Younger audiences might know him as the dude who played Ego in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” but for everyone else, Kurt Russell is a Hollywood legend. That reputation was cemented in the 1980s, during which time Russell landed starring roles in such classics as “Escape From New York” (1981), “The Thing” (1982), and “Big Trouble in Little China.” (1986). But he managed just as illustrious a run in the ’90s — even if you only count his role in George P. Cosmatos’ seminal 1993 Western “Tombstone.”
While “Tombstone” isn’t quite Kurt Russell’s best film (according to Rotten Tomatoes, that honor goes to 2014 documentary “The Battered Bastards of Baseball” [yep!]) — it is surely among the finest entries in the man’s filmography. Telling the story of Wyatt Earp (Russell) and the legendary gunfight at the O.K. Corral, “Tombstone” became an instant classic of the modern Western when it debuted, with Val Kilmer stealing the entire show as Doc Holliday. But Russell certainly delivered as the legendary lawman, and in the process, he rocked what is surely one of the finest on-screen mustaches in Hollywood history — even if he did have to be convinced to tone it down by the director.
But “Tombstone” was far from Russell’s first experience with Westerns. In fact, the actor had ventured into big-screen Westerns some 30 years prior with his starring role opposite Charles Bronson in 1965’s “Guns of Diablo.” However, even that mid-’60s effort wasn’t Russell’s first rodeo, so to speak. In fact, it wasn’t even the first time he and Bronson had trekked across the Old West together on-screen. By the time he and his older co-star made “Guns of Diablo,” Russell had actually accrued some fairly extensive experience with Westerns on television, including an appearance on the classic series “Gunsmoke.”
Kurt Russell’s early screen career included a lot of television
Long before he became a movie star, a young Kurt Russell appeared on “Gilligan’s Island.” Yes, two years after kicking Elvis in the shin for his first movie role in “It Happened at the World’s Fair,” a 13-year-old Russell played a jungle-dwelling youngster in the season one episode “Gilligan Meets Jungle Boy.”
The burgeoning star actually had quite a prolific small-screen career during the 1960s. Between 1962 to 1965, he appeared in episodes of “Dennis the Menace,” “The Dick Powell Show,” and “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” to name just a few. But a year prior to his “Gilligan’s Island” appearance, between booting the King of Rock ‘n Roll and playing a tiny Tarzan, Russell also found time to appear in yet another legendary show: “Gunsmoke.”
This beloved Western series started as a radio show in 1952 and ran until 1961. During that time, a TV adaptation was commissioned, and managed to run for even longer than its radio predecessor. Premiering on CBS in 1955, “Gunsmoke” ran for 20 seasons, initially airing as half-hour episodes from 1955 to 1961 before transitioning to hour-long episodes in 1962 until its final episode in 1975. In all, “Gunsmoke” ran for 635 episodes across its 20-year run. But the hour-long episodes in particular allowed the writers to delve deeper into the Kansas frontier town of Dodge City, and provided ample opportunity for young actors to take part in the hit series — one of whom was a 12-year-old Russell.
Kurt Russell’s two Gunsmoke roles
In 1964, Kurt Russell was cast in what would turn out to be his first role on “Gunsmoke.” He played Packy Kerlin in the 1964 episode “Blue Heaven.” The season 10 premiere first aired on September 26, 1964, and saw Russell portray a runaway kid who teams up with Tim O’Connor’s Kip Gilman, a wanted man who’s on the lam. On his quest to evade police, Gilman accompanies Packy to Dodge City to help find the boy’s estranged mother, Elena Kerlin (Diane Ladd). Once there, Gilman falls for Elena, which ultimately leads to one of the most dramatic conclusions ever seen in a “Gunsmoke” episode, as several triggermen face off in a final gunfight.
“Blue Heaven” was seemingly a one-and-done situation for Russell, who would spend the rest of the ’60s appearing in other shows and starting to build his big-screen career. But at the start of the next decade, he actually returned to “Gunsmoke” for yet another role on the long-running series, then in its nineteenth season.
The 1974 episode “Trail of Bloodshed” marked Russell’s return to “Gunsmoke.” But this time, he wasn’t playing Packy Kerlin. Instead, he took on the role of Buck Henry Woolfe, the son of a murdered farmer who vows to avenge his slain father. First aired on March 4, 1974, “Trail of Bloodshed” was Russell’s final appearance on “Gunsmoke.” The series wrapped up for good a year later, by which point Russell was well on his way to becoming the megastar we all know.
Gunsmoke helped set a precedent for Kurt Russell
“Gunsmoke” is undeniably one of the most well-known and celebrated examples of the Western genre on TV. But Kurt Russell, whose father, Bing Russell, was a series regular on another classic Western series, “Bonanza,” was already experienced in the genre prior to his first “Gunsmoke” role. What’s more, the young actor had actually appeared in what was arguably his breakthrough role in an entirely different show, “The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters.” That Western series aired on ABC for one season between 1963 and 1964, and was based on Robert Lewis Taylor’s novel of the same name. It starred Russell in the title role opposite Dan O’Herlihy as his father, Doc McPheeters. Charles Bronson joined the show for its final 13 episodes as wagon master Linc Murdock — a role he would reprise in the aforementioned film “Guns of Diablo,” in which Russell also returned as Jaimie McPheeters.
So by the time Russell made his first appearance on “Gunsmoke,” he was well acquainted with Westerns, and had seemingly set himself up for a career marked by standout performances within the genre. That didn’t end with “Tombstone” in 1993, either. Russell went on to star as Sheriff Franklin Hunt in 2015’s Western horror “Bone Tomahawk,” which happened to remind the actor of “Tombstone” in several ways. That same year, he also starred in Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” as John “The Hangman” Ruth, proving that he still had what it took to portray convincingly realistic characters from the Old West.