Ken Curtis (July 2, 1916 - April 28, 1991), was an American singer and actor best known for his role as "Festus Haggen" on CBS' long-running western drama, "Gunsmoke", which he portrayed from 1964 to 1975. Curtis also costarred with Larry Pennell in the 1962 syndicated television series "Ripcord", a half-hour drama about a skydiving service company. Curtis played the role of "Jim Buckley" and Pennell (born 1928) was "Ted McKeever". Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Ken Curtis. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Curtis