Gun Smoke draw

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navyretired 1

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I have a question that is related to strategies and tactics but you'll have to bare with me for a few answers.
The question is on the old Gun Smoke TV series, at the beginning of every show Matt Dillon would draw against a BG at the other end of the street. This BG was famous in Hollywood, who was he?
 
Ron James- Your 100% correct, did you know he taught almost every movie star how to quick draw, He also made holsters and belts. I have one of his rigs which has a steel insert sandwhich between leather layers which keeps its shape no matter what.
Boy this sure was a short post.
 
Not really anything for S&T in here, but a cool discussion. Let's put this out in "general."
 
Gunsmoke Story

This is a repost from a long time ago but it is still one of my favorite stories. It comes from an article in TV Guide.

A TV director said the most memorable moment in his career was the day he took over as the replacement director for the hit TV show Gunsmoke. He had been warned that James Arness was difficult to work with and had no sense of humor. He had met James Arness only a couple of times and didn't know him very well.

This was the first season the show would be filmed in color. On the first day of shooting they redid the show's memorable opening scene---Marshal Matt Dillon stepping out into the main street of Dodge City for a fast draw showdown with a bad guy.

The new director shouts "action", James Arness steps out into the street, the bad guy draws, Arness draws, shots ring out and James Arness sprawls backwards into the dust clutching his chest from which blood is apparently gushing.

I think the director said that at that moment he thought he might as well be dead too. He said he got along quite well with James Arness after that.
 
I heard James Arness was quite a friendly guy. Never heard he was hard to work with. Seems like he and his brother both had good senses of humor. (Peter Graves, famous for his part in "Airplane", and serious role in "Mission: Impossible"
 
SHARPSDRESSEDMAN - "I heard James Arness was quite a friendly guy. Never heard he was hard to work with. "
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You're correct.

Arness was a friendly person and not at all difficult on the set. He had a fine sense of humor, too.

Also, there was not just one director on the series, there were many. "GUNSMOKE" was the longest running dramatic series in the history of televison. Twenty years: 1955 through 1975.

L.W.
 
Gunsmoke was a radio show before it was on TV. I used to listen to it on Armed Forces Radio back in the early fifties.

Interesting bit, on the radio show the bad guy sometimes won.

I don’t remember who were the actors but they were different than the TV series.

Edit: No we couldn't see 'em. Just voices.
 
CLAYINTEX - "I don’t remember who were the [radio show] actors but they were different than the TV series."
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William Conrad was the radio voice of Matt Dillon. Conrad later starred in the Quinn Martin Prods. teevee series, "CANNON," and then "JAKE AND THE FAT MAN."

L.W.
 
James Arness also had the distinction of being the first U.S. soldier ashore during the WWII Anzio landings. "It was simple," he said, "I was the tallest guy on the landing craft and the Sarge ordered me to jump in and see how deep the water was!"
 
VA27 - "James Arness also had the distinction of being the first U.S. soldier ashore during the WWII Anzio landings."
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Arness was also badly wounded at Anzio.

If you watched "GUNSMOKE," especially in the later years, you might have noticed Arness limping. That limp was real, a result of his Anzio wounds. It got worse over the years.

L.W.
 
I think the director's point in his story to TV Guide about being told that Arness was hard to work with was to show how thoroughly the director had been set up for the practical joke they played on him.

A lot of good information about James Arness can be found at his website:

http://www.jamesarness.com/

including the information Leanwolf mentioned about Arness being awarded the Purple Heart.
 
"I don’t remember who were the actors but they were different than the TV series."

Being a big fan of the radio version of Gunsmoke, thought I'd throw in a couple of other bits of info. In addition to the aforementioned William Conrad, in the radio show the role of Doc was played by Howard McNair who later went on to fame as Floyd the Barber in the Andy Griffith Show; and Chester Proudfoot was played by Parley Baer who later went on to play Mayor Stoner on the Andy Griffith Show.
 
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