What actor played Paladin in the western television show "Have Gun Will Travel?"

The "Have Gun Will Travel" series, aired by CBS from 1957-1963, follows the adventures of a man calling himself "Paladin." Professional gunfighter Paladin was a West Point graduate who, after the Civil War, settled into San Francisco's Hotel Carlton were he awaits responses to his business card: over the picture of a chess knight "Have Gun, Will Travel ... Wire Paladin, San Francisco." He is a gentleman mercenary who will help people to solve their problems. Though for hire, he will provide his services for free to poor people who need his help. If you needed to hire his services the Hotel Carlton was the headquarters of the man called Paladin!

In San Francisco he lives the high life. He is a successful businessman, wearing custom made suits, consuming fine wine, playing the piano, and attending cultural events. He is an expert chess player, poker player, and swordsman, but when help was needed he changed into the rough riding cowboy who always wore black.

Paladin's primary weapon is a custom-made .45 caliber Colt Cavalry revolver carried in a black leather holster. His holster depicted a platinum chess knight symbol hanging from a black leather gun-belt. He also carried a lever action Marlin rifle strapped to his saddle, and a Remington derringer concealed under his belt.

Dell comics capitalized on Paladin's success and printed several comic books with Richard Boone on the cover. It was also a successful radio series.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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81 Comments

James Brice

Great show! I own all 6 seasons on DVD. Gene Roddenberry wrote twenty something of the episodes, well before Star Trek. His episodes were the best.

Carol Foreman

joycekingsmith, good job! I love when I remember the lyrics to good ol' oldie. I didn't remember these lyrics even though my dad always watched the program.

Kelly Tharp

One of my favorites growing up...

joycekingsmith

Have gun, will travel reads the card of a man. A knight without armour in a savage land. His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind. A soldier of fortune is the man called... Paladin.

Ralph A. Caya

It was also a great radio show with John Dehner

Keith Minnix

As far as I know, his first name was never revealed.

jeffrey kerner

I had a have gun will travel business card. Same as his can't remember how got it. As a young teenager I would every Saturday night watch the show. It was great for it's time period. I just found out can watch it again. Slow by today's standards but great to watch.

bestdressedgolfer

Palidin, the old west's version of the "Equalizer ". Both are my favorite types of Heroes.

Todd Van Dell

jack patti go, I love Longmire the TV series myself The first three seasons were on A&E, but then it got cancelled and Netflix picked up the series, and continued it for three more seasons before also cancelling it. You wouldn't know to listen to him but the actor who plays Walt Longmire is actually Australian. Robert Taylor. Great actor, too. I don't know if you're a reader, but the Longmire TV series is based on a lengthy series of first person narrative novels by author Craig Johnson. The thing I like about the novels, that sadly the TV series lacked? The characters had great senses of humor. There was some humor in the series, but not as funny as the novels tend to be. And the interplay between Walt and Henry Standing Bear, whom Walt often calls The Cheyenne Nation, because in the novels Standing Bear is actually the size of a Grizzly Bear himself, and just as strong, is fairly amusing. Standing Bear often seems inclined to rope Walt into exercise regimens like running, and Walt is typically less inclined to get into these things because he's a lot more laconic and laid back than Standing Bear can occasionally be. Some might say lazy, though I'm not particularly fond of running myself. Can't with my bad knees anyway these days. But one of the long-standing running gags throughout the novel murder mystery series, Standing Bear refuses to use contractions when speaking. He says everything out direct. No can'ts or won'ts or any other such lazy white man language tendencies. Cannot and will not, do not, does not. It doesn't sound uproariously hilarious the way I'm describing it, but when you read it on the page in Craig's novels, it's pretty funny. 😂😂 It might surprise you to learn that A&E would cancel its #1 highest rated show, pulling in an easy 6 million viewers per episode. Problem was, those 6 million viewers were in the 50 to 60 year old age bracket, not the more desirable 18 to 34 year old younger demographic they would have preferred. According to the Wikipedia entry about Longmire the series: "Longmire became the "highest-rated original drama series" on A&E; however, following the conclusion of the third season in August 2014, the network announced that it would not renew the series."