Ken Curtis

 Ken Curtis (July 2, 1916 – April 28, 1991)

He was a singer and actor best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the long-running CBS western television series Gunsmoke. Although he appeared on Gunsmoke in other earlier roles, he was first cast in his iconic role in season 8 episode 13, "Us Haggens". His next appearance was with his mule, Ruth, in "Prairie Wolfer" in season 9 episode 16, which also features Noah Beery Jr., as a villain. Columbia Pictures signed Curtis to a contract in 1945. During World War II, Curtis served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945. He starred in a series of musical Westerns with The Hoosier Hot Shots, playing singing-cowboy romantic leads. Curtis met his first wife, Lorraine Page, at Universal Studios, and they were married in 1943. For much of 1948, Curtis was a featured singer and host of the long-running country music radio program WWVA Jamboree. Ken Curtis joined the Sons of the Pioneers (the foremost Western vocal group in history) as a lead singer from 1949 to 1952. His big hits with the group included "Room Full of Roses" and "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky".

Through his second marriage, Curtis was a son-in-law of director John Ford. Curtis teamed with Ford and John Wayne in Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Wings of Eagles, The Searchers, The Horse Soldiers, The Alamo and How The West Was Won. Curtis also joined Ford, along with Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, and Jack Lemmon in the comedy Navy classic Mister Roberts. In two episodes of Gunsmoke, Carroll O'Connor was a guest-star; years later, Curtis guest-starred as a retired police detective on O'Connor's NBC program In the Heat of the Night. He voiced Nutsy the vulture in Disney's 1973 animated film Robin Hood.

A decade later, he returned to television in the short-lived Western series The Yellow Rose, in which he performed most of his scenes with Noah Beery, Jr.. Curtis died on April 28, 1991, in his sleep of a heart attack in Fresno, California, age 74.