Ken Curtis

In 1991 Curtis died in his sleep of natural causes in Fresno, California. In 2004, Laurie stars in the Fox Broadcasting medical drama, House. His last role was as cattle rancher "Seaborn Tay" in the TV production Conagher (1991), by famed Western author Louis L'Amour, starring Sam Elliot in the lead role. In 2003 he starred in and also directed comedy-drama series Fortysomething. Inducted (as a cast member of "Gunsmoke") into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1981. In 1996, his book The Gun Seller, a humorous novel of suspense, was published. Cedar Jack, who lived about 40 miles out of town in the hills, made a living cutting cedar fence posts, gave Curtis plenty of opportunity to observe him when Jack would come to Las Animas where he would usually end up drunk and in jail. Other film appearances include Maybe Baby and Stuart Little.

Festus is patterned after “Cedar Jack”, a man from Ken’s Las Animas childhood. He has also had more serious roles, such as his parts in the films, Peter's Friends and Sense and Sensibility. Ken is best known for his long-running role as Festus Hagen, the scrofulous, cantankerous deputy in the TV series Gunsmoke. However, like Fry, Laurie has branched out into a solo career as an actor in both comic roles (such as the Blackadder series with Rowan Atkinson as Prince George and Lieutenant George). In the 1950's Curtis even tried his hand at producing with two extremely low-budget monster films, The Killer Shrews and The Giant Gila Monster. Laurie played Bertie Wooster, a role for which his talent as a pianist and singer came in handy. Curtis also teamed up with Ford, along with Henry Fonda, James Cagney, Jack Lemmon, and William Powell in the comedy Navy classic Mister Roberts. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories.

This son-in-law of director John Ford teamed up with father-in-law and also John Wayne in Rio Grande, The Quiet Man, The Wings of Eagles, The Searchers, The Horse Soldiers, and How The West Was Won. G. Ken Curtis, who was a singer before he moved into acting, sang with the Sons of the Pioneers and Tommy Dorsey's band. Movie audiences will hear his voice from the introduction of the western standard: "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". Fry and Laurie had several series of their own as a double act, as well as starring in the television series Jeeves and Wooster, an adaptation of P. The family lived above the jail and his mother, Nellie (Sneed) Gates, cooked for the prisoners. It was when Footlights took their end-of-year revue to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1980 that Laurie met Stephen Fry. Dan Gates, his father, was the sheriff in Las Animas. In his final year, he was the President of the Club, while Emma Thompson was the Vice-president.

Curtis Wain Gates and raised in Las Animas, Colorado). He also joined the famous Footlights Club at Cambridge, which has been the starting point for many successful British comedians. (b. During his first year at university, Laurie went out for a while with Emma Thompson, now a well-known actress. Ken Curtis (July 2, 1916 - April 29, 1991), Singer-Actor, best known as "Festus" of Gunsmoke fame. His father had won an Olympic gold medal in rowing, and he himself was a rower at school and university taking part in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race of 1980. He was born and raised in Oxford, where he attended the Dragon School (a famous prep school), before going on to Eton and then to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he read Archaeology and Anthropology.

Hugh Laurie (born June 11, 1959) is a British comedian, actor, and author best known for his television work, especially his double act with Stephen Fry.