Shane has always been one of my favorite films, particularly for Ben Johnson’s portrayal of the bad guy who finds redemption.

I had a great experience making the 1991 movie Conagher. One highlight was learning to drive a six-up stagecoach. The producers assumed I already knew how, but I had to learn quickly. The stunt coordinator, R.L. Tolbert, taught me in about three days, and I must have done well because I didn’t wreck anything.

My mama, a West Texas girl, always advised me to mind my own business and stay humble. She wasn’t fond of the movie Giant because she felt it depicted West Texans as hedonistic idiots.

I still perform “Charlie Goodnight’s Last Night,” a play written by Andy Wilkinson that I’ve been doing since 1998. The first performance was at the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. In the play, I portray Charlie Goodnight at 93, sitting in a rocking chair until his death, then becoming young again. The play evolves from rough talk to poetic, almost Shakespearean language, but it’s very accessible.

I’ve also written a play called “Sucker Rod Smith & the Cisco Kid,” which has been performed in L.A. The name comes from the rod in a windmill that draws water from the ground.

I recently read Empire of the Summer Moon, a history of the Comanche civilization. Its timeless themes are relevant today, drawing parallels between frontier raiders like the Comanches and modern drug dealers on the border, highlighting how some aspects of the world remain unchanged.

My grandfather subscribed to True West magazine, which I read faithfully. In my New York apartment, I decorated the kitchen walls with images from the magazine. It helped me cope with living in the city.

The most fun I’ve ever had was training and riding cutting horses in the ’80s and ’90s. My last horse died in November, and it’s the first time in 30 years I’ve been without one.

I’ve been trying to get Elmer Kelton’s The Time It Never Rained made into a movie, believing it would find an audience, but it’s been a tough journey.

I acted in The Man Who Loved Women, playing an oil man married to Kim Basinger, who was having an affair with Burt Reynolds’ character. When I asked my dad what he thought of the movie, he said, “You were good, as always. But for the rest of it, I’d just as soon have sat on the top rail of a bleedin’ pen for two hours. At least I wouldn’t have been embarrassed by my own species behaving that way.”

The most underrated scenic place in the West is the Big Bend Country of Texas. It’s remote but offers cinematic vistas that rival Monument Valley for scope and beauty.

Barry Corbin, Actor

Premiering this year at the Sedona Film Festival in Arizona, the drama Sedona stars Barry Corbin as the garage mechanic Les. Best known for his roles as John Travolta’s uncle in Urban Cowboy, July Johnson’s deputy in Lonesome Dove, Ellis in No Country for Old Men, and Clay Johnson in TNT’s The Closer, Corbin currently resides with his daughter Shannon on a cattle ranch near Fort Worth, Texas.