- Born
- Died
- Birth nameCurtis Wain Gates
- Height1.80 m
- Considering the kind of scruffy, backwoods, uneducated, Deep-South hillbilly types he played, many people would be surprised to hear that Ken Curtis wasn't actually born in the south but in the small town of Las Animas, Colorado, the son of the town sheriff. They would probably be even more surprised to learn that he began his show business career as a singer in the big-band era, and was a vocalist in the legendary Tommy Dorsey orchestra. He entered films in the late 1940s at the tail-end of the singing-cowboy period in a series of low-budget Westerns for Columbia Pictures. When that genre died out, Curtis turned to straight dramatic and comedy parts and became a regular in the films of director John Ford (who was his father-in-law). Curtis branched out into film production in the 1950s with two extremely low-budget monster films, Les Musaraignes tueuses (1959) and The Giant Gila Monster (1959), but he is best known for his long-running role as Festus Hagen, the scruffy, cantankerous deputy in the long-running TV series Gunsmoke (1955).- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- SpousesTorrie Ahern Connelly(March 12, 1966 - April 28, 1991) (his death)Barbara Ford(May 31, 1952 - July 23, 1964) (divorced)Lorraine Hight Jensen(January 10, 1942 - ?) (divorced)
- ChildrenNo Children
- ParentsDaniel Selden "Dan" GatesNellie Sneed Gates
- RelativesCarl Melvin Gates(Sibling)Chester Kenneth "Dub" Gates(Sibling)
- Hillbilly accent.
- The role of Festus Haggen on Gunsmoke (1955).
- High-pitched voice.
- His beard.
- Before 'Gunsmoke', he often appeared in films with John Wayne and/or directed by John Ford.
- Before taking up an acting career, he sang with Tommy Dorsey's band and the Sons of the Pioneers.
- Appeared with the Sons of the Pioneers at Carnegie Hall.
- Grew up in Las Animas, CO, where his father, Dan Gates, was sheriff. As was the custom at the time, they lived above the jail and his mother, Nellie (Sneed) Gates, cooked for the prisoners. He once said he patterned "Festus" after a local character known as Cedar Jack, who lived about 40 miles out in the cedar hills and made a living cutting cedar fence posts for farmers and ranchers. When he came to Las Animas, he usually ended up drunk and in jail. This gave Curtis plenty of opportunity to observe him.
- In 1935 he went to a college in Colorado Springs, CO, to study medicine. While there his love for singing grew and he involved himself in various college musical events.
- Came from a musical family -- his father played the fiddle, his mother the pump organ, brother Chester the banjo, and another brother Carl sang.
- I'm really proud of Gunsmoke (1955). We put on a good show every week, one that families could all watch together without offending anyone.
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