Skip to main content
Ken Curtis

Ken Curtis

Actor · 1916 – 1991 · Lamar, Colorado, USA

Ken Curtis (born Curtis Wain Gates; July 2, 1916 – April 28, 1991) was an American actor and singer best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the Western television series Gunsmoke. Early years Born on July 2, 1916 as the youngest of three boys in Lamar in Prowers County in southeastern Colorado, Curtis lived his first 10 years on a ranch on Muddy Creek in eastern Bent County. In 1926, the family moved to Las Animas, the county seat of Bent County, so that his father, Dan Sullivan Gates, could run for sheriff. The campaign was successful, and Gates served from 1926 to 1931 as Bent County sheriff. Curtis was the quarterback of his Bent County High School football team and played clarinet in the school band. He graduated in 1935. During World War II, Curtis served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945. He attended Colorado College to study medicine, but left after a short time to pursue his musical career. Film Columbia Pictures signed Curtis to a contract in 1945. He starred in a series of musical Westerns with the Hoosier Hot Shots, playing singing cowboy romantic leads. By virtue of his second marriage, Curtis was a son-in-law of film director John Ford. Curtis teamed with Ford and John Wayne in Rio Grande. He was a singer in the movie's fictional band, The Regimental Singers, who actually consisted of the Sons of the Pioneers; Curtis is not listed as a member of the principal cast. Possibly, he played a bit part, but Curtis is best remembered as Charlie McCorry in The Searchers, and for his appearances in The Quiet Man, The Wings of Eagles, 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. He was featured in all three of the only films produced by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney's C. V. Whitney Pictures: The Searchers (1956); The Missouri Traveler (1958) with Brandon deWilde and Lee Marvin; and The Young Land (1959) with Patrick Wayne and Dennis Hopper. In 5 Steps to Danger (1957 film), he is uncredited as FBI Agent Jim Anderson. Curtis remains best known for his role as Festus Haggen, the scruffy, cantankerous, and illiterate deputy in Gunsmoke. He first appeared in 1962 and joined the regular Gunsmoke cast in 1964, replacing Chester Goode, played by Dennis Weaver. While Marshal Matt Dillon had a total of five deputies over two decades, Festus held the role the longest (11 years), in 304 episodes. Festus was patterned after "Cedar Jack" (Frederick Munden), a man from Curtis' Las Animas childhood. Cedar Jack, who lived 15 miles south of town, made a living cutting cedar fence posts. Curtis observed many times that Jack came to Las Animas, where he would often end up drunk and in Curtis' father's jail. Festus' character was known, in part, for the nasally, twangy, rural accent which Curtis developed for the role, but which did not reflect Curtis' actual voice. Curtis married Torrie Connelly in 1966. They were married until his death in 1991 and he had two step-children. Death Curtis died on April 28, 1991, in his sleep in Fresno, California, after suffering a heart attack. He was 74. He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in the Colorado flatlands. CLR From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Movies24

  • Movie7.3

    Robin Hood

    1973 · 4.7K votes

  • Movie7.7

    The Searchers

    1956 · 1.6K votes

  • Movie7.1

    The Alamo

    1960 · 411 votes

  • Movie7.0

    How the West Was Won

    1962 · 514 votes

  • Movie7.3

    The Quiet Man

    1952 · 627 votes

  • Movie6.9

    The Horse Soldiers

    1959 · 291 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Cheyenne Autumn

    1964 · 151 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Rio Grande

    1950 · 408 votes

  • Movie7.0

    Mister Roberts

    1955 · 186 votes

  • Movie6.3

    The Wings of Eagles

    1957 · 72 votes

  • Movie7.0

    The Long Gray Line

    1955 · 57 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Two Rode Together

    1961 · 159 votes

  • Movie6.6

    5 Steps to Danger

    1956 · 16 votes

  • Movie7.2

    The Last Hurrah

    1958 · 64 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Spring Reunion

    1957 · 5 votes

  • Movie5.2

    Once Upon a Texas Train

    1988 · 16 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Conagher

    1991 · 33 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Escort West

    1959 · 12 votes

  • Movie8.0
  • Movie
  • Movie6.0

    Pony Express Rider

    1976 · 4 votes

  • Movie4.5

    The Killer Shrews

    1959 · 96 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Fighting Coast Guard

    1951 · 3 votes

  • Movie6.8

    The Young Land

    1959 · 9 votes

Series17

  • TV7.7

    Perry Mason

    1957 · 139 votes

  • TV6.6

    Wagon Train

    1957 · 31 votes

  • TV7.3

    Have Gun, Will Travel

    1957 · 44 votes

  • TV7.6

    Airwolf

    1984 · 497 votes

  • TV7.2

    Rawhide

    1959 · 49 votes

  • TV6.7

    Gunsmoke

    1955 · 119 votes

  • TV6.7

    Sea Hunt

    1958 · 20 votes

  • TV6.9

    Vega$

    1978 · 25 votes

  • TV7.0

    How the West Was Won

    1977 · 35 votes

  • TV7.0

    Grizzly Adams

    1977 · 29 votes

  • TV7.2

    Petrocelli

    1974 · 27 votes

  • TV6.8
  • TV6.0

    Musik ist Trumpf

    1975 · 1 votes

  • TV6.7

    Ripcord

    1961 · 3 votes

  • TV7.6

    The Yellow Rose

    1983 · 5 votes

  • TV7.0

    Black Beauty

    1978 · 11 votes

  • TV10.0

    Battleground

    2004 · 1 votes