Season Twelve: Click HERE to view a great action promo photo from the 1966 season.

Snap Decision, September 17, 1966 Written by Kichard Carr, Directed by Mark Rydell, Guest Cast: Claude Akins, Michael Strong, Michael Cole, Sam Gilman, Orville Sherman. Disturbed over being forced to kill a prisoner who was trying to save his life, Matt Dillon turns in his badge.

Michael Cole (The Mod Squad)

The Goldtakers, September 24, 1966 Written by Clyde Ware, Directed by Vincent McEveety, Guest Cast: Martin Landau, Roy Jenson, Brad Weston, William Bramley, Denver Pyle, John Boyer, Charles Francisco. A gang steals a gigantic bar of gold and commandeers the Dodge City blacksmith shop in order to divide the loot.

Martin Landau

The Jailer, October 1, 1966 Written by Hal Sitowitz, Directed by Vincent McEveety, Guest Cast: Bette Davis, Bruce Dern, Robert Sorrells, Julie Sommars, Tom Skerritt, Zalman King. An embittered ranch woman holds Matt Dillon and Kitty prisoner while plotting Matt's execution to avenge her husband's hanging.

Bette Davis

With Bruce Dern and Amanda Blake

The Mission, October 8, 1966 Written by Richard Carr, Directed by Mark Rydell, Guest Cast: Bob Random, Robert F. Simon, Warren Oates, Steve Ihnat, Jim Davis, Arch Johnson, Robert Tafur, Rafael Campos, Reuben Moreno, Bert Madrid, Mike Abelar. Marshal Dillon is helped by a friendly young runaway--who later faces him as a deadly adversary.

The Good People, October l5, 1966 Written by Paul Landis, Directed by Robert Totten, Guest Cast: Tom Simcox, Morgan Woodward, Allen Case, Shug Fisher, Ted Jordan, Frederic Downs, James O'Hara, Clyde Howdy, Steve Gravers. A respectable rancher and his son hang an innocent man and let a whiskered bounty hunter go on trial for the murder.

Gunfighter, RIP, October 22, 1966 Written, by Hal Sitowltz, Story by Michael Fisher, Directed by Mark Rydell, Guest Cast: Darren McGavin, France Nuyen, Michael Conrad, Stefan Gierasch, Don Hanmer, Allen Emerson. A gunfighter hired to kill Marshal Dillon is wounded trying to save the life of an aged Chinese man.

< From the Gunsmoke episode, Gunfighter RIP. Click on image for a bigger picture.

.< Darren McGavin

The Wrong Man, October 29, 1966 Written, by Clyde Ware, Directed by Robert Totten, Guest Cast: Carroll O'Connor, Clifton James, James Anderson, Kevin O'Neal, Gilman Rarlkin, Charles Kuenstle, Mel Gaines, Victor Izay, James Almanzer. A farmer whose credit has run out gets a loan from Marshall Dillon and Festus Haggen, then loses the money in a poker game.

<Carroll O'Connor < Clifton James

The Whispering Tree, November 12, 1966 Written, by Calvin Clements, Directed by Vincent McEveety, Guest Cast: John Saxon, Jacqueline Scott, Ed Asner, Morgan Woodward, Donald Losby, Christopher Pate, Rex Holman, Allen Jaffe, Kathleen O'Malley, Stephen McEveety. After 8 years in prison for robbery, a farmer returns home and hopes to find the stolen fortune he had buried under a tree.

<Ed Asner | Jacqueline Scott >

The Well, November 19, 1966 Written, by Francis Cockrell, Directed by Marc Daniels, Guest Cast: Guy Raymond, Joan Payne, Ted Jordan, Ted Gehring, Karl Lukas, Elizabeth Rogers, Lawrence Casey, Pete Kellett, Robert Ballew. A rainmaker tries to end Dodge City's drought before the town's last source of water--a public well--runs dry.

Stage Stop, November 26, 1966 Written, by Hal Sitowitz, Directed by Irving Moore, Guest Cast: John Ireland, Anne Whitfield, Jack Ging, Steve Raines, Joseph Ruskin, Michael Vandever, Sid Haig, Andy Albin. Doc Adams takes up arms to defend a gold shipment from bandits, first during a stagecoach ambush and then at a weigh station.

<John Ireland <Jack Ging

The Newcomers, December 3, 1966 Written, by Calvin Clements, Directed by Robert Totten, Guest Cast: Karl Swenson, Jon Voight, Robert Sorrells, John Pickard, Charles Kierkop, James Murdock, Ben Wright, Lawrence Aten, Daniel Ades. A Scandinavian immigrant and his teenage son find the West even wilder than they had imagined when they settle in Dodge City.

<Jon Voight

Karl Swenson>

Quaker Girl, December 10, l966 Written by Preston Wood, Directed by Bernard Kowalski, Guest Cast: William Shatner, Ariane Quinn, Liam Sullivan, Ben Johnson, Warren Vanders, Tom Reese, William Bryant, Timothy Carey, Joseph Breen. The identity of a criminal is confused with that of a deputy marshal when a Quaker party rescues the pair from a do-or-die fight.

William Shatner

The Moonstone, December 17, 1966 Written by Paul Savage, Directed by Kichard Colla, Guest Cast: Mike Kellin, Warren Kemmerling, Tom Skerritt, Gail Kobe, Jeff Palmer, Ted Jordan, Fred Colby. A young farmer's ex-partner in crime, his girlfriend, and his slow-witted brother figure in the discovery of his forgotten past.

Champion Of The World, December 24, 1966 Written by Les Crutchfield, Directed by Marc Daniels, Guest Cast: Alan Hale, Jr, Dan Tobin, Ralph Ross, Jane Dulo, Arthur Pederson, Gail Robbins, Don Keefer, Ted Jordan. Bull Bannock, retired heavyweight champion of the world, tries to make a place for himself in Dodge City.

<Jane Dulo < Alan Hale, Jr

The Hanging, December 31, 1966 Written by Calvin Clements, Directed by Bernard Kowalski, Guest Cast: Tom Stern, Kit Smythe, Robert Knapp, Henry Darrow, Anna Navaro, Edmund Hashim, Larry Ward, Richard Bakalyan. Marshal Dillon and his deputies must perform a grim task--the hanging of a ruthless gunman.

< Henry Darrow in The Hanging.

Saturday Night, January 7, 1967 Written by Clyde Ware, Directed by Robert Totten, Guest Cast: Leif Erickson, Dub Taylor, Victor French, William C. Watson, Lawrence D. Mann, James Almanzar, Link Harget, Rudy Sooter, Frederick Downs. A vengeful prisoner poses a continual threat to the life of Marshal Matt Dillon.

Mad Dog, January 14, 1967 Written by Jay Simms, Directed by Charles Rondeau; Guest Cast: George Lindsey, Denver Pyle, Hoke Howell, George Murdock, Sammy Reese, Iggie Wolfington, Butch Patrick, Dub Taylor. Mistaken for a hired gunman, Festus Haggen is offered $300 to fight the three sons of a man his cousin is accused of killing

<Dever Pyle

<Butch Patrick

< Iggie Wolfington

Muley, January 21, 1967 Written by Les Crutchfield, Directed by Allen Resiner, Guest Cast: Zalman King, Lane Bradbury, Ross Hagen, Marc CaveIl, Anthony Call, Ted Jordan. A young gunman falls for one of Kitty's saloon girls while waiting to finish off Marshal Dillon and rob the bank.

Mail Drop, January 28, 1967 Written by Calvin Clements, Directed by Robert Totten, Guest Cast: Eddie Hodges, John Anderson, Bing Russell, Steve Raines, Ted French, Pete Kellett. A boy comes to Dodge City in search of his father, only to learn that he is a wanted criminal.

Old Friend, February 4, 1967 Written by Clyde Ware, Directed by Allen Resiner, Guest Cast: Fritz Weaver, Delphi Lawrence, Valentin de Vargas, Carlos Rivas, David Renard, Lew Brown, William Benedict. An embittered lawman seeks revenge against the men who destroyed his town and took away his wife.

Fritz Weaver (left) with William Conrad.

Fandango, February 11, 1967 Written by Don Ingalls, Directed by Paul Landis, Guest Cast: Marie Alcaide, Torin Thatcher, Diana Muldaur, Paul Fix, Shug Fisher, Joe Higgins, Walter Baldwin. Matt Dillon tries to bring a man to justice despite the onslaught of an almost maniacal man wishing to exact his own revenge.

The Returning, February 18, 1967 Written by Paul Landis, Directed by Marc Daniels, Guest Cast: Michael Ansara, Lois Netineton, Ted Jordan, Steve Sanders, Jonathan Lippe, Johnny Whitaker, Roy Barcroft, Billy Halop, Richard Webb, Kenneth Mars. After eight years as a debt-plagued dirt farmer, a reformed outlaw rejoins his old gang to rob the Dodge City freight office.

< Johnny Whittaker < Roy Barcroft

The Lure, February 25, 1967 Written by Clyde Ware, Directed by Marc Daniels, Guest Cast: Stephen McNally, Kim Darby, Warren Vanders, John Pickard, Paul Picerni, Fred Coby, Len Wayland, Martin Brooks, Val Avery, Troy Melton. Private detectives use Kitty and the daughter of an outlaw assures to trap the girl's fugitive father.

< Stephen McNally

<Kim Darby

Noose Of Gold, March 4, 1967 Written by Clyde Ware, Directed by Irving Moore, Guest Cast: Vincent Gardenia, Barton MacLane, Steve Ihnat, Sam Gilman, Jan Shepard, Michael Preece, Jack Balley, Harry Basch. An assistant attorney general uses Matt Dillon's long-standing friendship with an outlaw to further his political ambitions.

< Vincent Gardenia < Steve Ihnat

The Favor, March 11, 1967 Written by Don Ingalls, Directed by Marc Daniels, Assistant Director Al Kraus, Guest Cast: James Daley, William Bramley, Diane Ladd, Troy Melton, Shirley Wilson, Fred J. Scolay, Lew Gallo, Bill Hart, Robert Miles, Jr. Kitty's conscience is torn between her sense of obligation to a man who saved her life and her concern for the law and Matt Dillon.

James Daley & Amanda Blake in "The Favor". Click HERE for details.

Bill Hart

Mistaken Identity, March 18, 1967 Written by Les Crutchfield & Paul Savage, Directed by Robert Totten, Guest Cast: Albert Salmi, Hal Lynch, Ken Mayer, Sam Melville, Ted Jordan. A fugitive assumes the identity of another man after the latter has apparently been fatally bitten by a rattlesnake.

Ladies From St. Louis, March 25, 1967 Written by Clyde Ware, Directed by Irving Moore, Guest Cast: Claude Akins, Josephine Hutchinson, Aneta Corsault, Kelly Jean Peters, Henry Darrow, Venita Wolf, Lois Roberts, Vic Tayback, Ralph Roberts, John Carter, Lew Brown, Ted Jordan

<Vic Tayback (Alice)

Nitro! [or Tiger By The Tail] (Part One), April 8, 1967 Written by Preston Wood, Directed by Robert Totten Guest Cast: David Canary, Bonnie Beecher, Dub Taylor, Tom Reese, Eddie Firestone, Robert Rothwell, Rudy Sooter. Playing with TNT.

<David Canary

< Eddie Firestone < Tom Reese

Nitro! [or Tiger By The Tail] (Part Two), April 15, 1967 Written by Preston Wood, Directed by Robert Totten, Guest Cast: David Canary, Bonnie Beecher, Dub Taylor, Tom Reese, Eddie Firestone, Robert Rothwell, Rudy Sooter