Dennis Weaver

Actor Dennis Weaver, as president of the Screen Actors Guild, is shown in Hollywood, Calif., in June 1974. Weaver, the slow-witted deputy Chester Goode in the TV classic western "Gunsmoke" and the New Mexico deputy solving New York crime in "McCloud," died of complications from cancer on Friday, Feb. 24, 2006. The actor was 81.

Actor Dennis Weaver arrives at the 14th Annual Environmental Media Awards on Nov. 17, 2004, at The Ebell Club, in Los Angeles, Calif. Weaver was an activist for protecting the environment and combating world hunger.

Actor Dennis Weaver and his wife, Gerry, arrive at the "Lift Ev'ry Vote" Hollywood fundraiser for Democratic Presidential frontrunner John Kerry on May 22, 2004, in Los Angeles, Calif. The actor died of complications from cancer on Friday, Feb. 24, 2006, at his home in Ridgway, in southwestern Colorado. He was 81.

Actor Dennis Weaver attends the "CBS at 75" television gala at the Hammerstein Ballroom Nov. 2, 2003, in New York. A struggling actor in Hollywood in 1955, Weaver was earning $60 a week delivering flowers when he was offered $300 a week for a role in a new CBS television series, "Gunsmoke."

This 1956 photo shows actors Dennis Weaver, left, as the slow-witted deputy Chester and James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon, in a scene from CBS' TV classic western "Gunsmoke" in 1956. Weaver won an Emmy for the role in the 1958-59 season.

Actor Dennis Weaver, shown in Nov. 1989, was also known for his role as the New Mexico deputy solving New York crime in "McCloud," and starred with a 600-pound black bear in CBS show "Gentle Ben." He appeared in several movies, including "Touch of Evil," "Ten Wanted Men," "Gentle Giant," "Seven Angry Men," "Dragnet," "Way ... Way Out" and "The Bridges at Toko-Ri."