Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke was a western drama television series. John Meston created the series. It ran for twenty years from 1955 to 1975. Each episode ran for 1 hour. In 1955, CBS television network tried to hire John Wayne. They finally decided on James Arness to play the role of Matt Dillon in the "Gunsmoke" series. The main cast was Arness, Dennis Weaver playing Chester Goode, Milburn Stone as Doc Adams, and Amanda Blake as saloon keeper Miss Kitty Russell. Ken Curtis played Festus Haggen and Burt Reynolds played a blacksmith.
Between 1955 - 1961, the were 30 minutes long. After that, they were one hour long. 635 episodes were made between 1955 to 1975. Many well known actors have been on the series. These include John Wayne (presenter of the pilot), Bette Davis, Harrison Ford, Jon Voight, Kurt Russell and Jodie Foster. In 1987, "" was made. Arness returned in the role of Dillon. Later television movies included "Gunsmoke: The Last Apache" (1990), "Gunsmoke: To the Last Man" (1992), "Gunsmoke: The Long Ride" (1993) and "Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice" (1994).