Dennis Weaver Biography

Fast Facts

• Served during World War II as a Navy pilot
• In 1948, placed sixth in the decathlon at the national tryouts for the Olympics
• First Broadway role was in Come Back, Little Sheba
• Found TV fame as good-natured, limping deputy Chester Goode on Gunsmoke in a role that earned him an Emmy in 1959
• Moved from second-in-command to lead law-enforcer as the title character in the 1970s drama McCloud, in which his character (a New Mexico lawman battling Manhattan criminals) was known for his down-home attitude, summed up in his famous catchphrase, "There ye go
• " President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1973 to 1975
• Released several country-music albums
• Received the 1986 Presidential End Hunger Award for cofounding L
• I
• F
• E
• (Love Is Feeding Everyone), an organization that provided food to the hungry in L
• A
• Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
• Was an environmentalist who lived in a solar-powered Colorado home; in 1993, founded the Institute of Ecolonomics, dedicated to the mixing of ecology and economy