What young actor made his film debut in Howard Hawks 1950 Sci-Fi classic "THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD" as the outer space veggie monster? He later on went on to fame as the star of what beloved western tv series?

Gunsmoke Big Jim Arness - recommended for the part of Marshall Dillon by non other than John Wayne, the first choice to portray the marshall

Yes, Big Jim was considered John Wayne's protoge at the time and when Wayne was offered Gunsmoke, he declined because he was a "movie star" and gave the producers the suggestion to use Arness. In later years, Wayne was to say that if he would have taken the role, he probably would not have had to work so hard grinding out movies to make a living. The residuals would have made him rich. Too late we get smart.

I believe John Wayne actually introduced the new show GUNSMOKE at the beginning of the first episode. Smiley

Right...John Wayne did intro the first episode to jump start the show and as a favor to his protoge Arness.

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