James Arness was happily married to Janet Surtees for 33 years. Janet wasn’t an actress and met James while he was already a big star from Gunsmoke. She was a very private person, so not much is known about her.
Before Janet, James had been married once before. From 1948 to 1963, he was married to Virginia Chapman. They had three children together—two sons and a daughter. Sadly, their daughter Jenny passed away in 1977 from a deliberate overdose. Two years later, Virginia also died from an accidental overdose.
James met Janet thanks to a friend who worked as a makeup artist on set. That friend’s wife owned a clothing store, and Janet worked there. The couple thought James and Janet would be a good match and set them up on a date. At first, Janet didn’t want to go out with him, but her young son was a big Gunsmoke fan, so she agreed.
They got along right away and discovered that, even though their lives had been very different, they shared many of the same values and interests. After dating for a couple of years, they got married in 1978. They stayed happily together until James passed away in 2011 at the age of 88.
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