Back To
Blogs

Famous Actors Who Guest Starred on Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke enjoyed an impressive 20-year run on TV in its day and its legacy continues on INSP! In all those years, some big names shared the screen with James Arness—from actors just breaking into the biz to established Hollywood megastars! Not to mention the famous intro to the series by none other than John Wayne!

 

Bette Davis

Gunsmoke’s “The Jailer” is among TV Guide’s Top 50 Dramatic Episodes of All Time and guest star Bette Davis gives a chilling performance as a widow with a wicked agenda! The Hollywood star known for her compelling performances in All About Eve, Dark Victory, Now, Voyager and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, appeared in the 1966 Gunsmoke episode, “The Jailer,” as Etta Stone, a bitter, vengeful woman who has her outlaw sons (including bad-guy actor Bruce Dern as Lou Stone) kidnap Matt and Kitty, intending to hang Matt whom she holds responsible for her husband’s execution.

 

Bruce Dern

A versatile actor known for playing outlaws and characters with malicious intent, Bruce Dern appeared in four episodes of Gunsmoke playing a different character each time.

Look for him in “Ten Little Indians” as Doyle Phleger, “South Wind” as Judd Print, “The Jailer” as Lou Stone and “The Long Night” as Guerin. Noted for his performances in Westerns, you’ve seen him in Support Your Local Sheriff with James Garner, with Clint Eastwood in Hang ‘em High, with John Wayne in The War Wagon, and later in The Cowboys where he gained notoriety as Asa Watts (nicknamed Long Hair), the character who infamously shoots Wil Andersen (John Wayne) dead. He also appeared in episodes of Rawhide, Laredo, The Big Valley and many more shows and movies.

 

Suzanne Pleshette

Suzanne Pleshette is best known for her role as Emily Hartley, wife of the late Bob Newhart’s character on The Bob Newhart Show. She appeared in the Gunsmoke episode, “Stark,” in the uncharacteristically heartless role of Glory Bramley, the ruthless daughter of a wealthy rancher who tries to protect her brother, an escaped prisoner, from a blackmailing bounty hunter. This episode focuses almost entirely on guest stars. In addition to Pleshette, they include Richard Kiley, Shelly Novak and Henry Wilcoxon.

 

Bruce Boxleitner

In the series finale episode, “The Sharecroppers,” Bruce Boxleitner plays Toby Hogue, the son of a farmer who finds himself the target of the lovestruck daughter of the lazy sharecropper working his father’s land. Enter Festus, who accidentally shoots Abel, the sharecropper’s son, in the leg when he unknowingly buys Festus’ beloved mule, Ruth, from a swindler. Boxleitner also appears in Blue Ridge: The Series, Far Haven, The Warrant: Breaker’s Law, with James Arness in Gunsmoke: One Man’s Justice and How the West Was Won.

 

Charles Bronson

Before his notable portrayal of Bernardo O’Reilly alongside Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and James Coburn in The Magnificent Seven, Charles Bronson appeared in two Gunsmoke episodes: “The Killer” and “Lost Rifle.”

 

Angie Dickinson

Most associate Angie Dickinson with her groundbreaking role as undercover cop, Sgt. Pepper Anderson in the hit series Police Woman. But Dickinson is no stranger to Westerns. She played opposite John Wayne in Rio Bravo, with Robert Mitchum in Young Billy Young, Willie Nelson in Once Upon a Texas Train—and in the Gunsmoke episode “Sins of the Father.”

 

Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef often plays the quintessential Western villain. But in The Magnificent Seven Ride! with Stephanie Powers he’s on the right side of the law. Other Western roles include Ride Lonesome with Randolph Scott, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, and Rhonda Fleming, and three episodes of Gunsmoke: “Old Flame,” “The Pariah” and “My Father, My Son.”

 

Melissa Gilbert

The actress who played Laura Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie made a stop in Dodge City, Kansas before landing in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Melissa Gilbert appeared in the Gunsmoke episode, “The Judgement.”

 

Out-of-this-world appearances!

Leonard Nimoy, famous for playing the unemotional half-human/half-Vulcan Mr. Spock on Star Trek, appeared in four Gunsmoke episodes: “A Man a Day,” “The Search,” “I Call Him Wonder” and “The Treasure of John Walking Fox.” But Nimoy has an earlier connection with Arness. He has an uncredited role in the Sci-Fi cult classic Them! starring Arness as Robert Graham. Fun fact: Fess Parker of Daniel Boone fame also does battle with the giant mutant ants in the film!

 

William Shatner, the iconic Captain Kirk at the helm of the Starship Enterprise on Star Trek also materialized in Dodge! You can see him in the Gunsmokeepisode “Quaker Girl.”

 

James Doohan, a master of dialects, is best known for his character Lieutenant Commander Montgomery “Scotty” Scott on Star Trek. Watch for Doohan as Davit in the Gunsmoke episode “Quint Asper Comes Home.”

 

 

Harrison Ford blasted into popularity at light speed as the brave, quirky, and humorous Han Solo in the Star Wars franchise. Before his intergalactic travels, Ford galloped into Dodge as Print in the Gunsmoke episode “The Sodbusters” and a year later as Hobey in “Whelan’s Men.”

 

June Lockhart, a mom for a millennium, played a mother on Lassie and Lost in Space! Yes, ”Danger, Will Robinson,” your mummy once walked the streets of Dodge! You can catch Lockhart as Beulah in the Gunsmoke episode, “Dirt” co-written by Sam Peckinpah, the writer and director known for his intense, often violent films, including Westerns such as Ride the High Country starring Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea.

 

And keep an eye out for…

Ron Howard, the Academy Award-winning director of Cocoon and A Beautiful Mind, and director of the critically acclaimed Apollo 13, got his start as an actor playing Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show, and hanging with the Fonz on Happy Days. He also starred in Westerns. Look for him opposite John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart in The Shootist and on Gunsmoke as Jamie in the episode “Charlie Noon.”

 

Sam Elliott, the star of The Shadow Riders with Tom Selleck and Conagher with his wife Katharine Ross previously worked on his cowboy persona as Cory Soames in the Gunsmoke episode “The Wedding.”

 

Burt Reynolds is often referred to as a guest star on Gunsmoke but in truth, playing the buff blacksmith, Quint Asper in 50 episodes just might bump him up to a recurring character.

 

Other guest stars who made it big, who may or may not have stopped in at the Long Branch while they were in Dodge include:

Victor French (Rio Lobo) – 18 Gunsmoke episodes

Denver Pyle (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance) – 14 Gunsmoke episodes

Jack Elam (Wichita) – 15 Gunsmoke episodes

Jeanette Nolan (Two Rode Together) – 8 Gunsmoke episodes

George Kennedy (The Sons of Katie Elder) – 7 Gunsmoke episodes

Mariette Hartley (Ride the High Country) – 5 Gunsmoke episodes

Harry Morgan (High Noon, M.A.S.H.) – 4 Gunsmoke episodes

Anthony Zerbe (The Young Riders) – 3 Gunsmoke episodes

 

…and many others.

Featured Content