By Alan Wilkinson. The story of Owen Wister, an educated young man from the East who wrote The Virginian, a classic tale of the American West. Published in 1902, the book spawned a successful stage play, several films and a long-running television series, and its eponymous character became an archetypal hero. with Susie Fugle Sean Hagerty, Abe Goldfarb. Tim Kiots, Bruce Godfrey and Rob Streetman. Director Viv Beeby