Woodrow F. Call

Woodrow Call
First appearance	Dead Man's Walk
Last appearance	Streets of Laredo
Portrayed by	Jonny Lee Miller Karl Urban Tommy Lee Jones Jon Voight James Garner Lee Majors
In-universe information
Gender	Male

Woodrow F. Call is a fictional Scottish born Texas Ranger who appears in all four books of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series. Much of the books revolve around his relationship with his Ranger partner Augustus McCrae. The two are polar opposites, as Call is very task-oriented, with a passion for his work, but very little understanding of the complexities of human relationships, especially when it comes to women. Gus, while an able Ranger, is incredibly lazy and frequently complains about work. Gus is also a gregarious ladies man who in his youth spent much of his time courting Clara Allen, and in both his youth and old age frequently spent time with prostitutes. Despite their opposing personalities, Gus and Call remain close friends throughout the series from their late teens, when they first meet, until Gus's death.

Dead Man's Walk

This book, and the film based on it, tell the story of one of Call's (played by Jonny Lee Miller) first adventures with Gus McCrae. While Texas is still an independent Republic, they sign on with Cpt. Caleb Cobb on a fictionalized version of the Texas Santa Fe Expedition, an attempt by the Republic of Texas to annex New Mexico.

While en route to Santa Fe, the party stops to fish in a river, where they fall under attack by a band of Comanches. Woodrow's wary eye and quick reflexes help him to kill a Comanche at point-blank range in the river, earning the name "Gun-in-the-Water" from the Comanches. Unfortunately, the Indian he killed was a son of Buffalo Hump. This act earns him the lifelong enmity of both Buffalo Hump and later his other son Blue Duck.

As the expedition continues, Call, McCrae, and Bigfoot Wallace are frequently called upon to catch food, especially in the more desolate regions of the Comancheria. Buffalo Hump also frequently sabotages their mission by killing members during the night, sending his fellow Comanche Kicking Wolf to steal horses, and setting a fire that destroys many of their supplies.

Call, McCrae and Wallace reach New Mexico first, where they are promptly arrested by Cpt. Salazar, who intends to march them to Mexico for trial. During the march, however, a bear attacks the camp, and the three of them escape to regroup with the rest of the expedition. When they arrive in New Mexico again, their ranks are so thinned that Cobb realizes they cannot hope to capture Santa Fe, so he surrenders to Salazar. Call is offered breakfast, but refuses to eat while the rest of the company starves. Cobb, despite his incompetence, is granted an audience with the Governor. Upon seeing how much better Cobb is being treated, that he is effectively being rewarding for his poor leadership, Call loses his temper and attacks him. Though Cobb survives, Call is sentenced to 100 lashes, a punishment no man before him has ever survived. Call amazes everyone by living through it.

After being captured in Santa Fe, the members of the expedition are forced to march through a desolate region known as the Jornada del Muerto, where several other members die from heat exhaustion, starvation, and Indian attack. They are met by French authorities who are disgusted at Cpt. Salazar's inability to keep his company alive. He is ordered to walk back to New Mexico alone, through the Jornada, while his prisoners are taken to a leper colony in San Lazaro. There the remaining members are forced to choose who will live and who will die by drawing beans from a jar. A man who draws a white bean will be spared, while those who draw a black bean are executed. This method is borrowed from the Mier Expedition, and is historically accurate. Call is one of a fortunate few who draws a white bean.

While staying in Austin between missions, Call becomes a regular customer of a prostitute named Maggie Tilton. Despite her protests, he insists on paying her. Maggie quickly falls in love with him, and hopes that he will reciprocate and marry her. But the reticent Call never does by the end of the book.

Comanche Moon

In this book, the action takes place at least a decade after Dead Man's Walk, the previous novel. Call (played in the movie by Karl Urban) and Gus are still Rangers, though their company now includes Joshua Deets, Pea Eye Parker and Jake Spoon. While out on patrol with their commanding officer, Inish Scull, the Indian Kicking Wolf steals Scull's horse. Scull had grown tired of being a Ranger and was looking for any excuse to leave his command, and the theft of his horse provided a perfect opportunity for him to desert. He sets out with Famous Shoes to find the horse, leaving the rest of the troop in the command of Gus and Call, who immediately receive ad hoc promotions to Captain.

Upon their return to Austin, Call receives word that Maggie is pregnant with his child. Call is not given much time to digest this information, however, as Scull's wife Inez puts pressure on Governor Elisha Pease to send Gus and Call to retrieve her husband.

When Call and the rest of the Rangers return they find that Austin has been burned by Buffalo Hump and his gang. Call and McCrae are eventually able to retrieve Captain Scull.

Lonesome Dove

This book has the action set some years after the events in Comanche Moon. Call, played in the film by Tommy Lee Jones, McCrae, Deets and Parker all live in Lonesome Dove, a small town on the Mexican border. Maggie has died, and they have informally adopted her son Newt. Though he is devoted to raising him, Call will not admit that Newt is his son, preferring instead to insist that Jake or even Gus could be the father. Newt is given the last name Dobbs.

Jake has left town for several years, but the story picks up when Deets, returning from a trip to a bank in San Antonio, Texas, returns to Lonesome Dove with Jake. Jake tells them fantastic stories about Montana the usually practical Call is enchanted by. Eventually, he persuades Gus to lead a cattle drive north.

In Montana, Gus is injured by Indian arrows, and dies of blood poisoning, due to his refusal to let a doctor amputate both his legs. Woodrow is reunited with Gus shortly before his death, and the end of the novel features Woodrow leaving Montana alone to fulfill Gus's dying wish, that his body be returned to Texas for burial.

Return to Lonesome Dove

This film was based on an original screenplay, and as such is not considered by Larry McMurtry to be part of the continuity of his novels or of their adaptations. Call is played in this film by Jon Voight.

Woodrow has returned to Lonesome Dove just long enought to bury Gus. Woodrow gathers some friends of his to help him lead a horse drive.

Lonesome Dove: The Series

This series, which McMurtry also views as apocryphal, focuses mainly on the exploits of Call's illegitimate son Newt Dobbs. Call only appears briefly in one episode, in which he was played by Lee Majors.

Streets of Laredo

Taking place a number of years after the events in "Lonesome Dove," this book shows Call, Pea Eye Parker, and Lorena Wood have all returned to Texas. Lorena and Pea Eye have gotten married, and Lorena now works as a schoolteacher. Call is hired by a railroad company to track down Joey Garza, a Mexican bandit who has been robbing their trains and killing their passengers. Call initially expects Pea Eye to accompany him, but he begs off under pressure from Lorena. Call sets off after Garza with Ned Brookshire, who represents the railroad, and Deputy Sheriff Ted Plunkert, whom he recruits while passing through San Antonio.

Pea Eye eventually sets out to find him with help from Famous Shoes. On their way, however, they are captured and imprisoned by a local sheriff who believes Famous Shoes had stolen and killed a horse years before. Call finds them, and presents him with an order from the governor to release them. The sheriff refuses, and threatens to shoot Call and the others if he lets them out of prison. As he has several times before in the series, Call loses his temper and beats the man senseless for his "rude behavior."

Call and his company then pay a visit to Judge Roy Bean--a fictional presentation of a real character--, where they learn that a pyromaniac named Mox Mox is alive and on the loose in Texas. Call splits off to kill Mox Mox. He ends up only fatally wounding him, but is able to save two young children who happen to be the son and daughter of Jasper Fant, who went with him to Montana, and is reunited with Lorena in San Antonio. While there, he learns that in his absence Joey Garza killed Judge Roy Bean. He and Lorena set out to rendezvous with Pea Eye and the others in Mexico, but on the way Call falls for a trap set by Joey Garza. As Call tends to a horse that Garza had hobbled as bait, Garza shoots him in the leg. Faced with the same choice Gus faced years before, Woodrow has Lorena cut his leg off and take him down to Mexico. In Mexico, a doctor determines that he will have to lose an arm as well. Due to his condition, he is unable to finish the job of killing Joey Garza. Garza manages to kill Brookshire, and fatally wound his mother as well, before being killed by Pea Eye. In the end, Pea Eye and Lorena adopt Maria Garza's other children, and allow Call to come home and live with them.

Call is played in this film by James Garner. Also in the film, he loses only a leg, not his arm as well.