James Arness (2024)

James Arness
James Arness played the title role of Marshal Matt Dillon on the long running CBS-TV series "Gunsmoke" and the five subsequent made-for-TV "Gunsmoke: movies.
General Actor Information
Gender:	Male
Nationality:	American
Ethnicity:	Caucasian
Birthname:	James King Aurness
Alias/Also known as:	None
Born:	May 26, 1923
Birthplace	Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	June 3, 2011 (aged88)
Death Location	Los Angeles, CA, U.S.
Occupation/ Career:	Actor
Years active:	1947-1994
Known for:	role as Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke
Spouse(s):	Virginia Chapman (m. 1948; div. 1960) Janet Surtees (m. 1978)
Children:	3
Website/URL:	http://www.jamesarness.com
Appearances/Series information
Appeared on:	Gunsmoke (TV series) & TV movies
Episode(s) appeared in:	653 in series and 5 TV movies
Appears as:	Matt Dillon

James Arness (born May 26, 1923^[1] – died June 3, 2011; aged 88) was an actor who played Matt Dillon in all 20 seasons of Gunsmoke and in all of the five Made-for-TV Gunsmoke films which aired on CBS-TV from 1987-94. Arness has the distinction of having played the role of Dillon in five decades: 1955 to 1975 in the weekly series, then in Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (1987) and four more made-for-television Gunsmoke films in the 1990s. In Europe, Arness reached cult status for his role as Zeb Macahan in the Western series How the West Was Won. He was the older brother of actor Peter Graves.

Early life[]

Arness was born James Aurness in Minneapolis;^[2] in 1923; he dropped the "u" when he started acting. His parents were Rolf Cirkler Aurness, a businessman, and his wife Ruth Duesler, a journalist. His father’s ancestry was Norwegian; his mother's was German.^[3] The family name had been Aursnes, but when Rolf's father, Peter Aursnes, emigrated from Norway in 1887, he changed it to Aurness.^[4] Arness and his family were Methodists.^[5] Arness' younger brother was actor Peter Graves (1926–2010). Peter used the stage name "Graves", a maternal family name.^[4]

Arness attended John Burroughs Grade School, Washburn High School and West High School in Minneapolis. During this time, Arness worked as a courier for a jewelry wholesaler, loading and unloading railway boxcars at the Burlington freight yards in Minneapolis, and logging in Pierce, Idaho.^[4] Despite "being a poor student and skipping many classes", he graduated from high school in June 1942.^[4]

Military service in World War II[]

Arness wanted to be a naval fighter pilot, but he felt his poor eyesight would bar him. His height of 6 feet 7inches (2.01m) ended his hopes, since 6 feet 2inches (1.88m) was the limit for aviators. Instead, he was called for the Army and reported to Fort Snelling, Minnesota in March 1943.^[4] Arness served as a rifleman with the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, and was severely wounded during Operation Shingle, at Anzio, Italy.^[6]

According to James Arness– An Autobiography, he landed on Anzio Beachhead on January 22, 1944 as a rifleman with 2nd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division. Because of his height, he was the first ordered off his landing craft to determine the depth of the water; it came up to his waist.^[4]

On January 29, 1945, having undergone surgery several times, Arness was honorably discharged. His wounds continued to bother him, and in later years Arness suffered from chronic leg pain,^[7] which sometimes hurt when mounting a horse. His decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart,^[7] the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal and the Combat Infantryman Badge.^[8]

Acting career[]

After his discharge, Arness entered Beloit College in Wisconsin. He began his performing career as a radio announcer at Minneapolis station WLOL in 1945.^[9]

Arness came to Hollywood by hitchhiking^[10] and soon began acting and appearing in films. He began with RKO, which immediately changed his name from "Aurness". His film debut was as Loretta Young's (Katie Holstrom) brother, Peter Holstrom, in The Farmer's Daughter. He was credited in The Farmer's Daughter as AURNESS.^[7]

Though identified with westerns, Arness also appeared in two science fiction films, The Thing from Another World (in which he portrayed the title character) and Them!. He was a close friend of John Wayne and co-starred with him in Big Jim McLain, Hondo, Island in the Sky, and The Sea Chase, and starred in Gun the Man Down for Wayne's company.

An urban legend has it that John Wayne was offered the leading role of Matt Dillon in the longtime favorite television show Gunsmoke, but he turned it down, recommending instead James Arness for the role. The only part of this story that is true is that Wayne did indeed recommend Arness for the part. Wayne introduced Arness in a prologue to the first episode of Gunsmoke, in 1955.^[11] The Norwegian-German Arness had to dye his naturally blond hair darker for the role.^[12] Gunsmoke made Arness world-famous and would run for two decades, becoming the longest running drama series in U.S. television history by the end of its run in 1975. The series' season record was tied only in 2010 with the final season of Law & Order. Unlike the latter show, Gunsmoke featured its lead character in each of its twenty seasons; Gunsmoke also aired 179 more episodes, and was in the top 10 in the ratings for eleven more seasons, for a total of thirteen, including four consecutive seasons at number one.

After Gunsmoke ended, Arness performed in western-themed movies and television series, including How the West Was Won, and in five made-for-television Gunsmoke movies between 1987 and 1994. An exception was as a big-city police officer in a short-lived 1981-1982 series, McClain's Law, co-starring with Marshall Colt. His role as mountainman Zeb Macahan in How the West Was Won made him into a cult figure in many European countries, where it became even more popular than in the United States, as the series has been re-broadcast many times across Europe.

James Arness: An Autobiography was released in September 2001, with a foreword by Burt Reynolds. Arness noted that he realized, "[I]f I was going to write a book about my life, I better do it now ... 'cause I'm not getting any younger."^[13]

References[]

External links[]

• James Arness at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• James Arness at the Internet Movie Database