The TV show Gunsmoke was a classic and it ran for 20 years on CBS. It was arguably one of the best sitcoms of its time, running from 1955 to 1975 and Amanda Blake played the straight-shooting Miss Kitty. She was a mainstay on the show, however, she decided to leave her role after 19 years. Why did Amanda Blake leave Gunsmoke?
Amanda Blake played Miss Kitty on 'Gunsmoke' for 19 years.
Miss Kitty was a fan-favorite on Gunsmoke, as the owner of the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City. Amanda Blake made the character into everything that made her popular. Fans loved watching the relationship unfold between Marshal Matt Dillon. She was such an integral part of the show, with many episodes centered around her in the western series.
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Amanda started with the show, airing on its first episode which ran in 1955. She played the character of Miss Kitty for 19 years before leaving the show in 1974. It's not certain whether it's a coincidence or not that the CBS show was canceled the next year, in 1975 or if after 20 years on air, it was just time.
Amanda returned to play Miss Kitty in Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge, a TV movie that ran in 1985. The movie was one of the very last times Amanda was on screen, but that doesn't explain why she left the role in the first place.
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So why did Amanda Blake leave 'Gunsmoke'?
According to the Chicago Tribune, Amanda had simply grown tired of having to travel to Hollywood. She lived in Phoenix, making her commute rather unbearably long. After 19 years of doing that commute, she decided enough was enough. But towards the end of her time on Gunsmoke, she faced a different problem: her declining health. Amanda was known to be a very heavy cigarette smoker and she unfortunately fell ill in 1977.
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According to KXRB, Amanda had surgery in 1977 for what they reported was oral cancer, and she was sick for some time. The actress passed away in 1989 at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento, Calif., at the age of 60. There was a lot of speculation and confusion over the cause of death.
Given she had reportedly fought cancer off several years earlier, some reports said Amanda passed away from cancer. However, other reports said she died of AIDS-related complications.
An article published in People in 1989 reported, "There was no recurrence of cancer,” her physician, Dr. Lou Nishimura, said at the time. "Technically she died of liver failure brought on by viral hepatitis, which was AIDS-related.”
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The official cause of Amanda Blake's death, as reported by KXRB, was "cardiopulmonary arrest due to liver failure and CMV hepatitis, which is AIDS-related."
According to People, her declining health was a secret to most. “Once she knew she had it, she decided to keep it to herself,” said Pat Derby, a close friend of Amanda. “She didn’t want to live in a goldfish bowl.”
Amanda Blake, who played Miss Kitty, grew tired of commuting from her Phoenix home to Hollywood and quit the show in 1974. –that`s a nasty thing for me to say, but it`s true,” she said, grinning.
In the television series "Gunsmoke," which aired from 1955 to 1975, the character Miss Kitty Russell, played by Amanda Blake, left Dodge City in the 19th season (1973-1974). Amanda Blake decided to leave the show after 19 seasons, citing a desire to pursue other opportunities and interests.
Stone was brought on as one of the original principal cast members along with James Arness, Amanda Blake, and Dennis Weaver. However, they didn't all initially get along. Stone initially “hated” Arness because he didn't think that he took the job seriously enough.
Gunsmoke made Ken Curtis' Festus Haggen a series regular to replace Dennis Weaver's beloved Chester Goode after he left to pursue other acting opportunities. However, Curtis refused to return for the first made-for-tv Gunsmoke movie after its 20-season run because of a couple of serious disagreements with a producer.
Or even top 1,000. But that was the reasoning behind Polly Bond's decision to refuse the part of Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke. The former Polly Ellis had recently married Tommy Bond, a former child actor most famous for playing "Butch" on The Little Rascals.
Read more Boot Award in 1985. She was married to four husbands and got no children. Her most important works are The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954), Miss Robin Crusoe (1953), and Gunsmoke (1955-1974).
Miss Blake, testifying in the same sultry voice that sounded from countless scenes at the smokey Long Branch saloon, showed little effects of her surgery. She said she had smoked two to three packs a day for 30 years. Not a lighted cigarette was in evidence in the crowded hearing room.
Arness, who remained close to Weaver after he left the series, praised him as a “really fine actor.” “We really liked each other a whole lot,” Arness said.
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.
Obviously, Arness straightened out and once the two actors were on the same wavelength, they got along just fine. In a later interview, Stone told TV Guide, "I spent the first two years on Gunsmoke despising Jim's lack of professionalism.
James Arness is an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke for 20 years. His brother was the late actor, Peter Graves.
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.
Summary. Gunsmoke, a gritty depiction of American West life, featured screen legends like Burt Reynolds and John Wayne in guest roles. Some Gunsmoke actors still living and working today include Roger Ewing, Buck Taylor, Kim Darby, and William Shatner.
Kitty befriends a Wild Child (Laurie Prange) when she gets lost after a stagecoach accident, and together they try to survive until they can reach civilization.
Dennis Weaver first became familiar to television audiences as Matt Dillon's assistant Chester Goode in Gunsmoke (1955). After playing the part for nine years, he moved on to star in his own series, Kentucky Jones (1964). However, the show failed to find mass appeal and was cancelled after just one season.
On August 16, 1989, Blake died of AIDS-related pneumonia at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento, California at the age of 60. Her death was initially attributed to throat cancer but, after her death, her doctor publicly announced her death was due to complications from AIDS.
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