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Don Durant | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Durant inJohnny Ringo, 1959 | |
| Born | Donald Allison Durae (1932-11-20)November 20, 1932 |
| Died | March 15, 2005(2005-03-15) (aged 72) |
| Resting place | Pacific View Memorial Park,Corona del Mar, California |
| Occupation(s) | Actor and Businessman |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | http://www.johnnyringo.net/ |
Don Durant (bornDonald Allison Durae; November 20, 1932 – March 15, 2005) was an Americanactor andsinger, best known for his role as thegunslinger-turned-sheriff in theCBSWesternseriesJohnny Ringo, which ran on Thursdays from October 1, 1959 to June 30, 1960.
Durant was born Donald Allison Durae inLong Beach, California. His father was killed in atruck accident nearBakersfield two months before Durant's birth; his mother remarried three times before she died oflung cancer at the age of only forty-six in 1959. Durant himself was seriously injured a few weeks before his eleventh birthday, when hisbicycle chain broke, and he careened into the path of acement truck. He lay in acoma for three days, his right arm fractured, his rightfemur andhip so badly damaged that doctors nearlyamputated the leg before his family scraped up enough money for a specialist. Young Durant was bedridden for more than a year.
Durant then began touring theAmerican West as a singer/actor. He opened at many prestigious nightclubs, such asThe Sands and theSahara inLas Vegas. He garnered a small role in the 1955Van Heflin filmBattle Cry. To supplement his income, Durant taught actors how to ride horses and shoot guns, and worked atRCA as a technician. He helped to build the first kinescopic recorder and stereophonic sound recorder forWarner Brothers. In 1954, he signed withCBS to take small roles as the singer or young lover in a variety of legendary series, includingThe Jack Benny Show. He sangGroucho Marx's popular "It's delightful, it's Delovely, it'sDeSoto"advertising jingle for the former DeSotoautomobiles.
In 1955, Durant metbig band leaderRay Anthony and began filming various television advertisements. One forPapermate pens featured his future wife, the formerTrudy Wroe, but he did not meet her at the time because his voice was dubbed into the commercial to replace her co-star. In 1956, Durant starred and did his own stunts inRoger Corman'sShe-Gods of Shark Reef, which became a cult classic. Continuing to tour, he sang on Anthony'sABC variety series and recorded an album. He also appeared in an episode of Sergeant Preston of the Yukon the same year as Jack Elders, son of Tom Elders played by George Selk titled "The Limping King" and another episode titled "Phantom of Phoenixville" as Jack Flynn.
He appeared on another syndicated series,Rescue 8, starringJim Davis andLang Jeffries, and in the first episode of the ABC/Warner Brothers western seriesMaverick to featureJack Kelly as Bart Maverick, the brother of Bret Maverick (James Garner). Durant had auditioned for the role of Bart but was instead cast as a singing bad guy in the episode. For that part, he learned to play theguitar the weekend before filming.
In 1957, celebrity journalistWalter Winchell reported that Durant was courtingCarole Mathews, an actress twelve years his senior, who in 1958 joined the cast of the NBC western series,The Californians.[1] About this time, Durant met Wroe while they were en route to film an advertisement for theFord Motor Company. She spent most of the trip gushing overElvis Presley. Durant told her that he had been to a few of Presley's parties, and the two began dating. They wed on February 28, 1959, and were together until his death.[2]
On March 1, 1959, the day after Durant's marriage, he appeared on CBS in the role of Pat Sharkey in the episode "Body of the Crime" of the drama series,Richard Diamond, Private Detective, starringDavid Janssen. Durant also appeared as the villain in a first season episode ofWanted: Dead or Alive.
In 1958, Durant shot an unsuccessful pilot which caught the attention of actor/director/producerDick Powell. As the host ofZane Grey Theater, Powell asked one of his writers, youngAaron Spelling, to create a series for Durant. Spelling was then in his first assignment as a creator and producer. In this heyday of the television Western, CBS quickly snapped up the pilot. Durant wrote and sang the theme and did his own stunts. Hence,Johnny Ringo, set in theArizona Territory, debuted in the fall of 1959 in the Thursday 8:30 Eastern time slot. CostarMark Goddard played thedeputy named Cully, andKaren Sharpe was cast as Laura Thomas, Ringo's girlfriend and the daughter of Case Thomas, another deputy and a storekeeper played byTerence De Marney.Johnny Ringo's main competition came fromWalter Brennan'sThe Real McCoys on ABC, against whichRingo achieved decent ratings. Sometimes it was in the "Top 20".
Many famous actors guest-starred onJohnny Ringo. The Johnny Ringo Playset became the most sought-after television western toy. Surprisingly, the sponsor,Johnson Wax Company, believed that there were too many Westerns (thirty at the time) on network television and wanted to replace one of their own with asitcom. Dick Powell was out of the country, and Spelling had moved on to another project. With no strong advocates for survival,Johnny Ringo was cancelled after one season of thirty-eight episodes. NeitherNBC nor ABC were interested in taking over production ofJohnny Ringo.
Durant continued to make personal appearances (which paid more than his television salary had), guest-starred in CBS'sPerry Mason andThe Twilight Zone, and was nearly cast oppositeLucille Ball in herBroadway debut,Wildcat!, which flopped.
Durant signed a contract with another studio, but aside from a 1963 guest role on NBC'sLaramie western series withJohn Smith andRobert Fuller as Slim Sherman and Jess Harper, respectively, few offers materialized. OnLaramie, Durant was cast as Gandy Ross, a likablesafecracker trying to go straight, in the episode "No Place to Run".
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Durant bought out his contract in 1964; and, because big bands had faded in the pop music fever, he subsequently retired from show business.
In 1992, Durant contractedchronic lymphocytic leukemia and, thereafter,lymphoma. In early 2005, he contracted a lung infection but was not hospitalized. He soon died at his home inMonarch Beach, California. He was buried at Pacific View Memorial Park inCorona del Mar, California. The Durants had a son, Jeff, and a daughter, Heidi.
