2 of my all-time favorite TV stars. Both were quality men! Both served their country! And both were very good to fans. I still watch their reruns. It’s a draw between them.
PS: James Arness had a bum leg from a previous accident.
Lean Wolf can tell the story from knowing him, but Arness was in full time pain the last couple of years of Gunsmoke. It was from a war injury. During the battle of Anzio, Arness' right leg was peppered with machine gun bullets, and when the bones were set they didn't mend properly, leaving him with a slight but permanent limp. The trauma of the experience mellowed into aimlessness after the war.
I knew Jim, and did one movie with him. His wounds were severe and troubling him greatly. He wore compression undergarments under his pants to help keep the dropsy in both legs under control long enough to shoot a scene. The wounds are what contributed to him getting dropsy.
It wasn't a pretty sight. I saw it and the pain it caused him with my own eyes. He was a friend.
Jim Arness was badly wounded at Anzio, WW II, as mentioned above. Flesh and bones don't do too well when they encounter 8MM bullets from a German machine gun. The last several years of Gunsmoke, Jim could not ride a horse other than to mount, start to ride away, and the camera would do a cutaway and Jim's stunt double did the rest of the riding. He was a very nice man who survived and prospered in a pool of sharks: Hollywood.
FWIW.
L.W.
"Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two and go between the pieces." (William Sturgis, clipper ship captain, 1830s.)
James Arness is easy one of my favorite all time actors. His service to our country just makes him all that more iconic. They don’t make them like him anymore.
Throw in Leo Gordon. ......one of the few who looked real when in a fight scene with Walker. Leo was a true Bad Ass at one time. Great person later on.
Throw in Leo Gordon. ......one of the few who looked real when in a fight scene with Walker. Leo was a true Bad Ass at one time. Great person later on.
Shot by a cop while he was attempting an armed robbery. Went to prison and was a convicted felon. Bad azz... or dumb azz? Now this actor was a real deal bad azz...
I saw Clint Walker when I was about 12 or 13 years old at a place near Denver called Magic Mountain. He did a scene from Cheyenne with another guy. They had a shoot out. He was a big guy to a little kid but signed autographs and smiled after the skit was over.
Both seem like good guys, isn’t Walker still alive? As far as actors I thought Arness was better more natural to his parts… until late in life. Seems to me those gunsmoke movies he did late in life were not his best and his acting seemed “forced” for lack of a better word. Trying too hard maybe?
Osky
A woman's heart is the hardest rock the Almighty has put on this earth and I can find no sign on it.
Both seem like good guys, isn’t Walker still alive? As far as actors I thought Arness was better more natural to his parts… until late in life. Seems to me those gunsmoke movies he did late in life were not his best and his acting seemed “forced” for lack of a better word. Trying too hard maybe?
Osky
Clint died in like 2018 or so.
Jim did film work later in life, but was in a lot of pain to do so. It shows. It wasn't his acting that was the problem, it was the old war wounds weighing on him.
..... James Arness was Huge........ that is why they cast him in the "Thing".
I know that statement was not meant to take my mind where it did but I spewed coffee laughing..
When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are something to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honors are something to be ashamed of . Confucius
about the 3:23 mark she looked like she was gettin wet under all them petticoats and bloomers.
The desert is a true treasure for him who seeks refuge from men and the evil of men. In it is contentment In it is death and all you seek (Quoted from "The Bleeding of the Stone" Ibrahim Al-Koni)