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James Arness made more money from Gunsmoke than John Wayne did in his entire film career
At least, according to Burt Reynolds!
Hollywood autobiographies are so much fun. They allow us a peak behind the golden curtain, where we get to look past the glitz and glamour to understand what may have truly gone down. While press releases are all show, memoirs tend to reveal the business. This is especially true when a piece of writing comes towards the end of a star's career. What else have they got to lose? Why not reveal all those deep, dark secrets kept hidden in the closet for decades?
One such revelatory document is Burt Reynolds' 1994 autobiography My Life. Although Reynolds still had some fuel left in the tank (and some of his best work still ahead), he was ready to close a few chapters of his career by putting it all down on paper. Among the biggest revelations was what he needed to get off his chest about Gunsmoke.
Reynolds joined the cast when the producers were looking to replace Chester. That's why, in Gunsmoke's seventh season, Reynolds appears as Quint, a Dodge City blacksmith. He reported that the role afforded him a $3,000-a-week salary, a huge sum for an actor at his stage in his career.
And while the pay was great for Reynolds, in his autobiography, he reveals that it was exponentially better for the show's star, James Arness.
While Gunsmoke was still in development (and for long after), TV was seen as a lesser-than pursuit for an actor. Movies were a much more reputable medium, at least according to the professionals within the industry at the time. The prevailing notion was that film was the aspirational thing, while television was for careers either on the way up or on the way back down.
That's why, when John Wayne was initially offered the lead on Gunsmoke, he turned it down. Luckily, Wayne "knew a guy," and was able to convince his friend James Arness to consider the role.
When Burt Reynolds got to know James Arness a bit more closely, he mustered the courage to ask his co-star whether Arness ever regretted taking the role.
According to Reynolds, Arness replied, "I own the company that does this show, and in the seven years it's been on the air, I've sold it to CBS, bought it back, sold it and bought it back again, and I've made more money than Duke has in his entire motion picture career."
While Burt Reynolds may not have been an accountant, his firsthand experience was enough to make him a trustworthy source in the matter. We'd put our money on it!
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