While we don't always see eye-to-eye with those around us, it's important to allow room for seeking counsel. Often, the smartest person in the room is the one most willing to admit how much they have to learn. That openness to new experiences and advice helps a person grow into becoming who they're meant to be. 

In the case of Gunsmoke, even the higher-billed actors made room to learn from their older co-star. Milburn Stone was nearly 20 years James Arness' senior, and Arness respected his elder, allowing room for Stone's lessons to land.

It seems like the whole cast held Milburn Stone in high regard. Ken Curtis smuggled a fishing pole into Stone's hospital room when the older actor's health was failing. The two of them went fishing together throughout the show's production and continued to do so when Gunsmoke ended.

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Just a few months before Stone passed away in June of 1980, Curtis and his castmates spoke with the Escondido, California Daily Times-Advocate about their relationships with Stone.

"When the old scudder wakes up," said Curtis, "and if he don't asks what the hell that thing's doing there above his head, well, let him go. He's a goner anyway if he don't notice."

Jim Molnar, the journalist who wrote the article in the Daily Times-Advocate, may have put it best:

"Talk to the other stars of Gunsmoke— James Arness, Amanda Blake, Dennis Weaver, and Ken Curtis— and when the talk turns to Mil Stone, you'll hear how they learned a lot about acting and living from old Doc. Professionalism, perseverance, class— that's what they talk about when Stone's name comes up."

So, what specific lessons did Milburn Stone have to offer his co-stars?

"Art names told me once, 'Acting is not the most noble profession in the world, but it can be very gratifying if you never let anybody catch you at it,'" said Stone.

"That calls for subtlety on stage and honesty in living. I think I've been able to do what a lot of actors have never learned: I take off my makeup and my wardrobe and there I am, Milburn Stone, just me again naked as a jaybird."