‘Gunsmoke’: Dennis Weaver Initially Thought the Director ‘Mistakenly’ Cast Him as Chester Goode Instead of Matt Dillon
Gunsmoke actor Dennis Weaver put a lot of hard work into his profession before he landed the role of Chester Goode on the Western television show. However, he was initially somewhat confused about what the decision-makers saw in him. Furthermore, he didn’t understand why he was auditioning for Chester because he thought it was a mistake that he wasn’t reading for the part of Matt Dillon.
Dennis Weaver initially couldn’t find work in Hollywood
According to a 1963 TV Guide interview with Weaver, he had an interest in athletics long before Gunsmoke came along. However, his passion for performance ultimately trumped his interest in track-and-field, which he set records in. He didn’t find a career in Broadway, but Universal offered him a contract in 1952 that he happily took. The major Hollywood studio saw him as a “James Stewart type,” but only put him in small Western roles before ending the contract.
Weaver went freelance in his acting work, although had to put in hours at vacuum cleaner and floral shops to make ends meet. During this rough patch, Weaver was surprised to discover that he was cast on Gunsmoke. As a result, his life and career would never be the same.
‘Gunsmoke’ actor Dennis Weaver thought he was meant to read for Matt Dillon
Weaver told TV Guide that “the day the director called to tell me I’d be Chester, I was out delivering flowers.” However, he realized that he got the part because of his performance in Seven Angry Men. It certainly helped that Charles Marquis Warren directed the film, who would become the first producer-director of Gunsmoke. Even so, Weaver didn’t understand what the director saw in him, or why he wasn’t reading for Matt Dillon. The lead part would ultimately go to star James Arness.
“I don’t know what he saw in me that suggested Chester,” Weaver said. “In the pilot script, Chester was almost dimwitted, and I thought they’d made a mistake–that I was supposed to read for the part of Matt.”
Weaver initially approached his role as Chester in Gunsmoke with a “straight” technique, but it didn’t go so well. However, he remembered an Oklahoma accent that he worked on and took a five-minute break to get it just right.
“I had been trying to get the regionalism out of my speech, so it was hard for me to get it back in,” Weaver said. “But after five minutes, I can in and read again.”
Needless to say, the actor got the part, but Chester’s limp didn’t come about until later in the process.
Warren later recalled that Weaver got the part “because he is such a fine actor. In Seven Angry Men, he had to go insane, and he did it so well that I knew he could do anything.”
He starred on the show for 9 seasons
Weaver played Chester in Gunsmoke for a total of nine seasons, or 290 episodes. The show would ultimately become his big break in the industry. As a result, one of the top-rated shows of all time had the opportunity to give him the platform he needed. He even won an Emmy Award in 1959 for Best Supporting Actor in a Dramatic Series.
The actor would continue a career in entertainment after deciding to take his creativity elsewhere. He starred in Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil, Alfred Hitchcock Presenets, and The Twilight Zone. Additionally, Weaver had the lead role in NBC’s McCloud.
