Early training In his youth, Boone had attended the
San Diego Army and Navy Academy in
Carlsbad, California, where he was introduced to theatre under the tutelage of Virginia Atkinson. After the war, Boone used the
G.I. Bill to study acting at the
Actors Studio in New York.
Broadway "Serious" and "methodical", Boone debuted on the
Broadway theatrical scene in 1947 with
Medea, starring
Judith Anderson and
John Gielgud; it ran for 214 performances. He was then in a production of
Macbeth (1948). Boone appeared in a short-lived TV series based on the play
The Front Page (1949–50), and on anthology series such as
Actors Studio and
Suspense. He returned to Broadway in
The Man (1950), directed by
Martin Ritt, with
Dorothy Gish; it ran for 92 performances.
Elia Kazan used Boone to feed lines to an actress for a film
screen-test done for
director Lewis Milestone. Milestone was not impressed with the actress, but he was impressed enough with Boone's voice to summon him to Hollywood, where he was given a seven-year contract with Fox.
20th Century Fox In 1950, Boone made his screen debut as a
Marine officer in Milestone's
Halls of Montezuma (1951). Fox used him in military parts in
Call Me Mister (1951) and
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951). He had bigger roles in
Red Skies of Montana (1952),
Return of the Texan (1952),
Kangaroo (1952; directed by Milestone), and
Way of a Gaucho (1952). His role in
Kangaroo was greatly expanded from what it was in the original script.
Elia Kazan directed him in
Man on a Tightrope (1953). He had solid parts in
Vicki (1953) and
City of Bad Men (1953). In 1953, he played
Pontius Pilate in
The Robe, the first
Cinemascope film. He had only one scene in the film, in which he gives instructions to
Richard Burton, who plays the
centurion ordered to crucify
Christ. Boone also appeared in the second Cinemascope film,
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953). Boone made two films for Panoramic, which distributed through Fox:
The Siege at Red River (1954) and
The Raid (1954). He then left the studio, breaking his contract.
Medic During the filming of
Halls of Montezuma, he befriended
Jack Webb, who was then producing and starring in
Dragnet. Boone appeared in the film version of
Dragnet (1954). Webb was preparing a series about a doctor for
NBC. From 1954–56, Boone became a familiar face in the lead role of that
medical drama, titled
Medic, Boone had one of his best roles in
The Tall T (1957) with Randolph Scott. He co-starred with
Eleanor Parker in
Lizzie (1957) and was a villain in
The Garment Jungle (1957).
Have Gun – Will Travel , who guested on
Have Gun – Will Travel three times Boone's next television series,
Have Gun – Will Travel, made him a national star because of his role as
Paladin, the intelligent and sophisticated, but tough gun-for-hire in the late 19th-century American West. The show had first been offered to actor
Randolph Scott, who turned it down and gave the script to Boone while they were making
Ten Wanted Men. The show ran from 1957 to 1963, with Boone receiving more Emmy nominations in 1959 and 1960. During the show's run, Boone starred in the film
I Bury the Living (1958) and appeared on Broadway in 1959, starring as
Abraham Lincoln in
The Rivalry, which ran for 81 performances. He occasionally did other acting appearances such as episodes of
Playhouse 90 and
The United States Steel Hour and TV movie
The Right Man (1960). He had a cameo as
Sam Houston in
The Alamo (1960), a starring role in
A Thunder of Drums (1961) and narrated a TV version of ''
John Brown's Body''. Boone was an occasional guest panelist and also a mystery guest on ''
What's My Line?, the Sunday-night CBS-TV quiz show. On that show, he talked with host John Charles Daly about their days working together on the TV show The Front Page.''
The Richard Boone Show Boone had his own television anthology,
The Richard Boone Show. Although it aired only from 1963 to 1964, he received his fourth Emmy nomination for it in 1964 along with
The Danny Kaye Show and
The Dick Van Dyke Show. The Richard Boone Show won a
Golden Globe for Best Show in 1964.
Hawaii and Boone at premier of
Big Jake, 1971 After the end of the run of his weekly show, Boone and his family moved to
Honolulu, Hawaii. He returned to the mainland to appear in films such as
Rio Conchos (1964),
The War Lord (1965) with
Charlton Heston,
Hombre (1967) with
Paul Newman, and an episode of
Cimarron Strip. The latter was the first time he guest-starred on someone else's show and he did it as a favor for the director, friend
Lamont Johnson. "It's harder and harder to do your best work on TV," he said. In 1965, he came in third in the
Laurel Award for
Rio Conchos in Best Action Performance;
Sean Connery won first place with
Goldfinger and
Burt Lancaster won second place with
The Train. While he was living on
Oahu, Boone helped persuade
Leonard Freeman to film
Hawaii Five-O exclusively in Hawaii. Prior to that, Freeman had planned to do "establishing" location shots in Hawaii, but principal production in
Southern California. Boone and others convinced Freeman that the islands could offer all necessary support for a major TV series and would provide an authenticity otherwise unobtainable. Freeman, impressed by Boone's love of Hawaii, offered him the role of
Steve McGarrett; Boone turned it down, however, and the role went to
Jack Lord, who shared Boone's enthusiasm for the state, which Freeman considered vital. Lord had appeared alongside Boone in the first episode of
Have Gun – Will Travel, titled "Three Bells to Perdido". At the time, Boone had shot a pilot for CBS called
Kona Coast (1968), which he hoped CBS would adopt as a series ("I really don't want to do another series," he said "but I've been battling for three years to get production going in Hawaii and if a series will do it, I'll do it."
Kona Coast – which Boone co produced – was released theatrically. Boone did some TV movies,
In Broad Daylight (1971),
Deadly Harvest (1972), and
Goodnight, My Love (1972). Around this time he moved to Florida.
Hec Ramsey In the early 1970s, Boone starred in the short-lived TV series
Hec Ramsey, which
Jack Webb produced for
Mark VII Limited Productions. It was about a turn-of-the-20th-century Western-style police detective who preferred to use his brain and criminal forensic skills instead of his gun. The character Ramsey's back story had him as a frontier lawman and gunman in his younger days. Older now, he was the deputy chief of police of a small city in Oklahoma, still a skilled shooter, and carrying a short-barreled Colt Single Action Army revolver. Boone said to an interviewer in 1972, "You know, Hec Ramsey is a lot like Paladin, only fatter."
Israel Boone starred in the 1970 film
Madron (1970), the first Israeli-produced film shot outside Israel, set in the American West of the 1800s. In 1979, he received an award from Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin "for his contribution to Israeli cinema". Boone's last appearances were in
Winter Kills (1979) and
The Bushido Blade (1979). ==Personal life==