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) 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