painting and teaching acting classes in Florida. He wanted nothing to do with the red carpets of Los Angeles. He preferred the solitude of his studio and contact with students who had not been tainted by the vices of the film industry.

His last on-screen appearance was in the movie The Bushido Blade, shot in 1981. He died on January 10, 1981 at his home in San Agustín from throat cancer. He was 63 years old and left behind a legacy of more than 100 celebrities who never apologized for how they looked.