Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Drama
    Drama TV Shows - 1950s 3 Mins Read

    Johnny Ringo

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    1 9 5 9 – 1 9 6 0 (USA)
    38 x 30 minute episodes

    Velardi, Arizona, was a growing town in the 1870s. The railroad had started laying track heading east and there was also a lot of trouble from outlaws who found the town an easy mark. To halt the growing crime rate, Mayor Hartford (Willis Bouchey) hired ex-gunfighter Johnny Ringo (Don Durant) as the town’s sheriff for $200 a month.

    The fast-drawing gunfighter-turned-lawman wielded a variation on the French LeMat handgun that had an additional barrel that fired a shotgun round.

    It was designed by Johnny’s original deputy, Cason ‘Case’ Thomas (Terence de Marney), who created it “to even up the odds” and called it “a seven shooter.”

    johnnyringo2

    When Case decided he was getting too old to be a deputy he bought the general store to run with his daughter, Laura (Karen Sharpe) – who became Johnny’s love interest – and handed over the law-keeping reins to William Charles Jr, better known as Cully (Mark Goddard).

    Cully’s father had been a trick shot and taught his son how to use a gun when he was five years old. When his father was killed, Cully went to work as a roustabout in a carnival. He practised shooting every day and eventually became a travelling show attraction called “Kid Adonis, the Fastest Gun in the World.”

    When the show came to Velardi and the Kid found Johnny Ringo was a split second faster than he was, he decided to settle down and became Johnny’s new deputy.

    Johnny didn’t know much about the law and people said he sounded more like a preacher than a gunfighter. He sometimes posed as a wanted man and called on his reputation as a gunfighter to apprehend criminals. He was proud of the fact that he had never killed a man for money.

    He also had the distinction of being the only primetime TV cowboy to not only sing but compose – both lyrics and music – the theme for his own show.

    Don Durant played Johnny Ringo for just one fleeting season until CBS cancelled the show in 1960.

    johnnyringo6

    After the series ended, Durant turned his bad luck into a gold mine of personal appearances, playing rodeos, horse shows, state fairs and even shopping centre openings.

    He made guest appearances on shows such as The Twilight Zone, The Virginian, and Wagon Train before leaving the acting profession in 1964 and beginning a second career in real estate and financial management.

    Despite its brief one-season run, the Aaron Spelling-produced Johnny Ringo generated about 100 toys and other items of merchandise including board games, character puppets, gun sets and toy canteens.

    The show also spawned what is considered to be the single most valuable TV Western toy collectable ever – the Johnny Ringo Western Frontier Playset, featuring miniature figures, horses and wagons.

    In 2001, a playset sold on eBay for $8,998. In close bidding against five others at the end, Don Durant himself had the winning bid. It was placed through his friend, Jacquelyn Patterson, a childhood fan from Knoxville, Tennessee, who owned a website devoted to Johnny Ringo.

    Durant passed away aged 72 in March 2005 at his home in Monarch Beach, California. He had been battling chronic lymphocytic leukaemia since 1992.

    Sheriff Johnny Ringo
    Don Durant
    Deputy Sheriff Cully (William Charles Jr)
    Mark Goddard
    Laura Thomas
    Karen Sharpe
    Cason ‘Case’ Thomas
    Terence de Marney
    Mayor Hartford
    Willis Bouchey
    Mamie Murphy
    Lurene Tuttle

    Related Posts

    • Hotel de Paree
      Hotel de Paree
      1 9 5 9 - 1 9 6 0 (USA) 32…
    • Bearcats!
      Bearcats!
      1 9 7 1 (USA) 1 x 90 minute episode 13…
    • Lawman
      Lawman
      1 9 5 8 - 1 9 6 2 (USA) Film…
    • Destry
      Destry
      1 9 6 4 (USA) 13 x 60 minute episodes He is…
    • Trackdown
      Trackdown
      1 9 5 7 - 1 9 5 9 (USA)…
    • Lancer
      Lancer
      1 9 6 8 - 1 9 7 0 (USA) 51…
    • Tombstone Territory
      Tombstone Territory
      1 9 5 7 - 1 9 6 0 (USA) 91…
    • Johnny Midnight
      Johnny Midnight
      1 9 6 0 (USA) 39 x 30 minute episodes…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleHawkeye & the Last of the Mohicans
    Next Article Sugarfoot

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Bobby Dazzler
      1 9 7 7 – 1 9 7 8  (Australia) 14 x 30 minute episodes […]
    • Audrey Rose (1977)
      Before The Silence of the Lambs (1991) revitalised his career, […]
    • Khartoum (1966)
      Khartoum is a city in Sudan. There, during the government of […]
    • Simply Red
      Simply Red was the culmination of years of musical […]
    • Steaming (1985)
      Steaming surrounds a women’s bath-house and the fight to […]
    • Van Morrison
      Van Morrison was born in Belfast, Ireland. At sixteen he began […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.