For decades, fans of Gunsmoke have discussed the truth about the relationship between Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) and the saloon owner Miss Kitty Russell (Amanda Blake). These two CBS staples shared plenty of on-screen chemistry for nearly 20 years of network television. But it has all led some to wonder if the pair were actually in a relationship or not? While the horse opera never fully committed to giving us an on-screen romance between Matt and Kitty, their actual desires are a bit complicated. Here’s what we know about these two lovelorn staples of old-fashioned Western television.
Marshal Dillon and Miss Kitty Have An Unspoken Romance on ‘Gunsmoke’
Just as you can always count on Marshal Matt Dillon to tell the latest villain to “get outta Dodge,” so too can you count on Miss Kitty to have his back. From the very first John Wayne-introduced episode of the series, “Matt Gets It,” these two have been trading stray looks and yearning hearts. Though the pair never said the words “I love you,” exchanged rings, or swore before man and God that they would be by the other’s side until death parted them, there was always something more going on between Marshal Dillon and Dodge’s most lovable saloon girl-turned-bar owner. It’s impossible to ignore the passion, the angst, and the loyalty between them, and if anyone would believe in Marshal Dillon when the town turned against him, it would be Kitty. Likewise, even when Kitty was framed for murder, Dillon was still in her corner, and audiences couldn’t get enough of it. In fact, many of us wanted more.
For years, audiences wondered if Gunsmoke would develop this pair into a more traditional romance. But, as was the custom with most horse operas of the time, the series never offered Miss Kitty anything more than a smile and a tip of the hat. Occasionally, the two would embrace, but it would never lead to any thing more. In the Season 11 episode, “The Hostage,” Matt is supposed to meet up with Kitty for what she considers “a date,” but he gets held up after getting kidnapped. A few years earlier, in Season 8’s “The Way It Is,” Kitty berates Matt for standing her up, and a decade after that, in Season 18’s “A Quiet Day in Dodge,” she makes him a fine meal after the marshal hadn’t slept in a considerable amount of time, only for him to fall asleep on her bed before anything could happen.
This isn’t even to mention how each of them reacts when the other is hurt, and there’s no finer example than the Season 15 episode “The Badge.” If you hadn’t already grasped the idea that Matt Dillon was always committed to his work as a lawman first and foremost, it’s Kitty’s reaction to him getting shot for the eleventh time here that proves it. Kitty decides that she ought to leave Dodge, unable to deal with the thought of Matt dying on the job. Though Amanda Blake would stick with the series through its nineteenth season, Matt realized for the first time that he could really lose Kitty. Thankfully, she sticks around, but it takes some convincing.
Various ‘Gunsmoke’ Episodes Hint That There’s More Between These Two
Despite never being official by modern standards, there are plenty of instances that imply there was more between these two than Gunsmoke was ever willing to formally admit. For starters, Matt and Kitty spend a considerable amount of time together, but beyond that, in Season 10’s “Bad Lady from Brooklyn,” she notes that, “Matt’s a man with no strings on him. Let’s just say he’s more mine than anyone else’s.” For the bulk of the series, that was certainly true. In fact, in the following season, the episode “Gold Mine” implies that the marshal wants more from Kitty when she suddenly becomes less romantically available. Likewise, in Season 19’s “Kitty’s Love Affair,” Kitty is proposed to by another man, though she struggles to accept due to her unspoken love for the Dodge City marshal. When speaking with him about her (and potentially their) future, here is what she has to say:
“It’s hard to throw away 18 years. I know what that badge means to you, to this town, to everyone. But I’m thinking of us. I was just a kid when we met, Matt, and I was gonna live forever. I knew how things had to be with us. But I thought someday, some far-off someday, things would change. And Matt, my somedays are almost gone.”
What’s even more interesting is that these two never actually shared a kiss on screen, though Kitty did give Matt a brief peck on the cheek in the Season 17 episode “P.S. Murray Christmas.” In fact, the only woman Marshal Dillon ever kissed on camera was a widow named “Mike” Yardner (Michael Learned), whom the lawman fell in love with after having lost his memory in Season 19’s “Matt’s Love Story.” More than that, the second post-series TV movie, Gunsmoke: The Last Apache, reveals that Mike became pregnant with Matt’s only child by the end of the story. But once his memories returned, Matt remained faithful to Dodge, and Kitty never heard a thing of it. When Gunsmoke finally did end (a result of the infamous rural purge of the 1970s) it was abrupt, with as little resolution for the rest of the series as fans got regarding the love between Marshal Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty.
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James Arness and Amanda Blake Knew Their Characters Would Never Marry on ‘Gunsmoke’
Behind the scenes, both James Arness and Amanda Blake believed that there was more to Dillon and Kitty’s relationship than simple platonic friendship. “I think, over the years, everybody realized that Matt and Kitty had a close relationship,” Arness told the SCV Press Club in 2006 concerning the long-running CBS series. “They really cared for each other and all.” Still, he emphasized that “Matt had this job that he had to do,” and that the show would have drastically changed had the pair married and had kids. Of course, Blake had been saying this ever since her interview with TV Guide in 1960 (back when the show was still on). “She’d love Matt to say, ‘Kitty, let’s buy a hunk o’ land and raise some beans and kids.’ But then we’d have I Love Lucy Out West,” the actress explained.
But for those hoping that these two may have settled into their own happy ending after the series concluded, think again. In the first post-series film, Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge, which was released in 1987 (12 years after the series ended, and three years before the aforementioned The Last Apache), Matt and Kitty still hold a candle for the other. After Matt is injured, Kitty instantly falls back to his side. Yet, after he saves Dodge yet again, he rides off as Kitty watches, having grown old without settling down with her true love. Even more tragic is that Amanda Blake died two years later, and although Arness would make four more Gunsmoke continuation films, the magic between Matt and Kitty had ridden off into the sunset. It’s tragic, really, but after over 600 episodes of iconic Western television, that was always how it was going to be.
Gunsmoke is available for streaming in its entirety on PlutoTV.
- Release Date
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1955 – 1974
- Directors
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Andrew V. McLaglen, Harry Harris, Ted Post, Bernard McEveety, Vincent McEveety
- Writers
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John Meston, Charles Marquis Warren, Paul Savage
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James Arness
Marshal Matt Dillon
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