Actor James Arness, famous for playing the lawman Matt Dillon on "Gunsmoke," died at the age of 88 in Brentwood, California. Bill Whitaker takes a look back at his life and career.
I was 3yrs old when I was allowed to watch gunsmoke with my parents. As usual i would fall asleep to that theme song. The older i got the longer i stayed awake to see the episodes. Even now at my age i watch the reruns daily. l just love the black and white episodes. Gunsmoke has brought many hrs of family entertainment to my family. It even brings back the memory of free TV. Wow is that obsolete. Thank you to the Arness family for sharing their son, brother, uncle, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, and grandson with fans they will never meet yet he brought hrs ( 600 + episodes), of enjoyment to us. Thanks to the whole cast and all the behind the scene people that made this possible. I love westerns. This one did and continues to make history from generation to generation.
Unfortunately I wasnt born until 73,so I was only 2 when gunsmoke ended,but at the age of 46 now,Im glad & thankful to say that Ive been able to watch the re-run episodes that air on the INSP (channel 91 on comcast) network 7 days a week. Amanda Blake (Ms Kitty) Milburn Stone (Doc Adams) Dennis Weaver (Chester Good) Burt Reynolds (Quint) James Arness's co-stars,listed above,brought their own desirability to the show also,but James Arness is definitely the character that carried the show for that entire 20 years.Im not sure what Im up to so far,but Ive watched a boatload of the 600+ episodes so far & I'll continue to do so until they end or I do.Its ironic how simple life once was,as depicted in the show, considering how often people died or were killed at that time.Just imagine how bad it would be nowadays if everyone was allowed to wear a gun & square off like they did back then.
James Arness was not only a hero on TV, but in real life as well. He really was a giant of a man. Arness is best remembered for Gunsmoke. However, those who knew him will always remember him for his kind heart. He spoke of his family, friends and fans at the end of his life. He cared about everyone. The next time I'm in Dodge, I will have tears in my eyes because the man who helped make the city even more famous, has left town. George Vreeland Hill
He died 8 years ago today. Gone but never forgotten. Thanks for being Matt Dillion in Gunsmoke, and all the movies you left behind! j You were good! Real good!!!!!
Sometimes when I read comments I wonder if anyone has seen the bloopers and outtakes. There’s personal information on everybody and funny things. My favorite funny was when doc jumped out at the marshal and he had the funniest reaction. There’s also 2 outakes where Matt and Kitty were in bed - yea, really. There’s a lot of outtakes because they had to make room for commercials. I’ll never figure out why Matt and Kitty never married. They obviously loved each other. Their relationship was definitely not platonic with Matt asking her to go upstairs to her bedroom and how they had discussed marriage. So check out the outtakes and bloopers and keep at it for a lot of information.
Happy Birthday James Arness! Happy Happy 95 years young! You will always be Matt Dillion, the best Marshal to ever grace TV.. You were a great actor! i love THEM! and The Thing of Another World! You were good in HONDO, THE PEOPLE AGAINST O'HARA AND THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER! I am glad the Gunsmoke movie did not get off the ground. There is only one Matt Dillion!!!!
wonderful memorial. he will be missed. so glad the show is still on in reruns. I still watch them in 2016 at 64 yrs old. What a wonderful actor who brought joy to so many. Condolences and thanks to the Arness family. Thank you for sharing him with us for many years. God bless.
This was my dad's favorite show. I can still remember him sitting in his easy chair at 9:00 pm every Saturday night , without fail. When I think of Gunsmoke, I always think of my dad.
Yup,Gunsmoke is my fav. show.In this day and age TV is not the top entertainment anymore. I really never watched Gunsmoke growing up in the 1950,60's but somehow became infatuated with it later in life. The great characters and ofcourse the hero Marshall Dillon. I'll watch those wonderful reruns knowing the plot over anything nowadays.
There goes my childhood! My 1st hero before I fell in love with Superman! I always wished he and Miss Kitty would have gotten together. RIP Marshall Dillon!
Gun Smoke is my favorite show.Ive ben watching reruns everyday for the last year and still not sick of it.I live in Minnesota were James was born and raised.He reminds me so much of my Brother Clint..My mom actually named my brother after Clint Eastwood.I going to Hollywood myself next month to see what I can accomplish..
But thanks to TV Land and Encore Westerns, we still get to see him. As much as I love Rooster Cogburn, I would much rather have Matt Dillon arrest me if I were in trouble.
I USED TO WATCH GUNSMOKE BACK IN THE EARLY 1960'S ALONG WITH OTHER WESTERNS BUT GUNSMOKE WAS THE BEST OUT OF ALL OF THEM, CHESTER, DOC, MISS KITTY, MATT OF COURSE, FESTUS QUINT, BOY OH BOY THOSE WERE THE GOOD OLE DAYS, I MISS THEM DAYS, IT WAS GREAT TIMES THAT I'LL MISS FOREVER. R.I.P. MR ARNESS YOU WHERE GREAT AS MATT DILLON THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER. DODGE CITY KANSAS.
You said it paisan. Great memories of a better time. So many family and friends gone. When I watch the reruns it's like we're all together again. Beats the way the world is today.
Think I liked the older ones with Chester, They were just a 1/2 hour and sometimes ended strange. The hr long ones seem to drag on. I'm not sure if this was the show but one of the producer's wife wanted more westerns and they killed off Gilligan's Island to make room. Could have seen more of Mary-Ann.
Rick, your post was 7 years ago. If you're still out there, I agree with you 100%. The 30 minute shows with Chester were the very best. The acting was top notch and the 30 minute scripts were written so there was never a dull moment. .They went to the hour format to make Gunsmoke more of a family show. I think that made it lose some of the reality of the shorter, more intense segments.
ONLY James Arness was fit enough to tell would-be outlaws to "git outta Dodge!!!!" R.I.P. James Arness as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshal, nobody wanted to wind up being either hung or buried on Boot Hill, in which opened up the early 30-minute-long episodes (1955-1962, before they went to a one-hour format) of this iconic TV series, along with a very important spoken word of interest on each one, for all of us to know, straight from the Marshal himself. We enjoy every episode on MeTV every weekday at 1:00 and 1:30, if it was the 30-minute format from 1955-1965 otherwise it's at 1:00 for the one-hour episodes from 1966-1975. Well, unlike most westerns would be like from back in the day, knowing the image of most of them, and when it was legal to advertise them pervasively on TV at the time, at least Gunsmoke (I believe) was never sponsored by a tobacco product, like Marlboro or Winston. I personally don't think that the Matt Dillon character (or even James Arness himself for that matter) would ever have wanted his squeaky-clean no-BS All-American Good-Guy image to wind up being in or become a by-product of "Marlboro Country", Thank goodness he wasn't.
The theme of "Gunsmoke" was my lullaby on Saturday nights when I was 10 or 11. I was too young to watch what was a rather violent show. But my parents (who loved the show) had their bedroom just down the hall from mine, so I could hear the audio. I made myself stay up so I could hear the theme song play out until the show ended at 11:00. When I was old enough and was able to watch the show (and much later see episodes on RU-vid), I saw why my parents loved it!
Wesley-He played in a number of movies without John Wayne before Gunsmoke came along. One I like in particular is "Gun The Man Down". He was the star of the movie. He played in more westerns than anything else. I believe he truly enjoyed doing them and he was great at it.
I have been binge watching Gunsmoke for months. Though I am 75 now, I didn’t watch the show back when I was young. I love Matt Dillon’s sense of humor, dependability, honesty, and true grit. He was one of the best and after I watch all the shows, I’ll occasionally tune in to get my fix of Marshall Dillon and his gang.
I'm still watching the reruns of this classic show avidly and regularly. It's on 3 different channels daily! Will never forget Matt, Doc, Chester, and the rest of the Dodge gang!
I think that John Wayne made a good decision not to take the Gunsmoke role; Wayne belonged in movies, not on TV. Jim Arness was perfect for the part of Matt Dillon. In addition to the TV show, he returned to the role in a number of made-for-TV movies such as "Return To Dodge" and several others, and these were all very good. It was sort of like when "Perry Mason" ended, Raymond Burr returned to do some TV movies of the role. And Amanda Blake's and Barbara Hale's characters were similar.
I loved him so much as an actor and a true gentleman. He had a lot of talent and charisma ❤ He also had a great sense of humor. RIP sweet James Arness ❤. NOBODY COULD EVER REPLACE HIM!
