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) jobs on the periphery of law enforcement, such as tracking down rustlers or lost cattle for ranch owners. It was often implied that he had led an adventurous and sometimes nomadic lifestyle before becoming a U.S. Marshal and one of his old friends proudly stated that "I knew Matt Dillon before he was civilized!" On another occasion, Matt stated that he had once been a preacher but that "...the pay was too small to support (his) gambling habit". This was apparently said in jest, as there was no other mention of it during the series' run on radio or television.