| Johnny Ringo | |
|---|---|
| Format | Western |
| Starring | Don Durant Mark Goddard Karen Sharpe Terence De Marney |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 38 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Picture format | Black and white (1959-1960) |
| Original run | October 2, 1959 – June 3, 1960 |
Johnny Ringo is a Western television series starring Don Durant that aired on CBS from October 1, 1959, until June 30, 1960. It was loosely based on the life of the notorious gunfighter Johnny Ringo, who tangled with Wyatt Earp, John "Doc" Holliday, and "Buckskin" Franklin Leslie.
This fictional account had Ringo putting aside his gunfighting ways to become the sheriff of a small town. He had two deputies: Cully (Mark Goddard), and Case Thomas (Terence De Marney). Case's daughter, Laura Thomas (Karen Sharpe), was Ringo's girlfriend.
The program was an early creation of Aaron Spelling for Four Star Television. Spelling created Johnny Ringo at the specific request of Dick Powell as a role for Durant. It was filmed at CBS Studio Center. The pilot episode was shot as part of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, titled "Man Alone" and featured Thomas Mitchell as Case Thomas. A second pilot was shot with Terence de Marney in the role.
Johnny Ringo scored well ratings in its Thursday competition with ABC's The Real McCoys with Walter Brennan, sometimes reaching into the Top Twenty. The program was dropped at the request of its sponsor, Johnson Wax Company, which wanted a sitcom, rather than a western. At the time there were thirty Western series on the networks. For syndicated reruns, the show was combined with three other short-lived Western series from the same company, Black Saddle starring Peter Breck, Law of the Plainsman starring Michael Ansara, and Sam Peckinpah's critically acclaimed creation, The Westerner starring Brian Keith, under the umbrella title The Westerners, with additional hosting segments featuring Keenan Wynn.
Johnny Ringo appeared at a time in the history of the television Western series when creators strove to make characters interesting by equipping them with "gimmick guns", the two most famous being Josh Randall's "mare's laig" from Wanted: Dead or Alive, and Lucas McCain's trick rifle from The Rifleman.
Such a gimmick gun was introduced in the second pilot. Johnny Ringo's gimmick gun was a LeMat, an historical period-authentic revolver, a French design that carried an auxiliary shotgun barrel under its primary barrel. Many episodes found Ringo getting into scrapes where that final round in the shotgun barrel was the deciding factor.
Among the guest stars was character actor Robert F. Simon, who appeared as Sam Stoner in "Kid with a Gun". John M. Pickard, formerly of the Boots and Saddles series, appeared as Riley Criswell in the episode, "East Is East".