Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke) no uncertain terms that he had no interest whatsoever. (Wayne was arguably the cinema's foremost box office attraction at the time.) Warren stated that the inquiry had not been serious inasmuch as Wayne could not realistically have been expected to abandon a thriving movie career for a less certain and immensely less lucrative television role. Wayne did, however, recommend James Arness for the part and his offer to introduce the first episode was readily accepted by CBS. Others who had auditioned for the part included Raymond Burr, Richard Boone, Denver Pyle, and William Conrad. All would go on to other
Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke) room to restore "Gunsmoke", which had just been canceled, to the schedule at the insistence of William S. Paley's wife. In an early episode of "Have Gun Will Travel", Paladin is vying for a job against another bounty hunter, who claims to have been Matt Dillon's deputy when Dillon was the marshal in Austin, Texas. Paladin calls the man a fraud, saying Dillon never served in Austin. In Maverick a character called Matt Pickle was Marshall of towns that the Maverick brothers would invariably run through. One 2nd season episode was a full parody of a gunsmoke episode. Later episodes