Offscreen, James Arness traded Dodge City’s saloon dust for the comfort of his own king-size bed. Photographed in 1956, the towering Gunsmoke star relaxes with a script for an upcoming episode, ...

Stone tried his best to stay involved in many aspects of Gunsmoke. There were many changes between the radio and television iterations, including his character’s name. The actor had the opportunity to ...

John Mantley, who oversaw Doc, Festus, Matt and Kitty as executive producer of “Gunsmoke” during the landmark TV western’s final decade, has died. He was 82. Mantley, who had Alzheimer’s disease, died ...

Watched Encore Westerns’ 12-hour “Gunsmoke” marathon that began at high noon (when else in a western?) last Sunday and enjoyed every episode in several ways. First, naturally, because of the fine ...

Origins: The role of Matt Dillon was never offered to John Wayne. Wayne, like many other film actors of the time, considered television an upstart medium unworthy of his talents. When CBS decided in ...