| # | Fact |
|---|
| 1 | Before the United States entered World War II he had intended to be a painter. |
| 2 | His later career was seriously affected by his chronic alcoholism. He walked off the set of Diamante Lobo (1976) before he had recorded his dialog. As a result his voice in the film had to be dubbed by someone else. |
| 3 | Richard Boone was married to Jane Hopper of Sausalito, CA, for a while in the 1940's in San Francisco where they both studied art and drama at the California Art Institute. They were best friends, drinkers both, but the marriage wasn't working so they split up and divorced. In 1945, Jane became pregnant from an affair with Richard Stiegler !! of Connecticut, a recently discharged naval captain, and even though she and Richard had separated, he nevertheless saw Jane through her pregnancy and the birth of a baby girl on June 17, 1946. The baby was given the name, "Melissa Boone" at birth but because it was hard at that time for an unmarried woman to have a child, the baby girl was put up for adoption and consequently adopted by Dr. and Mrs. Douglas G. Campbell of San Francisco who renamed her "Gail Russell Campbell". Jane's family tells of much craziness in her and Richard's relationship, including an instance when Richard was practicing sword fighting for a drama class and while waving his sword around, accidentally cut himself substantially in the thigh. Gail R. Campbell, 69, resides in Eugene, Oregon. |
| 4 | In her 2004 autobiography "'Tis Herself", 'Maureen O'Hara' wrote that Boone and Peter Lawford, while filming Kangaroo (1952) in Melbourne, Australia, were arrested in a gay brothel "full of beautiful boys", but the studio prevented this from being reported by the press. |
| 5 | Struggled with alcoholism for most of his life, allegedly partly due to his experiences in World War II. |
| 6 | His height was sometimes given as 6'2", although he himself gave his height as 6'0". |
| 7 | He was a chain smoker. |
| 8 | He was very proud of being half-Jewish and starred in the first western to be filmed in Israel, Madron (1970). He received an award from Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1979 for his contribution to Israeli cinema. |
| 9 | He was an auto-racing fan. |
| 10 | Richard's only child, Peter Boone, from his third wife, Claire McAloon, is named after Richard's great-great grandfather. |
| 11 | He was cast in the role of "Old Lodge Skins" in Little Big Man (1970), but a real Native American, Chief Dan George, ended up playing the part. |
| 12 | Served in the US Navy during World War II. |
| 13 | Taught acting classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City from 1974-75. He was temporarily replacing Sanford Meisner, who had become stricken with throat cancer. |
| 14 | He is a sixth cousin of singer and actor Pat Boone (Richard's five times great-grandparents, Squire Boone and Sarah Morgan, were also Pat Boone's five time great-grandparents). |
| 15 | His great-great-great-great-grandfather, George Boone, was a brother of pioneers Daniel Boone and Squire Boone. |
| 16 | Turned down Robert Shaw's role in The Sting (1973). |
| 17 | Enjoyed weightlifting. |
| 18 | Turned down Jack Lord's role in Hawaii Five-O (1968). |
| 19 | In the last year of his life he was appointed Florida's cultural ambassador. |
| 20 | At the end of his life, he taught acting classes at Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL. |
| 21 | According to Joseph McBride's "Searching for John Ford" (St. Martin's Press, 2001 - ISBN 0312242328), director John Ford was urged to cast Boone and Anthony Quinn as the Little Wolf and Dull Knife characters in Cheyenne Autumn (1964), as both had Native American blood. Ricardo Montalban and Gilbert Roland, who were of Mexican descent, were cast instead. |
| 22 | He directed the final scenes of The Night of the Following Day (1968) at the insistence of star Marlon Brando, as Brando could no longer tolerate what he considered the incompetence of director Hubert Cornfield. The film is generally considered the nadir of Brando's career, though it didn't hurt Boone, who was cast as the heavy. |
| 23 | On a December 14, 1957, episode of Have Gun - Will Travel (1957), Boone found himself stripped to the waist by Apaches and bound spreadagle-style between four stakes driven into the ground. So vivid was this scene that leading men in other TV westerns soon found themselves in similar circumstances, most notably Robert Horton in Wagon Train (1957) Ralph Taeger in Hondo (1967) and Peter Brown and William Smith in Laredo (1965). |
| 24 | Cousin of Nick Todd. |
| 25 | Uncle of Randy Boone |
ncG1vNJzZmimlanEsL7Toaeoq6RjvLOzjqecrWWnpL%2B1tI6roJygkaexbq7OqKWeZZ6awW7DzquroWc%3D