James Arness-RIP
 

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

Am I the only one who thought he was already dead?


RIP James

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

:rip:

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

Wow. What a bummer.

He would still answer fan questions and send out autographs to his fans from his website until very recently.

It was John Wayne who got him the role on 'Gunsmoke'.

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

I hadn't realized this until I saw that obituary, but he and Peter Graves were brothers. Two of the great 60s TV bad-asses.

Rest in peace, James.

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

I was born in '83, but still watched a ton of Gunsmoke growing up with my dad and grandpa. Show never got old for me. RIP.

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

A third brother, Robert Brown, was also an actor. Probably best known for the role of Lazarus in the Star Trek episode "The Alternative Factor".

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

Sad news. :(

:rip:

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

:rip:

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

Matt Dillon is dead? He was great in The Outsiders

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

One of my favorite space aliens (in <i>The Thing</i>) .....

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

It was an amazing show. So many people who were on that show went on to be very successful actors, so many it's too long to list. I wonder if somewhere on the internet there is a list.

My favorite episode was the one with an unknown and very young Tom Skerritt who kidnapped Matt, Kitty, Doc, and Festus and took them to the abandoned town to get revenge for his father. That was an amazing episode. At the end as he is stringing up Doc and Matt is just full on freaking out to try and pull his chains out of the wall... man that was a good one.

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

My favorite is "The Gallows". Matt is escorting a yong kid to be hanged. Matt doesn't believe he did it. Somewhere along the way Matt is injured and the kid has an opportunity to escape but stays and helps the injured Matt. More convinced then ever that the kid is innocent Matt decides to let him go and tell everyone he escaped. The kid won't take off because he knows it would reflect bad on Matt if a prisoner escaped from him. Matt has to watch the kid hang.

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

I remember that.

At the end of the one I was discussing, as Skerritt is outside stringing Doc up, Matt is straining and freaking out uncharacteristically, screaming like a madman and pulling at his chains working them out of the wall. Festus and Kitty are completely losing it. Matt gets free too late and rushes out thinking Doc is already hanged.

Tom Skerritt is standing there by Doc, who is fine, and says 'Marshall Dillon, I just wanted you to know for a few seconds what it felt like for me to be so helpless to stop what you did to my daddy when I was a little boy'. Paraphrased, it was written better than that. They had hanged his father, and he may have been an innocent man. The show left that a gray area which made it all the better.

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

I never watched Gunsmoke much as the only episodes that I saw were later color episodes, and they were pretty cliched and uninspired.

Then I bought a set from Season 2 and watched a couple episodes and realized that the show had been much, much better early on.

My strongest memories of James Arness are from the movie THEM. I love that movie, and he was really good in it.

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

Encore westerns has been airing How The West Was Won series from the late 70s with Arness. Episodes are airing as originally shown, 3hrs, 2hrs., rather than cut up into hour episodes for syndication.

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

Curious as to where you got this info. IMDB doesn't mention anything about it, but does say Brown had an older brother named Harold. IMDB also states that Brown was his family name, and that Arness' name is just a different spelling of his family name (Aurness).

R.I.P. Mr. Arness

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

Never watched an episode of Gunsmoke, but I know an entertainment icon when I see one. RIP

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

If you like really good writing (and acting), you ought to check out the show. It didn't run for twenty years simply due to its genre (it began when there were literally dozens of westerns on the air & ended when it was one of the last of its breed).

From the beginning, Gunsmoke offered adult themes, sharp characterizations, unusual plots, etc....and this at a time when most westerns were aimed at a juvenile audience (think "Lone Ranger", "Hopalong Cassidy", "Gene Autry", etc.). Based on the incredibly popular radio series...early stories were often straight adaptations from the radio scripts...the show set a new standard for quality in the western genre. However, the program transcended its genre to become one of the finest dramas on tv.

In "The Gunsmoke book", many guest stars talk about how professionally & courteously they were treated from the time they walked on the set. They almost universally talk about the family atmosphere from the cast & crew & how it was a pleasure to be part of such a quality program. It was one of the shows that helped make CBS the "Tiffany Network" in its day.

As the stalwart moral center of the show, Arness used an understated style that was not always appreciated. However, he was able to show a variety of emotions & sell them through his expressions (you could see the wheels turning in his head). Surrounded by more eccentric characters (Chester, Festus, Doc, etc.), Arness's Matt Dillon was often the straight man for the jokester, but he could display everything from steely resolve to a quick wit to a strong sense of mercy & compassion (and tenderness when dealing with abused women, children, or helpless citizens).

The early 30-minute shows were concise little gems that pared away all filler & padding to get right to the heart of the matter. They contain a surprising amount of shocking material (that can still hit home even in these jaded days)...and this was done in the 50's. The shows often ended in unconventional ways...everything didn't always turn out rosy for the main characters, and justice was sometimes perverted by the bad guys.

Anyway, it's a fantastic show that holds up extremely well after all these years. Being a period piece, it's not really dated. Read the DVDTalk reviews to see the high recommendations.

P.S. Arness began demonstrating a limp which became more & more pronounced as the years went by. Evidently this was the result of a WWII wound suffered during a beach landing (Normandy? Anzio?). Like so many of his generation of actors, Arness was a combat vet & no stranger to being shot at. I think he was on record saying that he hated guns (or gun violence) due to his wartime experiences. It's also interesting to note that he was famously private & reticent with the press yet showed a great sense of humor on the set. One cast member said that he would sometimes get the giggles (from the top of his 6' 7" frame to his toes) and couldn't stop. Very generous actor & sharp businessman, too (I believe the six later Gunsmoke tv films were done by Arness Productions). From what I read, Gunsmoke was run very efficiently and smoothly and divas were not tolerated well on the set.

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

The digital subchannel MeTV will be showing an 11-hour tribute to Arness on Saturday, June 11, starting at 11am eastern. Seven episodes of Gunsmoke and eight of Marshall Dillon (the syndicated title for the original half-hour Gunsmoke).

http://www.metvnetwork.com/jamesarness.php

Arness hosted a 1989 tribute to the Duke titled John Wayne Standing Tall.

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

My friend has fallen in love with Gunsmoke over the last few years, and while I joke with her about being an old lady for watching it, the eps I've watched with her have been really solid. Gunsmoke holds up well, in the same way that Twilight Zone and Dragnet do.

Re: James Arness-RIP
 

War Hero. Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

Watched the first episode of GUNSMOKE the other day. John Wayne Introduces the Show and James Arness.
Matt Dillion is gunned down. Of course he gets better. But its an eye-opener.

Rest In Peace!