SC is correct; the voices of Arness and Peter Graves (the family name was Aurness) were quite similar.

Back in 1952, Arness co-starred with John Wayne in one of the most infamous "Red Scare" movies of the day: Big Jim McLain. (Guess who played Big Jim? wink ) They were rooting out Communist spies in Hawaii - nice work if you can get it! A couple of years later, when Gunsmoke was going to be turned into a TV series (it was originally a radio show starring William Conrad, later TV's Cannon.), the producers wanted Wayne for the role of Marshall Matt Dillon. He declined, but recommended his friend Arness. Ol' Duke even appeared on-camera before the first episode, telling the viewers to watch the show. ("Or else," no doubt.)

The rest is TV history.

Signor V.

"For me, there's only my wife..."

"Sure I cook with wine - sometimes I even add it to the food!"

"When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies?"

"It was a grass harp... And we listened."

"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?"

"No. Saints and poets, maybe... they do some."