Anyone heard William Conrad in the radio version of Gunsmoke??? He was really gritty, and rough, I was shocked when I figured out who he was, cuz he sounded Tall on the radio...
You Have a Hard Lip, Herbert..
Better Living Thru Chemistry
I started listening to the radio version of "Gunsmoke," which pre-dated the TV version by several years, over ten years ago when LA radio station KNX still ran their Drama Hour every week night. Since, Gunsmoke has been a staple on Sirius/XM radio channel 82, the Classic Radio channel.
All the "adult" television westerns of the 50's and 60's owe a debt of gratitude to this long-running radio show. Even after the TV version hit the air, CBS radio continued to run the radio version into the 1960's. Their were some other well known actors on the radio version besides Conrad, including Howard McNair as Doc (he achieved fame as Floyd the barber on The Andy Griffith Show. There were several other well known character actors that were either regulars or frequent guests on the show.
Together with the radio version of Dragnet, the radio Gunsmoke are, in my opinion, the top radio series of all time. There were some anthologies, like "Suspense," and "Lights Out," which were right up there as well, but they did not have a recurring cast or setting.
Conrad's Matt Dillon was terrific, much better than the character James Arness portrayed. When Gunsmoke was first being worked up for television, there was some thought given to casting the radio originals in the television roles. If you do a search, you can find photos as Conrad and friends dressed up in character. Unfortunately, in the mid-50's Conrad was already somewhat portly. I think that today the public would be much more likely to accept a less than physically perfect Marshall Dillon, but not back in the 1950's.
Conrad's weight didn't hurt his role as Frank Cannon, and he had a great presence in that role on the radio. To bad he was never given a real shot.
I strongly encourage anyone with the time to listen to a few of the radio episodes of Gunsmoke. They are readily available on the internet. I subscribe to XM radio mostly because I enjoy the old time radio drama channel. There is some great stuff there.
"He was running around like a rooster in a barnyard full of ducks."--Pat Novak
I ran across the radio version of Gunsmoke a few years ago on XM. I figured out pretty quick who was playing Matt Dillon. Robert Conrad has/had one of the most distinctive voices around and was one of the hardest working radio actors at the time.
I love Gunsmoke, be it radio or tv, but came to love the radio version just a bit more. Matt--as portrayed by Conrad--was a much darker and lonely character than on tv. The radio episodes always seemed to carry a heavier atmosphere than on tv. You didn't always feel that Matt was going to win, and even if he DID win, it didn't always come out with a pretty little bow on top.