Randy Boone, the actor and musician fondly remembered for playing the guitar-strumming ranch hand Randy Benton on NBC’s beloved Western The Virginian, has died at the age of 83. His wife, Lana, confirmed his passing but chose not to share further details.
Born Clyde Randy Boone on 17 January 1942 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, he was never one for sitting still. After graduating from high school in 1960, he briefly attended North Carolina State College but quickly grew restless.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, he preferred playing his guitar at house parties to going to lectures. As he once candidly admitted, “I’m going to take my guitar and I’m going to hitchhike around the country and have some fun until the Army drafts me and then I’ll let them beat some discipline into me.”
That free-spirited journey eventually took him to Los Angeles in 1962. There, a stroke of luck and a recommendation from a fellow musician led to an audition for a new TV series. Boone landed the part of Vern Hodges in It’s a Man’s World, a gentle coming-of-age drama about young men living on a houseboat.
Though the show was well-liked by critics, it was cancelled after just four months. Boone and co-star Ted Bessell travelled the country in a passionate attempt to save it—but their efforts fell short.
Still under contract with Universal and aware that Westerns ruled the airwaves, Boone learned to ride and bought a horse named Clyde. His horsemanship, and perhaps his quiet charm, earned him a role on The Virginian in 1964.
He played Benton for 46 episodes over two years. “I was told that [producer] Frank [Price] thought I was window dressing and wasn’t needed on the show, but I feel that I was needed as much as anybody,” he later said.
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He brought music to his character, writing many of the songs he performed and even recording two albums, including one with co-star Roberta Shore.
Boone went on to appear in numerous classic shows like Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and The Twilight Zone. He eventually stepped away from acting in the late 1980s and built a quiet life working in construction—a grounded end for a man who once hitched across the country with only a guitar and a plan.
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