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In Memoriam: James King Arness, 1923-2011
Jun. 3rd, 2011 07:23 pmIt is with great sadness that I have learned actor James Arness has died just days after his 88th birthday (a birthday Your Humble Correspondent shares with him, May 26th) of what is being reported as "natural causes." He passed at his home in Los Angeles' Brentwood neighborhood earlier today; a local L.A. television station reports his obit here, and you can find more information on his long and distinguished career at IMDB.com and Wikipedia's pages on him.
Most who are mourning him (including much of my friends list) remember him best not only as TV's most famous Stetson-hatted lawman, US Marshal Matthew "Matt" Dillon on the long-running CBS drama series Gunsmoke (which, until Law & Order left NBC last season, was in serious danger of losing its title as longest-lived broadcast-network prime-time drama), but also as the titular character in The Thing from Another World, the late Howard Hawks' adaptation of John W. Campbell's classic short story "Who Goes There?" chiefly because of his six-foot-plus size. (He and the late Ted Cassidy [Ruk in the original Star Trek's "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" episode and the original Lurch in The Addams Family] tended to get most of those roles for the same reason.)
But it should also be remembered that Jim was an Army vet who saw action at Anzio during World War II and received the Purple Heart for it. He also was big brother and colleague to another longtime CBS star, Mission: Impossible's Peter Graves (they shared the original family name of Aurness, but Pete took a stage name so as not to get mixed up with his bro), whom we also lost not long ago. And from all accounts, he was a damn nice guy off the set as well.
Sincere sympathies to his two wives and single son who survive him (he had another son and daughter who died years back), his relations and friends, and his many, many fans. And the first glass of rye in his memory is on me down at the Long Branch Saloon as the small screen's greatest Western hero finally rides off into the sunset.
Most who are mourning him (including much of my friends list) remember him best not only as TV's most famous Stetson-hatted lawman, US Marshal Matthew "Matt" Dillon on the long-running CBS drama series Gunsmoke (which, until Law & Order left NBC last season, was in serious danger of losing its title as longest-lived broadcast-network prime-time drama), but also as the titular character in The Thing from Another World, the late Howard Hawks' adaptation of John W. Campbell's classic short story "Who Goes There?" chiefly because of his six-foot-plus size. (He and the late Ted Cassidy [Ruk in the original Star Trek's "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" episode and the original Lurch in The Addams Family] tended to get most of those roles for the same reason.)
But it should also be remembered that Jim was an Army vet who saw action at Anzio during World War II and received the Purple Heart for it. He also was big brother and colleague to another longtime CBS star, Mission: Impossible's Peter Graves (they shared the original family name of Aurness, but Pete took a stage name so as not to get mixed up with his bro), whom we also lost not long ago. And from all accounts, he was a damn nice guy off the set as well.
Sincere sympathies to his two wives and single son who survive him (he had another son and daughter who died years back), his relations and friends, and his many, many fans. And the first glass of rye in his memory is on me down at the Long Branch Saloon as the small screen's greatest Western hero finally rides off into the sunset.
