What is the name of the character played by James Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance? The answer is Ransom Stoddard.
Stewart plays Ransom “Ranse” Stoddard, a young lawyer who arrives in the frontier town of Shinbone determined to use law rather than violence. After outlaw Liberty Valance repeatedly terrorizes the community, Stoddard confronts him and appears to kill him in a celebrated street shootout.
The film’s central twist is that Stoddard did not actually win the gunfight alone. Tom Doniphon, played by John Wayne, secretly shot Valance at the same moment, allowing Stoddard to believe—and the public to assume—that the lawyer had become a heroic gunfighter. That manufactured legend launches Stoddard’s political career.
A common mix-up is confusing Stewart’s character with Tom Doniphon, the rancher who loves Hallie, or with Liberty Valance, the villain played by Lee Marvin. The title refers to the public myth surrounding Stoddard, not the complete truth.