I have never know the identity of the poor sap that Matt Dillon gunned down every week in the opening of “Gunsmoke”. He was a weekly loser.
On a personal note, “Gunsmoke” premired the night before I was born, so I missed that. Great series. I have seen the intro that John Wayne did for GS. James Arness seemed to tower over Wayne who was no lightweight himself at 6’-4”.
RIP Matt.
John Wayne and Jim Arness were close to the same size, IIRC. As for the guy gunned down in the show’s opening, I seem to recall there were 5-6 different versions of that scene filmed over the life of the show. I think each one had a different actor. I remember reading that online some time ago.
Then, you missed most of the Western era on TV (at least first hand). Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Wagon Train were likely the most popular, followed by Maverick, and Have Gun-Will Travel. But there were dozens of others aired weekly. It was all a kid my age (born in ‘43) could want. Now, that was TV.
This is a little off the subject, but the night I was born they first aired the Honeymooners episode in which Alice said, “I call you KILLER because you SLAY me!”
I was 2 hours old at the time, had to miss it...