BEFORE HE WAS FESTUS HAGGEN

[crazyphil]

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.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Don't forget about his stint with Tommy Dorsey.

 

[usmc2427765]

What stint with Tommy Dorsey ?? Please expand.

 

[kmyers]

As well as on Have Gun Will Travel.

 

[Rustyt1953]

What stint with Tommy Dorsey ?? Please expand.

He replaced Sinatra in Dorsey's band in 1941.

 

[Puller]

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

 

[rockquarry]

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.

 

[STCM(SW)]

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.....

 

[Muley Gil]

I was kinda fond of Ruth, his mule.

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

 

[LoboGunLeather]

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.

 

[Targets Guy]

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

 

[steveno]

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

The Searchers - Wikipedia

 

[JcMack]

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.

 

[zogger]

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! ;-)

 

[olcop]

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

 

[Chukar60]

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.

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

 

[doublesharp]

Didn't he marry the boss's daughter?

 

[pennzy]

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

 

[Mercury]

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.

 

[washerman]

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.