George Fenneman series, and then with John Stephenson when Dragnet returned to TV in 1967. It was Fenneman's voice which announced, "The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent." while Stephenson would be heard at the end of the episode describing the court trials and verdicts. He was the principal commercial announcer for the radio version of "Gunsmoke", and frequently introduced "Matt Dillon" (William Conrad) after the episode to extoll the virtues of L&M or Chesterfield cigarettes. He appeared on screen in the 1951 film "The Thing from Another World" and the
Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke) television successes. Conrad, in particular, would continue to portray Matt on the radio series until it ended in 1961. He would also go on to direct a number of television programs (including two episodes of "Gunsmoke"), to become "The Narrator" for the original television series of "The Fugitive" (1963–1967) and star in three television series: "Cannon" (1971–1976), "Jake and the Fat Man" (1987–1992), and the short-lived 1981 series "Nero Wolfe". In the 1988 action classic, "Die Hard", Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), asks John McClane (Bruce Willis) whom he is trying to imitate with his heroics, and he mentions Marshal Dillon