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On-Screen Cowboys Who Stole the Show: Which is Your Favorite?

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Ever the fans of the western genre, we often daydream of living a life just like our heroes. Willie Nelson sang it best with “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys,” his song which epitomized the concepts of being a loner or drifter of sorts. Our on-screen icons made the most of the image, doing right by those we rooted for, and riding off into the sunset having possibly negated all of their so-called sins with a single shot. If you too have a strong admiration for the western genre (and who in Texas doesn’t? I mean, really…), who would be the one character you would consider as the perfect cowboy? Here is a list of five cowboys we believe stole the show. Most people can relate to and root for these western heroes:

1. Woodrow Call (Tommy Lee Jones) from the “Lonesome Dove” Miniseries

On-Screen Cowboys That Stole the Show: Which is Your Favorite?

Photo: Facebook/Lonesome Dove Fans

Captain Woodrow F. Call was a retired Texas Ranger character played by Tommy Lee Jones in the wildly popular “Lonesome Dove” miniseries, adapted from the novel of the same name. A character that was written by Larry McMurtry to be part-owner of the Hat Creek Cattle Company and Livery Emporium, this cowboy loosely embodied the essence of Charles Goodnight – one of the most famous ranchers in Texas history.

2. Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), from the Movie “Tombstone”

On-Screen Cowboys That Stole the Show: Which is Your Favorite?

Photo: Facebook/Best in Cinema

Playing the famous (or infamous, depending who you ask) Wyatt Earp, Kurt Russell rode into our hearts and minds much as he rode into Tombstone – leaving his lawman days in the past, aiming at settling down. Based on the legend of the real Wyatt Earp and what took place in this true-to-life town in Arizona, the movie makes us want to be Russell’s character, which is the true telling of western film success and cowboy life embodiment.

3. Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (Paul Newman & Robert Redford)

On-Screen Cowboys That Stole the Show: Which is Your Favorite?

Photo: Facebook/When Hollywood was “Golden”

Filmed in 1969, the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” starred Paul Newman and Robert Redford as real-life outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, also known as Butch Cassidy (played by Newman), and Harry Longabaugh, otherwise known as the “Sundance Kid” (played by Redford.) Telling the story of their robberies, affairs, wild rides, and escape to Bolivia, it endears their cowboy characters to viewers in the process.

4. Augustus McCrae (Robert Duvall) from the “Lonesome Dove” Miniseries

On-Screen Cowboys That Stole the Show: Which is Your Favorite?

Photo: Facebook/Melwell Romancito

Playing the second half of the onscreen duo made famous through the miniseries adaptation of Larry McMurtry’s novel “Lonesome Dove,” Robert Duvall stole the show as Augustus “Gus” McCrae – the Yin to Tommy Lee Jones’ (Woodrow F. Call) Yang. An excellent orator and an equally excellent debater, his character is a great cowboy in all senses of the word.

5. John Henry “Doc” Holliday (Val Kilmer) from “Tombstone” the Movie

On-Screen Cowboys That Stole the Show: Which is Your Favorite?

Photo: Facebook/Western & Classic Movies

Playing the role of John Henry “Doc” Holliday, Val Kilmer gave fans of the western genre an iconic cowboy hero they’ve quoted for years after the movie “Tombstone” hit the silver screen. As the real-life temporary lawman leading up to, during, and after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Kilmer played the role of 21-year-old Holliday to a “T,” leaving no doubt in the minds of viewers with respect to his cowboy credentials.