James Arness

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Arness

James Arness (born May 26, 1923 in Minneapolis , Minnesota , † June 3, 2011 in Los Angeles , California ; actually James King Aurness ) was an American actor , who mainly through his portrayal of Marshal Matt Dillon in the Western series Smoking Colts became known.

Life

Arness served in the United States Army during World War II and was seriously wounded when the Allied forces landed off Anzio in Italy at the Battle of Anzio ( Operation Shingle , January 22, 1944). His cinema career began in 1947 with a supporting role in The Farmer's Daughter alongside Joseph Cotten , Loretta Young and Lex Barker . Arness was a close friend of John Wayne and starred by his side in Big Jim McLain and in a supporting role in Wayne's only 3D film in 1953, They Call Me Hondo . It was Wayne who suggested him for the role of Marshal Matt Dillon in the US western series Smoking Colts . Arness played the role in a total of 618 episodes for twenty years. This was the longest time on American television that an actor played the same role on the same series (the record was set in 2004 by Kelsey Grammer in the role of Dr. Frasier Crane on the series Cheers and Frasier ). For this, Arness was awarded the honorary title Honorary United States Marshal , in recognition of his unique embodiment of the image and traditions of the US Marshals Service.

After the end of Smoking Colts , Arness continued to play primarily in films and television series of the Western genre. These included eleven episodes of Through Hell to the West and five television-produced full-length sequels by Smoking Colts , which were produced between 1987 and 1994.

Even before the longtime impersonation of Marshal Matt Dillon , Arness starred in two well-known science fiction and horror films in the 1950s : The Thing from Another World and Formicula . As "Das Ding" he was hardly recognizable under the alien mask. Another notable exception to the western is his lead role as metropolitan cop Jim McClain in the crime series McClain's Law , of which sixteen episodes were produced between 1981 and 1982.

On June 3, 2011, Arness died of natural causes at the age of 88 in his home in Brentwood , Los Angeles. He was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale .

James Arness was with a height of 2.01 meters one of the greatest series actors in a leading role. From his first divorced marriage to Virginia Chapman (1949-1960), Arness had two sons and a daughter, who committed suicide in 1975. Since 1978 he was married to Janet Surtees. His brother was the actor Peter Graves .

Filmography (selection)

  • 1947: The farmer's daughter (The Farmer's Daughter)
  • 1949: Kesselschlacht (Battleground)
  • 1950: West St. Louis (Wagon Master)
  • 1951: The People Against O'Hara
  • 1951: The Thing (The Thing from Another World)
  • 1952: Curse of the Lost (Horizons West)
  • 1952: Stronger than Chains (Carbine Williams)
  • 1952: Marijuana (Big Jim McLain)
  • 1953: The Last Signal (Island in the Sky)
  • 1953: I'm called Hondo (Hondo)
  • 1954: Formicula (Them!)
  • 1955: The Sea Chase (The Sea Chase)
  • 1955: A man loves dangerous (Many Rivers to Cross)
  • 1955–1975: Rauchende Colts (Gunsmoke) (TV series, 635 episodes)
  • 1978–1979: How the West Was Won (TV series, 24 episodes)
  • 1981–1982: McClain's Law (TV series, 16 episodes)
  • 1987: Alamo - 13 days to victory (The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory) (TV movie)
  • 1987: Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (Movie made for TV)
  • 1990 Gunsmoke: The Last Apache (Movie made for TV)
  • 1992 Gunsmoke: To the Last Man (TV movie)
  • 1993 Gunsmoke: The Long Ride (Movie made for TV)
  • 1994 Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice (TV Movie)

Web links

Commons : James Arness  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Arness, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aurness, James King (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Minneapolis , Minnesota
DATE OF DEATH June 3, 2011
Place of death Brentwood , California