Dennis Weaver, the tall actor with the easy southern drawl who is fondly remembered to television viewers as a new Mexico deputy marshal stationed in Manhattan on McCloud and to film cult enthusiasts as the oddball motel manager in the Orson Wells' classic Touch of Evil, died on February 24 of cancer at his home in Ridgway, Colorado. He was 81.

Born on June 4, 1924 in Joplin, Missouri, Weaver developed his interest in acting while watching westerns at Saturday matinees. He also found an outlet through sports, where was a top athlete in high school. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he became a theater major at the University of Oklahoma where he was a standout in track and field. After just missing the cut to join the 1948 U.S. Olympic decathlon team, he returned to college to finish his schooling and in 1949, made the move to New York City, where he was accepted into the Actors Studio.

Once there, he befriended actress Shelley Winters, who recommended him to the talent department at Universal. In 1952, Weaver signed to the studio, where his rugged frame and distinctive accent landed him minor roles in plenty of westerns: Horizons West (1952), War Arrow, The Nebraskan, The Lawless Breed (all 1953). Stardom however, was lurking just around the corner. In 1955, Weaver was cast as Chester, Marhsall Matt Dillion's faithful deputy with the bad leg in the television hit Gunsmoke. For nine years (1955-64), Weaver played Chester to comic sidekick perfection, and he even earned an Emmy Award in 1959 for his portrayal. During the run of Gunsmoke, Weaver took some time off to act on the big screen, including Welles' amazing noir thriller Touch of Evil (1958) and one of James Cagney's last vehicle The Gallant Hours (1960). After the Gunsmoke series ran its course, Weaver drifted into a few guest spots on television, but his best work ahead of him in the '70s.

He created the popular character Sam McCloud in 1970 when he joined Peter Falk's Columbo and Rock Hudson's McMillan and Wife as one of three programs in the NBC Mystery Movie lineup of the early '70s. Weaver's McCloud, a deputy marshall from Taos, New Mexico, who finds himself on temporary assignment in the Big Apple, was a smart, laconic, rustic sort who, with his cowboy hat and sheepskin jacket, managed to solve crimes in the big city using deftness and wit. Weaver even played a romantic leading lady to some of the most attractive leading ladies of his day, such as Diana Muldaur and Jacklyn Smith. His character was such a hit that Weaver played him until the series was canceled in 1977.

During his time in McCloud, Weaver played the love interest to Debbie Reynolds in the little known but frightening chiller What's the Matter with Helen (1971); and in the same year, starred in Steven Spielberg's brilliant psychological thriller Duel in which he played a motorist menaced by the unseen driver of a big diesel truck. His most notable work after McCloud ended were two exceptional made-for-TV movies: The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd, based on the unfair imprisonment of Dr. Samuel Mudd, a doctor accused of aiding John Wilkes Booth after Abe Lincoln's assassination; and Amber Waves (both 1980), a finely tuned character study of a farmer (Weaver) whose value system is questioned when he confronts an aimless young man (Kurt Russell) involved with his daughter.

Weaver's work slowed down considerably when he admirably decided to devote his time to humanitarian and environmental issues in the last 20 years: in 1983, he founded the distribution network Love Is Feeding Everyone that allowed unused food from supermarkets to go to hungry families in Los Angeles; he was on the board of directors of ECO (Earth Communications Office); a nonprofit group dedicated to saving the planet. In the early '90s, he founded, with his wife Gerry, the Institute of Ecolonomics (ecology and economics), which seeks funding for environmental projects; a vocal proponent of hydrogen-powered cars, Ecolonomics sponsored Drive to Survive, a caravan of eight alternative-fuel vehicles that made cross-country drives from Los Angeles to Washington; and most impressively, the Weavers moved into an environmentally sensitive house they had built on 22 acres in Ridgway - a 10,000-square-foot solar-powered house built from recycled tires and tin cans. In addition to his wife of 60 years, Weaver is survived by three sons, Rick, Robby and Rusty; and many grandchildren.

by Michael T. Toole