Being a scientific type of person, I find it amusing that some people write as though James Arness the person was as indestructible in real life as Matt Dillon, or that every character played by James Arness should be similar to Matt Dillon.
Acting is acting, pretending to be someone you're not, someone whose personality may be anywhere between zero percent and one hundred percent similar to your real personality.
Michael Pate was not a fierce but honorable Apache chief. He often portrayed Indians, including Sioux leaders Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, but in The Seventh Cavalry he was Captain Benteen. He was on different sides at the Little Big Horn in different movies and tv shows.
Did Lee Aaker know how to swim? It probably didn't matter. The casting person probably considered that it would be easy for the director to shoot the swimming scene without any danger of the kid drowning. The scene has a shot where Lee or his double is picked up and thrown in the water, a shot where he or his double is thrashing around, and a shot where he or his double is paddling toward the other shore, and we never see how deep the water is.
As a fan of science fiction movies, I tend to think of James Arness as the guy in Them! or as The Thing from Another World, and consider Matt Dillon an unusual role for him!
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