James Arness
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40 free James Arness trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
James Arness spent twenty years as Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, one of the longest runs any actor has had in a single television role. Before the badge he was a wounded infantryman, a bit player in Westerns and war films, and the creature in a science-fiction classic. This quiz covers the whole story: his Minnesota boyhood and war service, the early film parts, how he landed the role that defined him, the co-stars who shared the Long Branch with him, and the series and TV movies he made after the show ended. A few questions look at the private man, who was far shyer and funnier than the lawman he played. It is written for Gunsmoke fans, classic TV and Western buffs, and anyone putting together a trivia night with a Hollywood or 1950s television round.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01James Arness's son Rolf Aurness became a 1970 world champion in which sport?
Surfing
Surfing made Rolf Aurness the 1970 world champion when he beat Midget Farrelly in the final at Johanna in Victoria, Australia.
Q 02Before Gunsmoke, James Arness played the alien creature in which 1951 science-fiction horror film?
The Thing from Another World
The Thing from Another World cast him as a plant-based alien thawed from Arctic ice that feeds on blood and shrugs off bullets.
Q 03Which Mission: Impossible star was the younger brother of Gunsmoke lead James Arness?
Peter Graves
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.
Q 04Which movie star recommended James Arness for Gunsmoke and introduced its first episode on camera?
John Wayne
John Wayne told viewers his friend would become a big star; accounts differ on whether he was ever offered the part himself.
Q 05Gunsmoke shoots were sometimes halted because stoic star James Arness could not stop doing what?
Giggling
Giggling fits could shut the set down, and his stunt double Ben Bates said the big man laughed with his whole body.
Q 06Which physical trait ended James Arness's dream of becoming a naval fighter pilot in World War II?
His height
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.
Q 07Walt Disney screened Them! while considering James Arness to play which frontier hero on television?
Davy Crockett
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.
Q 08In Them! (1954), FBI agent James Arness battles giant irradiated versions of which creature?
Ants
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.
Q 09Which hit sitcom was cancelled in 1967 so James Arness's Gunsmoke could stay on the air?
Gilligan's Island
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.
Q 10Because James Arness avoided the press, TV Guide nicknamed him which film star "of Dodge City"?
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo was famous for shunning publicity, and the shy Western star earned the comparison by banning reporters from the Gunsmoke set.
Q 11James Arness's Marshal Matt Dillon kept the peace for 20 seasons in Dodge City, in which state?
Kansas
Kansas was the real cattle-town setting of the 1870s, and the real Dodge City had a Long Branch Saloon of its own.
Q 12Which network aired all 20 seasons of Gunsmoke with James Arness, from 1955 to 1975?
CBS
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.
Q 13Which actress played saloon keeper Miss Kitty opposite James Arness for 19 years of Gunsmoke?
Amanda Blake
Amanda Blake left the role in 1974 and, away from acting, helped run one of the first successful programs for breeding cheetahs in captivity.
Q 21Which future TV lawyer was judged too heavy to play Matt Dillon before James Arness got the part?
Raymond Burr
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.
Q 22Under which different title did James Arness's Gunsmoke air on television in the United Kingdom?
Gun Law
Gun Law was the British name, while American reruns of the early half-hour episodes were retitled Marshal Dillon.
Q 23James Arness played which real frontier figure in the 1987 TV movie The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory?
Jim Bowie
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.
Q 14James Arness was severely wounded in the right leg during which World War II battle in Italy?
Anzio
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.
Q 15Why was James Arness the first soldier ordered off his landing craft during a 1944 beach assault?
To check the water depth
To check the water depth, the tallest man aboard was sent over the side first, and the sea came up to his waist.
Q 16In which Minnesota city was James Arness born and raised alongside his future-actor brother?
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is where he attended Washburn and West high schools and, by his own account, skipped a good many classes before graduating in 1942.
Q 17James Arness was born Aurness, a family name his grandfather brought to America from which country?
Norway
Norway was home to his grandfather Peter Aursnes, who respelled the name Aurness after emigrating in 1887; a film studio later trimmed it again.
Q 18James Arness won a cult following in Europe as mountain man Zeb Macahan in which 1970s series?
How the West Was Won
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.
Q 19Whose deep voice played Marshal Matt Dillon on radio while James Arness played him on television?
William Conrad
William Conrad voiced the marshal until the radio run ended in 1961, then crossed to television to direct two episodes of the show.
Q 20Which former Gunsmoke regular turned movie star wrote the foreword to James Arness's autobiography?
Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds played blacksmith Quint Asper from 1962 to 1965 and later called his years on the show the happiest period of his life.
Q 24James Arness played cattleman Tom Dunson in a 1988 TV remake of which classic 1948 Western?
Red River
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.
Q 25In which short-lived 1981 crime drama did James Arness play a detective who comes out of retirement?
McClain's Law
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.
Q 26James Arness made his 1947 film debut as Loretta Young's brother in which comedy?
The Farmer's Daughter
The Farmer's Daughter won Loretta Young the Best Actress Oscar in an upset, and the newcomer was credited under his birth spelling, Aurness.
Q 27James Arness has an unbilled cameo as Matt Dillon in Alias Jesse James, a 1959 comedy starring whom?
Bob Hope
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.
Q 28Five years before Gunsmoke, James Arness played a deputy in an episode of which early TV Western?
The Lone Ranger
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.
Q 29Gunsmoke with James Arness debuted four days after a rival adult Western about which real lawman?
Wyatt Earp
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.
Q 30James Arness and which decorated soldier turned film star both served in the 3rd Infantry Division?
Audie Murphy
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.