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[John Halliburton]

Marshall Dillon heads off into the sunset...

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/scimedemail/la-me-james-arness-20110604,0,1034881.story

One of the longest running television series in history.

John

[Mac Kerr]

Marshall Dillon heads off into the sunset...

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/scimedemail/la-me-james-arness-20110604,0,1034881.story

One of the longest running television series in history.

John

And the monster in the original "The Thing". An actor with a really long career, who will always be remembered as Marshall Dillon.

Mac

[John Roberts {JR}]

I always found it mildly disturbing that every week in the show's intro, he was second to fire, but always won the quick draw shoot out against the bad guy... maybe one time, but every week?

RIP...

JR

[Tom Young]

I always found it mildly disturbing that every week in the show's intro, he was second to fire, but always won the quick draw shoot out against the bad guy... maybe one time, but every week?

RIP...

JR

Yeah. I really hate that about series. Why do the principal/lead characters always have to live ?

 

[Chris Davis]

To give Arness and "Gunsmoke" a publicity boost when it debuted, (John) Wayne provided an on-camera introduction in which he praised the new TV western series for being honest, adult and realistic.

 "I knew there was only one man to play in it, James Arness," Wayne told viewers. "He's a young fella and may be new to some of you. But I've worked with him, and I predict he'll be a big star. So you might as well get used to him, like you've had to get used to me."

A classic moment for sure! 


I remember reading about Arness's thoughts later on in life about Gunsmoke.   He appreciated it in retrospect for being a study in realism and character development, delivered in the form of a TV show.  A thinking man's actor who had no regrets.


RIP

[John Roberts {JR}]

I always found it mildly disturbing that every week in the show's intro, he was second to fire, but always won the quick draw shoot out against the bad guy... maybe one time, but every week?

RIP...

JR

Yeah. I really hate that about series. Why do the principal/lead characters always have to live ?

 

I don't remember a lot from the first time around, I recall chester had a limp... but I saw a few re-runs of the early stuff about a year ago and it was good stuff, not your typical ponderosa cowboy poop, but everything on TV from back then was a morality play. I guess it still is today, but our morals have slipped a bit.

I suspect the "good guys fire last" was a concession to the PC police of the day, but bad advice for real interactions with armed combatants. Perhaps ironically that sounds pretty close to the modern rules of engagement... but they get to fire second in full R&R. 

JR

[TrevorMilburn]

I once read that the reason Chester was given a limp in the show was that James Arness himself had a limp (IIRC from a sporting accident) and Chester's more pronounced limp took away the focus from Arness' problem.

Regards,
Trevor

[John Halliburton]

I once read that the reason Chester was given a limp in the show was that James Arness himself had a limp (IIRC from a sporting accident) and Chester's more pronounced limp took away the focus from Arness' problem.

Regards,
Trevor

Arness was wounded during WWII at Anzio.  Purple Heart, Bronze Stars.  The leg gave him problems for the rest of his life.

RIP

John

[Mike McNany]

James Arness was recommended for the Gunsmoke role by John Wayne, who the producers wanted real bad for the part.

Didn't his brother pass away last year? Peter Graves, from Mission Impossible fame and several movies.

Mike McNany

[RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS]

I normally pay no attention to the RIP posts here but I am a huge western TV/movie fan.  I watch Gunsmoke everyday.  We pay extra for a bunch of channels on cable that I don't watch just so I can get the Encore Westerns Channel to watch Gunsmoke and a few other shows I like. 

If you have never watched Gunsmoke I recommend sitting down and watching about 650 episodes.  The characters are great.  The acting is great.  The sets and props are realistic and period accurate.  Marshal Dillon is one of the best TV characters ever and James Arness was perfect for the role.

I knew his health was going down from reading his website from time to time so it wasn't a suprise but still a bummer.

[TrevorMilburn]

Arness was wounded during WWII at Anzio.  Purple Heart, Bronze Stars.  The leg gave him problems for the rest of his life.

RIP

John

I stand corrected, John. Thanks.
Trevor

[Bob Leonard]

I normally pay no attention to the RIP posts here but I am a huge western TV/movie fan.  I watch Gunsmoke everyday.  We pay extra for a bunch of channels on cable that I don't watch just so I can get the Encore Westerns Channel to watch Gunsmoke and a few other shows I like. 

If you have never watched Gunsmoke I recommend sitting down and watching about 650 episodes.  The characters are great.  The acting is great.  The sets and props are realistic and period accurate.  Marshal Dillon is one of the best TV characters ever and James Arness was perfect for the role.

I knew his health was going down from reading his website from time to time so it wasn't a suprise but still a bummer.

My father has been living with us for about 2 years now. He's 89 and his hearing is such that programs with lots of noise or music are hard for him to listen to and understand. It's also a fact that westerns and western heros were a huge part of everyones life in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, so I grew up watching most of them as firrst run programs. Life changes, but westerns are forever and DTV has the western channel, a great source of entertainment for my father and I. I record many of those westerns and seldom a night has gone by when the two of us don't watch Have Gun Will Travel, Cheyenne or Gun Smoke together. We even sing Paladins and Cheyennes theme songs together and am thankful to god every day for just one more show with my father. Rest in peace James.

[ProSoundWeb Community]