For some reason I never watched much "Gunsmoke" when it was running, but I am making up for it now with TV Land. I don't know much about fast draw and realize it is TV, but James Arness looks pretty fast to me. Anyone know anything about where he learned to handle a gun? I've read pretty much everything on the net and can't find a reference.

Arvo Ohjea taught him and is the guy that matt is drawing down on at the beginning of every segment.
I have met james arness, he was one big dude, and in person he looked even bigger than he did on screen.

Slight correction, Merril - his teacher was Arvo Ojala, a quick-draw master of that era. I believe he originated the metal-lined holster that made a slick fast draw even faster. And his last name was pronounced Oh-Jalla, not Oh-Halla. It was not an Hispanic name.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I am a bad speller. Some where I read I belive he was a norwegion.

Correction again. I just googled him and seen he was finnish. Oh well thats next door, aint it?

If you get Encore Westerns, I have it on DTV, they play both Gunsmoke and Marshal Dillion. Never get tired of the old B&W shows.

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Psalm 23:4

Great show. We have a young guy here at work who is a dead ringer for Buck Taylor, the actor that played Newly O'Brien. Sadly he had never even heard of Gunsmoke so we had to educate him a bit.

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Pray for Gridlock

Great show and character. I remember the Biography on him and he seems like a real class act.

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Cheers, Charles
SWCA #2442

I agree, great show and the guy was quick, especially with a 6" barrel. I enjoy TV land and Encore Western. Encore Western has Gunsmoke, Bonanza and Have Gun, Will Travel.

I was at a western movie festival at Sonora, Ca. the late 90's and Buck Taylor was there with his watercolor paintings displayed. Very fine work. Here's Matt Dillon facing Arvo Ojala but not quite how you remember it...


Gunsmoke - not the way your mother remembers it - YouTube

He was also the monster in the original 1950 something movie The Thing.

And wounded at Anzio

Arvo Ojala was a Finn, eh?
Got lots of his second cousins, twice removed, here in da U.P.

And that was a very good deed you performed!

I believe Arness used to be six feet seven, but I imagine he shrank with age. His brother, Peter Graves, was a little shorter as I recall.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Matt & Arvo - Pic HEAVY!!!

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

James Arness was "The Thing" in the original black and white movie. I grew up watching Gunsmoke. I watched an episode tonight with a young Burt Reynolds.

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Have Gun Will Carry

Since he was friendly with John Wayne I wonder if he also learned a few tricks from Wayne's early mentor, Yakima Canutt?

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LIVE FROM THE DAWGHOUSE

So you guys figger that he and Miss Kitty ever, um, you know....

YouTube has an interesting series of interviews someone did with Mr. Arness some years after his acting career ended. Well worth watching if you have the time.

He was so badly wounded at Anzio that he spent a year in the hospital and walked with a slight limp the rest of his life.

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You're shy a few manners.

Well, Miss Kitty did have a heart of gold. Unlike most ladies in her line of management...

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Oh well, what the hell.

Every night at 5:30 PM , the half hour show "Matt Dillon", followed at 6:00 PM, the hour show "Gunsmoke".

On the Western Channel, rarely miss it.

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Doesn't hasta call me Johnson

I read a few weeks ago John Wayne was his mentor and originally was offered the role of Matt Dillon, but turned it James Arness's way. They were said to be life long friends. Kind of a cool story.

Jack Reacher wears Matt Dillon pajamas.

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God spelled backwards is dog.

A few ago I was out at SASS in Edgewood, NM. I see this guy roping a practice dummy. So I say to my friend 'there's Buck Taylor.' She says who?
Another time I saw another Gun Smoke alumni down at Whole Foods. He and his wife were both vegans. They were busy reading labels. Dennis Weaver of course.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

'Gunsmoke' and Arness and the rest of the cast was one of the best shows on TV. I liked the old B&W reruns, 'Marshal Dillon' before Dodge got to be a Metropolis. It was much grittier. More 'Old West'.

I always watched Gunsmoke when it was a regular series on tv and still watch it on the western channel sometimes. My favorite sidekick of Matt's was ole Festus Hagan.

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James
On the Llano Estacado

So, does Chuck Norris tell James Arness jokes?

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Pray for Gridlock

"So you might as well get used to him, like you had to get used to me"

John Wayne's promo for James Arness and the opening episode of Gunsmoke.

John Wayne Gunsmoke PROMO - YouTube

I grew up with Gunsmoke and still watch it. . My cat's name is Chester.

Rod

FYI if interested here's his Obituary "James Arness, tall, quiet Marshal Dillon of TV’s ‘Gunsmoke,’ dies at 88" it has some good info about him.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2...-kitty-russell

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Psalm 23:4

I love the episodes when there is a pretty woman around.

Chester really cracks me up when he is around the ladies.

Festus is a favorite.

They did have a great cast in that series and James was the right man for the role.

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Doesn't hasta call me Johnson

From his obit, linked above: "His relationship with Miss Kitty developed to the point that they shared a kiss during one episode in 1973. They never married, though, and the social order of Dodge City remained intact."

Man, considering that the TV show started in 1955 and ran until 1975, I bet ol' Matt was one frustrated son of a gun beneath that stoic exterior!

I don't know if it's true or not but the story as I've heard it goes Wayne was offered the role and turned it down. But he was in a little hiatus from making movies and he had people under contract he still had to pay. So Wayne told the people who wanted him for the Marshall Dillon role that he would let Arness out of his contract with BatJac if they signed Arness to play Matt Dillon. Wayne's ulterior motive was to actually get a paycheck off the books but in doing so, he did James Arness a huge favor. I don't know if that's true or not since I've also heard that Wayne was never offered the role. Another Hollywierd mystery.

CW

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μολὼν λαβέ

O.k., here's my brush with fame. As a early teen ager I surfed with James Arness more than a few times at Rincon, while I was living in Carpinteria, California. His son Rolf I also knew and he went on to be U.S.national surfing champion. Long ago, I swan.

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Halfway and one more step

I was a kid in the 60s, so I grew up with Gunsmoke. My Dad pretty much let me watch what I wanted on TV, but it was understood that on Gunsmoke night that's what we would be watching. I don't think I really knew what a great show it was until later on in life when I watched the reruns.

Thanks for the memories!!!

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Retired Marine Gunny

I've read that he was of Swedish descent and that the family name is really spelled as Aurness. He changed it slghtly for his acting career.

Anyone know why Peter Graves didn't use the Aurness nme, as they were brothers? Maybe they didn't want audiences confusing them in TV listings? I think they got along okay, no family feuds.

Back when I was a kid, Isaw a photo of James Arness getting a holster for his prsonal K-38. I think he was n jala's shop.

Paladin, thanks for the right way to pronounce,"Ojala." I'd wondered for years. I read the topic posted by Hand Ejector, so know now that he was born in Washington (state) of Finnish parents. I'd read somewhere that he was a Swede.

According to IMDB Peter Graves' birth name was Peter Duesler Aurness.

+1
and same went for Bonanza.
Both shows I remember my dad watching every Sunday night.
Before that it was Wonderful World of Disney for me.

Graves was his mom's maiden name. Don't know when he decided to use it.

The earliest appearance of Arness that I know of is in "The Farmers Daughter" where he plays Loretta Young's younger brother. They were of Scandinavian extraction in the film.

Regards,

Tam 3

I watched it way back when and still watch it today. It's like a time line of now well known actors that rotated through the shows. It's fun to see them in the early stages of their careers. I enjoy the Marshall Dillon episodes a bit more that the later Gunsmoke shows. James Arness was a class act and the shows were great. Like Matt says in about every show "I had no choice." Same with me about watching the series.

According to the Gunsmoke movies that came after the show, Dillon had a daughter from one encounter with "Mike" Yardner (Michael Learned of The Waltons), so...he did have that.

Also, there were occasional images of Matt coming down the stairs of the Long Branch, sometimes with Miss Kitty, and sometimes alone, I believe. So, even though they may not have married, they might still have been friends with benefits, or just "business" acquaintances.

Tim

There was a "spoof" out many years ago of the cast of gunsmoke. It was real funny. I would like to find that on U tube or whatever. It had matt talking to miss kitty at a bar table and chester and doc was trying to get his attention but matt was more interesting in miss kitty who keeps giggeling while chester is trying to tell him doc has arrow clean through his neck etc. Anyone recall that?

Regarding another cast member--in his autobiography "In the Arena", Charlton Heston writes about how he convinced his good friend Milburn Stone to take the role of Doc. Stone had been toiling away in movies with little to show for it but wasn't sure if he wanted to throw in his lot with the new media of television.

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Pray for Gridlock

Awesome show I have not seen since I was a kid. Arness was great but the real character on that show was Festus. Since we are bringing up great Westerns from that era lets not forget Chuck Connors as the rifleman or rawhide.

Ole Festus could sing, too!

Ken Curtis "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" Festus Country - YouTube

My favorite Gunsmoke's are the ones with Dr. Adams and Festus. Check out youtube for Ken Curtis. He has a fantastic voice sang with a group prior to his Gunsmoke days. Never liked the ones with Chester because I don't like him. Never liked him in that NYC detective program either. Just don't like him period. I just read last week that James Arness' war wounds bothered him all his life.

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I Cor. 10:13 "1611KJV"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAXDCyQyd9Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psnPEyuB9S4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFhIM5Av7wU

Dillon's Colt had a 7&1/2 inch barrel. Probably to match a man the size of Matt Dillon. He would have looked pretty silly drawing a sixgun with a 4 & 5/8 inch barrel. Sonora

!

I have read it wasnt a colt but a great western clone.

Aww, I wanted to be the one to reveal Ojala's origins but you beat me to the Finnish.