James Arness Of 'Gunsmoke' Fame Had Very Real Issues With His Height

#gunsmoke #jamesarness #mattdillon #marshal #tall #verytall #classicsitcoms #facts #trivia

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[daveduncan]

Hey uncle B Gunsmoke would not have been the same without James Arness he was really good at what he did and I’m glad he was there no matter how tall he was praying for your whole family Bob you your mom your wife and your son happy new year

[daveduncan]

Hi uncle B thank you for being so sincere praying for your whole family happy new year

[johncook]

Honestly I never really thought of James Arness height being an issue for him (actually I thought his height for being a marshall was a good thing) but it just goes to show you never know. And of course he played the role perfectly too. Thanks Uncle Bob!

[alphonsocarioti]

Yep. A Lot of actors are/were surprisingly short. TV and movie directors know how to compensate for height issues.

[susansides]

Thanks for this information! He was the brother of Peter Graves and their original last name was Aurness, they dropped the "u'.

[longfootbuddy]

the pilot episode featured many tiny dwarves, and a miniature town that was only half size of a real life town, with tiny ponies and trees.. james arness, being very big, was to speak in a deeper, more booming voice, and to move slower than he naturally did, often not wearing guns at all, he would simply crush trouble makers in town by stepping on them.. however, producers decided to abandon the use of dwarves after the initial pilot episode, for fear of it losing some of the authentic feel of the old west, and continued on using full sized supporting cast and animals, changing the title of the show from matt dillion, giant marshal of the west, to the more familiar gunsmoke

[davidmanna]

Howdy Uncle Bob!! I know how James Arness feels I'm 6'6' and I was the tallest out of my family, my Dad was 6'2'' and there weren't no kids in my class that was tall like me. But when I got older I later in life took it as a Blessing, but when I go to stores, I still get asked if I can reach something from the top self.. So, it has its Goods & Bads... Plus I get did I play Basketball a lot too, but I didn't like sports... God Bless & Take Care...

[sgt.bulldog]

Arness stated in an interview he did about his military service in WW2 that as his landing craft approached the Italian coastline his officer had him depart the craft first so they could see how deep the water was to ensure the other soldiers wouldn't have to swim ashore.

[jons.]

I am 6'7 and it has advantages and great disadvantages like many other things in life!

[MartinMcCauslin]

lol I have never heard of anyone thinking they are too tall but I guess I can understand an actor feeling that way with all the short actors (and small horses) out there...

[orangehornet]

Many of us have the opposite people regarding weight. One nice thing about being taller is that you can weigh more too. But I can understand why his height could cause problems. What about tall women? Here are some answers to save them a few problems. The weather's fine up. Basketball's OK. They do sometimes wear heels. It's fine if the guy's shorter than them. Does anyone know how tall Arness' wife was? How about their children?

[rufust.firefly]

79 inches tall. Taller than John Wayne. Always a problem getting clothes that fit. My best friend was 5-5. It bothered him his whole life. He couldn't get into law enforcement because of it. He wound up being a lawyer. Rod Serling was 5-5 and was a tunnel rat in WW II. On tv you couldn't tell. Look at Mickey Rooney and Danny DeVito did.. In my golfing foursome we had a guy who was 6-4 and another 5 feet tops. They were always called Mutt and Jeff.

[toddmccreary]

Another good video. But I think you might want to rename the channel classic TV facts and trivia because you haven't been limiting the subjects to sitcoms (and you shouldn't)

[kelseymathias]

Can't imagine a shorter Matt Dillon! I guess his biggest problem would be having to have his clothes custom-made...but he could probably afford it 🤣 However, yes, kids who are taller than their peers are often self-conscious, and tall people can be uncomfortable when travelling. But being real short can be a big problem, too. This is one case where average is best. God bless, Uncle Bob...have an above-average day.

[hanschristianbrando]

Tallness can be a curse, for reasons too many to go into here. Incidentally, I own one of James Arness' shirts. (No, I'm not 6'7", thank God.)