James Arness dies at 88; TV's Marshal Dillon on landmark 'Gunsmoke' series
Strong, rugged, a man’s man is how I always looked at Jamez Arness. He was the TV version of John Wayne.
Los Angeles Times
James Arness, the towering actor best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon, the strong and commanding symbol of frontier justice on the landmark TV western series "Gunsmoke," died Friday. He was 88.
Arness died of natural causes at his home in Brentwood, said family spokesperson Ginny Fazer.
"Gunsmoke" debuted on CBS on Sept. 10, 1955, and, with the start of "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" on ABC four days earlier, a new era in television horse operas was launched: the adult western.
But whereas "Wyatt Earp," starring Hugh O'Brian, ended its run in 1961, "Gunsmoke" ran until 1975, far outdistancing its many competitors and becoming one of the longest-running prime-time series in network TV history.
In the process, Arness became one of television's most enduring stars, returning as Dillon in a handful of "Gunsmoke" TV movies in the late '80s and early '90s.
At 6 feet 7, Arness was a bigger-than-life actor who amply filled the boots of the mythic Dodge City lawman in the series, which earned praise for breaking TV western-genre conventions with its strong dramatic stories and psychologically complex characters.
"Matt," Arness once said, "is very human and has all the failings and drives common to anyone who is trying to do a difficult job the best he knows how."
Arness was nominated for Emmys three times during the show's early years. Like John Wayne on the big screen, Arness was an imposing presence on the small screen.
"I absolutely believe any pantheon of enduring, well-crafted and memorable television characters would have to include James Arness," David Bushman, then the television curator at what is now the Paley Center for Media in New York, told The Times some years ago. "He became part of the national psyche."
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Here’s a great scene from Gunsmoke with James Arness and Charles Bronson
Memeorandum
