James Arness, the actor who portrayed Marshal Matt Dillon on “Gunsmoke” for twenty years, died today at the age of 88 from natural causes. What’s that you say? There’s also a famous actor named Matt Dillon? Oh my, that may cause some confusion. This website really needs better journalistic standards.
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…
“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.” [LA Times]
Arness was also a WWII Army combat vet and accepted the role of Dillon at the suggestion of his friend John Wayne, which means that you would need to bed at least three Victoria’s Secret models to have a cooler life. RIP.
