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) first episode was introduced by John Wayne in a brief film clip in which Wayne predicted that James Arness would become a major star. He went on to play the part for the next twenty years. A popular story holds that Wayne himself had been offered the part and had turned it down. Charles Marquis Warren, who produced the first year of the television version of "Gunsmoke" and made the major casting decisions, stated that he had jokingly asked Wayne whether he would be interested in the part in a casual social setting. He added that Wayne had indicated in