21:14Classic TV · 1959Gunsmoke Cast Then and Now: Who's Still Alive?
Episode: Gunsmoke (1955): Cast Then & Now 2026 — Who's Still Alive After 71 Years?
From Hollywood Legends Era · 18 min ·
About the Gunsmoke Cast Then and Now
The Gunsmoke cast then and now is the story of the people who made Dodge City, Kansas, feel like a real frontier town for two full decades. The CBS western premiered on September 10, 1955, and ran for 20 seasons and 635 episodes, until 1975.
Few shows have lasted so long with the same heart at the center. Marshal Matt Dillon, Doc Adams and Miss Kitty were there from the very beginning, and generations of families grew up with them.
Seventy-one years after the premiere, almost all of the people remembered in this episode have passed away. Only one of them is still with us today, and his story comes last.
Who Built Dodge City? Remembering the Gunsmoke Cast
James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon
Before he wore a badge, James Arness was a rifleman with the 3rd Infantry Division. He landed at Anzio, Italy, on January 22, 1944, and was severely wounded in the right leg during the battle. The pain stayed with him for the rest of his life.
While he recovered, his younger brother, who later became famous as actor Peter Graves, suggested he try radio. In 1945 Arness became an announcer at a Minneapolis station. John Wayne later recommended him for Gunsmoke and even appeared in a prologue to the first episode to introduce him.
A popular story says Wayne turned down the role himself, but Wayne was never offered the part. Arness played Dillon for all 20 seasons. He died of natural causes at his Los Angeles home on June 3, 2011, at 88.
Milburn Stone as Doc Adams
Milburn Stone, born in Burrton, Kansas, played Doc Adams in all 20 seasons and won an Emmy for the role in 1968. In 1975 St. Mary of the Plains College in the real Dodge City gave him an honorary doctorate.
In March 1971 he had heart bypass surgery in Birmingham, Alabama, and missed seven episodes. He came back to the show and stayed until the end. He died of a heart attack in La Jolla, California, on June 12, 1980, at 75.
Pat Hingle as Dr. John Chapman
While Doc Adams was away in 1971, Pat Hingle stepped in as Dr. John Chapman. Hingle had already survived a terrible accident. In February 1959, while starring in J.B. on Broadway, he tried to climb out of a stalled elevator and fell about 30 feet down the shaft.
He fractured his skull, wrist and hip, broke his leg in three places and lost the little finger on his left hand. He recovered and worked for five more decades, including playing Commissioner Gordon in all four Batman films from 1989 to 1997. He died on January 3, 2009, at 84.
Burt Reynolds as Quint Asper
Burt Reynolds first hoped for a football career. He played at Florida State, but a knee injury and then a car accident ended those plans, and he turned to acting instead.
He played Quint Asper, the town blacksmith, from 1962 to 1965, before leaving to pursue the film career that made him one of Hollywood's biggest stars. He had heart bypass surgery in 2010. He died of cardiac arrest in Jupiter, Florida, on September 6, 2018, at 82.
Dennis Weaver as Chester Goode
Producers wanted the marshal's sidekick to have a flaw that made him less heroic than the star. Dennis Weaver chose a stiff leg, and Chester's limp became famous. He played the role in 290 episodes from 1955 to 1964 and won an Emmy in 1959.
He later starred in McCloud. Off screen, he founded Love Is Feeding Everyone, which provided food for 150,000 people a week in Los Angeles, and built an energy-saving Earthship home in Ridgway, Colorado. He died of prostate cancer there on February 24, 2006, at 81.
Ken Curtis as Festus Haggen
Ken Curtis, born Curtis Wain Gates, was a singer first. He performed with the Sons of the Pioneers and sang with them, uncredited, in John Wayne's Rio Grande (1950). Through his marriage to Barbara Ford, he became director John Ford's son-in-law.
He first played Festus in 1962 and joined the regular cast in 1964, staying until 1975. No one held the deputy role longer. He died of a heart attack in Fresno, California, on April 28, 1991, at 74.
Glenn Strange as Sam Noonan
Glenn Strange was born in the New Mexico Territory and had played Frankenstein's monster in three Universal films, including Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).
From 1961 he poured drinks as Sam the bartender in 222 episodes. He died of lung cancer on September 20, 1973, at 74, while the show was still on the air.
James Nusser as Louie Pheeters
James Nusser, born in Ohio in 1905, played Louie Pheeters, the town drunk, in dozens of episodes through 1970. His small, familiar scenes became part of the show's rhythm. He died in Los Angeles on June 8, 1979, at 74.
Kelton Garwood as Percy Crump
Kelton Garwood of Columbus, Ohio, studied drama at Ohio State and worked as a fencing master at a summer theater in Yellow Springs. He appeared twice on Broadway, including Ionesco's The Chairs. On Gunsmoke he played Percy Crump, the undertaker, from 1966 to 1972. He died on July 28, 1991, at 63.
Roger Ewing as Thad Greenwood
Roger Ewing played Thad Greenwood, a part-time deputy, from 1965 to 1967. He retired from acting in 1972 and became a professional photographer, living for many years in Morro Bay, California. He died there on December 18, 2025, at 83.
Amanda Blake as Kitty Russell
Amanda Blake played Miss Kitty, owner of the Long Branch Saloon, for 19 years and 425 episodes, from 1955 to 1974. She returned for the 1987 TV movie Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge.
She was a devoted friend to animals. She helped found the Arizona Animal Welfare League in 1971, helped finance the Performing Animal Welfare Society, and with her husband ran one of the first successful programs for breeding cheetahs in captivity. She died on August 16, 1989, at 60. Her death was first attributed to throat cancer, and her doctor later announced it was due to AIDS-related complications.
Where Is Buck Taylor Now, the Last Gunsmoke Star?
Buck Taylor as Newly O'Brien
Buck Taylor, the son of character actor Dub Taylor, joined the show in 1967 as Newly O'Brien, the gunsmith who became a deputy, and stayed until the series ended in 1975.
Decades later, a new audience met him as Emmett Walsh on Yellowstone, where he appeared from 2018 to 2022. He is also a painter of Western scenes. Buck Taylor is 88 and is the last surviving member of the show's main cast.
Why Gunsmoke Still Rides On
Gunsmoke lasted because it took its characters seriously. A marshal, a doctor, a saloon owner and a deputy became a kind of family that viewers trusted week after week.
The actors behind them carried real wounds, illnesses and second careers, and many gave back in quiet ways. That is part of why the show still feels honest in reruns today.
Which face in Dodge City did you trust the most, and do you remember who you used to watch Gunsmoke with?
Sources and Further Reading
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