Ken Curtis, born Curtis Gates, was a cowboy actor who in his younger days was a dashing, square-jawed, lady-killer leading man in Westerns, but whose real celebrity came from one role: the grizzled,illiterate sidekick Festus Haggen on TV's "Gunsmoke."
Before acting in Westerns, Curtis sang with the Sons of the Pioneers and with Tommy Dorsey's big band. He dropped out of show biz to serve in the Army during World War II. Soon after the war's end, he appeared on Jo Stafford's radio show singing "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," which became a big hit.
Curtis acted in a number of Western movies directed by John Ford and, in addition, married Ford's daughter.
In 1964, he replaced Dennis Weaver as Marshall Matt Dillon's deputy on the highly popular series "Gunsmoke." He played the rough-around-the-edges yet dependable middle-aged coot Festus until the show closed in 1975. That character was patterned after an actual man Curtis, the son of a real-life Colorado sheriff, had known in his youth.
Curtis died at age 74 in 1991.
No comments:
Post a Comment