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.
Before pursuing a career in acting, Boone was a college student, boxer, painter, and oil-field laborer. He then served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and used the G.I. Bill to study acting with the Actor's Studio in New York.
Boone debuted on Broadway in the play "Medea" and continued to work in theater and television, eventually signing a contract with 20th Century-Fox in 1950. He made his screen debut in "Halls of Montezuma" (1951) and went on to appear in numerous war and western movies.
In 1954, Boone was cast as Dr. Konrad Styner in the medical series "Medic," which lasted for two years. During this time, he continued to work in westerns and war movies.
In 1957, Boone played Dr. Wright in "Lizzie" and was cast as the cultured gunfighter Paladin in the western series "Have Gun - Will Travel." The show, which ran for six years, made Boone a star and earned him critical acclaim.
After "Have Gun - Will Travel" ended, Boone hosted a dramatic anthology series, "The Richard Boone Show," which was not successful. He then moved to Hawaii and remained largely absent from the screen for seven years.
In the 1970s, Boone resumed his film and TV career, appearing in a few Westerns and eventually landing the role of Hec Ramsey, a tough and grizzled old frontier sheriff, in a Jack Webb-produced series. The show lasted for two years, and Boone continued working until his death in 1981 due to throat cancer.
