Shane is an American Western television series which aired on ABC in 1966. It was based on the 1949 book of the same name by Jack Schaefer and the 1953 classic film starring Alan Ladd. David Carradine portrayed the titular character in the television series, a former gunfighter and sometimes outlaw who takes a job as a hired hand at the ranch of a widowed woman, her son, and her father-in-law.