~HOWARD CULVER~
What part did Howard Culver play in Gunsmoke?
Click on the thumbs to get a closer look at his various parts.
Click on the thumbs to get a closer look at his various parts.
Howard Culver is most known for his role as Howie,
the hotel clerk in tv Gunsmoke.
It will always be a great asterisk and irony in Gunsmoke history
that he had played the second incarnation of Marshal Dillon
in the second radio audition/pilot/prototype that was to lead
to the regular radio series, and on...
Culver would apppear in several episodes of radio Gunsmoke:
The Killer, Body Snatch, Unwanted Deputy,
Doc's Indians, and The Constable.
Culver did appear as a hotel clerk in the premiere tv episode;
in his second role, his character is largely ignored in the closing credits,
but identifies himself in the story as "owner of the Dodge House
and head of the Merchants' Association."
Indeed, in his next few appearances, Culver plays Mr. Uzzel (or Uzzell),
who is clearly the owner of the hotel;
but soon enough he became simply the hotel clerk,
who was eventually given the name of Howie or Howard.
Perhaps he was bought out or pushed aside by Mr. Dobie.
But a curious fact is that in the seventh season,
Mr. Dobie was played by none other than... Howard Culver!
As you can see in the pictures above, Culver and his character Howie were always nattily attired and meticulously combed and coiffured.
The mystery is the eternally moving part in his hair...
Like most actors in radio, Howard Culver lives on
in the countless unheralded roles he played in countless radio programs.
However, he seems most loved in the role of Straight Arrow.
Copyright © 2011-2013 E. A. Villafranca, Jr.
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