As the "Prairie Wolfer", a cleared Festus departs Dodge City but answers Dillon if he'll return: "Well, I reckon I will one of these days. Fact is, you can pretty near count on it, Marshal." When ...

Truth is, Chester allowed Festus to become Marshal Dillon's deputy because the actor playing Chester, Dennis Weaver, left to star in his own show.

Curtis played deputy Festus Haggin, sidekick to Marshal Matt Dillon, from 1964 until the series ended in 1975. He replaced Dennis Weaver, who played Chester Goode before leaving the show after ...

Except for Matt Dillon, whom my wife adored, Dodge City wasn’t populated by many photogenic people. Shawn once said that, if you could get Festus clean-shaven, “he’s probably prettier than ...

Promotional portrait of the cast of the American television series ‘Gunsmoke,’ July 23, 1969. Foreground, American actors James Arness (Marshal Matt Dillon) and Amanda Blake (1929 – 1989 ...

Curtis didn’t join Gunsmoke as Festus until season 8 episode 13 – “Us Haggens.” James Arness’ U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon and the audience didn’t initially know what to make of Festus.

James Arness, who presided over the frontier town of Dodge City as television’s most enduring western hero, the laconic, fair-minded and incorruptible Marshal Matt Dillon of the two-decade-long ...

James Arness, a great Sequoia tree in the forest of TV Western heroes, has died; he was 88. Arness is immortal in TV history as Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, the longest-running network drama ...