To us teenage boys from about mid-sixties on McClure was the coolest guy (ready for leap from TV to feature film. And he wasn't quite like anyone else, at least McClure in his young cowboy incarnation wasn't: relaxed, ready for fun, good at his job, respectful. Physically, lazily robust as well.
I think he was in the first or one of the first made for TV movies, think it was set in the Philippines during the war.
Anyway, the drink got him. After a few dry out clinics he was an aging, cranky, has been. I was shocked or saddened.
TV Guide was huge back in the day and I recall reading an article about him as he was either in a new series or and episode. It was a memorable hatchet job that drew a picture of an pretty unpleasant has been. True or not, the writer murdered him with subtle scorn.
Loved McClure myself and have always wished the drink hadn't got him
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Those Kevin Conner Doug McClure pics were always a favorite of mine. I have found that with the passing of time I have grown even more fond of them for their pre-Star Wars retro spfx and old-school pulp adventure flavor. I caught them all on their first runs at the local drive-in, all except At The Earth's Core, which I had to watch on Showtime. I would say that before Star Wars took the whole genre to a completely different level, these ERB flicks, along with anything that involved Ray Harryhausen, were just about the coolest thing going. I vividly recall the tv spot for Land that Time Forgot capturing my six yr old imagination. They don't make em like this anymoreand Doug McClure was just plain fun to watch.

At the Earth's Core is a favorite movie of mine, if for no other reason than because it aired on a Friday night before new cartoons Saturday morning.
I have always liked the Doug McClure ERB trilogy, anyway; Earth's Core, Land That Time Forgot, People That Time Forgot.
Just watched People.

Look at a young picture of him, I couldn't help but think a very young Robert Wagner, but blonde.
McClure has never registered with me in the same category as Shatner. That's a category all unto its own.

Yes. He shares with William Shatner that likability that Bruce Campbell projects.