Gunsmoke Gunsmoke Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. When aired in the UK, the television series was initially titled Gun Law, later reverting to "Gunsmoke". The radio series ran from 1952 to 1961. John Dunning wrote that among radio drama enthusiasts, ""Gunsmoke" is routinely placed among the best shows of any kind
Paul Richards (actor) "Gunsmoke", "Bonanza", "Trackdown", "Rawhide", "The Virginian", "The Loner", and "The Guns of Will Sonnett." Richards also performed four times as a guest star on "Gunsmoke". In 1955, in that long-running CBS series' very first episode, “Matt Gets It,” he portrays a gunfighter who outdraws and nearly kills Marshal Matt Dillon. The next year, in the episode “Mr. and Mrs. Amber”, he delivered another memorable performance playing a poor, desperate homesteader beleaguered by his rich, self-righteous brother-in-law. His other two appearances on "Gunsmoke" are in 1958 and 1968 episodes. Richards guest-starred three times in 1956 on the NBC western anthology series