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Buck Taylor on his Gunsmoke role
The Newly O'Brian character was never overused.
Sometimes it feels like everybody was on Gunsmoke. The show was on for so long and had so many episodes that the guest star list seemed like half of Hollywood. The question that would surely yield a smaller pool of results: Who wasn't on Gunsmoke?
One actor who had the distinction of a recurring role in Gunsmoke was Buck Taylor. In total, Taylor appeared in 173 episodes, most of them as Newly O'Brian. While other actors on the show had higher billing and more screen time, Taylor was happy with his position in Dodge City.
At CBS' 1970 "Star Weekend" in Atlanta, Buck Taylor spoke about playing Newly O'Brian, and the amount of time he'd get to be on TV. His quotes were collected and printed in The Columbia Record.
"I only drew my gun one time last season," said Taylor. "I haven't shot anyone. It's tough at times because you had real violence in the West then."
Taylor was a natural in Gunsmoke's Wild West setting. He'd been riding horses since he was eight years old. While he was on old pro at horseplay, Taylor said Gunsmoke's producers never let him get old on screen.
"I'm not over-exposed which is fine with me. That gives me a chance at another good series later. I'll do 14 shows at least and might do all, as I have a contract for 26 weeks. We worked from late March to early June, and then we'll go from September to Christmas."
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