James Arness R.I.P.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/06/03/james-arness-obit.html

Gunsmoke actor James Arness dies

By CBC News

CBC News

James Arness, the actor who played Dodge City lawman Matt Dillon for two decades on Gunsmoke, died Friday. He was 88.

James Arness, the actor who played Dodge City lawman Matt Dillon for two decades on Gunsmoke, died Friday. He was 88.

Arness died in his sleep at his home in Brentwood, Calif., according to his business manager, Ginny Fazer.

Arness, a 6-foot-6 Minnesotan, had one of the longest roles in television history as the quietly heroic U.S. Marshal, keeping the peace in one of the West's most violent towns.

He also was a legend in Hollywood for his portrayal of Zeb Macahan in How the West Was Won.

Posthumous message

On Friday, his official website carried a letter he had left to be posted after his death.

"I had a wonderful life and was blessed with some many loving people and great friends," he wrote.

"I wanted to take this time to thank all of you for the many years of being a fan ofGunsmoke, The Thing, How the West Was Won and all the other fun projects I was lucky enough to have been allowed to be a part of. I had the privilege of working with so many great actors over the years."

Arness had roles alongside Rock Hudson in Iron Man, John Wayne in Hondoand Big Jim McLain and Sterling Hayden in Hellgate before he landedGunsmoke. He also appeared in 1951's The Thing From Another World as the alien Thing .

Hesitated over Gunsmoke role

Wayne actually turned down the role of Matt Dillon and recommended Arness for the role. Arness was reluctant to take it because he thought his film career might go further.

"Go ahead and take it, Jim," Wayne urged him. "You're too big for pictures. Guys like Gregory Peck and I don't want a big lug like you towering over us. Make your mark in television."

Gunsmoke was initially a radio series (1952 to 1961), with Matt Dillon played by William Conrad. Arness developed the character of Dillon throughout its two decades, creating a man who brooded less over the violence of human nature but who also was less likely to punch his way out of trouble. He remained the fastest man in Dodge with a firearm and absolutely incorruptible.

"The camera really loved his face, and with good reason," novelist Wallace Markfield wrote in a 1975 Gunsmoke appreciation in the New York Times. "It was a face that would age well and that, while aging, would carry intimations of waste, loss and futility."

Arness was born James Aurness in Minneapolis on May 26, 1923 - he dropped the "u" from his name at the urging of a theatre coach. His brother, who changed his name entirely, was Peter Graves, who starred in Mission Impossible.

Arness left home at age 18, hopping freight trains and Caribbean-bound freighters. He was drafted into the army in 1942 and was wounded in the leg during the 1944 invasion of Italy. Arness was hospitalized for a year and left the service with a slight limp.

He returned to Minneapolis to work as a radio announcer and had small theatre roles before heading to Hollywood in 1946.

Age of the western

The television version of Gunsmoke ran for 20 seasons - from 1955 to 1975 - and was the longest-running prime time, live-action drama in the U.S. until 2010, when Law and Order matched that record [http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/tv/story/2010/05/14/law-and-order-cancelled.html].

In the late 1980s and 1990s, Arness starred in five TV movies based on the series.

Arness performed in western-themed television series The Macahans and How the West was Won and played detective Jim McClain in McClain's Law.

His marriage to Virginia Chapman ended in divorce in 1960. They had three children together, one of whom, Jenny Lee, committed suicide in 1975.

Arness is survived by his second wife, Janet Surtrees, who he married in 1978 and his son Rolf. Another son, Craig, died in 2004.

[TBoneTX 43,059]

He was a good actor, si man.

[thongd4me 69]

I was a regular viewer when I was a kid. Amen - James Arness was a true TV icon.

I used to impersonate Festus with this line:

"Math-ew, Math-ew, Miss Kitty gittin' raped at the Pool hawl!

[Nagishkaw 510]

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

All my TV heroes are going.