Why James Arness Became Frustrated Over Bruce Dern's Gunsmoke Death

"Gunsmoke" featured a number of incredible guest stars, including Harrison Ford, who played two separate characters on the hit TV Western. But he was far from the only up-and-comer to tackle multiple roles on the show. A young Bruce Dern similarly played four different parts across the second half of the series' 20-year run, and it seems at one point he upset star James Arness by trying to embellish his on-screen death.

In the 1950s, John Wayne put Arness under contract and starred alongside him in several movies before recommending him for a new TV Western, "Gunsmoke" and truly launching his career. As U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon, Arness would become a major star, not quite on the level of his mentor but about as big as any small screen actor could get. Having served in the military before hitchhiking to Hollywood, Arness took a hardscrabble approach to acting, and with Wayne's blessing, he finally became a household name. That couldn't have been more different from Dern, who attended the Actors Studio. There, his mentors were not the biggest Western stars in the world, but famed acting coach Lee Strasberg and controversial Hollywood polymath Elia Kazan.

As such, when Dern came face-to-face with Arness during one of his many "Gunsmoke" guest roles, the two weren't exactly instant friends. Instead, a scene that required Dern's character to expire on a saloon floor led to a brief clash between the pair, with Arness insisting that the actor hurry up and die after witnessing Dern's attempt at a more elaborate demise.

Bruce Dern became a movie star in the 1970s — the same decade he infamously killed James Arness' mentor John Wayne in "The Cowboys" (prompting a pre-shoot warning from the Duke). But prior to that, he had a prolific TV career that included guest roles on small screen Westerns ranging from "Bonanza" and "Wagon Train" to "The Loner." However, "Gunsmoke" was the only one on which he played multiple characters, all of which were all scheming villains.

Season 11, episode 5, "Ten Little Indians," was directed by Mark Rydell, the filmmaker who would later oversee Dern's slaying of Wayne in "The Cowboys." The episode saw Dern portray Doyle Phleger, a gunslinger who tries to claim the sizable bounty on Matt Dillon only to be killed before he has the chance.

During a 2013 interview with CBS News, the actor specifically recalled being directed by Rydell in the moment he managed to upset Arness. "I got shot, and I had to fall on the bar floor," he said. "And I twitched and I went, 'Oh, God, my– oh, why did the bullet go in there?' or something like that.'" According to Dern, Arness didn't take too kindly to his improv: 

"[Arness] looks down at me and he says, 'My God. That's pretty interesting, but who gives a **** about how you die. Just die already. Get it over with, you know what I mean? Otherwise we're gonna cut away and you're still alive.'" 

In response, Dern replied, "Well, that's the point, because then I can come back in another episode, 'cause I'm not dead!" As amusing as this moment is to think about, it seems Dern might have been somewhat confused, as it can't have been Rydell that oversaw the scene in question.

Bruce Dern did, in fact, come back to "Gunsmoke" in another episode. Three, in fact. By the time he was done with his "Gunsmoke" guest roles, he'd been felled by James Arness three times. But it seems he might have remembered the death scene that upset the Marshal Matt Dillon actor slightly wrong. Dern told CBS that Mark Rydell directed him in that moment, but the only episode featuring Dern that Rydell directed was "Ten Little Indians," in which Dern's character died from a knife in the back. Arness wasn't in the scene, which took place in an alleyway and not, as Dern recalled in his CBS interview, a bar.

As such, Dern was more likely remembering a different episode. The 1966 episode "The Jailer" saw his character shot by Arness while running straight at him, but this wasn't in a bar. That means Dern was likely recalling what might be his best "Gunsmoke" appearance in season 14, episode 21, "The Long Night." The episode saw him play Guerin, the leader of three bounty hunters (one of whom is played by Russell Johnson, who portrayed The Professor on "Gilligan's Island"). The nefarious trio take hostages and hole up in the Long Branch Saloon until Dillon storms the bar and shoots Guerin before he can draw his own pistol. The gunslinger then drops to the floor as Dillon clears the room, and it was likely here that Dern's manner of death irked the "Gunsmoke" star. Indeed, he might've been somewhat insecure about having an Actors Studio grad in his midst, given that Arness developed doubts about his own acting skills while working on "Gunsmoke."