Television’s longest running western always cast top talent in each weekly episode. When a “Gunsmoke” guest star delivered the goods, additional roles playing totally different characters were offered. Versatile actresses Jan Shepard and Jacqueline Scott each guest starred on the show multiple times and joined Rob Word to talk about their favorite episodes.
Before actress Jan Shepard appeared in her four “Gunsmoke” episodes, even BEFORE “Gunsmoke” made the transition from radio to TV, her roommate was fellow up-and-coming actress (and future “Kitty Russell”), Amanda Blake. Hear all about it from Jan.
GUNSMOKE “had really good roles for women,” recalls actress Jan Shepard, who appeared in four episodes, including “Friend” with a memorable drunk scene being interrogated by Matt Dillon (James Arness). What made them classics? What was her favorite episode?
Jacqueline Scott (1932-2020) appeared in 8 different episodes of GUNSMOKE. She loved them all but shares special memories of three of her favorites: “Abelia” which features terrific interaction with Ken Curtis, “The Whispering Tree” with John Saxon & Ed Asner and “Kitty Cornered” which put her in competition with Amanda Blake.
Before becoming a regular on GUNSMOKE, Ken Curtis had been a big band singer with Tommy Dorsey and one of the Sons of the Pioneers. This AWOW episode includes Ken performing a solo from 1946, singing the traditional western classic, “Home on the Range.”
Jacqueline Scott and Jan Shepard also recall different directors and the limited amount of rehearsal time they got prior to filming episodes in TV’s long running classic.
This interview was recorded on Nov 21, 2017, at The Autry.
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