Most people know actor Ken Curtis for his role as Festus Haggen on the immensely influential
CBS western television series Gunsmoke.
Festus was Marshall Matt Dillon's right-hand man in Dodge City, and he was basically the
series' heart and soul.
But unless you're a Gunsmoke trivia junkie, you might not have known that Ken Curtis actually
played several other characters on the iconic show.
How many, you might ask?
Try seven!
In fact, Festus was actually the fifth of seven characters that Ken Curtis played on
the show.
Before he began his career as an actor, Curtis worked as a big band and country music singer.
He made his first guest appearances on Westerns after being signed to Paramount Pictures in
1945.
His first screen roles saw him playing singing cowboys in a series of musical Westerns with
an American quartet known as the Hoosier Hot Shots.
Since Curtis was the son-in-law of film director John Ford, in 1950, he got to star alongside
John Wayne in Rio Grande.
For the next decade or so, Curtis made frequent appearances in Ford-directed films such as
1956s The Searchers, 1959s The Young Land, and 1960s The Alamo.
After making the jump to television, Curtis guest-starred in shows like Have Gun, Will
Travel, Death Valley Days, and Perry Mason.
Originally, Gunsmoke was presented as a radio drama, but banking upon its popularity, the
series was adapted into a television program in 1965.
While Marshall Matt Dillon had a total of five deputies over the show's two-decade run,
Ken Curtis's Festus Haggen held the role the longest – appearing in 304 episodes over
a span of 11 years.
In this video, we'll be taking a closer look at all six characters that Ken Curtis played
on Gunsmoke that weren't Festus.
If you're a big Gunsmoke fan, this is one facts-packed video that you won't want to
miss.
Phil Jacks
While Curtis will always be best remembered for his role as Festus, he made his first
appearances on Gunsmoke in a much smaller capacity.
In the early days of the series, Curtis made infrequent appearances before landing the
iconic role that he would ultimately become best remembered for playing.
The first character that Ken Curtis played on Gunsmoke was a cattle drover named Phil
Jacks.
That character wasn't a particularly memorable one but he can be seen in the season 4 episode
'Jay Hawkers'.
In that episode, trail boss Dolph Quince sends Matt to help escort his cattle herd into Dodge
City after running into trouble with a band of Kansas renegades known as Jayhawkers.
Briscoe
The second character that Ken Curtis played on Gunsmoke was a mustachioed man named Briscoe
in the season four episode Change of Heart.
In that installment of the series, Matt becomes suspicious when Jerry Cass's plan to marry
saloon hostess Bella Grant get complicated by her sudden insistence that Jerry leave
his ranch for six months.
Ken Curtis' Briscoe character was the opportunistic brother of Jerry Cass.
Jesse
In the season 5 Gunsmoke episode The Ex-Urbanites.
Chester finds himself in the rather unfortunate position of having to attempt to extract a
bullet out of Doc in order to try to save his life.
Doc wound up shot after he and Chester were ambushed by a duo of savage prairie wolfers
– one of whom was named Jesse.
In that role, Curtis got to prove that he could adeptly play a villain.
Scout
In the season five episode Speak Me Fair, the Dodge City boys find themselves spooked
by a series of cattle rustling events that have been taking place recently.
In this episode, Ken Curtis plays a member of the Kiowa Tribe named Scout.
Before we tell you about the two other characters that Ken Curtis played on Gunsmoke, take a
moment to show Facts Verse a little bit of support by giving this video a like and subscribing
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Stay tuned to not only learn about the other Gunsmoke characters that Ken Curtis played,
but also a bit about his musical career.
Kyle Kelly
in the season 9 episode Lover Boy, which aired on October 5, 1963, Curtis plays a lady's
man named Kyle Kelly.
Before coming to Dodge City, Kelly was just a charming cowboy who was only guilty of breaking
hearts.
But after showing up in town, he finds two women who are destined to turn him into a
killer.
One of these is the bored wife of a homesteader, while the other is a girl he recently left
behind who has now found employment as a saloon girt.
Frank Eaton
In a case of mistaken identity, Festus finds himself arrested by a US Marshall who mistakes
him for his bloodthirsty murderous doppelganger Frank Eaton.
Festus then has to stand trial while Matt investigates things in an attempt to clear
his friend's good name.
In this unforgettable episode, Ken Curtis plays both Festus and his devious lookalike,
Frank.
Curtis Based Festus Off Someone From His Childhood
Born Curtis Wain Gates on the second of July, 1916 in Lamar, Colorado, Curtis lived the
first ten years of his life on a ranch on Muddy Creek in Bent County Colorado.
In 1926, his family moved to Las Animas so that his father could run for sheriff.
After a successful campaign, Ken's father served as Bent County sheriff from 1926 to
1931.
During that time, Ken and his family lived below the Las Animas jail while his mother
cooked for the prisoners.
When developing the role of Festus, Curtis based the character on a real-life Las Animas
local that he knew as a child.
The man was named Cedar Jack, and he happened to be the town drunk.
Cedar Jack would frequently wind up spending the night in jail due to his drunken antics.
While he might not have been the most law-abiding of individuals, Cedar Jack made a lasting
impression on Curtis.
Years later, after Curtis's acting career was beginning to take off, he tapped into
Cedar Jack's country twang and other memorable characteristics to give the character Festus
an added dose of believability.
Curtis joined the cast of Gunsmoke in 1962.
Throughout his 11 years on the program, he would appear in over 300 episodes, becoming
the longest-running one of Dillon's deputies to appear on the show.
Curtis remained on the show until 1975 – the same year that CBS decided to give the Western
the ax.
To this day, he's still fondly remembered by the show's dedicated fanbase.
Ken Curtis Found Success In Country Music
In 1940, after spending the first 24 years of his life living in Colorado, Curtis found
himself living and working as a singer for the NBC radio network in New York.
Ken experienced his first brush with fame in 1942 when he cut several songs for Tommy
Dorsey's orchestra.
At that time, Dorsey's go-to singer was Frank Sinatra.
There is a fairly well-proliferated narrative that states that Curtis replaced Sinatra,
but that version of events appears to be a bit overstated.
Even so, that doesn't in the least bit take away from the fact that Curtis got to collaborate
with a wildly popular orchestra while living in New York City.
It's also worth noting that he got the opportunity to work with the famed bandleader Shep Fields.
After serving in the Army during the Second World War, that's when Curtis signed with
Columbia and began his acting career.
As we mentioned in the intro, some of Curtis's earliest film roles pared him with other singing
talents.
At one point, he got to perform alongside singing cowgirl Carolina Cotton while, as
we already touched on, he also frequently shared the screen with the Hoosier Hotshots.
Curtis's first film role as a leading man was in 1945's Rhythm Round-Up.
In that film, he got to work with Western swing pioneer Bob Willis and his Texas Playboys.
From 1949 to 1953, Curtis was the lead singer for the Country Music Hall of Fame singing
group The Sons of the Pioneers.
Before joining the band, the group featured Roy Rogers, Bob Nolan, and several other singing
cowboy legends.
The band was perhaps best known for popularizing the song 'Tumbling Tumbleweeds'.
With Curtis taking the lead, the musical outfit scored major country hits with songs like
'Ghost Riders in the Sky' and 'Room Full of Roses'.
In the 1950s, Ken Curtis's acting career really started taking off after he made appearances
in a string of John Ford films like Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, and The Horse
Soldiers.
He also appeared in movies like The Last Hurrah, The Young Land, and later even in the Disney
animated classic Robin Hood.
Besides acting and singing, Curtis also owned his own production company during the golden
age of science fiction B-movies.
That company brought the world campy classics like The Giant Gila Monster and The Killer
Shrews – both of which hit theaters in 1959.
In the early 60s, Curtis made the transition to television.
While Festus will always be the character he was best known for portraying, Curtis also
appeared in offerings such as Wagon Train, Rawhide, The Yellow Rose, and In The Heat
of the Night.
After a lengthy career, Curtis died in his sleep of a heart attack on the 29th of April,
1991.
He was cremated, and his ashes were dispersed in the Colorado flatland.
That about wraps up this video, but we'd love to hear from you.
Did you know that actor Ken Curtis played seven different characters on Gunsmoke?
Besides Festus, which one of Ken Curtis's Gunsmoke roles do you best remember?
Let us know in the comments.
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