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Gunsmoke aired on television from 1955 to 1975. One of the first TV Westerns geared toward adults, the show was a huge hit for CBS. It centered on Matt Dillon (James Arness), a U.S. Marshal in the frontier town of Dodge City, Kansas. Plenty of conflicts and criminals blew into town, and the marshall and his deputies dutifully handled them all. Dillon also had a friend and confidant in Miss Kitty Russell. Actor Amanda Blake portrayed the local saloon and bordello owner for 19 of the show’s 20 seasons.
But after her successful stint, the actor faced challenges, including health problems that ultimately killed her. What was Amanda Blake’s cause of death, and why did her friends tell everyone she died of throat cancer?
Miss Kitty was a pivotal character in ‘Gunsmoke’
When Amanda Blake signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the late 1940s, the studio believed she would be a star.
The actor did a few films before becoming Miss Kitty. She appeared in Cattletown and A Star Is Born and played the title role in 1954’s Miss Robin Crusoe.
But Blake was best known for Gunsmoke. Miss Kitty had a tough exterior and a warm heart. Audiences tuned in to see the relationship between her and the marshall. The show hinted at romantic feelings between the two but never showed anything beyond frienship.
Blake left the show after 19 years, and Gunsmoke ended the following season. Many observers believe the cancellation wasn’t a coincidence — that the series was never the same after her departure.
Amanda Blake’s cause of death wasn’t initially clear
In 1974, Amanda Blake left the series that had made her famous. “I was tired and it was time to go. It was the end of the trail,” she told the Los Angeles Times a decade later.
Blake was a two-pack-a-day smoker and underwent surgery for oral cancer in 1977. She later became involved with the American Cancer Society and made appearances across the nation on the organization’s behalf.
The Gunsmoke star was 60 when she died on Aug. 16, 1989, at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento. An initial statement from the hospital and her friends said Blake died of throat cancer.
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Months later, the Associated Press confirmed she had throat cancer, but ″that wasn’t the reason that she died,″ Dr. Lou Nishimura, a Sacramento internist, said.
He explained that the actor died from complications related to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and that he had been treating her symptoms for a year before the celebrity’s death. He also signed her death certificate, which showed Amanda Blake’s immediate cause of death as “cardiopulmonary arrest due to liver failure and CMV hepatitis,” the AP reported. Nishimura said CMV (cytomegalovirus) hepatitis is AIDS-related. Her certificate listed the contributing causes of death as AIDS and cancer.
The doctor said he did not know how Blake had contracted the AIDS virus. (It was later believed she had gotten it from her fifth husband, Mark Spaeth, who was 45 when he died of pneumonia in 1985.)
According to the AP, a Mercy General Hospital spokesperson, Jerri Ewen, said she reported cancer as Blake’s cause of death at the request of the actor’s friends.
It’s unclear why her friends’ public statement excluded Amanda Blake’s official cause of death. However, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, has had a stigma attached to it due to negative beliefs about people with the virus.
In addition to facing health problems, Amanda Blake had a hard time finding work after ‘Gunsmoke’
“19 years is a hell of a long time to be stuck behind a bar!” Amanda Blake famously said of her lengthy stint on Gunsmoke.
According to David R. Greenland’s book, The Gunsmoke Chronicles: A New History of Television’s Greatest Western, Blake anticipated a Hollywood movie career after playing Miss Kitty, but that didn’t happen. Finding work was challenging. The actor took guest roles in TV series such as Hart to Hart, Edge of Night, The Quest, and The Love Boat. She also had small parts in a few movies.
But Blake’s fans gave her the strength to continue. One young viewer’s letter particularly stood out to her:
“My wonderful, loyal fans have helped me through the tough times, even though they had no idea what I’ve been going through. I read every letter. A few months ago, I was very depressed over my situation. Then the mail came, and there was a fan letter from a little girl who’d seen a Gunsmoke episode on cable. She told me how much she liked Miss Kitty and closed by saying she prayed that God would bless me. It was so moving and so touching that I found new strength to keep going. With fans like that, I can’t lose. I may be down, but I’m not out.”
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