Now or never: Remembering ‘Rawhide’ star Eric Fleming

The final 24 hours of Clint Eastwood’s “Rawhide” costar Eric Fleming are chillingly recalled by Nico Minardos in a vintage interview. Although this Dutch magazine article misspelled Fleming’s “Rawhide” character’s first name, it presents an awesome glimpse of the actor’s winning smile. “Rawhide” was the fifth-longest-running American television Western in prime time, exceeded only by “Gunsmoke,” “Bonanza,” “The Virginian,” and “Wagon Train.” Image Credit: CBS Photo Archive

On September 28, 1966, Eric Fleming perished in a horrific canoe drowning accident in the remote jungles of Peru, South America. Best known for playing the hard as nails, secretly tender-hearted trail boss Gil Favor on the long-running CBS Western Rawhide — the 1959–1966 series made costar Clint Eastwood a household name — Fleming was actually the star in spite of what you see on all the 21st…