(CBS) James Arness, the tall, iconic actor best known for playing Marshal Matt Dillon on the long-running television series "Gunsmoke," has died. He was 88. The Los Angeles Times reports the actor ...

‘Gunsmoke’ aired from 1955 to 1974 and set a new standard for TV drama Tereza Shkurtaj is a writer-reporter at PEOPLE. She has been working for PEOPLE since 2025. Her work has previously appeared in ...

Seventy years ago, on September 10, 1955, a gunfighter named Matt Dillon first strode into Dodge City on CBS, Gunsmoke, helping to change the nature of TV Westerns, eventually running for 20 years, ...

Before Gunsmoke came along, Arness was aiming for a career in the movie business. However, he had difficulty breaking out in a meaningful way. Much of this was because his 6’7″ height worried a lot of ...

“Gunsmoke” debuted on television in 1955. Stars of the show included James Arness as Matt Dillon; Burt Reynolds, who starred as Quint Asper, the blacksmith; Ken Curtis as Festus; Amanda Blake as Miss ...

Gunsmoke aired from 1955–75. One of the first TV Westerns geared toward adults, the show was a huge hit for CBS. It centered on Matt Dillon (James Arness), a U.S. Marshal in the frontier town of Dodge ...

The news of James Arness’ death triggered a number of happy memories, only a few of them associated with his signature role, as the square-jawed marshal Matt Dillon on “Gunsmoke.” Famously recommended ...

The 6-foot-7 actor, who also starred in the 1950s sci-fi classics "Them!" and "The Thing From Another World," thanks fans for their support with a posthumous letter on his website. By Mike Barnes ...

This summer, as the Black Lives Matter protests overlapped with “safer at home” practices, I slipped into binge-watching the old TV western, “Gunsmoke” — in particular, the pioneer episodes of the ...