‘Gunsmoke’: Watch James Arness Discuss Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty’s Relationship in 2002 (2024)
In a 2002 interview, “Gunsmoke” star James Arness discussed the show’s biggest will-they-or-won’t-they relationship and how it ended.
Viewers often tuned into the hit western to see if Arness’s Marshal Matt Dillon would ever end up with Miss Kitty. It’s a relationship that the show teased at times but never fully committed to. In an interview in 2002, the late Arness discussed why the show’s producers chose to keep the relationship a mystery.
“I think they felt you can only go so far with it. And then you’d have to change the character and nature of the show,” Arness said in the video. “If you have Matt and Kitty have an on-screen love affair, then they’d have to get married or something. Then, you’d have a different show there.”
“Gunsmoke” ran for 20 years on the air, and a lot of that was due to its episodic nature. The show chronicled numerous adventures in Dodge City and the Old West. But viewers didn’t have to tune into every episode to understand its characters. A relationship between Arness’s and Amanda Blake’s characters would have serialized the show in a way. It would have also changed the focus, turning the show more into a romance than a western.
James Arness Believed the Show Made the Right Choice
Ultimately, Arness believed the producers behind “Gunsmoke” made the right choice. They didn’t commit to a Dillon/Miss Kitty relationship because it kept viewers invested. They would often tune in each week to see if the two ended up together. Producers used the tension to draw in more viewers. They figured people might tune out if the couple got together.
“So they kept it in that groove that seemed to work,” Arness said. “We used to get a lot of mail from people, particularly women, saying why don’t you get Matt and Kitty together more and all. I think they always felt that’s the kind of mail we want to get. We want to have them eager to tune in and see. So, they kept it at that level purposely. I think it worked out awfully well.”
Ultimately, Dillon and Miss Kitty’s relationship remains one for the minds of “Gunsmoke” fans everywhere. People can imagine what the two might have got up to when the camera wasn’t rolling. But Arness said the undisclosed relationship remained one of the key parts of the show. Perhaps, Dillon and Miss Kitty ended up riding off into the sunset at some point, even if it’s just in fans’ minds.
Kitty and Matt were clearly devoted to each other. They NEVER expressed any outward affection. I blame the producers and writers of the show. They wanted chemistry between the characters, not open displays of affection and emotion.
Arness said, "Our relationship was downplayed because they thought it was more titillating to leave matters to the viewers' imagination. The love between Arness and Amanda Blake as actors, though platonic, was still evident behind the scenes of the series.
Since the beginning of the series, Kitty and Marshal Matt Dillon had a spark between them. But as Blake said it: "Wrong place, wrong time." "Romantic love, while not unknown to that time and place, had to be secondary to the protagonist's struggle to stay alive and do his job.
Moreover, the friendship between castmates was not only for the benefit of Stone during his argument; it also created a better episode of Gunsmoke. Stone stated that the cast's bond was so great that it was visible through their characters on screen.
— “Quieter than a gagged gopher.” — “Sincere as a $5 funeral.” For the record, there were 635 episodes of Gunsmoke and never once did Marshal Dillon kiss longtime girlfriend Miss Kitty. I could never figure out that part of the show, either when I was young or right now.
Unlike many television stars, Arness never took on too many characteristics of his most famous role, nor did Dillon become more like the actor. "As for the issue of the onscreen personality and the real person, there's no comparison, no way.
He became a close friend of John Wayne and appeared in supporting roles in Big Jim McLain, Hondo, Island in the Sky and The Sea Chase, all starring Wayne. Arness starred in Gun the Man Down, a fast-paced Western, for Wayne's production company.
He was so upset, he swore that the company would never shoot any project in the district of Hollywood. Worked in prop management on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967). Bond's wife Polly Bond (aka Polly Ellis), a former model and Miss California, turned down the role of "Miss Kitty" on Gunsmoke (1955).
Amanda Blake, the actress who played Miss Kitty, did not have a mole (beauty mark as it was known) in real life. If you google her, you will find photographs of her before, during and after Gunsmoke. It is said she kept her beauty mark after she left Gunsmoke.
Matt is now a cattle rancher in the Dragoon Mountains northeast of Tombstone along with his daughter Beth (Amy Stock-Poynton), whose mother "Mike" has just died (from season 19, episode three, wherein Michael Learned portrayed a widowed rancher named Mike Yardner).
A: Matt Dillon (James Arness) and Kitty (Amanda Blake) never married during the series 1955-75 run, although close watchers of the show were convinced they had connected at some time. But in a 1973 episode, Matt had a brief affair with another woman, Mike Yardner (Michael Learned), while he had amnesia.
MacRae was also cast multiple times on the long-running Gunsmoke, appearing once in the role of Fanny in the 1962 episode "Half-Straight" and then, between 1962 and 1965, appearing four times as April, the girlfriend of Festus Haggen, one of the series' main characters.
The story line was that she could no longer tolerate having a man in her life that has been shot eleven times and knew the next time might prove to be fatal. Miss Kitty closed the Long Branch Saloon, and put it up for sale, and then left Dodge. Amanda Blake chose to leave Gunsmoke voluntarily.
Miss Kitty was long the fan-favorite on Gunsmoke. The sassy owner of Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City was played by actress Amanda Blake, a woman who would forever make her mark not only in the western genre of television but also in society through her passionate work as an animal rights activist.
Introduction: My name is Jonah Leffler, I am a determined, faithful, outstanding, inexpensive, cheerful, determined, smiling person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
