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FAMOUS RESIDENTS |
OF LAS ANIMAS, BENT COUNTY, COLORADO |
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CURTIS GATES, AKA KEN CURTIS |
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TThe following article was written by Ted Barker for the Territorial Magazine ( a Kansas publication) dated February, March, & April 2001 entitled "RANCH TALES, Las Animas Movie Star. ((( Note: The author wishes to thank the family and friends of the late Ken Curtis who so graciously shared their memories and memorabilia with us.)
CCurtis Gates, aka Festus, as most knew him from the television show "Gunsmoke" came from a very colorful family. His grandfather, Sebe Braly, was a great prankster and storyteller. One tale he told was of hauling a load of firewood to his home in southeastern Colorado. He was caught in a bad rainstorm, and when he crossed the creek by his house, he got stuck. Since harness was made of rawhide (and saturated with water), the tugs stretched. He drove the team to the fire wood lot and hung the hames on a stump. Next morning the sun came out, dried the tugs, and took out the stretch so he could pull the wagonload of wood to the woodpile.
During a particularly hard time on the ranch where Curtis was growing up his father, Daniel Gates, moved his family to Las Animas, Colorado. While living in Las Animas, he Daniel was elected sheriff of Bent County. He served as sheriff for six years. Curtis was about 10 years old at the time.
Curtis Gates was born July 2, 10916, to Daniel and Nellie Gates. He had two older brothers. During Daniel's tenure as sheriff, the family lived in a section of the jail, and Nellie, his mother, cooked meals for the prisoners as well as for her family. Once two prisoners broke out a window, slid down a drain pipe, and landed in the Gates' chicken pen.
Curtis' trusty dog, "Ted" went after them. Hearing the ruckus, Nellie, thinking he was after her chickens, called the dog off and the prisoners escaped. There were the only prisoners to escape during Dan Gates term as sheriff. Curtis enjoyed life at the jail, and the boy often visited with the inmates, many of whom were incarcerated to "sleep" off a drunk. In fact, he sort of patterned his Festus character after one of them, a man called Cedar Jack.
While still in high school, Curtis helped start Bent County's famous "Santa Fe Trail Days", sponsored, at that time, by the Bent County High School. (Now the school is named "Las Animas High"). Both Curis and I graduated from B.C.H.S. He intended to enter the medical profession, but he had a good voice and soon joined a singing group while in college. He went on to sing professionally with the Tommy Dorsey band. In fact, Tommy Dorsey was the one who suggested changing his name to Ken Curtis. During World War II, Curtis served in an anti-aircraft unit of the Infantry. After his discharge from the Army he sang with the "Sons of the Pioneers" and other groups, and it was during this time that a scout from Columbia Pictures suggested Curtis try out for parts in "cowboy" films.
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Also during this period, Curtis wrote a song titled "My Home Town", in reference to Las Animas, Colorado. He also acted in and directed films which were not always Westerns. Ripcord, a syndicated thriller, is a good example of a non-Western that Ken Curtis starred in. His most famous parts, however, were in "Western" movies, where he performed with John Wayne and other prominent actors. Many of these films were directed by John Ford, and Curtis' wife, Lorraine was John Ford's daughter. Lorraine was very talented |
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told friends that one person in show business was enough in their
family. She made Curtis' clothes, and he was always very well
dressed. The couple had no children together.
Sometimes Curtis slyly referred to past happenings. Marshall Dillon, on an episode of "Gunsmoke" caught a man making illegal liquor. In those days such characters were called moonshiners. In the television scuffle this moonshiner dropped the evidence ( a keg of whiskey) |
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on Dillon's toe and broke both the Keg and Dillon's toe. The evidence was destroyed so there was no arrest, but the fictional Dodge City marshal had a very sore toe. The same thing had actually happened to Dan Gates. In fact, a broken toe was the only wound Ken's father ever received in his years as the real Las Animas, Colorado sheriff.
Over the years, when I spoke with Curtis or watched the TV show, I noticed him mention old names, places or events from the southeastern Colorado area where we grew up. When Curtis was interviewed in later years he often said that of all the parts he had played, he liked "Festus Haggen" the best. He also told many people how much he enjoyed working with all the folks on "Gunsmoke".
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CKen
Curtis was inducted to the Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1981, along with James
Arness who played Marshal Dillon.
Dennis Weaver, who played Chester, Amanda Blake, Miss Kitty, and Milburn Stone, "Doc" also are members of the Cowboy Hall of Fame. |
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Ken called his dog, Ted: "The smartest dog that ever lived!". This 1927 photograph shows a young Ken standing proudly between his mother, Nellie and his father, Dan, who was the Sheriff of Bent County, Colorado. At left is Bent County Undersheriff Arthur Dean. |
A A GREAT CHARACTER ACTOR
The following biography was extracted from the internet site, www.dougmacauray.com.
| Although we know him mostly for his amazing role as Festus Haggen on the "Gunsmoke" TV series, he had a very diversified entertainment career. Tall, medium built and good-looking, we know him better as scraggly, lanky and grizzled looking with a stubbly beard, a perpetual one-eyed squint and a twangy, drawled voice that sounded almost like a jews harp. Combined with a hillbilly or western type accent he made a fascinating character actor. |
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Born Curtis Gates on July 2, 1916 in Lamar, Colorado the son of a sheriff, he lived in a 2-room cabin for a time and also in a jail when his father served as sheriff. At 10 he was substitute jailer when his father was out of town. He attended Colorado College for a time wanting to study medicine but he was so successful as a singer-songwriter that he left college and got a job in Hollywood as staff singer for NBC radio. He sang professionally with both the Tommy Dorsey and Shep Fields' bands. He served a hitch in the Army during World War II and afterwards returned to singing, for a time with Johnny Mercer on radio. The song "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" landed him parts in western films. From 1947 - 1952 he was an active member of the "The Sons of the Pioneers" singing group. His film debut was in "Sheriff of Tombstone" (1941) as Carson's Son. His other film credits include:
"Out of the Depths" (1946) as Buck Clayton
"Cowboy Blues" (1946)
"Rio Grande" (1950) as Regimental Singer, Donnolly
an unbilled part in "The Quiet Man" (1952) with John Wayne, as Dermot Fahey
"Mister Roberts" (1955) as Dolan
"The Searchers" (1956) as Charlie McCorry
"The Wings of Eagles" (1957) as John Dale Price
"The Last Hurrah" (1958) as Monsignor Killian
"The Horse Soldiers" (1959) as Wilkie
"The Alamo" (1960) as Captain Dickinson
"Cheyenne Autumn" (1964) as Joe
Disney's animated "Robin Hood" (1973) as the voice of Nutsy
"Pony Express Rider" (1976) as Jed and
"Lost" (1983) his last theatrical film
We know him best for his TV work which included regular roles on "Ripcord" (1961-63) as Jim Buckley; "Gunsmoke" (1964-75) as Deputy Festus Haggen; "How the West Was Won" (1978) as Sheriff Orville Gant and "Yellow Rose" (1983-84) as Hoyt Coryell. He also appeared in mini-series and made for TV movies including "Black Beauty" (1978) as Howard Jakes; "Once Upon a Texas Train" (1988) and "Conagher" (1991). He also guested on many TV series including "Perry Mason"; "Wagon Train" and "Vega$." He died on April 29, 1991 in his sleep of natural causes in Fresno, California at age 74.
