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Burt Reynolds said that Milburn Stone and Amanda Blake had ''some resentment'' towards him after he joined the ''Gunsmoke'' cast
All wasn't well in Dodge...at first.
Winning a role on Gunsmoke can feel like achieving the dream of a lifetime, but for Burt Reynolds, it was anything but smooth sailing. Reynolds made a name for himself when he joined the Gunsmoke cast in 1962 as blacksmith Quint Asper, and it was a role that Reynolds certainly fought for, as he was chosen out of three hundred other actors, according to an interview with Associated Press. In fact, Reynolds narrowly beat out one other actor during the final rounds of auditions, cinching his victory after he appeared in his first episode.
However, not all of the cast was thrilled with the outcome, as some actors in the Gunsmoke cast had their hearts set another another Quint Asper. Reynolds stated, "With Milburn [Stone] and Amanda [Blake], it was another matter. They had been pulling for the other actor to win, so there was some resentment."
Luckily, Reynolds not only had the support of Gunsmoke producers, but he had Marshal Matt Dillon on his side as well. The actor said that, while James Arness had a more reserved personality, he gave Reynolds his undivided support.
Reynolds stated, "Jim was for me from the start, so that was no worry. I don't mean we are close friends, because nobody gets close to Jim. That's the way he is."
Luckily, the bad blood between Milburn, Blake, and Reynolds didn't last long. Reynolds confessed, "In time we became the closest of friends, as people often do after an initial antagonism. I have dinner with one of them at least once a week."
In fact, in an interview with the Red Deer Advocate, Reynolds called Milburn Stone, "a surrogate father to me." and added, "He was an extraordinary man. So it looks like after the castmates put their differences aside, they were able to become more than just friends. They became a family.
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Early in Burt Reynolds career, there was an article in Variety or some other industry publication about up & coming stars, which referred to Reynolds as "a poor man's Marlon Brando", because of their facial resemblance. When Brando read that, he immediately resented Burt Reynolds, even though he'd never met or known of him at the time which would have likely been in the late 1950's. Brando probably felt less unique or otherwise felt Reynolds was a threat to his career.
I saw an interview with Reynolds, where he said, that he saw Marlon Brando in a restaurant & tried to meet him, but Marlon Brando who recognized who Reynolds was as by this time, Reynolds had already "made it", was curt, replying to Burt's "Nice to meet you" with, "Well, it's not nice to meet you" or some similar exchange, followed by Brando turning his back on Reynolds, ignoring him.
Too bad, as I think, that they were both terrific actors, but I believe, that Brando was being his peculiar self in this case, & it wasn't Burt's fault, that there's a facial resemblance between him & Marlon Brando.
Ironically, that's probably the main reason, that he was originally cast as Michael Corleone in the first place! Their builds were certainly dissimilar. Burt never mentioned in the interview, that he'd been cast as Michael Corleone, but he speculated, that Brando read, that early reference to him & could never let go of the resentment, he may have felt.
