"No disease, nothing untoward, he just got tired, I guess," she said. Arness was best known for his 20 years on TV playing Matt Dillon, the U.S. marshal in the dusty wild-west town of Dodge City, Kansas, a role for which he was recommended by his showbiz mentor and friend, the film star John Wayne.
Death. Arness died from natural causes at the age of 88 years at his Brentwood home in Los Angeles on June 3, 2011. His body was interred in the Sanctuary of Abiding Hope alcove in the Jasmine Terrace section of the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Wounded in the leg during the 1944 invasion at Anzio, Italy, Arness was hospitalized for a year and left with a slight limp. He returned to Minneapolis to work as a radio announcer and in small theater roles.
S20 E1: Dillon finds himself in the revengeful hands of a half-crazed widower who plans, with the aid of his four surviving sons, to hunt Dillon down and kill him to revenge the death of his son, a wanted murderer.
Gunsmoke made Ken Curtis' Festus Haggen a series regular to replace Dennis Weaver's beloved Chester Goode after he left to pursue other acting opportunities. However, Curtis refused to return for the first made-for-tv Gunsmoke movie after its 20-season run because of a couple of serious disagreements with a producer.
The Real Reason James Arness' Gunsmoke Co-Star Couldn't Stand Him
Why did Gunsmoke end so abruptly?
CBS likely felt Gunsmoke was outdated and wanted to replace it with more contemporary shows, though it was still performing well. This abrupt cancellation meant the crew weren't able to give Gunsmoke a proper finale, however.
Reynolds left Gunsmoke in 1965. He later said that being in that show was "the happiest period of my life. I hated to leave that show but I felt I had served my apprenticeship and there wasn't room for two leading men." He was cast in his first lead role in a film, the low-budget action film, Operation C.I.A. (1965).
Arness, who remained close to Weaver after he left the series, praised him as a “really fine actor.” “We really liked each other a whole lot,” Arness said.
Mr. Arness was terribly shy and had almost no training as an actor. A wartime leg wound made it painful for him to mount a horse. But he became the best-known tin star of his era, portraying the towering, weathered marshal for 20 years, from 1955 to 1975.
A: Matt Dillon (James Arness) and Kitty (Amanda Blake) never married during the series 1955-75 run, although close watchers of the show were convinced they had connected at some time. But in a 1973 episode, Matt had a brief affair with another woman, Mike Yardner (Michael Learned), while he had amnesia.
In the unedited version, there is an odd scene where Matt and Chester approach a gypsy in Dodge City played by James Arness's wife at the time, Virginia Chapman. She is uncredited in this show; however, in a previous episode, Reed Survives (1955), she is credited as a gypsy but never seen.
Peter Graves passed away only one year before his older brother James Arness. Peter Graves died on March 14, 2010 while James Arness died on June 3, 2011. Passed away on March 14, 2010, just four days before his 84th birthday. Before he was a successful actor, he worked in a variety of jobs, such as cabdriver.
Often, Festus would squint with the right eye partially closed as well. This means he is right handed but left eye dominant. There are many other actors who do this too. Clint Eastwood does it on Rawhide.
Nineteen years of encouraging the good works of Marshal Matt Dillon on the TV show ''Gunsmoke,'' and never even a kiss from the hero. Amanda Blake, who played Miss Kitty, grew tired of commuting from her Phoenix home to Hollywood and quit the show in 1974.
After over 200 episodes of the show, Glenn Strange stepped away from Gunsmoke in 1972 because of his lung cancer diagnosis. The sizable character actor was most remembered for playing villainous roles, but his turn as Sam Noonan was a pleasant change of pace for the somewhat typecast performer.
After 20 seasons on air, Gunsmoke simply disappeared from the schedule. Alas, there was no fanfare, no fond farewell, no spelling "Goodbye" with rocks as Marshal Matt Dillon rode off into the sunset. Instead, the final episode of Gunsmoke to air was "The Sharecroppers," the 635th tale of that classic Dodge City show.
Dennis Weaver, whose portrayal of Deputy Chester Goode in the classic television western "Gunsmoke" made him the favorite sidekick of the early television era, died on Friday at his home in Ridgway, Colo. He was 81. The cause was complications of cancer, said Julian Myers, his publicist.
How much did Ken Curtis make per episode on Gunsmoke?
In the early years of the show, Curtis reportedly made around $1,200 per episode. However, as the series gained popularity, his salary increased significantly. By the 1970s, Curtis was reportedly earning around $2,500 per episode, making him one of the highest-paid actors on television at the time.
He was the only actor to appear in all 635 episodes of Gunsmoke (1955). Had to dye his naturally blond hair for the role of Matt Dillon, since dark hair was considered more masculine. In 1968, he donated his 1,400-acre ranch in northern Los Angeles County to the Brandis Institute.
