The actor died in his sleep at his home in Los Angeles,
according to his business manager, Ginny Fazer.
Arness’ official website posted a letter from Arness on
Friday that he wrote with the intention that it be posted posthumously: “I had
a wonderful life and was blessed with some many loving people and great
friends,” he said.
“I wanted to take this time to thank all of you for the many
years of being a fan of Gunsmoke, The Thing, How the West Was Won and all the
other fun projects I was lucky enough to have been allowed to be a part of. I
had the privilege of working with so many great actors over the years.” As US
Marshal Dillon in the 1955-75 CBS western series, Arness created an indelible
portrait of a quiet, heroic man with an unbending dedication to justice and the
town he protected.
The wealth and fame Arness gained from “Gunsmoke” could not
protect him from tragedy in his personal life: His daughter and his former
wife, Virginia, both died of drug overdoses.
Arness, a quiet, intensely private man who preferred the
outdoor life to Hollywood’s party scene, rarely gave interviews and refused to
discuss the tragedies.
“He’s big, impressive and virile,” co-star Amanda Blake
(Miss Kitty) once said of Arness, adding, “I’ve worked with him for 16 years,
but I don’t really know him.” The 6-foot-6 (nearly two-meter) actor was 32 when
friend John Wayne declined the lead role in “Gunsmoke” and recommended Arness
instead. Afraid of being typecast, Arness initially rejected it.
“Go ahead and take it, Jim,” Wayne urged him. “You’re too
big for pictures. Guys like Gregory Peck and I don’t want a big lug like you
towering over us. Make your mark in television.” “Gunsmoke” went on to become
the longest-running dramatic series in network history until NBC’s “Law and
amp; Order” tied it in 2010. Arness’ 20-year prime-time run as the marshal was
tied only in recent times, by Kelsey Grammer’s 20 years as Frasier Crane from
1984 to 2004 on “Cheers” and then on the spinoff “Frasier.” The years showed on
the weathered-looking Arness, but he - and his TV character - wore them well.
“The camera really loved his face, and with good reason,”
novelist Wallace Markfield wrote in a 1975 “Gunsmoke” appreciation in The New
York Times. “It was a face that would age well and that, while aging, would
carry intimations of waste, loss and futility.” He was born James Aurness in
Minneapolis (he dropped the “u” for show business reasons). His brother Peter,
who changed his last name to Graves, went on to star in the TV series “Mission
Impossible.” A self-described drifter, Arness left home at age 18, hopping
freight trains and Caribbean-bound freighters. He entered Beloit College in
Wisconsin, but was drafted into the Army in his 1942-43 freshman year. Wounded
in the leg during the 1944 invasion at Anzio, Italy, Arness was hospitalized
for a year and left with a slight limp. He returned to Minneapolis to work as a
radio announcer and in small theater roles.
He moved to Hollywood in 1946 at a friend’s suggestion.
After a slow start in which he took jobs as a carpenter and
salesman, a role in MGM’s “Battleground” (1949) was a career turning point.
Parts in more than 20 films followed, including “The Thing,” “Hellgate” and
“Hondo” with Wayne. Then came “Gunsmoke,” which proved a durable hit and a
multimillion-dollar boon for Arness, who owned part of the series.
His longtime co-stars were Blake as saloon keeper Miss
Kitty, Milburn Stone as Doc Adams and Dennis Weaver as the deputy, Chester
Goode.
When Weaver died in February 2006, Arness called it “a big
loss for me personally” and said Weaver “provided comic relief but was also a
real person doing things that were very important to the show.” The cancelation
of “Gunsmoke” didn’t keep Arness away from TV for long: He returned a few
months later, in January 1976, in the TV movie “The Macahans,” which led to the
1978-79 ABC series “How the West Was Won.” Arness took on a contemporary role
as a police officer in the series “McClain’s Law,” which aired on NBC from
1981-82.
Despite his desire for privacy, a rocky domestic life landed
him in the news more than once.
Arness met future wife Virginia Chapman while both were
studying at Southern California’s Pasadena Playhouse. They wed in 1948 and had
two children, Jenny and Rolf. Chapman’s son from her first marriage, Craig, was
adopted by Arness.
The marriage foundered and in 1963 Arness sought a divorce
and custody of the three children, which he was granted. He tried to guard them
from the spotlight.
“The kids don’t really have any part of my television life,”
he once remarked. “Fortunately, there aren’t many times when show business
intrudes on our family existence.” The emotionally troubled Virginia Arness
attempted suicide twice, in 1959 and in 1960. In 1975, Jenny Arness died of an
apparently deliberate drug overdose. Two years later, an overdose that police
deemed accidental killed her mother.
Arness married Janet Surtees in 1978. Besides his wife,
Arness is survived by two sons and six grandchildren. A private memorial
service will be held.
