Why Matt and Miss Kitty from Gunsmoke never got married, according to James Arnes

It’s interesting that “Gunsmoke” isn’t talked about more in modern pop discourse, given how enduring and ubiquitous it once was. Maybe “Gunsmoke” is seen as something of a relic because Western, how many famous onesdo not dominate the contemporary landscape. If “Gunsmoke” were a sci-fi or superhero show, many pundits might point to it as a precedent for anything popular now. However, the old western still is. Its characters and setting—so deeply ingrained in the zeitgeist over its two decades on the air—could serve as a pervasive template for just about everything that followed. “Gunsmoke” is one of the grandparents of the television medium. It ran on radio from 1951 to 1961 and on television from 1955 to 1975. when it was unexpectedly cancelled.

For those unfamiliar, Gunsmoke is set in Dodge City, Kansas, in the years following the American Civil War. The main character is US Marshal Matt Dillon, a pure, honest, morally strong hero played by James Arnes. Matt’s semi-comedic deputies, Chester and Festus, were played by Dennis Weaver and Ken Curtis (who joined the series in 1964). Matt’s closest friends were the town doctor Doc Adams (Milburn Stone) and the friendly bar owner Miss Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake). The show was mostly about keeping the peace and enforcing the law.

The relationship between Matt and Miss Kitty has always been a matter of speculation. Many viewers were sure that they were in a romantic relationship and that they should get married. Others, however, believed that their relationship was nothing more than an intense friendship with occasional flirting. However, after 20 seasons together on the air, the couple never met. Ever since, “Gunsmoke” fans have wondered why Matt and Kitty didn’t have at least one wild pairing.

Arnes gave an interview in 2006 to SCV (conveniently transcribed on Arness’s official website) and he had his own theory. In short, Arnes believed that Matt and Kitty getting married would change the very premise of “Gunsmoke.”

Arnes, as one might imagine, had a unique take on U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon. The actor believed that his hero was too professional and too devoted to his work to get married. Matt was a lawman first, everything else second. Arnes couldn’t imagine that a steely, old-world loner like Matt would be a husband either. When asked directly why Matt and Kitty never got married, Arnes answered directly:

“The short answer is I think it would just change the whole premise of the show. The idea was that Matt had a job that he had to do, which was a potentially dangerous job, and you’d have a different show if he was married and had kids, I think everyone realized that Matt and Kitty were really cared about each other, and all of that just wouldn’t work being a married person or with kids.’

Matt Dillon, as Arnes recognized, served as a very peculiar male archetype, a type of “brave frontiersman” whose life fundamentally had no place for anything but law or structure. See also: Captain Kirk from Star Trek or James Bond. These characters never really “stuck” because they were too focused on their work. If a character like Matt Dillon got married, it would reveal his softness of heart and change his priorities. And while the softness of the heart and the reshuffling of priorities would make for interesting character development, that’s not what Arnes wanted to see in “Gunsmoke.” He felt it would be too much of a shift.

Also, it was easy for Matt to avoid marriage because his relationship with Miss Kitty rarely went beyond the “moonstruck” phase. Also, if nothing had happened in 20 years, I imagine Miss Kitty would have moved on to someone more determined.