Actor Roger Ewing, best known for playing deputy marshal Thad Greenwood on the long-running western “Gunsmoke,” has died. He was 83.
His family reported that he died on Dec. 18. A cause of death was not provided.
Ewing first appeared on “Gunsmoke” at age 23 in 1965 as a character named Ben Lukens, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“With Thad’s family gone, Matt, Kitty, Doc and Festus sort of adopted him,” he once said about the character. “Anything that needed to be done, you know, an extra hand here, and extra hand there, Thad was aways around. He fit in whenever necessary.”
He took on the role of Greenwood in October, during season 11 of the show. He ended up appearing as the character on 50 episodes of the show before being dropped from the show in 1967.
In addition to “Gunsmoke,” Ewing also appeared on episodes of “Bewitched,” “The Bing Crosby Show,” “Rawhide,” and “The Baileys of Balboa.”
He also appeared in such movies as “None But the Brave,” which starred Frank Sinatra, “Smith!” and “Play It As It Lays.”
“Roger was a good and gentle man whose life touched so many people in different ways including through his acting career,” his friend Linda Brady wrote in remembrance on his obituary page.
Ewing later quit acting and took up photography. He was also active in politics and ran for a city council seat in his home of Morro Bay, California, in 2003.
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