‘The Virginian’ Star Randy Boone Dies at 83

Randy Boone, best known for playing singing ranch hand Randy Benton on the long-running NBC series The Virginian, died Thursday, August 28 at the age of 83. Boone’s death was reported to various Hollywood media outlets by his wife, Lana, who did not share any additional details.

Boone joined The Virginian in the Season 2 episode “First to Thine Own Self,” as a guitar-toting drifter who protects a young girl from the murderers who killed her father and finds himself accused of the crime. Vindicated with the help of Betsy (Roberta Shore) and The Virginian (James Drury), Benton decides to put down roots in Medicine Bow and takes a job on the Shiloh Ranch.