Ken Curtis

Age: 74 (passed away Apr. 28th, 1991)
Height: 6'

Birth Place: Lamar, Colorado, USA
Born: Jul. 2nd, 1916

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Ken Curtis' Main TV Roles

Show	Character(s)
Gunsmoke	Festus Haggen
The Yellow Rose	Hoyt Coryell
Ripcord	Jim Buckley

NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at IMDB

BIOGRAPHY:

Considering the kind of scruffy, backwoods, uneducated, Deep-South hillbilly types he played, many people would not find it hard to believe that Ken Curtis was born and raised in Las Animas, Colorado, the son of the town sheriff. What they would find hard to believe is that he began his show business career as a singer in the big-band era, and was a vocalist in the legendary Tommy Dorsey orchestra. He entered films in the late 1940s at the tail-end of the singing-cowboy period in a series of low-budget Westerns for Columbia Pictures. When that genre died out, he turned to straight dramatic and comedy parts and became a regular in the films of director John Ford (I) (who was his father-in-law). He ventured into film production in the 1950s with two extremely low-budget monster films, The Killer Shrews (1959) and The Giant Gila Monster (1959), but he is best known for his long-running role as Festus Hagen, the scrofulous, cantankerous deputy in the long-running TV series "Gunsmoke" (1955).

TRIVIA:

Introduced the western standard "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" to movie audiences.
Although his character, Festus Haggen, was introduced to _"Gunsmoke" (1955)_ (qv) in an episode called "Us Haggens," in which he arrived in Dodge City to avenge the death of his twin brother, the fact that Festus had a twin was never again mentioned on the show.
Went in 1935 to a college in Colorado Springs to study medicine. While there his love for singing grew and he involved himself in various college musical events.
'Dick Haymes' (qv) replaced 'Frank Sinatra' (qv) as male vocalist with the 'Tommy Dorsey' (qv) Orchestra. Sinatra himself in his final appearance with Dorsey introduced his replacement during a September 2, 1942, broadcast.
On _"Gunsmoke" (1955)_ (qv) as Festus Haggen, he always drew and fired a pistol with his right hand -- but whenever he had to use a rifle, he would bring it up to his left shoulder and pull the trigger with his left hand (sighting with his left eye and squinting with his right). Often, Festus would squint with the right eye partially closed as well. This was never explained unless the actor or character had lost vision in his right eye.
Inducted (as a cast member of _"Gunsmoke" (1955)_ (qv)) into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1981.
Came from a musical family -- his father played the fiddle, his mother the pump organ, brother Chester the banjo, and another brother Carl sang.
He met singer 'Jo Stafford (I)' (qv) while appearing with 'Johnny Mercer' (qv) on a radio program. Mercer invited him to make a guest appearance and, in acknowledgment of Jo's latest recording, Ken sang "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". As a result of this appearance, Columbia Pictures signed him up for a series of musical westerns.

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