Posted on 06/03/2011 3:04:27 PM PDT by STARWISE
I read that John Wayne was the Gunsmoke producer’s first choice but Wayne said he didn’t want to do a TV show and recommended his friend James Arness.
Yes, that was Elisha Cook, who was also noted for playing the short, blustery guy in Shane who gets tricked into a gunfight by Jack Palance and is shot dead by him in the mud street of the local town.
He was the last of the TV western icons.We’ll not see their like again.
Yes, I knew that, Blood. What a nice friend! When Encore Western channel started airing Gunsmoke about five years ago, I became hooked all over again. It was around that time when I found out that his younger brother was Peter Graves! Which made me watch the Gunsmoke reruns in a whole new light, as I was a big Mission Impossible fan. You can probably tell from my tagline that I love Westerns, too!
I just found out yesterday that Peter Graves was his brother, but when I think about it, they do look similar.
RIP “Matthew”.
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