The vow “for better or for worse” doesn’t just apply to married couples. It also applies to casts like the actors of Gunsmoke, because, let’s be honest if you’re on a television series together for 20 seasons, you should be considered legally married.
The Gunsmoke cast was just as close off-screen as they were on, to the point that when one of them got into an argument, the others immediately took their side, forming a united front.
According to an interview with the Belvidere Daily Republican, Milburn Stone, known as Doc Adams, got into an argument with a “young producer” on the set of Gunsmoke. The argument was regarding a scene the producer wanted to film, which Stone argued didn’t feel like a true Gunsmoke scene. The argument escalated to the point that Stone actually walked off the studio, with the article stating that he yelled “I am too old to scare and too rich to care!”
Apparently, after leaving the set, the producer expected the rest of the Gunsmoke cast, who had witnessed the entire debacle, to come to his aid. Quite the opposite; instead, James Arness reportedly informed the producer, “I’d listen to him [Stone] if I were you. We always do, and it’s never done us one bit of harm!”
It’s a camaraderie that every member of the cast is familiar with. Amanda Blake explained, “Like any family we have our differences. But we stick together when an outsider picks on one of us.”
Moreover, the friendship between castmates was not only for the benefit of Stone during his argument; it also created a better episode of Gunsmoke. Stone stated that the cast’s bond was so great that it was visible through their characters on screen. He said, “That public senses it and they respond. It’s something actors just can’t fake.”