The Gunsmoke Cast
Festus
If you are too young to remember the original episodes of Gunsmoke, don’t worry. There are many places where you can find reruns or even purchase DVD’s of the classic show. Watching it today is still very relevant with interesting story lines.
This show ran for 20 years for pete’s sake from 1955 to 1975 with 635 episodes. With many of today’s “one and dones”, this seems almost incredible. So what did this show have to make it so popular? No doubt there were great writers. But surely the cast was what brought viewers back time and time again. Here is a run down of the most popular cast members (you can read in depth biographies by clicking on the name).
Played Marshall Matt Dillon of Dodge City, KS. It is not known if he appeared in every episode but he did stay with the show for the entire 20 years. It is not widely known that Arness was injured in the leg during a battle at Anzio. If you watch closely, there are instances where he appears to have difficulty mounting his horse - the old injury never went completely away. Read more….
Known to everyone as Ms. Kitty, she was the owner of the Long Branch salon in Dodge City. Although there was never any explicit proof that she and Matt Dillon had a relationship it was sometimes implied. She appeared in 19 of the 20 seasons that Gunsmoke was on the air. Tragically, she died of AIDS in 1989 at the age of 60. Read more…
Dennis Weaver played Chester Good who was an assistant to Matt Dillon. He appeared in 9 seasons from 1955 to 1964. Although he appeared with a stiff leg, he was actually a good athlete appearing in decathlon’s and track. At one point he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, USA. Read more…
He played Doc Adams, the only doctor in the town of Dodge City, KN. He acted in all 20 seasons. Doc and Chester always had good natured fun that came out comical. He passed away in 1980 at the age of 75. Read more…
Here is a short video with scenes from the first season of Gunsmoke:
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