Dennis Weaver

Placed 6th in the 1948 Olympic Trials in the Decathlon. Bob Mathias placed first; Weaver won the final event, the 1500 meter run.

In 1948, he graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Fine Arts and Theater.

Signed to a contract at Universal in 1952.

He was a struggling actor in Hollywood in 1955, earning $60 a week delivering flowers when he was offered $300 a week for a role in a new CBS television series, "Gunsmoke" (1955). After nine years as Chester, who he played with a stiff-legged gait, he was earning $9,000 a week.

Almost didn't get the part of "Chester Goode" on "Gunsmoke" (1955) until he asked for a second chance to read the lines in a humorous, countrified accent and won the role.

In 1958, he formed a singing trio with Milburn Stone and Amanda Blake. In 1960, the trio broke the house record for the Albuquerque Arena during the New Mexico State Fair.

President of Screen Actors Guild (SAG). [1973-1975]

Lost a daughter-in-law, Lynne Ann Weaver (who was married to his son, Robby Weaver), to a July 2003 Santa Monica, California, car accident that killed more than eight people.