Gunsmoke "The Cisco Kid." "Gunsmoke" was set in Dodge City, Kansas, during the thriving cattle days of the 1870s. Dunning notes, "The show drew critical acclaim for unprecedented realism." The radio series first aired on CBS on April 26, 1952 with the episode "Billy the Kid", written by Walter Newman, and ended on June 18, 1961. The show stars William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon, Howard McNear as Doc Charles Adams, Georgia Ellis as Kitty Russell, and Parley Baer as Dillon's assistant, Chester Wesley Proudfoot. Matt Dillon was played on radio by William Conrad and on TV by James Arness. Two
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