James Arness, a renowned American actor, is best known for his iconic role as Marshal Matt Dillon in the longest-running dramatic series in U.S. television history, Gunsmoke (1955). Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Rolf and Ruth Duesler Aurness, of Norwegian heritage, James attended West High School and later received his draft notice in 1943, joining the army and serving in North Africa.
After being severely wounded in the leg and foot by German machine-gun fire, Arness was medically discharged from the army. While recuperating in a hospital in Clinton, Iowa, he was encouraged by his younger brother Peter (later to become actor Peter Graves) to take a radio course at the University of Minnesota, which led to a job as an announcer at a Minneapolis radio station.
Arness then moved to Hollywood, where he studied at the Bliss-Hayden Theatre School under actor Harry Hayden. He was spotted by agent Leon Lance, who got him a role as Loretta Young's brother in The Farmer's Daughter (1947). The director of that film, H.C. Potter, recommended that he drop the "u" from his last name, and he became officially known as James Arness.
Little work followed this break, and Arness became a beach bum, living on the shore at San Onofre and spending his days surfing. He began taking his acting career more seriously when he began to receive fan mail following the release of The Farmer's Daughter. He appeared in a production of "Candida" at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, and married his leading lady, Virginia Arness.
Arness began to act in small roles with frequency, often due to his size, and mostly villainous characters. Most notable among these was that of the space alien in The Thing from Another World (1951). He was spotted by agent Charles K. Feldman, who represented John Wayne, and Feldman introduced Arness to Wayne, whom he considered a mentor.
In 1955, Wayne recommended Arness for the lead role of Matt Dillon in the TV series Gunsmoke (1955). Arness at first declined, thinking a TV series could derail his growing film career, but Wayne argued for the show, and Arness accepted. His portrayal of stalwart Marshal Dillon became an iconic figure in American television, and the series, aired for 20 seasons, is, as of 2008, the longest-running dramatic series in U.S. television history.
After the surprising cancellation of "Gunsmoke" in 1975, Arness jumped immediately into another successful (though much shorter-lived) Western project, a TV-movie-miniseries-series combination known as "How The West Was Won." A brief modern police drama, McClain's Law (1981),followed, and Arness played his mentor John Wayne's role in Red River (1988),a remake of the Wayne classic.
Following the aforementioned "Gunsmoke" TV movies (the last in 1994, when Arness was 71),Arness basically retired.
