James Arness, the towering actor best known for portraying “Marshal Matt Dillon,” the strong and commanding symbol of frontier justice on the landmark TV Western series Gunsmoke, died Friday. He was 88. Arness died of natural causes at his home in Brentwood, Calif., said a family spokesperson. Arness is pictured above outside the Northland Hotel in downtown Green Bay.
Arness visited Green Bay on the last weekend of September 1957 for the dedication of the then brand-new City Stadium. The actor rode in a parade as Green Bay closed the old stadium on the east side and dedicated the new facility on the far west side. An estimated 18,000 people showed up, but “about two-thirds (were) children who were more interested in ‘Matt Dillon’ than football nostalgia," the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported.
