1 Doug McClure, the blond, boyish cowboy star of the television shows 'The Virginian,' 'The Overland Trail' and 'The Men From Shiloh,' died of cancer Sunday night. He was 59.
2 McClure died at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Sherman Oaks with family and friends by his side, said McClure's friend, Dennis Morga.
3 After struggling a year with lung cancer, McClure appeared last Dec. 16 for the installation of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Getting the star helped him feel better, he told well-wishers.
4 'It gave me the incentive to get well, and I am well,' he declared.
5 But on Jan. 8, the actor collapsed from an apparent stroke on the set of a theatrical film in Hawaii and was flown to Los Angeles for hospitalization.
6 Doctors discovered the cancer had spread to his liver and bones, Morga said.
7 'Doug was one of the kindest people I have ever known, and a real gentleman,' said Morga, who recently produced several marketing videos that McClure appeared in and directed. 'He was a true professional -- always prepared on the set and easy and fun to work with. I'll miss him very much.'
8 McClure's career took off in 1960 when he was cast as William Bendix's sidekick in the NBC series 'The Overland Trail.' The show lasted only a half-season, and he immediately started on 'Checkmate,' a private-eye series.
9 In 1962, the actor joined the cast of 'The Virginian,' an ambitious, big-budget NBC project which was the first filmed series with 90-minute episodes. McClure played the role of Trampas, the villain in the Owen Wister novel and the three movie versions. Trampas was rehabilitated in the series as a happy-go-lucky young cowpoke.
10 McClure fit easily into the Western atmosphere. He had been riding horseback since the age of 8 in his hometown of Glendale, California. As a teen-ager he spent summers on a cattle ranch and was a bronco-buster in occasional rodeos.
11 After eight successful years of 'The Virginian,' NBC introduced a spinoff, 'The Men From Shiloh.' It lasted one season.
12 'I had this feeling everybody thought I was dead,' he said in a 1988 interview. 'I didn't quit. I did some films and theater in London. I went to New York. But I had been on television so much, people thought I wasn't around.'
13 McClure returned to TV series in 1975 for the one-season Western 'Barbary Coast.' He continued making guest appearances on TV, notably in the 1977 classic 'Roots.' His other film credits include 'Cannonball Run II,' '52 Pickup,' 'Omega Syndrome,' 'Dark Before Dawn,' 'Tapeheads.'
14 In addition to his wife, Diane, McClure is survived by two children from previous marriages, Tane and Valerie McClure; his mother, Clara Clapp, and a brother, Reed.

But on Jan . 8 , the actor collapsed from an apparent stroke on the set of a theatrical film in Hawaii and was flown to Los Angeles for hospitalization .
stroke
Was the stroke associated with his lung cancer? 