Did you know that the producers of Gunsmoke always intended for the characters of Marshal Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty to be secret lovers and that there was a commercial that aired early on in the show’s run in which the performers that played them kissed? For decades, fans of the classic Western television series Gunsmoke have been plagued with one question: did Marshal Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty ever kiss? Stars James Arness and Amanda Blake played the two characters, and it’s undeniable that the two performers had an incredible amount of chemistry on the screen. The show’s producers certainly exploited this chemistry, as audiences loved tuning in week after week to see if the characters were ever going to make things official.
Amanda Blake was in her mid-20s when she was cast on Gunsmoke, and she had to campaign pretty hard. Audiences became immediately smitten with the attractive actress, and her beauty became even more mind-blowing once the show switched over from black-and-white to color halfway through its run. Though the characters of Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty were never explicitly stated to be in a relationship over the course of the show’s run, it was undeniable that there was more going on between the two than there appeared to be. Up until her 1989 death, Amanda Blake claimed that fans would routinely ask her if there was a Gunsmoke episode where Marshal Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty kissed. Sadly, the characters of Matt and Miss Kitty never did kiss on-screen during Gunsmoke proper, though there was a commercial that aired early on in the show’s run that showed Amanda kissing James on the cheek. Join Facts Verse as James Arness says this is why he never kissed Miss Kitty. James Arness Says This Is Why He Never Kissed Miss Kitty
