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Surprisingly enough, James Arness was one of the first American soldiers to storm the Italian beach at the Battle of Anzio during the Second World War. It was there where his leg was hit by heavy machine gun fire. This limited his time on foot which at times made filming some of the scenes in Gunsmoke a challenge.
12 / 16
Did you know that "Doc Adams," the co-lead character of Gunsmoke, didn't even have a first name for the first 16 seasons of the show? Milburn Stone, the actor playing the role, eventually chose the name, which ended up being "Galen".
13 / 16
Man, times sure have changed! Back in the day of Gunsmoke's prime, the show's first seven seasons were sponsored by L&M Cigarettes. You won't see that today.
14 / 16
"Miss Kitty Russell's" actual job was never really mentioned while the show was on the air. We now know that the producers intended the show to be family-friendly, but subtle hints implied that "Kitty" did in fact work as a prostitute. She was portrayed by actress Amanda Blake.
15 / 16
Gunsmoke long held the record for "most episodes ever" by a primetime show with a grand total of 635 episodes. But The Simpsons finally caught the classic Western in 2018, pushing Gunsmoke to no. 2!
16 / 16
Back in Gunsmoke's day, the show's producers had no idea that their network was going to cancel the show, so they never were able to create a real finale episode in the 20th season.