‘Gunsmoke’: Did James Arness and Amanda Blake Date in Real Life?
Gunsmoke was a television institution for 20 years. The Western started out as a radio show in the early 1950s before making its debut as a TV series. And as with any long-running series, there’s always the possibility for sparks to fly on the set. So did Gunsmoke stars James Arness and Amanda Blake’s on-screen chemistry lead to real-life romance after the cameras turned off?
‘Gunsmoke’ starred James Arness and Amanda Blake
On the show, Arness played U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon, and Blake starred as Kathleen “Kitty” Russell. The two actors were among the few to stay nearly the entire run of Gunsmoke, with Blake exiting just a year before the beloved series ended. Milburn Stone, who played Galen “Doc” Adams, was the other long-running star, with a tenure that spanned from 1955 to 1975.
Unfortunately, Gunsmoke didn’t receive a proper send-off following its 20 years on the air. Rather, CBS quietly canceled it without any forewarning or allowances to give the show the finale longtime fans deserved. At least Gunsmoke lived on in five reunion TV movies many years later, with the most recent in 1994. Arness appeared as Matt Dillon in every single one.
Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty’s relationship on ‘Gunsmoke’
One running thread throughout the show was the will-they-or-won’t-they relationship between Dillon and Miss Kitty. While Arness and Blake shared a palpable chemistry, the two characters never truly got together. From his perspective, Arness thinks this was a good call, as the show would have gone down a different path if they pursued a romance, according to MeTV.
“I think they felt that you could only go so far with it, and then you’d have to change the character and nature of the show. If you have Matt and Kitty have an onscreen love affair, then, you know, they’d have to get married, and then you’d have a different show there.”
Blake, too, agrees a relationship between the two wouldn’t work but stated, “[Kitty would] drift out of Dodge if it weren’t for Matt Dillon.” In real life, Blake and Arness also never pursued a romance, choosing to keep their relationship professional. If they had, perhaps their on-screen dynamic might not have lasted either.
What happened to James Arness and Amanda Blake
In the same interview, Blake revealed she generally didn’t date in real life either, preferring her life without the distraction of men. However, she was married five times prior to her death in 1989. This includes three marriages that — at least in part — overlapped with her time on Gunsmoke. Stone also became her best friend while working on the show.
Arness, meanwhile, was married to Virginia Chapman from 1948 to 1960. He then married Janet Surtees in 1978. The couple stayed together until Arness died in 2011 at age 88 of natural causes.
