'Ransom Canyon' star James Brolin says son was basically raised as a 'cowhand'

Fox News

03-05-2025

James Brolin has been living the ranch life for years, joking that his son, Josh Brolin, was "basically raised as a cowhand."
The "Ransom Canyon" actor told Fox News Digital that he wasn't raised on a farm, but growing up he was a huge fan of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, and as an adult he got his first horse.
It was a former Palomino parade horse that he bought at auction for $235 "that was almost dead," but Brolin quickly realized he had nowhere to put the animal, so it had to sleep in his garage for the first night.
"And it started slipping around," he said. "And so the next day I found a house to rent that had a corral and everything. And the next thing I knew, I bought a place with six acres and had six horses on it."
By the second year of his 1967-1976 series "Marcus Welby, M.D.," Brolin said he moved to a 270-acre ranch in Central California, four hours north of where the show was shot at Universal Studios in Los Angeles.
"I was a four-hour drive away from work," he said, "but I did it, and I loved that life. "And Josh was raised as a cowhand, really," he said of his 57-year-old actor-son.
WATCH: James Brolin says living the ranch life prepared him for new role on Western 'Ransom Canyon'
"I loved that life. And Josh was raised as a cowhand, really."
Brolin said when Universal found out he had moved away from L.A., they gave him a little house to live in on the lot while he was on set.
"They said we're gonna let you use this for now, but we're also putting your work into three days or four days a week, so you can be home," he explained, adding that to him, the ranch was "so perfect, I couldn't wait to get there."
The 84-year-old is in familiar territory with his new Netflix show "Ransom Canyon," a Western that has been compared to "Yellowstone" about three Texas ranching dynasties.
Brolin said he plays a drunk who spews "profanities" who is angry "at the world about losing a son and wife."
The veteran actor said he's heard from people that they feel his character Cap Fuller's "pain, his crustiness."
Brolin wanted to make the character "so real that people can't wait till the next scene he's in," he told Fox News Digital, adding, "and I think I kind of got there."
The series was shot in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which he said is "not my wife's style, but man, I can live there."
Brolin also praised his "No Country for Old Men" actor-son as the "most attentive father I've ever seen."
Josh shares two children — Trevor, 36, and Eden, 31 — with his first wife, Alice Adair, and two children — Westlyn, 6, and Chapel, 4 — with his current wife, Kathryn Boyd.
WATCH: James Brolin praises son Josh Brolin as 'most attentive father' he's ever seen
Along with Josh and daughter Jess, 53, from his first marriage to late actress Jane Cameron Agee, Brolin also shares a daughter, Molly, 37, from his second marriage to former actress Jan Smithers.
"In our business, you're not always there," Brolin admitted. "I'm amazed on how well [Josh is] there. And I envy him in a way that I wasn't more like that — kids are first, work is second. And he makes sure that his bosses know that before he takes the job."
Brolin said he did his best to put his kids first as well when they were growing up, and during the three to four days a week at the ranch he "really attended with my kids and took them on camping trips and things like that."
Brolin said he also adores his two youngest granddaughters.
"It's a great time of life, and they may be a little spoiled, but man, what a family and what fun they have," he said.
Brolin has been married to legendary singer and actress Barbra Streisand since 1998.
"You practice on the first ones," Brolin laughed when asked about his long-lasting marriage to the "Funny Girl" star. "That's a joke, but maybe not."
WATCH: James Brolin jokes 'you practice on the first ones' with successful marriage to Barbra Streisand
"It's being able to know when to take a walk outside, you know, don't stay in the heat," he said of marriage. "Don't try and win the argument… The world is no one's fault. It's just the way it is. And sometimes if you just take a breather from each other, and I don't mean off the problem, I mean just going outside and walking around the pool, and loving nature and walking back in and making like, 'Oh, that was a weird little argument.'"
He also suggested therapy for an "ongoing problem."
"It's good to sit down and talk about it," said Brolin. "And it's actually good to sit down maybe with a pro who plays referee. And then you both end up in tears, and it just goes 'poof.' It's an amazing thing."