For as long as I can remember there was Matt Dillon — and not the marginal actor with the same name.
I refer to the iconic TV lawman that made the streets of Dodge City Kansas safe.
James Arness was born to play the role, maybe even more than the original choice, John Wayne.
The frontier world of 50s and early 60s TV westerns required a very believable tough guy as a lead character, and the six-foot-seven Arness custom fit the role.
James Arness was a decorated Second World War veteran who fought for his country and freedom long before he was a TV hero.
His life as a TV hero was one of my earliest television recollections as a young fan of Gunsmoke, arguably one of the best TV westerns of all time.
Gunsmoke was a weekly morality play in which the ethically balanced Matt Dillon sorted out a weekly problem with ethically challenged bad guys.
It was a fairly adult plot line for its day, so Dillon’s job had serious complications.
Dillon had to ensure that justice was dispensed to the bad guys, but how it was dispensed was up to them.
Straight up or slung over the saddle- the decision was up to the villains, but any attempt to out-shoot Matt Dillon would be their last decision, and a very poor one in the bargain.
We used to face down Matt in front of the TV every week at the start of the program, but we would never match his speed in the opening credits.
You don’t outdraw your childhood heroes and Marshall Dillon walked tall into the street every week for the showdown.
And he was the last man standing every week.
We would die on the street every week and then we would watch the show.
It was reward enough to know that we died at the hands of a true legend like Matt Dillon.
Every impression of James Arness seems to point toward a very likable and principled man that was a real life embodiment of his TV persona.
He was a family man who stayed loyal to his wife in a business where matrimonial vows seem to be a fleeting concept.
His character was a poster boy for judicious use of a weapon, because Matt Dillon took his responsibility as a lawman very seriously, and only drew his weapon as a last resort.
The basic weapon use principle in his TV show likely matched his military career as a rifleman under real fire.
The decision to use a weapon in either scenario was definitely not easy but, when the situations warranted their use, both TV lawman and real life soldier knew what they had to do in order to live to fight another day.
But now there will be no more battles for the big man because he has ridden into the sunset for the last time.
James Arness leaves behind a legacy of man and legend that serves as a reminder that heroes on TV can sometimes be heroes in real life.
Jim Sutherland may be reached at jim@mystarcollectorcar.com