"Up to that point, I had been what you jokingly call a 'two-page' actor. I would have a scene here, or a little scene there. But suddenly with 'Gunsmoke', I had to do 15 pages every day, and all the dialogue and do the whole thing. I was in way over my head. I was very concerned about it, and it was very hard, the first couple of years, to get really into the character."

 (James Arness, all'anagrafe James King Aurness, attore in numerosi film e telefilm di genere western e fratello maggiore dell'attore Peter Graves; Minneapolis, 26 maggio 1923 – Los Angeles, 3 giugno 2011)