Further to my 1947-squee, I just found a wartime photo of Peter Graves and James Arness (i.e. Peter and James Aurness) together in uniform, so this seems a good time to post the few photos I have of them together. I'm intrigued by James Arness. I don't find him attractive, but
Wikipedia makes him sound pretty interesting, especially his wartime service record. They're putting Gunsmoke on tv here pretty soon, so I might watch that and see what my brain does to me...
Anyhow, on to the photos. (please slap me if this blog starts to seem stalkery - I'm not stalkery, just mildly obsessive.) [EDIT: I just found a few more photos in James Arness's autobiography. I want to read this book. It looks interesting! Oh god, I am a stalker... (edit again - and so, I bought the Kindle edition. Damn.]
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgicnBfHxhceYWHMOy2JXPhPafkQne3z_eX5o1gE0fEXnwoVHNVMEflQrGg1BYrcXw3vUSwCYpJ120iWUacYgpwxncZJhBj9UU6HKWfIe4Vxhi7Uh3JB7gdcgT7euXzgPhouQEqGc2Maek-/s280/James+Aurness+age+2%252C+Ruth+Aurness%252C+poss+pregnant.jpg) |
This is as early as they get, when Peter's mother was probably pregnant. Aside from anything else, this is just a beautiful photo. I love photos of this era. Her clothes, her hair, the graceful curve of her arm (reminds me a little of Modigliani paintings), and she is just so beautiful. Sigh... |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xMvl6t_Cn9sD9MArbWBS0KwA_NwTrVr-0JM0mzh9q3eoqOACULhu1kgg8_cirXVcETTsWNIAgC0AVRf6gXtdwVa9zlbZN-vfqhnSev58L2KBgE37Xb5Jp6rEikvYeK45GoSlBJiJtLpK/s280/James+Aurness%252C+Petter+Aurness+and+family+1936.jpg) |
This one is quite squeesome. Little Peter and his aeroplane are exceptionally cute. |
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![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE8lEjVwkk1k7hBSwTD39oh9dV_4L-wSL3Po260nSKs2UTgw3LrUapoxT0IFU4nsK1Uyv-o7vLptN5VMQQJmPrCTaolQwz0l6uMEkv8sgzu9_Fe7Pv_JAHhMBW9BaQotOj2uGrnFLYwtT8/s280/Peter+Graves+James+Arness+teenaged+crop.jpg) |
Young Peter and James. I'm not so stalkery that I find teenage boys in swimming trunks attractive, but it is interesting. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzHXp-mb0OcibbMN8BUzLHMdQwCuZmmG8CAzczJmRn6mQchfWigEg8k5YroAVGe8LoNG4mbKgEW8QfLtY8EeKxbKAluLZ3dfiIj0aCdrDKWhdWNIAV14Q_-6I8pJjKyR4FaDJHioTsiXq/s280/James+Arness+Peter+Graves+WWII+uniforms+Fall+1944.jpg) |
Wartime photo, apparently of autumn 1944, while James is recovering from his foot injury. And now Peter is old enough that I can find him attractive. Hot damn... And that's not a phrase I've used before. I also love this because this is just how he would look playing the character of Ed in the book I've just written. |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8LBCTEmhfWxrzK6F41AnLWjg-ZM_X1kiHqYGyqf7tHjuuYCcroLL-UTZtI3hsmdJ2au2Vwu3DoT-28BP6b-CNWLqMWn7HQDAwEvdL8-pUT-kXStX6j3ULeqgkUA2ta8JMyVx-iIX9E3uQ/s280/Peter+Graves+%2528directs+Gunsmoke%2529+and+James+Arness.jpg) |
Peter directing Gunsmoke. He was about to be contracted to direct more when he was called up for the IMF. How I would love to see the episode with director's commentary! |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV2_tNi4LvCld6FfDIlXG8fjo4XbQkMgzA7w_5YPPsL9QfuLfvUiJbK-j0-7Bcz25CP1QUxaFQLi_C15GGXJJCMTDTTil07a2L1ELvbwCpSXjk4NJQ5z9VRsNRNNwUYY7CFN4dFdgEhC64/s280/48246-peter_graves%252C_james_arness__crop-landscape-534x0.jpg) |
Peter, James - and I'm assuming this is their dad. Aww :-) |
This
blog has some stuff on what may or may not have been their childhood home - the comments are more illuminating than the article!