James Arness, who played “Gunsmoke’s” Marshall Matt Dillon for 20 years on television passed away today at the age of 88. Before working in Westerns, Arness appeared in science fiction films like Them! and The Thing From Another World. He became Matt Dillon when John Wayne, who was offered the role but turned it down, suggested Arness to the Gunsmoke producers. Arness had appeared in several films with the Duke: Island in the Sky, Hondo, The Sea Chase, and Big Jim McLain.
Arness was the brother of “Mission: Impossible” star Peter Graves.
I remember Gunsmoke being in the rotation of the endless westerns that I watched as a child, along with Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train, Branded, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Rifleman, etc. I always thought Gunsmoke had more of a thoughtfulness to it than the others, or at least that’s how I characterize it all these years later. Back then, it just seemed more adult than the others. Matt Dillon was a force of nature: a big, easygoing marshall until somebody crossed the line. Arness provided us with many years of entertainment, and will continue to do so in the reruns of the future. Adios, sir.
I don’t remember the name, but I do remember the episode in which Festus made a “rockin’ mule” for some little babies(triplets) that were born in Dodge City.
Saw him as the monster in Them, but, as a 10-year old, it meant nothing to me. Three of us went to see it at the movies for my friend’s birthday. His mom dropped us off, came back and picked us up. Pretty amazing for me at that time.
Watched Gunsmoke religiously in our house starting the next year.
Trivia: In the opening of GUNSMOKE in the first seasons they used a stunt double for the shots where Arness is walking. This was because Arness had a noticeable limp from a WW2 wound and producers were afraid that viewers would think Matt Dillon was less able bodied if he limped (they’d already taken the role away from the radio Matt Dillon William Conrad because he didn’t look the part). The stunt double had been busy watching Arness all around the set and had consciously learned to mimic his walk (the better to be mistaken for him of course) and, you guessed it, walked with a limp during the credits, defeating the whole purpose. Original opening at 1:00 in this clip
After the show became a huge hit he filmed the credits himself.
At one point he was one of the richest TV actors due to continually renegotiating his contract over the show’s 20 year run and ultimately owning a part of the show. No idea what his fortune was worth in later years but if he just held onto it and managed it reasonably well I wouldn’t be surprised if he was worth well into 9 figures.
Marshall Dillon is my favorite Western character. Mr. Arness, I salute you for the rare feat of taking over somebody else’s role (William Conrad on radio) and making it your own.
Re: the famous Gunsmoke opening.
I really appreciated the spoof Maverick did of the opening in its episode “Gun-Shy.” I was an avid viewer of both shows, but even as an 11-year-old I felt the long-range shooting of the Gunsmoke opening was bogus. Apparently, the Maverick writers felt the same way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRR1-YUfZmM
Was watched a bunch of episodes streaming on Netflix recently, and was really impressed by how well they’ve stood up over time. They were very well written, and contained a whole lot more humor than I remembered from watching the show as a kid.
I also seemed to remember his as being wounded, like… every week it seemed. The NY Times obit says it was 30 times, so it was only once or twice a season. It also said he was 6’ 7" tall, and he never seemed THAT tall to me.
I remember seeing Ken Curtis, in character as Festus, at a rodeo when I was a kid and being surprised by how tall he was (6’0 according to imdb) because he seemed scrawny and short on the series, but it was because so many of his scenes were with Arness. (Of course the bigger surprise to most was Festus’s not what you’d expect singing voice but I knew about that because my father was a Sons of the Pioneers equivalent of a Deadhead.)
Arness is one of those actors that nobody who worked with him ever seemed to have an unkind word for; you’re always reading “unassuming”, “modest”, and most surprisingly perhaps “very funny”. He apparently had a sly sense of humor.
Pity about his daughter. I wonder what was responsible for her suicide. She would have been in her early 20s.
