Did James Arness Really Make More Money Than John Wayne With Gunsmoke?

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As U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon in the gold standard of TV Westerns, "Gunsmoke," James Arness established himself as a household name. But even he paled in comparison to John Wayne, who was not only a bonafide movie star but one of the few screen legends deserving of the label "icon." It will no doubt come as a surprise to fans of the Western genre, then, that Arness claimed to have made considerably more money than the Duke simply by fronting "Gunsmoke" for 20 years.

Legend has it that John Wayne was offered the lead on "Gunsmoke" and turned it down, but this may have been more myth than legend. Long before the modern, so-called golden age of TV, the small screen was seen as a lesser pursuit for actors. As such, it seems unlikely anybody ever thought to ask the Duke if he'd deign to join the project. As co-creator of the original "Gunsmoke" radio show, Norman Macdonnell told TV Guide in 1975, "Wayne was a big movie star and wouldn't have considered TV for a minute."

But Arness, who was cast as Matt Dillon, remembers it differently. The actor claimed Wayne declined the role and put him forward instead. An August 1970 TV Guide article seems to corroborate that story, with Wayne saying, "I always knew 'Gunsmoke' was a good thing. Almost did it m'self. Offered me the world. But I was busy so I gave 'em a young fellow I had under contract named Jim Arness." If this was, in fact, the case, the Duke quite rightly turned down a project that would have robbed him of some of his movie star grandeur. But he also might have been saying no to more money than he'd ever make on the big screen — at least according to Arness.

"Gunsmoke" hosted several legendary performers during its 1955-75 run. Harrison Ford played two completely different characters on the Western series, while Bruce Dern played four. A pre-"Happy Days" Ron Howard showed up in an Emmy-winning "Gunsmoke" episode, while "Star Trek" legend Leonard Nimoy had a rather unfortunate, culturally insensitive role on the show. But it wasn't just the guest stars that were top notch. The CBS series also went through several cast change-ups that saw similarly renowned actors join the ensemble for a time.

That's how Burt Reynolds became involved in the show. The then-26-year-old joined "Gunsmoke" in its seventh season as Dodge City blacksmith Quint Asper. Reynolds had been brought in ahead of Dennis Weaver's departure, with the Chester B. Goode actor eventually leaving the show in 1964. In his 1994 autobiography "My Life," Reynolds recalled asking Arness whether he ever regretted accepting the lead role in the series. Evidently, the star did not, telling the young Reynolds, "I own the company that does this show, and in the seven years it's been on the air, I've sold it to CBS, bought it back, sold it and bought it back again, and I've made more money than Duke has in his entire motion picture career."

Arness did indeed own one of the companies that made "Gunsmoke." Alongside CBS and Filmaster Productions, the actor's two companies, Arness Production Company and Arness and Company, produced the show between 1959 and 1964, which allowed him to acquire a stake in the property. (A hand-signed contract between Reynolds himself and the Arness Production Company was even sold at auction recently for almost $3,000.) But whether the "Gunsmoke" star actually did make more from his TV show than the Duke did his entire career isn't clear.

Prior to "Gunsmoke," John Wayne and James Arness became friends. They shared a birthday and shared the screen in several movies, including "Big Jim McLain" (1952), which prompted Wayne to put Arness under contract and cast him in several other productions. The pair appeared together in "Hondo," "Island in the Sky," and "The Sea Chase" in the early '50s, before the Duke recommended Arness to CBS head William Paley. 

Eventually, John Wayne had a secret cameo on "Gunsmoke," appearing ahead of the first episode and giving his seal of approval. "No, I'm not in it," he says during his brief introduction. "I wish I were though, 'cuz it's the best thing of its kind that's come along." But he didn't actually wish he was in it — he was happy making movie star money and enjoying the adoration that came with it, despite Arness' claim that "Gunsmoke" would have made him even richer. 

Yes, Arness likely made a significant amount from his stake in the production of the show, and the 1970 TV Guide article claims he'd made upward of $30 million by that point. But Wayne was no stranger to shrewd investments, and had made much of his own fortune through business ventures outside of acting. Even without that, according to a 1979 report in the New York Times, the actor "had been paid as much as $666,000 to make a movie." Back in April 1969, however, the Los Angeles Times reported that Wayne's salary "for the last several years" had been $1 million plus gross profit participation (via AFI). With just 30 of the more than 200 movies he made, then, the Duke has Arness' "Gunsmoke" profits beat, probably by a considerable amount given the profit-sharing aspect.