Dennis Weaver Hit the TV Trifecta with Three Top Shows, But Knew Leaving 'Gunsmoke' Was "Risky"

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Dennis Weaver, who died of cancer in 2006, was a talented actor who left his indelible mark in three hit TV shows: Gunsmoke (CBS, 1955-1964; 1974), Gentle Ben (NBC, 1967-1969), and McCloud (NBC, 1970-1977). Before and after those iconic programs, Weaver had some hits and misses and some self-doubts about leaving the security of the long-running Gunsmoke series after almost a decade. The actor delivered countless performances before, during, and after that show. Some included small screen appearances in a compelling episode of The Twilight Zone, and the groundbreaking TV-movie Duel (Steven Spielberg's first full-length film). This is his story.

A Closer Look

Dennis Weaver was born on June 4, 1924, in Joplin, Missouri. His father, a mix of English, Irish, Scottish, Cherokee, and Osage ancestry, was employed at the local electric company.

While attending the University of Oklahoma, Weaver displayed impressive athletic skills and then graduated with a degree in Fine Arts.

After the War

After serving in World War II as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy, Dennis Weaver focused on his theatrical skills with intense studies at the Actor's Studio in New York.

Weaver soon made his Broadway debut in Come Back, Little Sheba, and appeared in other stage performances, Off-Broadway, in plays by Tennessee Williams.

Due to some assistance from fellow Actors Studio alumni Shelley Winters, Weaver made his big-screen debut in the Western Horizons West (released by Universal in 1952.

The actor made additional feature films, mostly Westerns, and many TV shows, but all mostly in small roles. Then his career received a significant boost when producer Jack Webb cast him in several episodes of the original Dragnet TV series.

Then Came Chester

That led to Weaver's big break as Chester Goode on the TV adaption of Gunsmoke (which had begun on radio). That was followed by Gentle Ben, co-starring a young Clint Howard (brother to Ron Howard, then of The Andy Griffith Show), and then finally, McCloud (which was part of NBC's Sunday Night Mystery Movie wheelhouse that also included Columbo and McMillan & Wife, among others).

However, it was Gunsmoke that proved to be the career-changing platform for Weaver, who had his doubts about leaving the show to pursue other creative outlets.

As he observed in a 2002 interview with the Television Academy Foundation, "I'd done the show for nine years, and...I'd pretty much exhausted all creative possibilities with the character, and I just wanted to do something else...I felt it was time to move on. I know it was risky doing that because a lot of actors did the same thing, and really disappeared."

But that never happened with Dennis Weaver, whose career continued to flourish long after Gunsmoke, and until his demise on February 24, 2006, in Ridgeway, Colorado.