The real inspiration behind Steve McQueen's character on Wanted: Dead or Alive
Characters emerge in various ways. Sometimes, they're shaped from dream traits — a creator's ideal person brought to life. More often, writers mold them after memorable real people.
Steve McQueen's Josh Randall on Wanted: Dead or Alive wasn't a menace, but he was one of the toughest Western characters on TV in the 1950s. He was a bounty hunter, and in the words of series producer John Robinson, "an average guy, a Southerner who saw some action in the Civil War. I call Josh a travelling Damon Runyon."
Robinson told The Morning Call newspaper in 1958 that the character was more interested in people than their money. "In lots of cases, Randall doesn't collect any money. And he makes mistakes." Steve McQueen chimed in, referring to one episode that perfectly fits Robinson's description of the character.
"That's right. In 'Ransom for Nun,' I go after a guy and have to kill him. Then I find out I got the wrong guy. After that, all I can do is look for the nearest church."
A fictional being as tough as Randall had to be modeled after someone; he's just too real. According to McQueen, the character had the traits of a no-nonsense police officer from his childhood: "You know where I got my idea of Randall? From a cop I knew as a kid in New York. There was no monkey business. When he said he'd shoot, he meant it. I think of him, and pretty soon, I'm Josh Randall."