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Gunsmoke
''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke), Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. The radio series ran from 1952 to 1961. John Dunning (detective fiction author), John Dunning wrote that, among radio drama enthusiasts, "''Gunsmoke'' is routinely placed among the best shows of any kind and any time." It ran unsponsored for its first few years, with CBS funding its production. In 1955, the series was adapted for television and ran for 20 seasons. It ran for half-hour episodes from 1955 to 1961, and one-hour episodes from 1961 to 1975. A total of 635 episodes were aired over its 20 year run, making it the List of longest-running scripted American primetime television series, longest-running scripted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Arness
James Arness (born James King Aurness; May 26, 1923 – June 3, 2011) was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon for 20 years in the series ''Gunsmoke''. He 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 James Arness was born in Minneapolis. His parents were businessman Rolf Cirkler Aurness and journalist Ruth Duesler. His father's ancestry was Norwegian; his mother's was German."Ancestry of James Arness" '' [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Meston
John Lyman Meston (July 30, 1914March 24, 1979) was an American scriptwriter best known for co-creating with producer Norman Macdonnell the long-running Western series ''Gunsmoke''. He developed storylines and wrote radio scripts and teleplays for 379 episodes for the series, which was first broadcast on CBS Radio in 1952, and then adapted to the "small screen", as well, airing on television from 1955 to 1975.Barabas, SuzAnne and Barabas, Gabor (1990). ''Gunsmoke: A Complete History and Analysis of the Legendary Broadcast Series''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 1990, pp. 34-35."John Meston, 64, Script Writer Who Created 'Gunsmoke' for TV" obituary, '' |
Norman Macdonnell
Norman Scarth Macdonnell (November 8, 1916 – November 28, 1979) was an American producer for radio, television, and feature films. He is best known for co-creating with writer John Meston the Western series ''Gunsmoke'', which was broadcast on CBS Radio from 1952 to 1961, and on television from 1955 to 1975. Other radio series that Macdonnell either produced, directed, or at various times wrote scripts for include ''Suspense'', '' Escape'', ''The Adventures of Philip Marlowe'', ''Fort Laramie'', ''Rogers of the Gazette'', and ''Have Gun – Will Travel''.Dunning, John. (1976). ''Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976''. Prentice-Hall, Inc. , pp. 12, 185, 215, 259-60, 268, 518, 584. He was also a long-time executive producer for the NBC television series '' The Virginian''. Early life Norman Scarth Macdonnell was born in California in 1916. Named in honor of his paternal grandfather, he was the youngest of four children of Alice L. (née Talc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Gunsmoke Radio Episodes
''Gunsmoke'' is an American western radio series, which was developed for radio by John Meston and Norman Macdonnell. The series ran for nine seasons and was broadcast by CBS. The first episode of the series originally aired in the United States on April 26, 1952, and the final first-run episode aired on June 11, 1961. During the series, a total of 480 original episodes were broadcast, including shows with re-used or adapted scripts. A television version of the series premiered in 1955. ''Gunsmoke'' is set in and around Dodge City, Kansas, in the post-Civil War era and centers around United States Marshall Matt Dillon (William Conrad) as he enforces law and order in the city. The series also focuses on Dillon's friendship with three other citizens of Dodge City: Doctor Charles "Doc" Adams (Howard McNear), the town's physician; Kitty Russell ( Georgia Ellis), owner of the Long Branch Saloon; and Chester Wesley Proudfoot (Parley Baer), Dillon's deputy. Other roles were play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke)
Matt Dillon is a fictional character featured on both the radio and television versions of ''Gunsmoke''. He is the U.S. Marshal of Dodge City, Kansas, who works to preserve law and order in the western frontier of the 1870s. The character was created by writer John Meston. The character evolved considerably during nine years on CBS Radio and twenty years on CBS Television (Columbia Broadcasting System). Overview Writer John Meston created Matt Dillon, "whose hair is probably red, if he's got any left. He'd be handsomer than he is if he had better manners but life and his enemies have left him looking a little beat up, and I suppose having seen his mother (back about 1840) trying to take a bath in a wooden washtub without fully undressing left his soul a little warped. Anyway, there'd have to be something wrong with him or he wouldn't have hired on as a United States Marshal in the heyday of Dodge City, Kansas."https://www.avclub.com/television-grew-up-with-gunsmoke- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Howard McNear
Howard Terbell McNear (January 27, 1905 – January 3, 1969) was an American stage, screen, and radio character actor. McNear is best remembered as the original voice of Doc Adams in the radio version of ''Gunsmoke'' and as Floyd Lawson (Floyd the Barber) on ''The Andy Griffith Show'' (1961–1967). Career McNear studied at the Oatman School of Theater and later joined a stock company in San Diego. McNear also worked in radio from the late 1930s, including in the 1937–1940 radio serial '' Speed Gibson of the International Secret Police'' as ace operator Clint Barlow. McNear could be effective in such authoritative roles, but he gravitated more toward character roles, often comic. He enlisted as a private in the United States Army Air Corps on November 17, 1942, during World War II. He created the role of Doc Charles Adams on CBS Radio's ''Gunsmoke'' (1952–1961). Before and during the run, he was featured in many other CBS radio programs, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Conrad
William Conrad (born John William Cann Jr., September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor, producer, and director whose entertainment career spanned five decades in radio, film, and television, peaking in popularity when he starred in the detective series ''Cannon''. A radio writer and actor, he moved to Hollywood after serving in World War II as a fighter pilot, and played a series of character roles in films, beginning with the film noir ''The Killers'' (1946). He originated the role of Marshal Matt Dillon for the radio series ''Gunsmoke'' (1952–1961) and narrated the television adventures of '' Rocky and Bullwinkle'' (1959–1964), '' Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties'' (1959–1964), '' The Fugitive'' (1963–1967), and '' Hoppity Hooper'' (1964–1967). Finding fewer onscreen roles in the 1950s, he changed from actor to producer-director with television work, narration, and a series of Warner Bros. films in the 1960s. Conrad found stardom as a detective ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of fiction typically Setting (narrative), set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated with Americana (culture), folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. The frontier is depicted in Western media as a sparsely populated hostile region patrolled by cowboys, Outlaw (stock character), outlaws, sheriffs, and numerous other Stock character, stock Gunfighter, gunslinger characters. Western narratives often concern the gradual attempts to tame the crime-ridden American West using wider themes of justice, freedom, rugged individualism, manifest destiny, and the national history and identity of the United States. Native Americans in the United States, Native American populations were often portrayed as averse foes or Savage ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georgia Ellis
Georgia Ellis (March 12, 1917 – March 30, 1988) was an American actress who is best known for her recurring role of Kitty in the Western radio drama ''Gunsmoke''. Career Ellis also used the name Georgia Hawkins, making her film debut under that name in '' The Light of Western Stars'' (1940). A news story at that time referred to her and another actress as "discoveries of Victor Jory." Ellis appeared in the films '' Dragnet'' (1954), ''Penny Serenade'' (1940), '' Doomed Caravan'' (1941), and ''Light of the Western Stars'' (1940). In addition to her work on ''Gunsmoke'', Ellis was a member of the cast of ''Rogers of the Gazette''. She also appeared on ''CBS Radio Workshop ''The CBS Radio Workshop'' was an experimental dramatic radio anthology series that aired on CBS from January 27, 1956, until September 22, 1957. Subtitled “radio’s distinguished series to man’s imagination,” it was a revival of the earli ...''. Ellis played a number of small roles on the '' D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dodge City, Kansas
Dodge City is a city in and the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 27,788. It was named after nearby Fort Dodge, which was named in honor of Grenville Dodge. The city is known in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town of the Old West. History The first settlement in the area that became Dodge City was Fort Mann, built by civilians in 1847. The fort was built to provide protection for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. Fort Mann collapsed in 1848 after an attack by Natives. In 1850, the U.S. Army arrived to provide protection in the region and constructed Fort Atkinson on the old Fort Mann site. The army abandoned Fort Atkinson in 1853. Military forces on the Santa Fe Trail were re-established farther north and east at Fort Larned in 1859, but the area remained vacant around what would become Dodge City until the end of the Civil War. In April 1865, the American Frontier Wars in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parley Baer
Parley Edward Baer (August 5, 1914 – November 22, 2002) was an American actor in radio and later in television and film. Despite dozens of appearances in television series and theatrical films, he remains best known as the original "Chester" in the radio version of ''Gunsmoke'', and as the Mayor of Mayberry (Roy Stoner) in ''The Andy Griffith Show''. Early life, family and education Parley Edward Baer was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He studied drama at the University of Utah. Career Baer had a circus background, but he began his radio career at Utah station KSL. Circus Early in his career, Baer was a circus ringmaster and publicist. He left those roles for military service in World War II. In the 1950s, he had a job training wild animals at Jungleland USA in Thousand Oaks, California. Still later, he served as a docent at the Los Angeles Zoo. Military Baer was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, attaining the rank of Cap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen ratings, an audience measurement system of television viewership that for years has been the deciding factor in canceling or renewing television shows by television networks. As of August 2024, it is the primary part of Nielsen Holdings. NMR began as a division of ACNielsen, a marketing research firm founded in 1923. In 1996, NMR was split off into an independent company, and in 1999, was purchased by the Dutch conglomerate VNU. In 2001, VNU also purchased ACNielsen, thereby bringing both companies under the same corporate umbrella for years. NMR is also a sister company to Nielsen//NetRatings, which measures Internet and digital media audiences. VNU was reorganized and renamed the Nielsen Company in 2007. NMR was separated again from Ni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
