As a parent, it can sometimes feel daunting to watch your children leave the nest. But once you set them free, they’ll finally have the opportunity to truly fly.
The cast of Gunsmoke wasn’t technically a family, but with the amount of time they spent together, they might as well have been. This was especially true for Milburn Stone and Burt Reynolds. While Reynolds was only in the series for roughly three seasons, he came to admire Stone and view the older actor as a kind of caretaker.
In an interview with the Red Deer Advocate, Reynolds confessed, “Milly was like a surrogate father to me. He was an extraordinary man.”
Despite his relatively short time spent as a member of the Gunsmoke cast, Reynolds still had fond memories of his time with Stone years after he left. He said, “One of the most enjoyable evenings of my life was a night I got with Milly and Eddie Foy Sr,” Eddie Foy Sr., like Milburn Stone, was a seasoned actor. Reynolds continued, “They were doing burlesque routines and one would spark the other to a story. They danced.”
Like any family, Reynolds also mourned his costars after they had passed away. The actor said, “It’s hard to believe that Milly is gone, Amanda, Kenny Curtis — all these wonderful people.”
Reynolds also credited Stone with acting as a guiding force during one of the more pivotal moments in his career — his departure from Gunsmoke.
He said, “It was a time when I was making up my mind about what I wanted to do. Milly said to me, ‘You’re a movie star. Get the hell out of here! Go do it!” So Reynolds left the series and enjoyed a career as a film star, but never forgot how he wound up there. He continued, “Milly gave me the courage to leave, and I don’t regret it.”