The name James Arness may mean very little to younger viewers, but he was one of television’s biggest stars — literally and figuratively — as Marshal Matt Dillon on “Gunsmoke” for 20 years.
While John Wayne reigned at the movie theater, Arness was the preeminent western star on the small screen from 1955 to 1975. The CBS drama was one of TV’s biggest hits. It places No. 2 — behind only “60 Minutes” — on the Top 100 Series of All Time, according to “The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows.”
Arness, who died Friday at age 88, pulled off the hardest kind of acting on “Gunsmoke.” He made a forceful and enduring impression with a subtle, determined approach. He didn’t hog the screen or chew the scenery. He simply was Matt Dillon.
At 6-foot-7, he was hard to ignore. He was nominated for an Emmy three times, and the series was named best drama once.
Arness helped make his co-stars look good: Dennis Weaver as Chester and Milburn Stone as Doc won Emmys; Amanda Blake was a nominee as Miss Kitty.
The Arness style wore well over 635 episodes as ”Gunsmoke” grew from half-hour to hour, changed from black-and-white to color and moved time slots on CBS. “Gunsmoke” was a huge hit in the 1950s. When it aired on Saturdays, it ranked No. 1 four times for a season. (Ah, for the days when networks put top series on Saturdays.) And ”Gunsmoke” was a Top 10 hit all over again when CBS moved the western to Mondays in the 1960s.
“I never had a time when I thought, gee, I’ve been doing this long enough, I’ve got to go do something else,” he once said.
And a good thing for viewers. Arness was such an iconic presence that he embodied law and order before there was a series with that name; Jerry Orbach had a similar impact a generation later as Lennie Briscoe on “Law & Order.”
Those of us watched “Gunsmoke” when it first aired may not remember the plots, but Arness made an unforgettable impression as an actor and a crime deterrent.
You’d never want to let Matt Dillon down. James Arness made keeping the peace an art.
While John Wayne reigned at the movie theater, Arness was the preeminent western star on the small screen from 1955 to 1975. The CBS drama was one of TV’s biggest hits. It places No. 2 — behind only “60 Minutes” — on the Top 100 Series of All Time, according to “The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows.”
Arness, who died Friday at age 88, pulled off the hardest kind of acting on “Gunsmoke.” He made a forceful and enduring impression with a subtle, determined approach. He didn’t hog the screen or chew the scenery. He simply was Matt Dillon.
At 6-foot-7, he was hard to ignore. He was nominated for an Emmy three times, and the series was named best drama once.
Arness helped make his co-stars look good: Dennis Weaver as Chester and Milburn Stone as Doc won Emmys; Amanda Blake was a nominee as Miss Kitty.
“I never had a time when I thought, gee, I’ve been doing this long enough, I’ve got to go do something else,” he once said.
And a good thing for viewers. Arness was such an iconic presence that he embodied law and order before there was a series with that name; Jerry Orbach had a similar impact a generation later as Lennie Briscoe on “Law & Order.”
Those of us watched “Gunsmoke” when it first aired may not remember the plots, but Arness made an unforgettable impression as an actor and a crime deterrent.
You’d never want to let Matt Dillon down. James Arness made keeping the peace an art.
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