Gunsmoke / Trivia - TV Tropes (2023)

FAQs

Why did Kitty quit Gunsmoke? ›

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.

James Arness, who starred as Marshal Matt Dillon on the long-running CBS Western series Gunsmoke, had the most guest star appearances on the show with a total of 40. Arness stood out among other guest stars by also playing multiple characters over the course of the run.

Despite very small differences in opinion, the cast had remained friendly during the show's run.

Botkin has at least three actors, sometimes rotating. The desk clerk at the Dodge House also rotated (occasionally with one of the men who played Mr. Botkin).

They knew that if he kissed her, the next time he better kiss her twice, show a little more passion.” As James Arness told the Archive of American Television, “I think they felt that… you could only go so far with it and then you'd have to change the character and nature of the show, so they kept it in that groove.

Miss Kitty and Marshal Dillon kissed on TV in the late '50s — but not on Gunsmoke.

The actor was 32 when friend John Wayne declined the lead role in "Gunsmoke" and recommended Arness instead. Afraid of being typecast, Arness initially rejected it. "Go ahead and take it, Jim," Wayne urged him.

There were 635 episodes and many of the outdoor scenes for this show were shot in Johnson Canyon near Kanab, Utah. The setting of Gunsmoke is Dodge City, Kansas during the 1870's. A replica of the Hollywood set was created just three miles outside of Kanab.

Arvo Oswald Ojala (February 21, 1920 – July 1, 2005) was a Hollywood technical advisor on the subject of quick-draw with a revolver. He also worked as an actor; his most famous role was that of the unnamed man shot by Marshal Matt Dillon in the opening sequences of the long-running television series Gunsmoke.

In the two decades that “Gunsmoke” was on the air, Marshal Matt Dillon had just one on-screen kiss, who wasn't Miss Kitty, leaving viewers in disbelief. The Dodge City marshal, played by James Arness, got his kiss on Sept. 24, 1973, in the episode titled “Matt's Love Story,” one of the highest-rated”Gunsmoke” episodes.

Who was the old drunk on Gunsmoke? ›

James Nusser was an American film and television actor. He was known for playing the role of the town drunk Louis Pheeters in the American western television series Gunsmoke.

What episode did James Arness' Matt Dillon's wife play on 'Gunsmoke? ' Arness' first wife, Chapman, starred in two Gunsmoke episodes alongside Matt. Before her appearance in the adult Western, she starred in uncredited roles in 1949's And Baby Makes Three and 1951's The Mob.

Ben Bates was a stunt performer best known for his 25 years of work as the stunt double for Gunsmoke star James Arness.

During the 20-year span of CBS's Gunsmoke series, the count ranges from 138 men and seven women to 303 people. If you add in the ones U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon capped in the made-for-TV movies, the total is 407.

In 2013, Marshall Trimble, the board president of the Arizona Historical Society and vice president of the Wild West History Association, documented that Matt Dillon's TV character was shot at least 56 times, knocked unconscious 29 times, stabbed three times, and poisoned once.

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.

Michael Learned, who actually played Dillon's romantic interest in a "Gunsmoke" episode years ago, plays Dillon's former love and mother of their daughter, and Richard Kiley is Chalk Brighton, an Army Scout who is Learned's die-hard suitor.

While Arness and Blake shared palpable chemistry, the two characters never truly got together. From his perspective, Arness thinks this was a good call, as the show would have gone down a different path if they pursued a romance, according to MeTV.

Ultimately, Arness believed the producers behind “Gunsmoke” made the right choice. They didn't commit to a Dillon/Miss Kitty relationship because it kept viewers invested. They would often tune in each week to see if the two ended up together.

In this 1958 episode, for whatever reason, Kitty did not have the birthmark on her cheek. Being as this episode was aired during Season 3 she was already two seasons in with the birthmark. Miss Kitty wears a beauty mark but only when she is dressed as the saloon girl.

Did Matt and Kitty ever hook up on Gunsmoke? ›

Despite the wishes of many fans, Dodge City's most obvious couple never officially got together.

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.

One died during the run of the show, in 1973, at the age of 74—Glenn Strange, a real New Mexico cowboy who played Sam the bartender. The regulars who are still with us are: Roger Ewing (Thad Greenwood), who is 73; Buck Taylor (Newly O'Brien), who is 77; and Burt Reynolds (Quint Asper), who is 79.

WHEN “Gunsmoke” opens at 10 o'clock on Saturday evening the camera focuses on the outsize haunch and gun of Marshal Matt Dillon, the law of Dodge City, Kan., in the eighteen‐seventies.

The Gunsmoke actors actually drank beer, but the whiskey was tea or colored water. Marshall Trimble is Arizona's official historian and vice president of the Wild West History Association.

She lived in Gainesville, Ga., and Claremont, Calif., where she moved with her parents in 1943.

CELEBRATED ACTOR Glenn Ford was billed as "the fastest gun in Hollywood" – able to draw and fire in 0.4 seconds – even faster than James Arness ("Gunsmoke") and John Wayne.

Bob Munden was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as “The Fastest Man with a Gun Who Ever Lived”. One journalist reckoned that if Munden had been at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, on October 26, 1881, the gunfight would have been over in 5 to 10 seconds. He could whip out his Colt .

He could draw, fire, and hit the target in one-sixth of a second, faster than the eye can blink. His technique of cocking "in the holster" as he drew revolutionized the western and was shown in detail both by Henry Fonda in the western film The Tin Star and by John Payne in his series The Restless Gun.

What was Kitty's last episode on Gunsmoke? ›

Miss Kitty

Amanda Blake appeared in over 500 episodes of the television series, with her last being the April 1, 1974, episode titled, "The Disciple".

'Gunsmoke' characters Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty were in love. Any fan of Gunsmoke knows that there was always romantic tension that existed between U.S. Marshal Dillon and saloon owner Kitty.

Mantley said that the most obvious reason why Gunsmoke started featuring Nusser more went beyond just Louie Pheeters being popular. Gunsmoke producers deeply admired Nusser, with Mantley describing him as "one of the finest actors in town and one of the most underrated."

In real life he is said to have had a drinking problem, just like his "Gunsmoke" character, who naturally was friendly with Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake) at the Long Branch saloon and her man, Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness). Betty Meskil and 72 others like this.

Nusser died in June 1979 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 74.

On the television show "Gunsmoke," the name of Marshall Matt Dillon's horse was Faithful Old Buck, according to an interview with actor James Arness.

Marshall Matt Dillon had a daughter on TV show Gunsmoke | Belleville News-Democrat.

Actor Dennis Weaver, who played Chester, wanted to pursue other opportunities. He had been on the show since the beginning. But he decided to leave during Season Nine. Production brought in actor Ken Curtis as Festus to replace the character.

For the benefit of those actors who are not aware of it, the blanks with which the guns are loaded during the "Gunsmoke" shooting are generally half or quarter loads of powder with a paper wadding instead of a bullet.

Jester Hairston was the first black actor to appear in the series.

What actor appeared on Gunsmoke the most? ›

Actor Ken Curtis, who played Festus Haggen on Gunsmoke, appeared in the most episodes of the show, a total of 225. He was the only original cast member to continue appearing in the show beyond the first seven seasons and is widely considered to be the longest-running character.

Galen Adams Hugh Milburn Stone (July 5, 1904 – June 12, 1980) was an American actor, best known for his role as "Doc" (Dr. Galen Adams) on the CBS Western series Gunsmoke.

A Colt . 45 ( S/N 147056) used by James Arness in his role of Marshall Matt Dillon in the classic Western television series, Gunsmoke (Arnes Production Company, CBS Television and Filmaster Productions, 1955-1975), which aired for 20 seasons over 635 episodes.

Why did Gunsmoke's Marshal Matt Dillon always wear his badge underneath his vest? Wearing the badge underneath the vest wasn't that unusual for a real peace officer in the Old West. It was less ostentatious; all he had to do was flip the vest open to show his authority.

Revealing mistakes. Cale is shot twice, but after Doc removes the two bullets, there is no blood on Cale's undershirt, and no bullet hole.

From September 10, 1955 until June 17, 1961 there were 233 half-hour black and white episodes. On September 30,1961 the show expanded to a hour long format that produced 176 episodes in black and white until May 7,1966.

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.

Actor Milburn Stone temporarily left the television show Gunsmoke due to heart surgery in 1971. However, the actor returned after a few episodes.

There were 635 episodes and many of the outdoor scenes for this show were shot in Johnson Canyon near Kanab, Utah. The setting of Gunsmoke is Dodge City, Kansas during the 1870's. A replica of the Hollywood set was created just three miles outside of Kanab.

'Gunsmoke': James Arness' 'Matt Dillon' Only Kissed One Woman in Entire 20 Season Run. In the two decades that “Gunsmoke” was on the air, Marshal Matt Dillon had just one on-screen kiss, who wasn't Miss Kitty, leaving viewers in disbelief. The Dodge City marshal, played by James Arness, got his kiss on Sept.

Why did Gunsmoke end so abruptly? ›

CBS moved to cancel 'Gunsmoke' after sabotaging its time slot, according to producer John Mantley. According to Mantley, CBS decided to cancel Gunsmoke in 1967 after its slip in ratings.

Festus didn't leave Gunsmoke. The show ended. Festus was a character on Gunsmoke until 1975: when the network ended the show. He made his first appearance in the eighth season of the show and stayed on for eleven years.

Fran Ryan's Miss Hannah replaced Blake's Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke after her departure at the end of season 19. She took over the role as the owner of the Long Branch in the show's final year for season 20 before CBS canceled the show without warning. However, it wasn't Ryan's first time appearing on the show.

DoYouRemember? Western movie star John Wayne was 6'4″ and saw Arness' potential. After seeing his work on the stage, Wayne decided to sign him to a personal contract, which lasted three years. Arness was convinced that Wayne was offered the lead role in Gunsmoke, although the movie star always denied it.

In 2013, Marshall Trimble, the board president of the Arizona Historical Society and vice president of the Wild West History Association, documented that Matt Dillon's TV character was shot at least 56 times, knocked unconscious 29 times, stabbed three times, and poisoned once.