Watched an old episode of Gunsmoke yesterday. The guest
actor was clean cut and well dressed. I thought he looked, and
sounded familiar. Sure enough, it was Ken Curtis.

Ken had a long career. He was a guitar player and tenor in the
Sons of The Pioneers. And he played in many movies and TV
shows. The movies he played in were mostly westerns. One of
my favorites was The Searchers.

I think it was about season six of Gunsmoke that Chester left
and was replaced by Festus as Matt Dillon's sidekick. He must
have been a superb actor to play that part the way he did.

The annual rodeo in Nampa, Idaho is The Snake River Stampede.
Many years ago, we were at the Stampede, and the special guests
were Doc Adams and Festus. Festus said I thought Miss Kitty was
going to come with us. Doc said well she was, but then she came
down with a chest cold and decided to stay home. Festus said
them germs really know how to live.

Ken Curtis July 2, 1916 - April 28, 1991 passed away in his
sleep at age 74.

__________________
In Omnia Paratus

Don't forget about his stint with Tommy Dorsey.

__________________
Music/Sports/Beer fan

What stint with Tommy Dorsey ?? Please expand.

As well as on Have Gun Will Travel.

__________________
KM
S&WCA 3110 S&WHF 625

He replaced Sinatra in Dorsey's band in 1941.

__________________
Music/Sports/Beer fan

He also played Capt. Almaron Dickinson, Travis's aide-de-camp, in John Wayne's 1960 movie "The Alamo".

__________________
Live long and prosper

I'm probably in a minority here, but I think Ken Curtis was much better in most of his other roles than he was as Festus. I was a big fan of Gunsmoke, having grown up with it from '55 to '75. Dennis Weaver's Chester was a far better character, but we didn't realize that until Chester left and Festus came along.

A little bit of Festus was fine and certainly added something to the show, but a little bit of Festus went a long way. Ken Curtis overplayed the character far too often, in my opinion, taking something away from the show.

To me the Festus character was at least funny at times.
Chester? Rather dull most of the time.
And I have been watching all of them on INSP.....

__________________
Only difference Fool/Mule-ears

I was kinda fond of Ruth, his mule.

Festus portrayed the typical cowboy better than any other TV western character.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Ken Curtis was from Las Animas, Colorado, about 80 miles east of here. Mostly farm and ranch country. He was always very popular in this area, made a lot of visits at county fairs and other community events. I met him several times, always pleasant and friendly with everyone.

"Rio Grande" was a good one for him as well. When he serenaded Maureen O'Hara.

__________________
Mike
S&WCA #3065

I believe he was also in "The Searchers" playing the guitar

The Searchers - Wikipedia

It's gotta be tough to replace a key character in a popular TV series. Festus did a good job. I recall when Goober replaced Gomer on Andy Griffith.

Hey let's not get into the Goober vs. Gomer controversy yet again! Been down that road too many times! ;-)

Are you all forgetting he sang with "The Sons of the Pioneers" too, along with Leonard Slye (AKA as Roy Rogers)

Crazy, thanks for the memory. I remember that show. I was very young and do not remember the joke and at that stage of my life it would have gone over my head anyways.
You must be one of the few natives to the area left. There are not too many of us left these days

Didn't he marry the boss's daughter?

__________________
God spelled backwards is dog.

A classic
Doc trying to convince Festus to learn to read and write...
"Supposin' I was to go to work and learn how to... to read writin'. Well, how'd I know the feller that... who wrote the writin' was writin' the writin' right? See it could be that he wrote the writin' all wrong. Here I'd be just a readin' wrong writin', don't ya see? You probably been doing it your whole life, just a readin' wrong writin' And not even knowin' it." Festus Haggen

I saw the same episode as crazyphil and I too, thought that the guest looked vaguely familiar. It took me about 15 minutes to realize that it was the future Festus.
INSP has had a few Gunsmoke marathons lately and I've been recording them. Unlike most of the shows on TV today, many of the Gunsmoke episodes had a small integrity-lesson for the viewers.

Loved Festus! I thought he was the best actor on television... On Gunsmoke this morning, the guest actor is none other than "The Duke Himself" Mr John Wayne.

And yet, while in the role of Festus he rarely sang anything, while Dennis Weaver did so far more often.....wonder why that was? Anyone know?

There were a handful of episodes where both Chester and Festus appeared together.

Whether he over-played his part or not, "I" for one greatly enjoyed him and miss he and Festus as well as the rest of the Gunsmoke crew.

Ever notice how many later on BIG stars seemed to have a starting role on Gunsmoke....ie. Burt Reynolds....Charles Bronson to name a few..

Randy

You're kidding, aren't you? Chester could have played an old lady better than Frances Bavier.
Festus could have kicked his butt from here to Dodge City.

__________________
Regards,
Lee Jarrett

I've watched every episode of Gunsmoke many times. The best part was Festus and the main reason to watch it. No crush here on Kitty.

Ex and I were in a OKC steak house back in the 70's when Ken Curtis
came in. He was in OKC for the national finals rodeo, very pleasant
guy, spoke to us that was about all the contact.
Buck Taylor has been to the Ole Fort Days Rodeo in Fort Smith several
times, talked to him a couple times. He is a pretty good artist and he
and his wife had a booth with his paintings for sale. He also was
riding a beautiful paint horse. He now resides in North Texas.

Opinions vary and I didn't expect many to agree with me, but Festus was just too much full-strength "Festus" too often. It extended to the point of goofiness when his half-wit relatives made their occasional appearance and completely ruined an episode. Gunsmoke didn't fare well as a comedy.

Regardless of what others may think of the Chester character (persistent whiner, not too bright in many instances, and often incompetent as a deputy), he was in the very best Gunsmoke episodes, the early thirty-minute B&W ones that were more violent than the toned-down episodes when they went to one-hour format ('61 or so) and the Chester character eventually faded away.

Classic Doc and Festus...

All of the TV Land episodes only have Festus in them. I don't recall ever seeing Chester though I am sure I did first time around. Where can the earlier years be found?

...Ken Curtis played "Kyle Kelly" in the Gunsmoke episode "Lover Boy"...

...when he tried to give Avis Fisher (Sheree North) one last squeeze before he dumped her...she pulled his Peacemaker from his holster and leveled his karma permanently with it...

__________________
A Country Boy Can Survive

Met Him in the Hungry Logger in Southfork, CO while having breakfast with My old friend James Kehr. They were friends.

As a youngster I thought he was a hick from the mountains but learned just how clever he was using his version of pronunciation for different words was pure genius, how anyone with good sense could carry on a conversation such as he was able to do. I'm sure you all know he could really sing. More talent than so many people who get the headlines, in my opinion!

__________________
Sam
S&WHF 333 S&WCA 2198

Don’t forget the early 60’s tv show “Ripcord”.

YouTube

He was also on at least one episode of Perry Mason.

And of course, "Killer Shrews".

Best regards,

Was he a circus clown in that episode? He also portrayed a retired cop living in a nursing home in one episode of "In The Heat Of The Night".

Watched a YouTube video of Curtis singing "Tumbleweeds" IIRC. He was pretty good. Saw Dennis Weaver sing on Hee Haw a couple times and cannot come up with a logical reason he was on there. Horrible voice and poor intonation. Same effect as listening to someone scraping their fingernails on a blackboard.

I'm sure there will be no argument from those who have seen it that it was among the worst of the worst movies ever. Low budget doesn't begin to describe it. I had forgotten about Ken Curtis being in it; two or three years before "Festus".

This I did not know.

__________________
I Cor. 10:13 "1611KJV"

I have to disagree with rock and agree with Lee on this. Festus was the much better character the Chester could ever hope to be. I never liked Dennis Weaver in any thing he ever played in.

__________________
I Cor. 10:13 "1611KJV"

Old West version of "Who's On First".

Used to date old ruth, that gal had real mule sense. Whenever I gave her flowers, she promptly et em

"Ever notice how many later on BIG stars seemed to have a starting role on Gunsmoke....ie. Burt Reynolds....Charles Bronson to name a few.."

It would be difficult to beat the original Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone" on that score. He started many on their path to future stardom.

Without Festus and Doc that show would have turned into a big bunch of nothing even quicker than it did when the writers turned it into a crummy, second-rate, soap opera instead of a real cowboy-western like it was when it was most successful. Yeah, the Festus part may have been overdone just a tiny bit, but it never bothered me - particularly when he and Doc were going after each other.

The Festus part was great and well played.

My late father used to refer to "Star Trek" as "Gunsmoke in the Stars." He opined that Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy were adaptations of Marshall Dillon, Festus and Doc Adams.

How about DOC as the lion tamer in Jungle Woman 1944, he is in several old Sci-fi movies. I guess it was in his and James Arness blood, Them, Two lost worlds and of course The THING from another planet (one of my favorites). Festus is in everything, he is always popping up. Kitty is the tough one, Miss Robinson Crusoe 1954, A star is born. I always thought she was so cute when she was young. All better than what we have today, like Yellowstone a REAL cowboy show!!!
I guess in those days you did whatever the studio wanted TV show, movie etc. At least until you got some star power.

Gunsmoke would certainly have been a lesser show without Doc and probably wouldn't have lasted the remarkable twenty years that it did. Milburn Stone was pretty much a not-so-well-known character actor in B-gangster films for years before Gunsmoke.

For you professional Gunsmoke fans, I have a question. If my memory serves me correctly, there was an episode with probably Festus, where he used his unusual mathematical skills to determine how many posts were required to build a fence. I would love to have that formula.

Yep, that conversation was with Festus, Doc, and Kitty at the long branch saloon....also one of my favorite episodes.

.... in 'Mr. Roberts'.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"

It would be too out of character for Festus to sing like Ken Curtis.

__________________
"He was kinda funny lookin'"