Did Ken Curtis Have A Twin Brother? Indeed, Chester Kurtis is his identical twin. Festus Haggan, played by Ken Curtis, was initially seen in the CBS western television series Gunsmoke. In the “Us Haggens” episode, where Festus Haggen visited Dodge City, he made his television debut. The sibling of Ken Curtis vanished from further stints.
Ken Curtis
Ken Curtis, an American artist, and entertainer born Curtis Wain Gates and died on April 28, 1991 , is most known for playing Festus Haggen on the CBS western television series. Tv Gunsmoke series. Even though he showed up on Gunsmoke before in different positions, he was first given a role as Festus in Season 8 scene 13, December 8, 1962, "Us Haggens. ."
Early Years Of Ken Curtis
- Curtis spent his early ten years on a ranch on Muddy Creek in eastern Bent County after being born the youngest of three boys in Lamar, Prowers County, in southeast Colorado.
- For his father, Dan Sullivan Gates , to run for sheriff in 1926, the family relocated to Las Animas, the administrative center of Bent County.
- Since the jail took up the entire second floor and his mother, Nellie Sneed Gates, cooked for the inmates, the campaign was successful, and Gates went on to serve as Bent County sheriff from 1926 to 1931.
- The jail is situated on the Bent County Courthouse in Las Animas for historic preservation reasons.
- Curtis was the starting quarterback for the Bent County High School football team and played clarinet in the school band.
- His graduation was in 1935. From 1943 until 1945, Curtis was a member of the American Army during World War II.
- He enrolled in Colorado College to study medicine but left music soon after to pursue a career in music.
Start A Singing Career
- Before transitioning to acting, Curtis was a singer; as he entered the film industry, he mixed the two professions.
- In 1941, Curtis joined the Tommy Dorsey band and took over as vocalist from Frank Sinatra until ■■■■ Haymes formally replaced Sinatra in 1942.
- Dorsey advised Gates to rename himself Ken Curtis, and, likely, Curtis served merely as a backup in case Sinatra decided to depart. Curtis later became a member of the all-reed ensemble Shep Fields and His New Music, which did not have a brass section.
- From 1949 to 1952, Ken Curtis served as the lead singer for Sons of the Pioneers. (Room Full of Roses) and (Ghost) (Riders in the Sky)" were some of his biggest singles with the band.
Character As Festus Haggen
Festus never showed up in any of the Gunsmoke made-for-TV films 1. After finding out how much money he would receive for the film’s Top ■■■ spin-off, he refused to play the part. Subsequently, Newly O’Brien turned into the agent Marshal. His next appearance was Season 9, scene 2, October 5, 1963, as Kyle Kelly in “Darling Boy.”
Complete History of Ken Curtis
Here are complete bio-data of ken Curtis
| History | list |
|---|---|
| Name | Ken Curtis |
| Real | Name Curtis Wain Gates |
| Born | July 2, 1916, Lamar, CO |
| Died | April 28, 1991, Fresno, CA |
| Genre | Country |
| Record | label Liberty |
| Books | The Cowboy Album |
| Albums | Ranch House Party Favorites |
| Music | Group Sons of the Pioneers (1949 – 1953) |
Prosperous Career
- Curtis obtained a deal with Columbia Pictures in 1945, and he portrayed singing cowpoke emotional leads in several melodic Westerns with the Hoosier Hot Shots (“Ghost Riders in the Sky” and “Room Full of Roses”)
- If they knew that he began his career in the entertainment business as a craftsman in the fantastic band time and was an artist in the excellent Tommy Dorsey.
Entered In Film Industry
He entered films the last in the 1940s at the final piece of the singing-cowpoke period in a movement of low-spending plan Westerns for Columbia Pictures.
Curtis loosened up into film created during the 1950s with two extraordinarily low-spending plan monster films, The Killer Shrews (1959) and The Giant Gila Monster (1959). Still, he is generally famous for his long-running position as Festus Hagen, the chaotic, crotchety representative in the long-running T.V. series Gunsmoke (1955).
Summary:
Curtis wedded Torrie Connelly in 1966. They were hitched until his passing in 1991, and he had two stage kids. Before the Educational Employees Credit Union, a sculpture of Ken Curtis as Festus can be found at 430 Pollasky Avenue in Clovis, California, in Fresno County.
An Achievement In Movies
Curtis may have had some influence, although he is best known for playing. Charlie McCorry appeared in the movies and a few of the books mentioned. He parodied Mister Roberts, starring Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, and Jack Lemmon; Curtis co-starred with Ford. He was included in every one of the three main movies delivered by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney’s C.V.
Whitney Pictures The Searchers from 1956, The Missouri Traveler from 1958 starring Lee Marvin and Brandon deWilde, and The Young Land from 1959 starring Patrick Wayne and Dennis Hopper. He is not credited for playing FBI Agent Jim Anderson in the 1957 movie 5 Steps to Danger.
Relationship
At Universal Studios 1, Curtis met Lorraine Page, with whom he married in 1943. For a significant portion of 1948, Curtis served as a featured performer and the presenter of the popular bluegrass music radio show WWVA Jamboree.
There have been two weddings. Ken married Barbara, the daughter of director John Ford. She had previously wed troublesome actor Robert Walker and filed for divorce. Barbara and Ken were married for twelve years, from 1952 to 1964. He married Torrie Ahern Connelly in Las Vegas in 1966, and the two remained wed until he died in 1991.
Some Accomplishments
- Curtis additionally created two very low-spending plan be@st films in 1959, The Killer Shrews and The Giant Gila Monster. Likewise, in the film variation Conagher, dependent on a book by famous essayist Louis L’Amour, he featured inverse Sam Elliott as a maturing cattleman.
- Curtis’s visitors are featured multiple times on the Western T.V. series Have ■■■ – Will Travel with Richard Boone.
- In 1959, he showed up as cowhand Phil Jakes on the Gunsmoke season four scene, “Jayhawkers.”
- He likewise visitor featured as bazaar entertainer Tim Durant on a set of Perry Mason’s “The Case of the Clumsy Clown,” which initially circulated on November 5, 1960.
Ripcord:
Afterward, he showed up in Ripcord, a first-run partnered activity/experience series about an organization of its namesake, giving skydiving administration.
This series, which had 76 half-hour episodes, lasted from 1961 to 1963. Curtis assumed the part of James (Jim) Buckley, and Pennell was his young supporter Theodore (Ted) McKeever. This network shows produced interest in sport dropping.
Ken Curtis, the performer behind, loved Gunsmoke character Festus Haggen and the youngster-in-law of Western film boss John Ford, had an extraordinary calling as a craftsman, with his melodic past making unimportant degrees of division from Frank Sinatra and Roy Rogers.
His Breakthrough
Curtis considered Curtis Wain Gates on July 2, 1916, experienced youth in Las Animas, Colorado, whose sheriff was his father. He was a singer for the NBC radio organization in New York in 1940, a radio association.
In 1942, Curtis’ first brush with unique excellence came when he cut two or three tunes for Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra. By then, Dorsey’s go-to performer was Sinatra.
World War II:
In the wake of serving in the Army infantry during World War II, Curtis supported Columbia Pictures and began his film job.
Early Western positions consolidated Curtis with other singing capacities, from cowgirl Carolina Cotton to big screen regulars the Hoosier Hotshots.
First Film
Curtis’ first film as a primary man, 1945’s Rhythm Round-Up, even featured Western swing pioneers Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys.
Film1964, Curtis showed up as muleskinner Graydon in the scene “Graydon’s Charge” of the partnered Western T.V. series, Death Valley Days, likewise visitor featuring Denver Pyle and Cathy Lewis.
Gunsmoke
- Curtis stays most famous for his job as Festus Haggen, the messy, cranky, and ignorant delegate in Gunsmoke.
- While Marshal Matt Dillon had an aggregate of five agents for more than twenty years, Festus held the job the longest (11 years) in 304 scenes. Festus was designed after “Cedar Jack” (Frederick Munden), a man from Curtis’ Las Animas youth.
Summary
The talented man with the scruff, Ken Curtis, was as endearing but quite different from his persona. Curtis gave up studying medicine to pursue singing. Behind the mic, his early showbiz career was a success. His singing prowess got him a spot on the big screen. He transitioned from cowboy movies to T.V. Westerns.
| Character Name | Festus Haggan |
|---|---|
| Played | by Ken Kurtis |
| Character Of | Gunsmoke |
| First Appearance | Season 8 Episode# 13 |
| Occupation | Deputy Marshall |
- Cedar Jack, a resident of a nearby town of 15 miles, earned enough to pay the bills cutting cedar fence posts. Curtis noticed that Jack commonly came to Las Animas, where he regularly tanked in Curtis’ dad’s prison.
- Festus was partially known for the nasally, twangy, rustic emphasis Curtis produced for the job; however, which didn’t mirror Curtis’ genuine voice.
Individual Appearances
- Curtis voiced Nutsy the vulture in Disney’s 1973 vivified film Robin [Hood] and was Carroll O’Connor’s guest star in Gunsmoke. Curtis lobbied for Ronald Reagan in 1976, during the then President’s endeavor to get the Republican nomination from Ford.
- From his first looks in Season 8, Festus would stay with the series for the remainder of its organization run on CBS, through Season 20, in near 300 scenes. He started as a troublesome hillman seeking vengeance against his uncle for murdering his sibling. Still, in the end, he ended up representing Matt Dillon and becoming one of his friends.
Last Years
- He returned to T.V. after a ten-year absence. He played a significant portion of his scenes with Noah Beery, Jr., in the short-lived Western series The Yellow Rose.
- Curtis’ last acting job was as the maturing dairy cattle farmer “Seaborn Tay” in the T.V. creation Conagher (1991), by western creator Louis L’Amour. Sam Elliott featured in the number one spot job, and Curtis’ Gunsmoke co-star Buck Taylor (Newly O’Brien) played a terrible man in a similar film
- Buck Taylor’s dad, Dub Taylor, played a minor part in it. He joined the Gunsmoke cast in 1967, supplanting the past appointee, Thaddeus “Thad” Greenwood, played by Roger Ewing. In his later years, Curtis lived in Clovis. Curtis was a Republican and upheld Barry Goldwater in the United States’ official political race.
- Festus, at first on the periphery of Dodge society but might finally be seen as tenacious, legitimate, and humane sort, was subsequently shown as Matt Dillon’s reliable friend and low-maintenance agent.
Death
Curtis passed away after a heart attack on April 28, 1991, while he was sleeping in Fresno, California. His remains were burned and dispersed across the flatlands of Colorado.
FAQS:
Here is some question that people may ask:
Q 1 What was Ken Curtis’ net worth when he died?
Ken Curtis Net Worth: Ken Curtis was an American singer and actor with a net worth of $ 5 million. Ken Curtis was born in Lamar, Colorado, in July 1916 and died in April 1991. He was best recognized for playing the part of Festus Haggen on the CBS television series Gunsmoke from 1959 to 1975.
Q 2 What happened to Amanda Blake?
(A.P.) Amanda Blake, who played Miss Kitty in the long-running “Gunsmoke” series, died of complications from AIDS, not cancer, as previously reported, her doctor said Monday. Blake’s death certificate stated that the immediate cause of death was cardiac and pulmonary arrest from liver failure and CMV hepatitis.
Q 3 Can Festus sing?
If you saw Gunsmoke and Festus, you’d swear he can’t sing. Ken Curtis is the actor who played Festus, and yes, he is very good at singing. Watch Festus Tumbling sing Tumbleweed.
Q 4 What happened to Sam in Gunsmoke?
The Frankenstein monster in the movies and Sam ■■■■■■, the fat leather bartender on the 11-year-old T.V. show Gunsmoke, died of cancer at a local hospital last night; he was 74.
Q 5 Did Festus of Gunsmoke have a glass eye?
It did not explain unless the actor or character lost sight of the right eye. He declined the opportunity to play Festus Haggen in Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (1987), which reunited James Arness, Amanda Blake, Buck Taylor, and Fran Ryan from the original series.
Q 6 How old is Ken Curtis?
Kurt Curtis is 74 years old (1916-1991).
Q 7 When did Festus join Gunsmoke?
Festus discovered Gunsmoke in 1962 and appeared in about 300 episodes in 1975.
Q 8 Did you drink real beer in Gunsmoke?
The Gunsmoke cast drank beer, but the whiskey was tea or colored water. (Marshall is the Official Historian of Arizona and Vice President of the Wild West History Association).
Q 9 What was wrong with Festus’ eye on Gunsmoke?
Regularly, Festus would squint with the right eye, too. It implies he is correct, given yet left eye prevailing. He denied a proposal to show up as Festus Haggen in the film Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (1987), which rejoined James Arness, Amanda Blake, Buck Taylor, and Fran Ryan from the first series.
Q 10. Why did Festus quit Gunsmoke?
He showed up on the hit western for three seasons. The scene happened during the center of his run. Reynolds left the show a year later to seek a vocation in films. Chester and Festus showed up in different scenes together.
Q 11. Are Ken and Tony Curtis related?
Ken Curtis, an artist, and entertainer who featured as Marshal Matt Dillon’s companion on the long-running T.V. western ″Gunsmoke,″ has passed on at age 74. Curtis, in the T.V. series Ripcord (T/F) Ken Curtis, is the sibling of entertainer Tony Curtis.
Q 12. How much money did James Arness have?
James Arness’s total assets: James Arness was an American entertainer with total assets of $8 million. James Arness was brought into the world in Minneapolis. He was most famous for featuring Matt Dillon in the T.V. series Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975.
Q 13 Is Festus’ sibling a twin?
During the ninth Season, They made a Festus Haggen recurring character. It is discovered that Fergus, Festus’ twin brother, existed. Denver Pyle, who played Festus Hagen’s Uncle Black Jack Haggen, was about four years younger than Festus’s actor Ken Curtis, who plays Festus Haggen.
Q 14 Who has been on Gunsmoke the most as a guest?
Woodward appeared on Gunsmoke 19 times more than any other actor, usually playing the bad guy. His mustache face is the illustration for the “Dirty Half-Dozen” article.
Q 15 What Gunsmoke episode did Matt Dillon’s wife appear in season?
She appeared in Thee Wed (1960 T.V. Episode of “Gunsmoke”) -
Conclusion:
Festus Haggen (played by Ken Curtis) is Matt Dillon’s representative Marshal and one of the primary characters of Gunsmoke who might initially show up in the Season 8 scene “Us Haggens” (scene #13, December 8, 1962). In 1962, Festus, who had previously been a comedy character, arrived in Dodge to avenge his twin brother Fergus’ demise and decided to stay once the deed was complete.
