John Meston and refined the main characters who would populate his and Macdonnell's radio portrayal of Dodge. Jeff Spain soon became United States Marshal Matt Dillon, and veteran voice actor William Conrad was chosen by Meston, Macdonnell, and two other network audition judges to be the lawman and the series' central figure. Other seasoned actors filled the needed regular supporting roles, including Parley Baer as Marshal Dillon's trusty assistant Chester Proudfoot, Howard McNear as Dr. Charles "Doc" Adams, and Georgia Ellis, whose role in the series' early episodes would quickly evolve into the saloon "hostess" Kitty Russell. "Gunsmoke" was broadcast for the
Gunsmoke Western Clay Harder, introduced in 1948 as the first of Marvel's two Western heroes called the Two-Gun Kid, was re-imainged and reintroduced in "Gunsmoke Western" #57 (March 1960), in a feature by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist John Severin. The feature ran through #63 (March 1961). The second Two-Gun Kid, Matt Hawk, would be introduced in "Two-Gun Kid" #60 (Nov. 1962), which retconned that Clay Harder was merely a dime novel fictional character who inspired Hawk to become a masked Western crimefighter. Occasional stories starred the Ringo Kid, the Gunsmoke Kid, and others. All cover art through issue #50 (Jan. 1959)