What was Gunsmoke based on? Start with why John Wayne introduced the first episode himself

The TV series that premiered on September 10, 1955 was adapted from the CBS radio drama that debuted April 26, 1952 — created by writer John Meston and producer Norman Macdonnell, and developed for television by Charles Marquis Warren, who directed and wrote the pilot.

The radio version came first

CBS chairman William S. Paley had asked for a hard-edged adult Western — the pitch was a Philip Marlowe of the Old West. Meston and Macdonnell delivered it, with William Conrad voicing Marshal Matt Dillon and the first episode, "Billy the Kid," written by Walter Newman.

The radio show didn't stop when the TV show started. It ran more than 400 episodes and stayed on the air until June 18, 1961, six years of the two versions running side by side. Early television scripts were adapted straight from radio scripts, which is why the pilot plays a little stiff.

Why Wayne fronted the premiere

Wayne was the producers' first choice for Dillon and turned it down — movie stars didn't do weekly television in 1955. He recommended a friend instead: Arness, a 6-foot-7 ex-infantryman wounded at Anzio, then best known as the creature in The Thing From Another World. Wayne also agreed to film an on-camera introduction, in full cowboy dress, for the first episode.

"I've worked with him and I predict he'll be a big star."

The cast and crew gathered at Arness' house to watch the premiere. Nobody had told them the intro existed.

What changed on the way to TV

• Matt Dillon — Conrad was cut because he didn't look the part; Raymond Burr was considered and passed over; 26 actors screen-tested before Arness got it.
• The writing — Meston stayed on and ended up writing or co-writing close to 300 episodes.
• The character — Dillon has no family, few friends, and makes mistakes, which was unusual for a screen lawman at the time.
• The premiere — "Matt Gets It" opens with Dillon critically wounded by a fast-drawing outlaw named Dan Grat. Entertainment Weekly later ranked it No. 47 on its list of the 100 greatest moments in television.

Gunsmoke ran 20 years and 635 episodes before CBS ended it in 1975.

For the record: there's a wanted poster on the wall of Dillon's office in the pilot. It's for William H. Bonney — the killer from the very first radio episode.