Gunsmoke Characters

Radio was once an extremely popular entertainment medium in America. In April of 1952, the first episode of Gunsmoke aired on CBS. The radio drama was set in Dodge City, Kansas in the 1870s. Norman MacDonnell and John Meston, the show's creators, wanted to present a more realistic account of life during the time of the Western Settlement. The success of the show was due to the Gunsmoke characters including Marshall Matt Dillon, Doc Charles Adams, and Kitty Russell.

Marshall Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad, was the center of the Gunsmoke characters. At the time of being cast, Conrad was already a successful radio actor. His experience and talent helped create a complex character affected by the events which took place in Dodge City. Although Dillon's attempts were always heroic, he didn't always win. In this way, the creators of Gunsmoke achieved content that deviated from the more youth oriented subject matter of the day.

Doc Charles Adams was played by Howard McNear. Adams was one of the many Gunsmoke characters that had a secretive former life. After the show had been running for one year, Adams' past was revealed. The doctor's real name was Calvin Moore, and he found himself in Dodge City due to many unfortunate circumstances. The doctor had traveled to Virginia after earning his degree where he fell in love with a woman. Unfortunately, she was being courted by another man, Roger Beauregard. There was a duel that the doctor won, but shortly after it, the couple was forced from the town. They soon arrived in St. Louis and were married. The doctor's wife contracted typhus, and he was widower two months later. He arrived in Dodge soon thereafter and began his new life as Doc Charles Adams.

Kitty Russell was another one of the Gunsmoke characters whose life was shaped by the difficulties of the Old West. Russell was played by Georgia Ellis, and her profession was well understood though never stated. Like many women in cities such as Dodge, Russell was the proprietor of a saloon, or brothel. She provided a service well known in the history of Western cities.

Gunsmoke and its colorful cast remained on the radio until June of 1961. The Gunsmoke characters were not lost, however. In 1955, the story was picked up as a television series that aired on CBS. The two versions ran simultaneously for awhile, and there were many loyalists who believed the television version did not do the radio program justice. Likewise, there were also many fans of the television version. They believed it fell in line with other great Westerns, including many of the John Wayne movies.