Following her appearance on “Gunsmoke,” classic TV fans wondered why child actress Lisa Gerritsen left Hollywood at a young age.
According to MeTV, Lisa Gerritsen kickstarted her acting career with an appearance on “Gunsmoke” in 1968. She played Jenny in the fourth and final guest spot on the classic TV series. From there, Gerritsen went on to be cast in “My World and Welcome to It.” She was also on“The Mary Tyler Moore Show” as Bess Lindstrom.
Although she reprised her role as Bess in the “Phyllis” spin-off series, Lisa Gerritsen ended up quitting acting at 21-years-old. She then disappeared from the Hollywood spotlight. However, one of the TV writers from the Chicago Tribune stated he was going to finally track down Lisa Gerritsen. This was to find out why the “Gunsmoke” actress decided to leave acting behind.
While seeking to find Lisa Gerritsen, the writer declared that they followed every lead and tried every source suggested by several writers to find her. Finally, he was about to connect with a fan who claimed to have worked with the actress at a software company.
But after finally receiving her telephone number, he decided to not reach out to Lisa Gerritsen. The writer decided that if she was hard to track down, she likely wanted to remain out of the spotlight.
The reason why Lisa Gerritsen became an actress at a young age in the first place was that her grandfather, True Boardman, was a TV writer. It was reported that Boardman saw “star potential” in his young granddaughter. He also wrote a “Bonanza” episode for her just so he could show off her horse-riding talents.
Amanda Blake Reveals Why ‘Gunsmoke’ Characters Matt Dillion and Miss Kitty Never Married
MeTV recently reported that in a 1960 interview, Amanda Blake stated she knew that “Gunsmoke” characters Matt Dillion and Miss Kitty were not meant to be. “She’d love Matt to say, ‘Kitty, let’s buy a hunk o’ land and raise some beans and kids.’” Blake explained. “But then we’d have I Love Lucy Out West.”
Furthermore, James Arness also shared his thoughts about the “Gunsmoke” relationship’s fate. “I think they felt that you could only go so far with it, and then you’d have to change the character and nature of the show. If you have Matt and Kitty have an onscreen love affair, then, you know, they’d have to get married, and then you’d have a different show there.”
Amanda Blake then admitted that marriage was not in the cards for the “Gunsmoke” characters. “She’d drift out of Dodge if it weren’t for Matt Dillion.”
“Gunsmoke” followed Marshal Matt Dillion while he kept the peace in Dodge City. The show ran for 20 seasons from 1955 to 1975 and has 635 episodes total.
