Missed: James Arness (Marshall Dillon) Died 3 June 2011
 

James Arness died of natural causes in his Brentwood home in Los Angeles on June 3, 2011. He served his country in the army during WWII at Anzio He was wounded in his right leg and received the Purple Heart. He is best known for his role of Marshal Matt Dillon in the TV series Gunsmoke. Gunsmoke ran from 1955-1975 and is still on the air today being discovered by many old and new fans alike.

Over the 20 years of Gunsmoke he worked with 100’s of actors, some of them just starting out like Harrison Ford, Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson, and Betty Davis.



Grew up watching Gunsmoke, collecting the DVDs as they come out.

Gunsmoke was a weekly ritual in our house when I was growing up. Marshal, Doc, Miss Kitty, Chester, Festus - they were like family. Arness was one of the last to go, wasn't he?

Just learned his brother was Peter Graves.

Has a bronze star as well. Many of our best actors were decorated vets who were actual men and not the pampered metrosexuals foisted on us by Hollywood today:

Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable, Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, Kirk Douglas, Raymond Burr, etc...