Henry Huckaby, the guest star of this episode, was played by Vic Perrin. Perrin usually played shifty characters like Huckaby, who comes to Dodge City hoping to find a way to make money without working. He first meets Quint (Burt Reynolds) and tells him that he wants to make a lot of money without too much work. I always hoped Quint Asper would beat up some of the sleazy characters that were often guest actors on Gunsmoke, but it never happened.
Perrin goes from Asper's blacksmith shop to the Long Branch, trying to meet people to help him make money without working. Eventually he meets the true star of this episode, Wilhelm Von Homburg, a wrestler from Germany who was a big celebrity in Europe. Andrew McClagen, the director, was a fan, and had this episode written so that he could bring Homburg to guest star as the boxer. Homburg was going to fight a black boxer, played by Johnny Towers. He was the first black performer to be credited on Gunsmoke. So this episode had a celebrity German wrestler playing a boxer, and the first black actor in a major role.
As usually happened in a story written by John Meston, nobody was happy at the end. Marshal Dillon shows up to stop the fight, nobody makes any money, and just before that the boxer got bribed to throw the fight. So instead of anything positive coming from the Henry Huckaby adventure, it was a big trainwreck.
Perrin goes from Asper's blacksmith shop to the Long Branch, trying to meet people to help him make money without working. Eventually he meets the true star of this episode, Wilhelm Von Homburg, a wrestler from Germany who was a big celebrity in Europe. Andrew McClagen, the director, was a fan, and had this episode written so that he could bring Homburg to guest star as the boxer. Homburg was going to fight a black boxer, played by Johnny Towers. He was the first black performer to be credited on Gunsmoke. So this episode had a celebrity German wrestler playing a boxer, and the first black actor in a major role.
As usually happened in a story written by John Meston, nobody was happy at the end. Marshal Dillon shows up to stop the fight, nobody makes any money, and just before that the boxer got bribed to throw the fight. So instead of anything positive coming from the Henry Huckaby adventure, it was a big trainwreck.