Today's GUNSMOKE cast included Bruce Dern*, Tom Skerritt (Dallas in ALIENS) and some lady by the name of Miss Bette Davis. Name's familiar. I think she made a movie or two at one time.
*"Career
Early in his career he acted in the Philadelphia premier of Waiting for Godot opposite Lyle Kessler and first appeared on screen, for an uncredited role, in the 1960 film Wild River (film).[2] He then appeared, as a guest star, in several popular 1960s television shows, including Route 66, Naked City, Sea Hunt, Surfside 6, 77 Sunset Strip, The Outer Limits, and several others.[2] In 1964, he appeared in a major Alfred Hitchcock film, the psychological thriller Marnie, in a short role as the sailor seen in flashbacks about Marnie's mother.[2] Also in 1964, he had a very small film role in flashbacks in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte as the spectre of the lover of the young Charlotte (a role played by Bette Davis). During the next 5 years, Dern continued appearing in several popular TV war, crime and western shows, but with multiple episodes per show, as different characters,[2] including: Wagon Train (3), The Virginian (3), Rawhide (1), 12 O'Clock High (4), The Fugitive (5), The F.B.I. (2), The Big Valley (5), Gunsmoke (4) and Bonanza (2), among others. During that period, he also appeared in several films, including The Wild Angels (1966), The War Wagon, The Trip (1967), Psych-Out, Will Penny (1968), and the early Clint Eastwood film, Hang 'Em High (1968) as a rustler/murderer.[2]
Among Dern's first 20 film roles was a part in the Sydney Pollack picture They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, in 1969.[2] In 1972, he played in four films: as the enemy and killer of John Wayne's character in The Cowboys; then, in the dark sci-fi film Silent Running; next with Jack Nicholson in The King of Marvin Gardens; and also in Thumb Tripping, after having been seen in over 90 TV episodes or films.[2] Dern is generally regarded as a character actor. He has a reputation of playing unstable and villainous characters, although his best-known role may be that of Freeman Lowell, the caretaker of Earth's last forests in Silent Running (1972).[2] Other memorable roles include Tom Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby;[2] or a psychotic blimp pilot who launches a terrorist attack at the Super Bowl in 1977's Black Sunday, and as Capt. Bob Hyde in 1978's Coming Home,[2] for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1976, he appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's final film Family Plot, playing the boy friend of a medium played by Barbara Harris; Dern told an interviewer that, due to Hitchcock's failing health, the director often asked his assistance during the production.
In 1983, he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival for his role in That Championship Season.[3]
His most recent efforts include the independent movies The Astronaut Farmer and Monster, a recurring role on the HBO series Big Love, and the monster movie Swamp Devil for RHI Films New York and the Sci Fi Channel.
On November 1, 2010 he was presented the 2,419th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His daughter Laura Dern and his wife Diane Ladd received stars on the same date too."