, later star of CBS's Yancy Derringer, played the title character in seventy-nine black-and-white half-hour episodes, along with partner Dick West, played by Dick Jones, later star of the syndicated series Buffalo Bill, Jr. The character had no name other than Range Rider. His reputation for fairness, fighting ability, and accuracy with his guns was known far and wide, even by Indians. Mahoney towered over Jones, conveying the idea that Dick West was a youth rather than a full-grown adult. Stanley Andrews, the first host of the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, appeared in seventeen episodes of The Range Rider in different roles, including "Pack Rat" and "Marked for Death" in 1951 and "Marshal from Madero" in 1953. Gregg Barton similarly guest starred in sixteen episodes. Harry Lauter, later a co-star with Willard Parker on CBS's Tales of the Texas Rangers, appeared eleven times, including the episodes "Ten Thousand Reward" and "Dim Trails", "Ambush in Coyote Canyon", and "Convict at Large" and "Marshal from Madero". William Fawcett, prior to NBC's Fury, guest starred in nine episodes, including in "Diablo Posse", as Matt Ryan in "Last of the Pony Express", "Dim Trails", and "Shotgun Stage". The show was a production of Gene Autry's Flying A Productions, and Autry himself was the executive producer. The theme tune was "Home on the Range" though in later episodes this was played at a fast tempo without the song. The two main characters were the only consistent ones. Five to six names of other actors were given at the end of each episode, but not the parts they played.
Sherry Jackson then a child actor in "Dead Man's Shoes" and "Secret of the Red Raven"
Brad Johnson three times, including "The Border City Affair" and "Bullets and Badmen"
I. Stanford Jolley twice, including "The Black Terror" and "Hideout"
Tom Keene as Lang in "The Grand Fleece"
Fred Krone "Convict at Large", "The Buckskin", "The Chase", "Outlaw Territory"
Tom London "The Hawk" and "Dead Man's Shoes"
Kenneth MacDonald seven episodes, mostly as a sheriff
Kermit Maynard "Sealed Justice" and "Jimmy the Kid"
Eve Miller "Stage To Rainbow's End" and "The Crooked Fork"
Ewing Mitchell eleven episodes, mostly as a law-enforcement officer
Clayton Moore as Martin Wickett in "Ambush in Coyote Canyon" and as Dan Meighan in "The Saga of Silver Town"
Dennis Moore "Ten Thousand Reward"
Jimmy Noel, walk-on parts in five episodes
J. Pat O'Malley three times, including "Diablo Posse"
John M. Pickard "The Holy Terror" and "The Buckskin"
Denver Pyle fourteen times, including "Six Gun Party", "Gunslinger in Paradise", and "Big Medicine Man"
Mike Ragan five episodes
Marshall Reed "Pack Rat" and "Sealed Justice"
Gloria Saunders five episodes
Karen Sharpe "The Chase"
Glenn Strange twice, including the role of Chief Black Cloud in "Indian War Party"
Lyle Talbot four episodes, including "The Secret of Superstition Peak" and "West of Cheyenne"
Gloria Talbott in "Gold Hill"
Dub Taylor three episodes
Minerva Urecal "Bad Men of Rimrock" and "Outlaw Territory"
Lee Van Cleef three times, including as Rocky Hatch in "Greed Rides the Range"
Pierre Watkin twice, including "Blind Canyon"
Robert J. Wilke eight episodes, including "Right of Way"
Gloria Winters four times, including "Pack Rat", as Sally Roberts in "Ghost of Poco Loco", and "Blind Canyon"
Sheb Wooley four times, including "The Treasure of Santa Dolores" and "The Old Timer's Trail", and "Outlaw Pistols"
Chief Yowlachie twice, "Sealed Justice" and "Big Medicine Man"
DVD release
In 2006, Timeless Media Group released a licensed 2-DVD, 10 episode best-of collection. Subsequently, a second licensed set was released, this time consisting of 20 episodes on six DVDs. Between 2005–2007, Alpha Home Entertainment released five unlicensed best-of DVDs, with four episodes on each. Though the series is not actually in the public domain, various episodes also appear in numerous unlicensed budget TV western DVD collections.
Cultural references
In The A-Team episode When you Comin' Back, Range Rider?, Murdock is seen watching an episode of The Range Rider in his room at the psychiatric hospital. He adopts the persona of the Range Rider as the team pursues wild mustang rustlers and is frequently seen wearing a mask of the Range Rider he cut from a cereal box.
