Ken Curtis Net Worth At Death

Ken Curtis, who portrayed Festus Haggen, and Taylor, who portrayed Newly O’Brian, really tied for the next position. Both Ken Curtis’ Net Worth and Buck Taylor’s Net Worth reported that their respective net worths at the time of Curtis’ death in 1991 and Taylor’s current stats were $5 million.

Ken Curtis Bio

Ken Curtis was an American singer and actor best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the CBS western television series Gunsmoke. He had previously featured on Gunsmoke in different roles, such as “Brisco” in S4E32’s “Change Of Heart,” but he was initially cast as Festus in season 8 episode 13, “Us Haggens,” which aired on December 8, 1962. His subsequent appearance was in “Lover Boy,” episode 2 of Season 9, which aired on October 5, 1963.

In “Prairie Wolfer,” episode 16 of season 9 of Gunsmoke, which aired on January 18, 1964, Curtis made a permanent cast addition as Festus; however, this fact is frequently mistaken with a 1969 episode of the same name (“Prairie Wolfer”) produced five years later (S13E10).

Ken Curtis Age At Death

Ken Curtis was born on July 2, 1916, he died at the age of 74 years on April 28, 1991.

Ken Curtis Cause Of Death

In Fresno, California, on April 28, 1991, Curtis passed away from a heart attack while he was sleeping. His remains were burned and dispersed across the flatlands of Colorado.

Ken Curtis Career Background

Before switching to acting, Curtis was a singer, and once he started working in movies, he merged the two. Frank Sinatra was replaced by Dick Haymes under a contract in 1942 while Curtis remained with the Tommy Dorsey band in 1941. Dorsey proposed that Gates alter his name to Ken Curtis, and it’s possible that Curtis was just there as insurance against Sinatra’s potential defection. Curtis later became a member of the all-reed ensemble Shep Fields and His New Music, which did not have a brass section.

The character of Festus Haggen, the unkempt, cranky, and illiterate deputy in Gunsmoke, is still Curtis’ most well-known one. In 1967, he replaced Roger Ewing’s Thaddeus “Thad” Greenwood, the previous deputy, in the Gunsmoke cast. Over the course of two decades, Marshal Matt Dillon had a total of five deputies, but Festus maintained the position for the longest (11 years), appearing in 304 episodes.

Festus was modeled after “Cedar Jack,” a character from Curtis’ Las Animas youth played by Frederick Munden. Cedar Jack made a living by cutting cedar fence posts and lived 15 miles south of the city.