James Arness ... and recommended Arness instead. Afraid of being typecast, Arness initially rejected it. "Go ahead and take it, Jim," Wayne urged him. "You're too big for pictures.

(CBS) James Arness ... on his official website, Arness writes, "I wanted to take this time to thank all of you for the many years of being a fan of 'Gunsmoke,' 'The Thing,' 'How the West Was ...

and "The Thing From Another World," thanks fans for their support with a posthumous letter on his website. By Mike Barnes Senior Editor James Arness ... re too big for pictures.

James Arness ... recommended Arness instead. Afraid of being typecast, Arness initially rejected it. “Go ahead and take it, Jim,” Wayne urged him. “You’re too big for pictures.

James Arness ... and recommended Arness instead. Afraid of being typecast, Arness initially rejected it. "Go ahead and take it, Jim," Wayne urged him. "You're too big for pictures.

James Arness ... and recommended Arness instead. Afraid of being typecast, Arness initially rejected it. "Go ahead and take it, Jim," Wayne urged him. "You're too big for pictures.

Arness is who turned things around and made the show enjoyable to do over the course of his 20 seasons on the show. “The big reason the show is still fun to do is Jim,” Blake said.

James Arness, who presided over the frontier town ... He appeared in the science fiction films “The Thing From Another World” (1951) — he played the Thing — and “Them!,” ...

That limp wasn’t part of his act to get into character — it was a real thing. Arness died in 2011 at the age of 88. In his New York Times obituary, they talked about where he got his famous limp.

James Arness ... and recommended Arness instead. Afraid of being typecast, Arness initially rejected it. "Go ahead and take it, Jim," Wayne urged him. "You're too big for pictures.

James Arness ... and recommended Arness instead. Afraid of being typecast, Arness initially rejected it. "Go ahead and take it, Jim," Wayne urged him. "You're too big for pictures.

In an era when TV actors typically chewed the scenery, James ... typecast, Arness initially rejected it. “Go ahead and take it, Jim,” Wayne urged him. “You’re too big for pictures.