Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke) In the opening of most radio episodes, the announcer would describe the show as "...the story of the violence that moved west with young America, and the story of a man who moved with it." William Conrad's Matt would take over, saying, "I'm that man, Matt Dillon, United States Marshalthe first man they look for and the last they want to meet. It's a chancy job, and it makes a man watchful ... and a little lonely." Conrad's Matt provided bits of narration for many of the radio episodes, usually to help set the scene for the listener or to
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