"Okay, I'll bite. Did Paladin even have a first name? Or a last name for that matter?
"They did an origin episode in the last season of the series titled 'Genesis', I believe, where he told his origin to a young man someone had sent to kill Paladin. It seems that Paladin had been a 'remittance man' (i.e., third son of a wealthy family who is paid by the family to stay away). The younger Paladin was given a job to kill someone in return for voiding a gambling debt he had with a wealthy robber baron, much like the young assassin to whom he told his story.
"His target is a man in black, also played by Richard Boone, who is an older gunfighter named Smoke who has evolved into a some kind of 'warrior philosopher' sworn to protect a town from the robber baron. Paladin fulfills his obligation and kills the old gunfighter, but not before the old gunfighter causes young Paladin to reflect on his wasted life. The old gunfighter calls the young gunfighter 'paladin' throughout, and that is the name he decides to adopt to honor the old gunfighter.
"At no time in the episode is Paladin's real name uttered. So, if anyone knows his real name, I'd sure like to know it."
First, Charlie, I apologise if, when I cited "What was Paladin's first name?", it gave you the impression that he had one. Or that his birth name had been established. (The term "his real name" is a misnomer; the name "Paladin" is just as real as whatever name he had been born with, and no less valid.)
No, Paladin's name at birth had never been revealed. The closest the series came to it was in the episode you cited---"Genesis", the first episode of the sixth, and last, season of Have Gun---Will Travel, originally airing on 15 September 1962. You've described the events of the episode so accurately that I have nothing else to add, except a couple of small details. At no time in the flashback is a name given or used in reference to the man who would become Paladin. And the events that served as Paladin's "origin" occurred "ten years ago", a decade before the year in which the series was set (which contradicts certain small details of previous episodes, but "Genesis" is so outstanding an episode, it's easy to brush the discrepancies away).
And, to amplify your comment that the older gunfighter, Smoke, was the one who gave the young man the name of Paladin, it occurred during their first meeting. Smoke doesn't care what his eager young opponent's real name is; he relates:
In the books, there's a name for a man like you . . . a paladin . . . a paladin. That's a gentleman knight in shiny armour and all armed with a cause and righteousness and a fine pointed lance . . . and, yet, a mercenary.
When the young man finally kills Smoke, he discovers his error in morality. The one decent thing that Smoke had done in his life was to protect the town from the ravages of the evil land baron who desired it. The people of the town had taken in a severely wounded Smoke and had nursed him back to health. In return, he became their protector.
As Smoke tells him with his dying words, "You remember . . . there's always a dragon loose . . . somewhere."
The young man returns Smoke's body to town. When he sees the reverence with which the people regarded the old gunfighter and feels the scorn with which they view him, he finds his moral centre. He confronts the land baron when he arrives to take over the town and orders him away, or suffer the penalty of death. The greedy developer turns away, angrily.
As to the fate of the land baron, the man to whom Paladin is telling this story asks, "Did he ever return?"
"Only once."
Though never stated outright, the clear presumption is that he took the name Paladin from the sobriquet Smoke had called him.
Thus, the answer to the alternate question, "What was Paladin's first name?" is---he didn't have one. He adopted the single name Paladin. In the days of the nineteenth century, when lives were less documented, adopting a single name was easy enough to do. (In fact, at least one state to-day---California [surprise, surprise]---will accept single names for a person now for such things as a driver's licence without too much static.)
As a joke, many of the day gave the answer to "What was Paladin's first name?" as Wire. This came from a deliberate misreading of the indicia on Paladin's business card:
Hope this helps.
Replies
I still only really remember Richard Boone from Hec Ramsey and a film where he fought a dinosaur.
Have Gun, Will Travel is one of those classic TV shows that I've often heard about, but never seen.
Not that anyone cares, but I was motivated by this discussion to check, and discovered that the Encore Western Channel runs HGWT twice-daily. So I set up to record a few episodes this week to watch over the weekend.
I have to admit that I only know of the show from its theme song. I have a dozen or so collections of TV theme songs, and this theme turns up on more than one of them. To be fair, it's a fairly memorable theme.
I actually watched a handful of episodes in the mid-90s when they were being rerun here on Saturday afternoons. I didn't get to watch a whole lot as I was usually busy. I always liked it when I saw it though.
Doctor Hmmm? said:
I think you'll find that Have Gun--Will Travel was an intelligently done western. For a man in his line of work, Paladin follows a highly ethical moral code. The rub---at least, for the viewer---is many of the situations in which he finds himself, the moral thing to do isn't clear. And even when the right thing to do is obvious, it's usually not accomplished without recrimination.
I always thought his first name was Havegun and his last name was Willtravel.
...Another " old TV characters' names " note:
The 99 character , played by Barbara Feldon on GET SMART , was named " Hilton " . Presumably as her last name .
In one particular episode , IIRC , 99 first " reveals " that her name is " Susan Hilton " - Then , later on in the show she says " My name's not ' Susan ' , Max " . So , " Miss Hilton " ?
I got jumped o0n for saying this LO-OO-NG ago in the old RBCC DON ROSA'S INFORMATION CENTER , by people ignoring the "
Hilton " part .
I think you'll find that Have Gun--Will Travel was an intelligently done western.
That pretty much says it.
From what I've seen so far, Boone plays Paladin as a complex man -- there's a lot going on behind those eyes -- but also a man with a very firm moral code and the courage to step up and confront people and situations that cross the line. I wouldn't want to be on his wrong side.
He's a compelling character on screen, and I'm really enjoying this.
I set my DVR to record he series as well, and the episode or two I have watched I've really enjoyed it. I really liked seeing Denver Pyle (Uncle Jesse from Dukes of Hazard) in an episode, man that guy looked 50 when he was still in his 30s.
Have Gun---Will Travel was blessed with brilliant writing and a complex character, but the third leg of that triad-for-success was the acting talent of Richard Boone. Boone demonstrated that acting is more than just hitting your mark and saying your lines.
By traditional leading-man physical standards, Boone was a mess. There was nothing intimidating about his physique; he was slender, with narrow shoulders, and of average height. And he had a face that looked like a pile of lumpy mashed potatoes. (During the show's gestation, network representative Al Scalpone wired the CBS big wigs in New York: "WHAT DO YOU THINK OF RICHARD BOONE?" The CBS suits replied: "HE IS THE UGLIEST ACTOR IN HOLLYWOOD.")
Boone's talent defied his physical limitations. The man called Paladin was equally facile comprehending the nuances of an Italian opera or using Indian skills to track a man across broken country. He could face down a lynch mob with a quotation from Shakespeare or a six-gun. And Boone made it believable that one man could possess such disparate talents.
By sheer acting skill, Boone, "the ugliest man in Hollywood", would transform into the cultured, urbane, ladies man that Paladin was in the upper-crust social circles of San Francisco. But, when Paladin, in the roughshod, often-lawless frontier, was called upon to be tough and resolute, Boone would become indomitable---not by size or physicality, but by force of personality. Despite his less-than-prepossessing physique, Boone could project that core of inner toughness that bespeaks a man not to be trifled with.
Richard Boone spent the first third of his career playing heavies and malcontents. The middle third saw the height of his accomplishments with, first, The Medic (to this day, still the best medical series ever done on television), and then Have Gun---Will Travel. Unfortunately, he wound down his career playing heavies and malcontents, again.
But the man was an incredible actor.
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