40 Fun Facts About James Arness

James Arness's son Rolf Aurness became a 1970 world champion in which sport?

Surfing made Rolf Aurness the 1970 world champion when he beat Midget Farrelly in the final at Johanna in Victoria, Australia.

Before Gunsmoke, James Arness played the alien creature in which 1951 science-fiction horror film?

The Thing from Another World cast him as a plant-based alien thawed from Arctic ice that feeds on blood and shrugs off bullets.

Which Mission: Impossible star was the younger brother of Gunsmoke lead James Arness?

Peter Graves took a name from his mother's side of the family as a stage name so he would not be confused with his elder brother.

Which movie star recommended James Arness for Gunsmoke and introduced its first episode on camera?

John Wayne told viewers his friend would become a big star; accounts differ on whether he was ever offered the part himself.

Gunsmoke shoots were sometimes halted because stoic star James Arness could not stop doing what?

Giggling fits could shut the set down, and his stunt double Ben Bates said the big man laughed with his whole body.

Which physical trait ended James Arness's dream of becoming a naval fighter pilot in World War II?

His height, about 6 feet 7, was far over the limit for aviators; he had expected his eyesight to be the problem, and the Army drafted him instead.

Walt Disney screened Them! while considering James Arness to play which frontier hero on television?

Davy Crockett went instead to Fess Parker, whose small scene in the same film impressed Disney more than the man he had come to watch.

In Them! (1954), FBI agent James Arness battles giant irradiated versions of which creature?

Ants mutated by the first atomic bomb test nest in the New Mexico desert, and the last colony is hunted through the storm drains of Los Angeles.

Which hit sitcom was cancelled in 1967 so James Arness's Gunsmoke could stay on the air?

Gilligan's Island lost its place after Babe Paley, wife of the network's boss, pressed her husband to keep the Western, which then ran eight more years.

Because James Arness avoided the press, TV Guide nicknamed him which film star "of Dodge City"?

Greta Garbo was famous for shunning publicity, and the shy Western star earned the comparison by banning reporters from the Gunsmoke set.

James Arness's Marshal Matt Dillon kept the peace for 20 seasons in Dodge City, in which state?

Kansas was the real cattle-town setting of the 1870s, and the real Dodge City had a Long Branch Saloon of its own.

Which network aired all 20 seasons of Gunsmoke with James Arness, from 1955 to 1975?

CBS had carried the show on radio since 1952 before bringing it to television, where it was the number one program from 1957 to 1961.

Which actress played saloon keeper Miss Kitty opposite James Arness for 19 years of Gunsmoke?

Amanda Blake left the role in 1974 and, away from acting, helped run one of the first successful programs for breeding cheetahs in captivity.

James Arness was severely wounded in the right leg during which World War II battle in Italy?

Anzio brought him a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, and the injured leg troubled him for the rest of his life, above all on long days in the saddle.

Why was James Arness the first soldier ordered off his landing craft during a 1944 beach assault?

To check the water depth, the tallest man aboard was sent over the side first, and the sea came up to his waist.

In which Minnesota city was James Arness born and raised alongside his future-actor brother?

Minneapolis is where he attended Washburn and West high schools and, by his own account, skipped a good many classes before graduating in 1942.

James Arness was born Aurness, a family name his grandfather brought to America from which country?

Norway was home to his grandfather Peter Aursnes, who respelled the name Aurness after emigrating in 1887; a film studio later trimmed it again.

James Arness won a cult following in Europe as mountain man Zeb Macahan in which 1970s series?

How the West Was Won began with the 1976 TV film The Macahans and has been rerun so often across Europe that it outgrew its American audience.

Whose deep voice played Marshal Matt Dillon on radio while James Arness played him on television?

William Conrad voiced the marshal until the radio run ended in 1961, then crossed to television to direct two episodes of the show.

Which former Gunsmoke regular turned movie star wrote the foreword to James Arness's autobiography?

Burt Reynolds played blacksmith Quint Asper from 1962 to 1965 and later called his years on the show the happiest period of his life.

Which future TV lawyer was judged too heavy to play Matt Dillon before James Arness got the part?

Raymond Burr had the right voice, the show's first director recalled, but was simply too big for the part; he found fame as Perry Mason instead.

Under which different title did James Arness's Gunsmoke air on television in the United Kingdom?

Gun Law was the British name, while American reruns of the early half-hour episodes were retitled Marshal Dillon.

James Arness played which real frontier figure in the 1987 TV movie The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory?

Jim Bowie is one of the leaders of the besieged garrison in the film, with a young Alec Baldwin as William Travis and Raul Julia as Santa Anna.

James Arness played cattleman Tom Dunson in a 1988 TV remake of which classic 1948 Western?

Red River tells of a Texas rancher whose long cattle drive turns into a feud with his adopted son, a story first filmed by Howard Hawks.

In which short-lived 1981 crime drama did James Arness play a detective who comes out of retirement?

McClain's Law lasted one season; its hero had been retired after a gunshot wound to the leg, an echo of the war injury its star carried in real life.

James Arness made his 1947 film debut as Loretta Young's brother in which comedy?

The Farmer's Daughter won Loretta Young the Best Actress Oscar in an upset, and the newcomer was credited under his birth spelling, Aurness.

James Arness has an unbilled cameo as Matt Dillon in Alias Jesse James, a 1959 comedy starring whom?

Bob Hope plays a timid insurance agent who survives the final gunfight only because a string of screen Western heroes secretly do the shooting for him.

Five years before Gunsmoke, James Arness played a deputy in an episode of which early TV Western?

The Lone Ranger gave him the small part of Deputy Bud Titus in 1950, when he was still an unknown taking bit parts in films.

Gunsmoke with James Arness debuted four days after a rival adult Western about which real lawman?

Wyatt Earp reached the screen first, with Hugh O'Brian in the lead, but that series ended in 1961 while the Dodge City drama ran until 1975.

James Arness and which decorated soldier turned film star both served in the 3rd Infantry Division?

Audie Murphy, the most decorated American combat soldier of the war, was in the division's 15th Infantry Regiment; the future TV marshal was in its 7th.

James Arness played Army scout Lennie in which 1953 Western shot in 3D from a Louis L'Amour story?

Hondo was filmed with bulky twin-lens 3D cameras in the Mexican desert, yet by its release the craze had faded and very few theaters showed it that way.

James Arness played outlaw Floyd Clegg in Wagon Master, a 1950 Western made by which director?

John Ford counted the film, about a Mormon wagon train crossing the Utah desert, among the few that came closest to what he wanted to achieve.

War veteran James Arness played a sergeant in Battleground, a 1949 film set during which campaign?

Battle of the Bulge veteran Robert Pirosh wrote the script from his own experiences in that fight, and several of the cast had served in the war too.

To look the part of Marshal Matt Dillon, James Arness had to darken which natural feature?

His blond hair was dyed darker for the part; Arvo Ojala, who taught him to shoot, played the gunman he faces in the show's opening sequence.

On his brother's advice, James Arness found his first show-business job after the Army as what?

Disc jockey work at a local station followed a course at a radio announcing school, but within months he quit and headed west to Los Angeles.

James Arness's adopted son Craig founded a stock photo agency and shot for which famous magazine?

National Geographic used Craig Arness as a photographer, and the stock agency he founded was called Westlight.

Which future Police Woman star had her first leading role opposite James Arness in Gun the Man Down?

Angie Dickinson took the part in 1956, in a Western directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, and went on to Rio Bravo and the original Ocean's Eleven.

Which skill did James Arness learn in the late 1960s so he could reach remote beaches in Baja?

Flying a plane also got him to Gunsmoke locations, where his habit of buzzing the set in his own aircraft became legendary.

Which Gunsmoke co-star named his second son Matthew in tribute to James Arness's Marshal Dillon?

Buck Taylor joined the cast in 1967 as gunsmith Newly O'Brien and stayed to the end, returning as the town's marshal in the 1987 reunion film.

Which future McCloud star played Chester, limping sidekick to James Arness's Marshal Dillon?

Dennis Weaver, a college decathlon champion, chose the stiff leg himself after the producer asked for a trait that made the sidekick less heroic than the star.