"Gunsmoke" Marshal James Arness -- RIP

James Arness, who played Marshal Matt Dillon in the Gunsmoke TV series, died this week at age 88. The New York Times obit does a reasonable overview of his professional and personal life. A couple of curiosities emerged from the obit. One was that Peter Graves, the Mr. Phelps of the Mission Impossible television series, was Arness' brother. Another was that John Wayne recommended Arness for the Marshal Dillon role.

Having grown up in the black-and-white TV era, I vaguely recall watching a Gunsmoke episode or two. My parents told me that, as a child, I rarely watched television programs. However, TV commercials fascinated me and I would stop whatever I was doing to watch them.

Consequently, Marshal Dillon didn't make a strong impression on me at the time. Many years later, I worked for an insurance company. Our department occasionally entertained top producing salespeople. One day, we were given the "honor" of entertaining an agent from Los Angeles the big shots wanted to avoid. I recall two things about the agent. He insisted on having lunch in the "executive dining room." After that, he let anyone who would listen know that wrote a policy for a number of Hollywood actors, including Jim Arness.

The insurance company had a number of "executive dining rooms" and we did, in fact, have lunch in one of them. The agent looked suspiciously around the room. "Is this the executive dining room?" My boss, a rare female in the boy's club, assuaged his doubts.

We all ate well that day, and I have Jim Arness to thank for it.