There are countless people that have come up to me and said that show literally saved my life.

It makes me want to my heart because I don't feel alone in this feeling.

Oh no, you're not alone at all. You say thing to me, I know what it means. I mean, I really know that feeling of like there's no manual. So that you're famous and the show is over. So what's your mindset? To some extent I felt guilt. Guilt. Well, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

So I'm obsessed with gun smoke. So that's where I want to start here. Oh, oh, I love it. Yes. I'm obsessed with, I bought like every gun smoke episode ever. Like it's like 800, it's like something, you gotta be something wrong with you to watch them all.. And I watched a lot of them. It was on what, 20 years? Something like that. You know, one interesting thing about that you, because you were on the show, was they debated for many years whether or not James Arnest would get with the woman, whose name I can't think of, was played the proprietor of the saloon. Oh, really? Kitty. Kitty. Yeah. Because fans would always say, our kitty and the martial ever going to get together. And they made a decision kind of like the Simpsons did where they decided never age, bark. They made a decision that the secret of the show success was that they never get together romantically. Right, right, right. They would hint at it. That was good. Maybe a one-night stand, but never together. And they believed that had to do with the longevity, that they never gave away. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. Keep that tension. So obviously, we're very young when you're on the show, seven years old or so. Yeah. I think I was, well, on Gunsmoke, I was six for the first episode. And speaking of romantic relationships, the mother, the story is about a mother of widow with two children. And of course, I was one of them. Festus is sweet on her. Okay. And it played really well with the audience. So they did a second episode and they were thinking about having him get hitched. And so I might have been a regular on Gunsnow. A billiard? Yes. The episode was. And then the second was, yes. J. Earl Hallman played the father. So the nerd in me wants to know what it would be like to be on a set like that. I mean, obviously you were a kid, but do you have a memory of like this? Because it was the whole, and I watched some of the scenes that you were in. It's like the whole city, you know, the the buildings and the carts going by with the horses and all that. Yeah, I didn't see that until the second episode. Oh, okay, maybe that's the clip that I saw. Like took place at our house and it was rural. And second episode was especially fun because the kids were entering our animals in a fair. So we had a goat, and then we had this adorable piglet named Thomas. And so, yeah, I got to work with the piglet, and I have Ellie May clamp at syndrome. So I was over the moon about that So is that is that something you reflect on fondly? I mean a such a distant memory, but it must be kind of cool You know, I I felt very fondly one of the most fun things is Ken Curtis who played Festus right and I don't know how many people know this, but he was also a big band singer. Did not know that. And he had a beautiful voice. And... He had a kind of a melodious way of talking, which is interesting. Yeah, yeah. I think musical instincts get used in everything you do. And my mom overheard him, because he would pretty much stay in character. Even with the cameras up? Yeah. And then when we'd rap, then he's on the phone and my mom's just thinking, gee, that man has a sexy voice and turns on its fastest. He was actually a really good looking man with a beautiful speaking voice, a beautiful singing voice. And I was enthralled with the fact that he could change so drastically. Wow, that's a real actor. And he was so freaking nice. I mean, he was so sweet, considerate, and, you know, praising just a dream to work with. You know, James R. Ness was sort of hand picked almost by John Wayne. Oh, okay. John Wayne had a lot to do with the opening

of Gunsmoke as a show.

He kind of endorsed not only the show, but also endorsed James Arnest. So he has got this, you know, it's kind of magisterial presence and all that. That's what I love about the show. It's obviously a set in the old West, but has this kind of mythical quality that a lot of great. Yeah, bigger than life.

And I didn't get to, I don't know if I even

had a single scene with Ones.

Yeah.

But I would think you would remember because he was a big guy. Yeah, well, I, because he wasn't on the set, I used to sit in his rocking chair. Oh. Oh. So I know your family had some tie to show business in your brother and stuff like that. I mean, as a six-year-old, and you're like, are you conscious like, I'm in show business? Oh, yeah, very much so. Can you walk me through that a little bit? Well, I mean, okay, it's so weird. There's four kids in the family, and every one of us got discovered. It began with my brother Larry, who he was 24 when I was born. So, I mean, there's a big age gap. Yeah, yeah, there's 10 years between, between he and my next brother and then eight years between him and my sister. They were supposed to be done, but then I came along. Big surprise. The biggest of a mom. Well, as it turned out, but it began with my my oldest brother who looked like a cherubi's beautiful, beautiful child. And a lady pulled off her car my mom and his name is Larry Joe. They were standing on a street corner waiting to go across to have a movie.

Totally. Totally. I mean, I don't know how many people will believe it if I ever get off my

button, my memoirs. But so, you know, she pulls over the car, she hands mom her card and says,

is this little boy in pictures? And she said, no.

Pictures.

Pictures.

Let's go away.

We'll go away back.

And she goes, well, he should be.

He's beautiful.

And they're looking for a little boy just like this.

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