A good TV show intro quickly tells you what you need to know about the main character or characters and the world they inhabit.

And "Gunsmoke's" intro, which remained largely unchanged (with a few small exceptions) over its legendary 20 years on TV, is indeed a good one.

It shows Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness, "The Thing From Another World," 1951) having a gun duel with a generic bad guy and still standing at the end. Viewers quickly get the message that Matt leads a dangerous life, surviving by the speed of his gun hand — that's what they need to know about Matt going in.

And it seems to say that we don't need to know much about his opponent, who is only seen in the distance and whose face we can't make out. Dressed in a dark hat, vest and pants, he is a representation of all the bad guys Matt has to face on a daily basis.

That's all we need to know about the character, but two of the actors who played him had a bigger impact on the show.

For the first nine seasons, the bad guy was played by Arvo Ojala, a Hollywood gunplay consultant who helped teach series star Arness himself how to shoot. His expertise was such that he even held a patent for a type of quick-draw holster.

The intro was slightly updated with Season 10 — it was now shot on a soundstage instead of outdoors, and Matt was actually shooting at a different actor (though it's still hard to tell). This one was played by Fred McDougall, an experienced stuntman and often-used background extra on the show.

Another version was shot later on featuring a third actor, named Bill Strathman, as Dillon's dueling partner. Nothing more is known about him, which, ironically, maybe makes him more suited to the job of anonymous bad guy.

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