I've just been wondering how Chester was written out of Gunsmoke? I didn't watch them way back then, but I enjoy
reruns now.

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In Omnia Paratus

Dennis Weaver had done the show for a long time (10 years?) and wanted to go do something else. He did some show I don't remember and then hit it big with McCloud.

Dennis Weaver quit the show after nine years. He was there one season and gone the next. I don’t think his absence was explained.

He did Kentucky Jones, then landed McCloud.

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Rule of law, not a man.

Guess those poor folks in Dodge will never know what happened to him.

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In Omnia Paratus

I always figured he got tired of faking a limp all those seasons.

I remember Dennis being on a talk show years later. He was asked “why weren’t you on the Gunsmoke reunion episode?” “Well” Dennis said “they didn’t invite me.”

Saw Dennis and Bride in local Whole-foods.
They were reading labels.
Hard core vegetarians!
Didn’t seem like a good time for them to be harassed by a Bambi busting - Road Kill eating Hill Billy!

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

He also made the movie "Duel" by Steven Spielberg. Very good movie.

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That's gonna leave a mark.

Recently Saw him in an old Black and White Joe Friday.
He was a Police Lab Guy.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

The last episode he was in he left town looking for a murderer

I didn't miss him. Fake drawl and all.

Chester was a bit before my time, my first encounter was the short lived TV series Gentle Ben produced by local legend Ivan Tors.

I do not like him in anything he ever did, he's just one of those actors I do not care for. Gunsmoke was in my estimation much better after Festus arrived.

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I Cor. 10:13 "1611KJV"

Seem to remember reading an article about him living off grid in a bunker made of old tires while going Green. Liked the movie DUEL, but that car he was driving, he should have returned to the rental agency.

I thought once Matt commented that Chester had move to some other town and was working in a store.

Yesterday I was watching Gunsmoke on the INSP. channel. Interspersed in the shows was the first Gunsmoke episode, S1E1, 1955. James Arness had very black hair, Amanda Blake looked like teenager, Milburn Stone looked like a young middle aged man, and Dennis Weaver looked like a teenager that the wind would blow away. Marshal Dillion was outdrawn and shot! Got well in a week, figured out not get get in close, confronted the gunslinger, and prevailed this time!
I had never seen the first episode!

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Wherever my mind isn't
Jim

Phil, a quick Interweb search revealed the following, closely held secret.

Chester eloped with the lovechild of Matt and Miss Kitty. They settled in Virginia City, NV, where for years they operated the Short Branch Saloon.

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Always Stay Strong!

Heard his pic can still be found on milk cartoons out there...

As studio actors they show up everywhere. I ve seen Chester as an Indian in Audie Murphy movies and an Egyptian soldier. Saw Festus in a horror movie about giant shrews the other night. He got shrewed..

Ken (Festus Hagan) Curtis has a great singing voice and appears in many older John Wayne movies along with some of the other JW pals: Noah Beery Jr, Harry Carry jr, Ben Johnson, etc. When he appears in any other movie or tv show you don't see NO trace of Festus.

He does that so well that it seems like it would be the way he is in real life. And that little squint thing he does when he wants to make a point.

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Real men love cats!

I watched the early Gunsmoke episodes when they came on the first time and then again in recent years as reruns. The Chester character seemed to me to be just short of worthless in a number of episodes, but after watching Gunsmoke for twenty years, I realized the Chester character was a good one overall.

However, in comparison with Matt Dillon's later sidekicks, Chester was easily the best of the bunch, with Quint a second. Festus would be a distant third simply because he overplayed the role far too often. A little bit of Festus was fine, but overplaying the half-wit demeanor took away from the show. He could have been a much better character. When Festus' dim-wit relatives visited Dodge City, that was a message to turn off the TV unless you wanted to watch a guaranteed loser of a show. Fortunately, Festus' kinfolks weren't on Gunsmoke enough to ruin the show.

By the time the Festus character came on the scene, Gunsmoke had already deteriorated somewhat from the noticeably better half-hour episodes. Thad was easily the worst of the bunch with Newly not far behind.

Despite some shortcomings, Gunsmoke was certainly the best of the TV westerns; way, way ahead of all the others.

Ward Bond died during the fourth season of Wagon Train and replaced by John McIntire. No explanation was given. It's Hollyweird.

They hold a rodeo, The Snake River Stampede, every year in Nampa, Idaho.
Many years ago, when Gunsmoke originals were actively being shown,
Doc Adams and Festus came to the rodeo to provide entertainment. Festus
asked Doc "Where is Miss Kitty, I thought she was coming with us." Doc
said: "Well she was, but she came down with one of those dang chest
colds." Festus said "Them germs really know how to live."

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In Omnia Paratus

I heard somewhere (Johnny Carson Tonight Show?) that Weaver always put a rock in his shoe, to make sure he limped.

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I've still got it made.

Way back in Chama, NM the local Law Dog had a bad leg so he was called Chester.
Roll forward, I’m up at Chama with Game and Fish on an Elk viewing photo event.
We pull up in front of a Motel to pick up some folks.
The owner comes out and starts talking Law stuff, roadblocks, catching poachers, etc.
I ask, whatever happened to Chester?
He replied, I’m Chester. There was some kind of situation, he was fired from his City Cop job.
What to do? Decided it would be nice to own a motel, so he married a Woman who owned one!

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Speaking of Ken Curtis, he played a bunch of different type characters.
I thought he was excellent as the Rancher in Conagher.
And fair as the Suitor in The Searchers.
Just the other day, was YouTubing, A Word On Westerns.
He showed a condensed version of The Giant Gila Monster, too bad to be called Just Bad!
Ken was the producer!
A Word On Western I highly recommend.
Rob Word is the Director of the Autry Museum in LA.
Has on a bunch of older actors, family members, stunt folks, etc.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Ken Curtis was the lead singer for the Sons of the Pioneers for several years. He also played several different characters on Gunsmoke before Festus.

Dennis Weaver flew a F4U Corsair for the Navy in WWll. Most beautiful warplane ever.

In 1941 Ken Curtis succeeded Frank Sinatra in the Tommy Dorsey band.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan