DON FRANKLIN portrays the determined and passionate Pony Express rider Noah Dixon. Don has the rare distinction of being among the first black actors to play a cowboy in a regular series role on television. Don plays a free-born black man liberally raised and educated by both black and white teachers. When a law made it illegal for blacks to own land, young Noah's father were killed in a fight to keep possession of their property. Faced with newfound racial prejudice, Noah ventures out on his own, eventually joining the Pony Express riders. 

Though he meets Hickok first, Noah actually becomes attached not to Jimmy but to Cody. Outwardly, they are the anti-thesis of each other: one is serious and thoughtful, the other gregarious. But both are fiercely loyal. He uses his whip more than his gun, because "there is nothing that scares white people more than a nigger with a gun." Though he said he was "born to hang," Noah actually fell from a Southern raider's bullet right before the outbreak of Civil War (series finale Till Death Do Us Part).

A Chicago native, Don's theatrical interest began as a child, singing in the choir. Throughout high school he won vocal competitions which eventually led him to do musical comedy. His interests gradually expanded to include dance. Don's various regional theater credits include The Middle of Nowhere in the Middle of the Night for which he received a Joseph Jefferson nomination for Best Actor. 

Don resides in Los Angeles and enjoys a multitude of sports including swimming, basketball, track, tennis, baseball and now horseback riding. He picked up his equestrian skills after just four days of training prior to filming his first episode of The Young Riders. 

Asteroid (1997) (mini) TV Series .... Ben Dodd