Ken Curtis
Actor/Actriz
43
Filmes
15
Séries
Ken Curtis (born Curtis Wain Gates; July 2, 1916 – April 28, 1991) was an American actor and singer best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the Western television series Gunsmoke.
Early years
Born on July 2, 1916 as the youngest of three boys in Lamar in Prowers County in southeastern Colorado, Curtis lived his first 10 years on a ranch on Muddy Creek in eastern Bent County. In 1926, the family moved to Las Animas, the county seat of Bent County, so that his father, Dan Sullivan Gates, could run for sheriff. The campaign was successful, and Gates served from 1926 to 1931 as Bent County sheriff.
Curtis was the quarterback of his Bent County High School football team and played clarinet in the school band. He graduated in 1935. During World War II, Curtis served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945.
He attended Colorado College to study medicine, but left after a short time to pursue his musical career.
Film
Columbia Pictures signed Curtis to a contract in 1945. He starred in a series of musical Westerns with the Hoosier Hot Shots, playing singing cowboy romantic leads.
By virtue of his second marriage, Curtis was a son-in-law of film director John Ford. Curtis teamed with Ford and John Wayne in Rio Grande. He was a singer in the movie's fictional band, The Regimental Singers, who actually consisted of the Sons of the Pioneers; Curtis is not listed as a member of the principal cast. Possibly, he played a bit part, but Curtis is best remembered as Charlie McCorry in The Searchers, and for his appearances in The Quiet Man, The Wings of Eagles, The Horse Soldiers, The Alamo, and How the West Was Won. Curtis also joined Ford, along with Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, and Jack Lemmon, in the comedy Navy classic Mister Roberts. He was featured in all three of the only films produced by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney's C. V. Whitney Pictures: The Searchers (1956); The Missouri Traveler (1958) with Brandon deWilde and Lee Marvin; and The Young Land (1959) with Patrick Wayne and Dennis Hopper. In 5 Steps to Danger (1957 film), he is uncredited as FBI Agent Jim Anderson.
Curtis remains best known for his role as Festus Haggen, the scruffy, cantankerous, and illiterate deputy in Gunsmoke. He first appeared in 1962 and joined the regular Gunsmoke cast in 1964, replacing Chester Goode, played by Dennis Weaver. While Marshal Matt Dillon had a total of five deputies over two decades, Festus held the role the longest (11 years), in 304 episodes. Festus was patterned after "Cedar Jack" (Frederick Munden), a man from Curtis' Las Animas childhood. Cedar Jack, who lived 15 miles south of town, made a living cutting cedar fence posts. Curtis observed many times that Jack came to Las Animas, where he would often end up drunk and in Curtis' father's jail. Festus' character was known, in part, for the nasally, twangy, rural accent which Curtis developed for the role, but which did not reflect Curtis' actual voice.
Curtis married Torrie Connelly in 1966. They were married until his death in 1991 and he had two step-children.
Death
Curtis died on April 28, 1991, in his sleep in Fresno, California, after suffering a heart attack. He was 74. He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in the Colorado flatlands. CLR
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Como Ator/Atriz
Perry Mason
Tim Durant
Wagon Train
Kyle Cleatus
Have Gun, Will Travel
Lobo del aire
Cecil Carnes Sr.
Rawhide
Vic Slade
Gunsmoke
Festus
Vega$
Sea Hunt
Petrocelli
The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
Self
How the West Was Won
Robin Hood
Nutsy - A Vulture (voice)
Grizzly Adams
Uncle Ned
Más corazón que odio
Charlie McCorry
Ripcord
Jim Buckley
The Yellow Rose
Hoyt Coryell
La conquista del oeste
Corporal Ben (uncredited)
El Álamo
Capt. Almeron Dickinson
Mister Roberts
Dolan
Rio Grande
Donnelly - Regimental Singer (uncredited)
Black Beauty
Howard Jakes
The Quiet Man
Dermot Fahy (uncredited)
Marcha de valientes
Cpl. Wilkie
El ocaso de los Cheyennes
Joe
Two Rode Together
Greeley Clegg
Conagher
Seaborn Tay, Cattle Rancher
Once Upon a Texas Train
Kelly Sutton
Escort West
Trooper Burch
Alas de águila
John Dale Price
When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion
Self