Western actor Buck Taylor, best known as Deputy Newly O’Brian on the hit series Gunsmoke, shares behind-the-scenes moments from the golden age of Western television.
As we approach nearly seven decades since Gunsmoke hit the small screen, we’re looking back at cowboy poet Red Steagall’s chat with cowboy actor Buck Taylor, who starred as gunsmith-turned-deputy Newly O’Brian. Taylor shares stories from his days on the show, which premiered September 10, 1955, on CBS, and spills on which actor kept him laughing between takes.
Red Steagall: What were some of the experiences that you had on Gunsmoke that folks would like to know about?
Buck Taylor: ... I wasn’t there, but “Doc” (Milburn Stone) told this about “Festus” (Ken Curtis): He and Festus were at a rodeo, and they’d performed. After the rodeo, they’d stand there or sit at a table and sign autographs until the last kid was gone. ... When you’re signing things, you can kind of overhear conversations as people are getting closer to you. ... Doc said he could hear this woman talking to her little boy. She was pointing at Festus — Doc was clean cut and Festus had this beard — and she said, “Now, you know who that is?” He said, “Yes, ma’am.” They get a little closer. She said, “Now, you see him all the time. You know who that is.” The little [boy] is like 4 or 5 years old, big eyes, just starting at Festus. Doc said, “Well, that’s cute. Little kid watches Gunsmoke.” ... So she gets right up to Festus and puts this kid right in front of him and says, “Now, who is he?” And the little kid looks at his mama and says, “Jesus.” [Laughs.] Things like that would happen. Just so much fun. ...
I couldn’t work with Jim Arness ... He had this great sense of humor, and I could not look him in the eye. If I looked him in the eye, I’d start laughing because I was always kind of the serious guy. I went in there and said, “I’m not cracking jokes. I’m just doing my job.” ... Jim’s in there, and he never read the script. They’d just hand him pages. He said, “Okay, what are we doing here?” and they’d say, “Well, this is where Newly comes in. There’s a fight in the Long Branch.” “Uh-huh, uh-huh. Okay, let’s do it.” He’d throw the papers away and he had this photographic memory. So in rehearsal I’d come busting through the door, all out of breath [and yell] “There’s a fight in the Long Branch.” And he’d look and me and go, “Man, this guy’s serious about doing this stuff.” And I was. He’d get me laughing and then I couldn’t do it when it was for real. But he thought that was great. He wouldn’t laugh. He’d look you right in the eye. He was a John Wayne protégé, see ... I watched him when I was a younger, before I got on the show, and I’d always have to pinch myself because it being the Long Branch and I’d look around and there’s Matt and there’s Kitty (Amanda Blake) and Doc and Festus. I’m going, “Wow. I am here with them.” It was different. I’d worked with a lot of actors that I’d really admired. Gilbert Roland was a great actor that I always liked, and Ricardo Montalbán and Jack Palance. I worked with those guys. That was great, but they didn’t do this thing of growing up with a TV series and then being a part of it. It was a little unreal the whole time.
To an Old Friend
I stood by the fountain as they brought him in,
A lost lonely look on his face.
I ain’t never seen him in nothin’ but boots.
The wheelchair shore seemed out of place.
It took him awhile to recall who I am,
But confusion turned into a grin.
It was tho’ we were saddled up, ready to ride
The Hackberry pasture again.
He laughed as he said, “I remember the time
That yeller bronc swallered his head,
And pitched you so high that you turned over twice.
Me’n and Benny Bob swore you was dead.”
He looked up at me and asked, “How is old Ben?”
I lied and said, “He’s doin’ fine.”
No need to remind him his brother was gone.
Ben died back in ’79.
Excerpted from Red Steagall’s book Ride for the Brand.
TV And Radio Schedule
Episodes of Red’s travel show, Red Steagall Is Somewhere West of Wall Street, air Mondays at 8:30 p.m. Central on RFD-TV. Find out more about the TV program at watchrfdtv.com and keep up with Red’s radio show, Cowboy Corner, at redsteagall.com/cowboy-corner. And be sure to visit Red’s new YouTube channel.
From our November/December 2017 issue.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy of CBS
