There have been some brilliant villains in Western TV shows, but the best of them is this iconic single-episode character ...

Curtis was first introduced on Gunsmoke as Festus in a 1982 script called “Us Haggens.” According to an interview with TV Guide, producer Norman Macdonnell said he was only supposed to be for one ...

Gunsmoke actor Ken Curtis enthusiastically played Festus Haggen ever since the show introduced him to audiences. He ultimately became a fan favorite for many viewers around the world. Nevertheless, ...

When Gunsmoke fans first laid eyes on scruffy, bumpkin-voiced Festus Haggan during the beloved Western’s Season 8 episode “Us Haggens,” they didn’t know how much the character would soon impact the ...

Dear Answer Man: Here's one for you that I bet even you can't answer. I have been a fan of the TV show "Gunsmoke" for many years and have wondered for a long time how the transition was made from ...

In the history of television characters, there has been none more polarizing than Festus Haggen. Many viewers enjoyed the comic relief he brought to “Gunsmoke.” As a longtime sidekick to Marshal ...

Seventy years ago, on September 10, 1955, a gunfighter named Matt Dillon first strode into Dodge City on CBS, Gunsmoke, helping to change the nature of TV Westerns, eventually running for 20 years, ...

Offscreen, James Arness traded Dodge City’s saloon dust for the comfort of his own king-size bed. Photographed in 1956, the towering Gunsmoke star relaxes with a script for an upcoming episode, ...

Few shows have run on network television for as long as Gunsmoke ran on CBS. For twenty years, the Western series braved television sets after first jumping from a radio drama to the screen, and later ...