Have Gun Will Travel

Have Gun Will Travel

1957 - United States

Airing from 14 September 1957 to 21 September 1963 (with UK broadcasts from 1959 to 1964), Have Gun – Will Travel ran for six seasons of 30-minute episodes and became one of the most distinctive and internationally popular Westerns of its time. Its success helped propel lead actor Richard Boone—charismatic, intelligent, and commanding—into global stardom.

The series followed the adventures of Paladin, a highly educated, West Point-trained, gun-for-hire dressed in black, who operated out of San Francisco’s Hotel Carlton in the mid-1800s. Bearing a business card emblazoned with a chess knight and the phrase: “Have Gun – Will Travel. Wire Paladin, San Francisco,” he offered his services as a detective, bodyguard, or problem-solver, using not only his gun but also his keen intellect and sardonic wit.

Have Gun – Will Travel set a precedent for a new kind of Western hero: urbane, refined, and principled. The Paladin archetype directly influenced later characters such as Hugh O'Brien’s Wyatt Earp and Gene Barry’s Bat Masterson—likewise educated, stylish, and morally grounded.

Though technically a mercenary, Paladin was conceived by producer Sam Rolfe (who would later create The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) and Boone as a modern-day Knight Errant—an honorable man with a strict personal code. Boone, born 18 June 1917, in Los Angeles and a seventh-generation nephew of legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone, had significant creative input on the show. A 1961 TV Guide article revealed that Boone not only directed several episodes but also held approval over scripts and casting choices.

Supporting Paladin was Hey Boy, played by Kam Tong, a bellhop and messenger at the Carlton Hotel. During the 1960–1961 season, Tong briefly left the series for a co-starring role in Mr. Garlund (later retitled The Garlund Touch), during which he was temporarily replaced by Lisa Lu as "Hey Girl." Tong returned for the show’s final season after his other series ended.

At its peak from 1958 to 1961, Have Gun – Will Travel was the third most-watched show on American television, behind only Gunsmoke and Wagon Train. Its memorable theme song, “The Ballad of Paladin,” co-written by Johnny Western, Sam Rolfe, and Richard Boone—and sung by Western—was a charting hit twice in the early 1960s.

Published on December 20th, 2018. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

The Outlaws TV series

The Outlaws ran from 1960 to 1962 during which time its perspective shifted from the Wild West as seen through the eyes of the outlaws themselves, to the views of the US Marshal's that pursued them.

Also tagged Western

Gunsmoke

The longest-running Western series on television, Gunsmoke starred James Arness as US Marshall Matt Dillon

Also tagged Tv Western

Hopalong Cassidy

A cowboy with a fine sense of fair play who did not smoke, drink or swear and who always let the bad guy start the fight. Seriously?

Also tagged Tv Western

Ron Randell in OSS

Secret agents operate behind enemy lines during World War ll

Also released in 1957

Sea Hunt

Freelance underwater troubleshooter travels the globe.

Also released in 1957

jungle boy tv series

A boy grows up in the wilds as an orphan when the rest of his family is killed in an airplane crash. Filmed entirely on location in Kenya, East Africa.

Also released in 1957

Laramie

Two friends run a ranch and trading post in the Wild West in this classic US series

Also tagged Tv Western