Don Durant; TV Cowboy Composed, Sang Show’s Theme
LA Times
Don Durant, who sang with Ray Anthony and His Orchestra in the 1950s and starred in the short-lived TV Western “Johnny Ringo,” has died. He was 72.
Durant, who had been battling chronic lymphocytic leukemia since 1992, died March 15 at his home in Monarch Beach, Calif., said his family.
As the gunfighter-turned-lawman in “Johnny Ringo,” a half-hour series that ran on CBS from 1959 to 1960, Durant had the distinction of being the only prime-time TV cowboy to not only sing but compose — both lyrics and music — the theme for his own show.
In a television era in which many Western series heroes brandished gimmick firearms, Durant’s fast-drawing Johnny Ringo wielded a LeMat handgun that had an additional barrel that fired a shotgun round.
Although it ran only one season, the Aaron Spelling-produced “Johnny Ringo” generated about 100 toys and other items — including Johnny Ringo board games, character puppets, gun sets and canteens.
The show, which continues in syndication, also spawned what is considered to be the single most valuable TV Western toy collectible ever — the “Johnny Ringo Western Frontier Play Set,” featuring miniature figures, horses and wagons. In 2001, a play set sold on EBay for $8,998.
Johnny Ringo memorabilia on eBay
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