Don Franklin: Riding High

It's 106 degrees in Mescal, Arizona where The Young Riders is on location. Between takes, Don Franklin, the series' newest rider, is quick to shed the sweltering leather chaps he wears as his character Noah Dixon. Despite the heat, Franklin is thoroughly enjoying the ride. "I must have been a cowboy in another life," jokes the 30-year-old, Chicago-born actor. As Dixon, the son of wealthy black ranch owners who were killed fighting to keep their land, Franklin's dead eye aim with both the whip and the gun leaves bad guys running for cover. Franklin says his co-stars have made him feel part of the gang. "It could have something to do with the heat, the bugs, the snakes -- it forces us to pull together. We're like family." At present, Franklin says he's happy to "breathe the fresh air" of Tucson, Arizona, where he and his wife are renting a home. So, happy, in fact that the couple is thinking of settling here. "I'd like to buy a ranch with as many acres as I can get."

BIRTHDATE:	December 15, 1960
FAVORITE ACTOR:	John Malkovich
FAVORITE ACTRESS:	Glenn Close
MOST RECENT INDULGENCE:	His Arizona home: "It's all windows."
CAR:	'90 Ford Explorer: "I had a jeep, but driving 50 miles between the set and home at 2 a.m. with that soft top blowing in the wind was deafening."
CAN'T STOP WATCHING:	Cable News Network (CNN)
LAST BOOK READ:	The Negro Cowboy, as research for his part: "I found out stuff they don't teach you in history class -- like one our of three cowboys in the Old West was black."
HOBBY:	Playing the saxophone
FAVORITE FILMS:	Camille Claudel, My Left Foot, Do The Right Thing