White hat: Chuck Connors, above, played Lucas McCain, a widower, Civil War veteran and homesteader in 1880s North Fork, New Mexico Territory. Connors, whose rapid-firing Winchester Model 1892 rifle sets him apart as the fastest gun in the West, is a single parent after his wife dies, and he devotes himself to raising his son, Mark McCain, played by Johnny Crawford, and helping Marshal Micah Torrance, played by Paul Fix, keep order.
Black hat: McCain is constantly fending off gunfighters out to defeat the fastest shooter in the West. Other black hats are the cheaters, bigots and villains that keep the sometimes-bumbling marshal’s hands full. (ABC / Los Angeles Times Archives)
