Ken Curtis net worth is $5 million. Also know about Ken Curtis bio, salary, height, age weight, relationship and more …

Ken Curtis Wiki Biography

Ken Wain Gates was born on 2 July 1916, in Lamar, Colorado USA, and was an actor and singer, probably best known for being a part of the long running western television series entitled “Gunsmoke” in which he played Festus Haggen. He was active in the industry from 1941 up to his death in 1991. All of his efforts helped put his net worth to where it is today.

How rich was Ken Curtis? As of late-2017, sources estimate a net worth that is at $5 million, mostly earned through a successful career in acting. He combined both his singing and acting career after finding his breakout in acting. These achievements ensured the position of his wealth before his passing.

Ken attended Bent County High School, where played with the school’s football team as their quarterback. He also played the clarinet in the school band. After matriculating in 1935, he attended Colorado College aiming at a career in medicine, but left to instead pursue a career in music. From 1943, he served in the US Army for two years during World War II.

Early in his career, Curtis joined several bands, playing with the Tommy Dorsey Band and later Shep Fields and His New Music. In 1945, he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures to star in various musical Westerns, playing the romantic lead in most of his films. He was also the host of the radio program entitled “WWVA Jamboree”. His net worth increased as more opportunities started to open up for him. He joined the vocal group called “Sons of the Pioneers” as their lead singer from 1949 to 1952; one of their most popular songs was “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky”.

Ken then teamed up with director John Ford for various projects, which included “The Quiet Man”, “The Horse Soldiers”, “The Alamo” and Mister Roberts”. He was also a part of the three Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney produced films “The Searchers”, “The Missouri Traveler” and “The Young Land”. He also did production work, creating two low budget films, all adding to his net worth.

Aside from these, he made guest appearances in several Western television series including “Have Gun Will Travel”, plus a guest appearance in “Perry Mason”, and then “Gunsmoke” before eventually joining the show in the role of Festus. He became the longest serving deputy on the show, appearing for 11 years and a total of 304 episodes of the show. His net worth increased further, as he also participated in various Western-themed stage productions. After his run with the series, he lent his voice in the animated film ‘Robin Hood”, and appeared in the short-lived “The Yellow Rose”. In 1981, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. One of his last roles was the television production “Conagher”, in which he played an aging cattle rancher.

For his personal life, it is known that Ken married Lorraine Page in 1943 and the two met while he was under contract with Universal Studios. The marriage eventually ended and his second marriage was to Barbara Ford who is the daughter of director John Ford. They were married in 1952 and divorced in 1964. In 1966, he married Torrie Ahern Connelly and their marriage lasted until his death on 28 April 1991- he passed away in his sleep from a heart attack, at his home in Fresno, California. He had two children from his marriages.

IMDB Wikipedia $5 million 1.83 m 1916 1916-07-02 1991 5000000 Actor American April 28 Barbara Ford California Carl Curtis Chester Curtis Colorado Colorado College Dan Gates Fresno July 2 Ken Curtis Lamar Lorraine Page Nellie Sneed Gates Singer Torrie Ahern Connelly United States

Ken Curtis Quick Info

Ken Curtis Trademarks

1. His beard.
2. High-pitched voice.
3. The role of Festus Haggen on Gunsmoke (1955).
4. Hillbilly accent.

Ken Curtis Quotes

• 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.

Ken Curtis Important Facts

• Best friend of James Arness.
• Best remembered by the public for his role as Festus Haggen on Gunsmoke (1955).
• Not only was Ken Curtis in “Dodge City” in the tv series, Gunsmoke, from 1962-1975, he also was in “Dodge City” in the movie Cheyenne Autumn (1964).
• While appearing in John Ford westerns, Ken Curtis initially utilized his musical talents before turning to straight acting. In Rio Grande (1950), he was a guitar-playing lead-singing tenor with the ‘Regimental Singers’. In The Quiet Man (1952), he played an accordion and sang tenor in the bar.
• Curtis Wain Gate’s maternal great grandfather Sebron (Seaborn) Graham Sneed (1828-1872) was the senior second lieutenant of Company A, Harrelson’s Battalion, Arkansas Cavalry (Confederate) during the War Between the States. Sebron’s brothers Samuel and William R. were privates in the same unit.
• He met singer Jo Stafford while appearing with Johnny Mercer on a radio program. Mercer invited him to make a guest appearance and, in acknowledgment of Jo’s latest recording, Ken sang “Tumbling Tumbleweeds”. As a result of this appearance, Columbia Pictures signed him up for a series of musical westerns.
• His stage name was changed to the easier-sounding “Ken Curtis” when he temporarily replaced Frank Sinatra in Tommy Dorsey’s band in 1941.
• Went in 1935 to a college in Colorado Springs 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.
• Appeared with the Sons of the Pioneers at Carnegie Hall.
• The Sons of the Pioneers, of which Curtis was once a member, were awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6843 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
• Refused an offer to appear as Festus Haggen in the movie Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (1987), which reunited James Arness, Amanda Blake, Buck Taylor and Fran Ryan from the original series. Money was the issue. Producer John Mantley, interviewed for TV Guide when the movie aired, said Curtis had demanded double what Blake got; other sources say Mantley was at fault in offering Curtis an insultingly low salary (not specified in either account).
• On Gunsmoke (1955) as Festus Haggen, he always drew and fired a pistol with his right hand — but whenever he had to use a rifle, he would bring it up to his left shoulder and pull the trigger with his left hand (sighting with his left eye and squinting with his right). Often, Festus would squint with the right eye partially closed as well. This was never explained unless the actor or character had lost vision in his right eye.
• Although his character, Festus Haggen, was introduced to Gunsmoke (1955) in an episode called “Us Haggens,” in which he arrived in Dodge City to avenge the death of his twin brother, the fact that Festus had a twin was never again mentioned on the show.
• Early in his career, he sang with Shep Fields’ Orchestra.
• Inducted (as a cast member of Gunsmoke (1955)) into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1981.
• Son-in-law of director John Ford.
• Before acting career, sang with Tommy Dorsey’s band and the Sons of the Pioneers.
• Introduced the western standard “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” to movie audiences.
• Grew up in Las Animas, Colorado, 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.

Ken Curtis Filmography

Ken Curtis Awards