Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke) In the opening of most radio episodes, the announcer would describe the show as "...the story of the violence that moved west with young America, and the story of a man who moved with it." William Conrad's Matt would take over, saying, "I'm that man, Matt Dillon, United States Marshalthe first man they look for and the last they want to meet. It's a chancy job, and it makes a man watchful ... and a little lonely." Conrad's Matt provided bits of narration for many of the radio episodes, usually to help set the scene for the listener or to
Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke) to the violent nature of his job, and he was generally less given to brooding about the dangers and tragedies inherent in it. Arness's Matt was somewhat more understanding and tolerant of people's foibles, and he was a bit more intuitive with respect to discerning persons who came to Dodge City with the intention of committing crimes. As Arness's Matt grew older and wiser, he became less inclined to use violence to subdue wrongdoers (plus less an emphasis on violence in later episodes of the series in the late 1960s and 1970s because of national society trends). However, he never