Randy Boone, Virginian actor and singer, dies at 83

Randy Boone, the actor and singer best known for playing the guitar‑strumming ranch hand Randy Benton on NBCs Western The Virginian, died Thursday, Aug. 28, his wife Lana told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 83. Lana Boone did not provide further details about the cause or circumstances of his death, and complete information on survivors was not immediately available.

Boone rose to national attention in the 1960s as a contract player at Universal who rode his own horse on screen and performed original songs on the longrunning series. He joined The Virginian midway through its second season in February 1964 and remained with the show through the end of its fourth season in April 1966. Accounts differ on the precise length of his run; one record lists 46 episodes, while another credits him with about 70 appearances. Boone later said he was dismissed by producer Frank Price, adding in a 2006 history of the series that Price regarded him as "window dressing" even though he felt he was "needed as much as anybody."

Born Clyde Wilson Randall Boone Jr. on Jan. 17, 1942, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Boone briefly attended North Carolina State College before hitchhiking around the...