Rob Detroit Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Good bye to a great cowboy hero....time to ride the range with the heroes that passed before you...Good bye Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckaroo Bubba Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Even though it was before my time, i sure enjoyed those Gunsmoke re-runs.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo Brady #24830Life Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 A true gentleman and role model when I was young. He will be missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Outlaw, SASS 71385 Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 FRom James Arness Website http://www.jamesarness.com/greeting.html Regards AO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monument Valley Mike #54837 Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 James Arness, the star of GUNSMOKE, passed away in his sleep today at age 88. Words like icon, hero and TV legend will be used to describe James Arness, and rightly so. But I want to share a story of what this man did for a 5 year-old when they shot GUNSMOKE at KTLA studios on Sunset Blvd. The would-be "stars" of today should take a lesson from Arness. Marshal Matt Dillon was my hero since I could walk. It was doubly cool when I found out my dad played opposite him in several episodes of Gunsmoke. Every Saturday night I faithfully strapped on my Mattel Fanner 50 and gunbelt, my Matt Dillon badge and hat and stood in front of the TV to imitate my hero's famous showdown with the bad guy. So imagine my thrill when, as a 5 year-old kid, I found myself working at KTLA doing a TV commercial and learned that they filmed GUNSMOKE a few stages away. As soon as I was finished with the commercial, I refused to leave the lot until my mom took me over to the set so I could meet my hero. The whole stage was dressed as the main street in Dodge City. They were filming in the Long Branch saloon and my mom & I sat on folding chairs across the dirt street, my watching intently for any sign of my hero. I heard him before I saw him. He came out of the saloon bigger than life. "Wow! It's Matt!" I said to myself. He walked past us and all I could do was smile. My voice failed me. I wanted to yell hello to my hero, but I couldn't. My God was he tall. Taller than any building in the world, I thought. And there was that badge on his chest, just like the one my folks got me at Woolworth's. Arness walked past us a few times. Minutes dragged on and it was close to an hour, and I hadn't said a word to him. My mom finally said either say hello next time he comes by, or we're going home. He was talking on the phone and something was not pleasing him, as his voice grew louder. He hung up the phone with a slam and was walking away from me. My mom nudged me, reminding me it was now or never. Matt Dillon was walking away from me into the shadows of Dodge City. I jumped off my seat and followed a few steps behind him. "Hello, Matt!" I meekly said. He turned around and looked down at me. "Hello, pal!" he replied and put his hand out. My hand disappeared in his. All I could do was smile. My hero shook my hand. He said hello to me! And with that Matt Dillon strode down the street of Dodge. I never forgot what that brief moment meant to me, and I still don't. A few years ago, Arness was signing his autobiography at the Autry Museum and I had a chance to speak to him. I told him the story, trying my best to hold back the tears, how my hero took time to say hello, and how much that moment meant to me. He was visably touched and smiled, shaking my hand saying, "It was my pleasure." They don't make heroes like that anymore. Sad. Godspeed, Jim. And thank you for being my hero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner Gatlin, SASS 10274L Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Yup http://sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=170542 GG ~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tex Jones, SASS 2263 Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 God's speed, Mr. Dillon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 God's speed, Mr. Dillon A true hero both on and off the screen. May he rest in peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yohanaqua Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I come from four generations of Gunsmoke affectionados in my family. Several years ago I began a brief correspondence with Mr. Arness. He sent me several items for myself, my children and my father (generations 2,3,&4 my Grandfather having passed ). I had solicited an autographed photo for my gun room and that picture of Marshal Dillon hangs there proudly by the door today. Another of Zeb McCahan looks over my work bench. One of the biggest thrills I got was when Mr. Arness sent my son who was stationed in Iraq a personalized photo of himself as Matt with the advice (command) that he "shoot straight! " Maybe a simple gesture but to a family with a lad in harms way it meant a lot. I knew them Iraquis never stood a chance when the long arm of Matt Dillon was with us. Mr Arness also sent a framed autographed picture of himself to my father along with a very nice letter acknowledging him for raising such a "fine bunch" of men. It brought me a great deal of joy when I presented this to Dad on fathers day a few years before he passed on. You should have seen him light up when he received that from Marshall Matt himself. Like I said it was a brief but very important correspondence to me and my people. Mr. Arness was a gentleman as well as a heroic television character. What we watched as youngsters (and still watch today) had a bearing on the way we developed into adults. James Arness and the characters he portrayed so long and so well made a difference in our character and our lives. I wrote him a few other times toward the latter part of his life and did not receive any reply but I knew that he was getting fragile and his wife assured us on the website that he did read or have read to him all correspondence and that it meant a lot to him and brought him joy. We will miss you Marshall Dillon. You kept the lid on Dodge and I don't know any that can fill your boots. Thankee sir for a good long ride. Michael "Big Bear" Lowe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rube Burrows Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Sad to hear this. My father is visiting me and just last night we were going through the DVR and watching some of the Gunsmokes I have recorded and reading the cast and crew. We were talking about how they were all dead except Arness and how it was sad that he could go at any day now. I didnt think it would be the next day though. May he Rest In Peace. Thanks for all the great shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red River Ray SASS#33254 Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 It brings a tear to my eye. RRR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckeye Pete, SASS # 29941 Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 A true hero both on and off the screen. May he rest in peace. +1 Buckeye Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grouchy Greg, SASS#71981 Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I watched Gunsmoke from the very first episode, when it was in black & white and was a half-hour show. Watched it right up to the bitter end in '75. Since retiring from full-time work, I've managed to catch up on the ones I missed while in the Air Force and when I worked screwy hours in corrections. James Arness was a strong and positive role model for youth, who always did the right thing, no matter what. Right was right and wrong was wrong, and he didn't get mired down in gray areas like too many of today's wannabe role models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Bullweed Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Gunsmoke was a foundation in my home. It was the only western TV show that we could see in Naha/Camp Buckner Okinawa in the late 1960's while my dad was stationed there. As a teenager I thought that Mr. Arness as Zeb Macahan in How the West was Won was a perfect example of the people that we were meeting around Fort Sill, OK where my dad finished his US Army career. Tall, forward-looking, able to be with indians and settlers, I thought that Mr. Arness was the perfect portrayal of that time. I have read that Duke Wayne, when turning down the opportunity to be Matt Dillon, suggested James Arness. He had been with Arness in Louis L'Amour's Hondo in 1953 and had not liked that Arness could be the next big thing in westerns: an inch taller than the Duke, able to ride and shoot, and a no-nonsense way about him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 God bless James Arness may he rest in peace. He was a true gentleman and great cowboy actor. I watched Gunsmoke with my folks as a kid, it was popcorn time and Gunsmoke!! I especially liked the later made for TV movies, I thought they were great! Rye Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Milo Talon SASS #23163 Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 James Arness as Matt Dillon and Louis L'Amour novels kept me from making a lot of mistakes when I was young.(No Dad at home,bad influences all around.)They were my role models.I wrote Mr. Arness some years ago and thanked him.God Bless Him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kill Devil Kid SASS #32021 Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Rest in peace Mr. Arness, you will be missed. I don't think I would have ever developed the interest or the inclination I've had towards collecting and shooting old west firearms if it wasn't for watching Gunsmoke from the time I was a small child until seventeen years old, when Gunsmoke finally went off the air. God Bless James Arness for his service to his country and the entertainment he brought to all of us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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