• John Wayne Helped Launch James Arness' Career With Gunsmoke

    9 days ago - By Slash Film

    James Arness starred as lawman Marshall Matt Dillon on "Gunsmoke" for an incredible run of 20 seasons from 1955-1975. Until "The Simpsons" surpassed it in 2018, the epic series dramatizing the American West was the longest running television show in history. Originally, John Wayne was offered the role but turned it down because he had no interest in committing to a weekly TV series. If he had accepted the part, it's incredibly unlikely the series would have ever run that long, and more TV movies of "Gunsmoke" probably would have hit the airwaves instead. During the first couple of years of...
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