The Heartbreaking Reason Glenn Strange Left ‘Gunsmoke’
For years, Glenn Strange stood behind the bar at the Long Branch Saloon, offering a steady hand in the often rowdy world of Gunsmoke. As Sam Noonan, he became one of those characters you just expected to see throughout the episode, offering a break from all of the gunfights and chaos — which is why fans were surprised when he began appearing less and less in the early 1970s, and why his absence created such a hole when he left the show for good in 1973. The reason for Strange’s departure had nothing to do with the contracts or character disputes that often plague TV shows; rather, he left the series because he had developed cancer.
In 1972, when he was 73 years old, Strange was diagnosed with lung cancer. He kept working as long as he could, filming scenes even as treatments wore him down. When it finally became too much, he stepped away, but not before leaving the production with several episodes already filmed. Those aired after his death in September 1973, giving viewers the bittersweet experience of seeing Sam one more time after his death. His final appearance came in the nineteenth season episode “The Hanging of Newly O’Brien,” broadcast on November 26, 1973.
Gene Trindl/TV Guide/Everett Collection
Strange passed away on September 20, 1973, at the age of 74 and never really spoke publicly about his diagnosis or leaving the show. By then, he had lived two different kinds of Hollywood fame. In the 1940s, he wore the heavy makeup of Frankenstein’s monster in Universal horror films, his hulking frame and chiseled features perfectly suited for the role. Later, he found a second life in television on the popular Western. He left behind a truly great legacy.
An October 1973 article in the Mansfield, Ohio News Journal honored Strange’s legacy titled “‘Gunsmoke’ Stage Not Quite the Same Since Sam Left” summed up the feelings of some of his coworkers: one producer recalled that “Glen was one of the nicest men the Lord ever made. Gunsmoke was his whole life. He was a marvelous professional.”
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