7 Smoking Facts About the TV Western ‘Gunsmoke’
When Gunsmoke came to an end half a century ago, on March 31, 1975, you can bet fans didn’t want to “get out of Dodge.” For more than two decades, through radio and TV broadcasts, they had followed the exploits of Marshal Matt Dillon as he kept law and order in 1890s-era Dodge City, Kansas.
And today, Gunsmoke’s legacy stands even taller than star James Arness’s 6-foot-7 stature. After airing 20 seasons on the small screen, the TV Western ranked as the United States’ longest-running primetime live-action series until Law & Order tied its record in 2010 and Law & Order: SVU surpassed the milestone nine years later.
In honor of Gunsmoke’s place in the television pantheon, here are fun facts about the iconic show.
1Gunsmoke’s radio cast auditioned for the TV show
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When CBS brought Gunsmoke from radio to television in 1955, the radio cast was given “a token audition,” John Dunning reported in On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. According to Dunning, the TV version of Gunsmoke was a “bitter loss” for William Conrad, who voiced Matt Dillon in the radio shows. Conrad later hit TV himself as a star of the detective series Cannon and the legal drama Jake and the Fatman.
2 John Wayne encouraged James Arness to take the role of Matt Dillon
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Arness became a favorite of John Wayne after the latter actor interviewed him for — and ultimately cast him in — the 1952 film Big Jim McLain. “He asked me a couple of questions about my acting,” Arness recalled, per the Associated Press. “Then he said, ‘The main thing I have to know is, do you drink?’”
When Gunsmoke came along, Arness had reservations about the job, and worried about being pigeonholed as a TV actor if the show wasn’t a success. But Wayne told him, “This is something you should really do.”
3Gunsmoke led to Gilligan’s Island’s demise
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Gilligan’s Island writer-producer William Froug wrote in his book How I Escaped From Gilligan’s Island that Gunsmoke was a favorite of CBS chairman of the board William S. Paley — and that Paley intervened when then-network president James T. Aubrey tried to have the Western canceled 10 years in. That reversal spelled the end of Gilligan’s Island, which had moved into Gunsmoke’s time slot, Froug added, according to SlashFilm.
Gilligan’s Island star Dawn Wells shared the same story in a 2013 Esquire interview but attributed the decision to Paley’s wife, Barbara. “Mrs. Paley … had been on vacation when Gunsmoke was canceled, and when she got home, she said, ‘You can’t cancel Gunsmoke. It’s my favorite show,’” Wells recalled. “So they canceled us.”
4There was one (short-lived) spinoff
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The 1971 Gunsmoke two-part episode “Pike” introduced the boozy, grizzled Sally Fergus, played by Jeanette Nolan of The Virginian and Macbeth fame. The character was such a hit that CBS enlisted Nolan to reprise the part in a 1974 spinoff series, Dirty Sally, of which only 14 episodes were produced.
“I feel very close to [Sally],” Nolan said during Dirty Sally’s production, per MeTV. “She’s the embodiment of the old American spirit of individuality — and I’ve always been an individual.”
5 Arness had his own favorite episodes
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In a 2005 interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Arness said his top installments of Gunsmoke were “Chato” (1970) and the two-parters “Snow Train” (1970) and “The River” (1972).
“The episode ‘Chato’ is probably my all-time favorite show,” the actor added. “Matt is sent out of his territory to stop the Apache, whose family was killed by U.S. cavalry, and we wind up having a certain understanding and friendship as the story evolves.”
6Gunsmoke’s cancellation came as a surprise to the cast and crew
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Gunsmoke’s historic run finally ended in 1975, when CBS canceled the series, pulling the rug out from under the cast and crew. “We didn’t do a final wrap-up show,” Arness later said, according to the Associated Press. “We all expected to go on for another season, or two or three. The [network] never told anybody they were thinking of canceling.”
7Gunsmoke TV movies continued for another two decades
©CBS / courtesy Everett Collection
However, even if the show ended abruptly, the story carried on. Arness got back on the horse for five Gunsmoke TV movies following the series’ cancellation: 1987’s Return to Dodge, 1990’s The Last Apache, 1992’s To the Last Man, 1993’s The Long Ride and 1994’s One Man’s Justice, Arness’s final screen credit. Amanda Blake, who played Kitty Russell on the series, starred in Return to Dodge before her 1989 death.
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Wild West- Heroes & Villains
November 2022
Celebrates the unique sense of justice, compassion and adventure in the Old West as seen on TV and in the movies
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