Who auditioned for the lead role of Marshal Matt Dillon TV's "Gunsmoke" but was turned down?

Many actors were auditioned for the lead role of Marshal Matt Dillon, including Raymond Burr (rejected as too heavy) and Richard Boone (considered too ugly). Other film actors declined to audition because they considered television work to be "professional suicide," and it was Wayne himself who recommended the little-known actor James Arness (whose most prominent role to date had been as the title creature in The Thing) for the part. Even then, Arness demurred and had to be talked into testing for the role by an irritated Wayne.

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72 Comments

Victor Melendez Alvarado

Raymond Burr and William Conrad were both turned down.

William Laughlin

Ike Hinlo Caceres, Rhonda Wentz Bondurant, Karen Seventyone, Yes, the Wayne reference alludes to John Wayne. The confusion is the result of sloppy plagiarism. This answer is only part of a larger Snopes article. When paragraphs are lifted out of context, some confusion may result because Wayne's full name was mentioned early in the full article, but editted out of the QuizzClub answer. A little proofreading for clarity and proper editting could have eliminated the confusion.

Karen Seventyone

Wayne who?

Rhonda Wentz Bondurant

Who is Wayne? John Wayne?

mainjim

I'm glad it turned out the way it did.

Helga U. Williams

Why was James Arness one of the options and not John Wayne? Weird. 🙄

fdeisner

For "What are your thoughts on this subject?" I chose dislike but it did not register as it still shows zero. With 31.7 thousand people answering the question and all of the negative comments I wonder how many other people also tapped dislike?

✨KRISTA✨

There are two correct options although, several actors were turned down. John Wayne rejected his offer.

gusroy

William Conrad was also turned down—before Raymond Burr!

Katherine Lake

William Conrad also auditioned for the role; as did Richard Boone and Denver Pyle, per Wikipedia.

pabjetster

There are 2 correct answers. Both William Conrad and Raymond Burr tried out for the part.

flanderschristy

I took the hint where they eliminate 2 of the choices. (I can never remember what it's called) The choices left were James Arness & Raymond Burr. I know that James Arness played Matt Dillion but...because they are always throwing in what I call trick/misleading questions, I guessed James Arness. I started to pick Raymond Burr but then I second guessed myself. I thought maybe James Arness was turned down the first time he auditioned or that someone else was suppose to play Matt & backed out at the last minute & they called James. The point is that by allowing trick/misleading questions it causes people to second guess every answer. How many of you knew that Peter Graves was James Arness' brother? After I found this out years ago, I thought "Duh" they look so much alike. Just a little fact that I wondered how many people knew that.