Arvo Ojala (February 21, 1920 in Seattle, Washington â€" July 1, 2005
in Gresham, Oregon) was a Hollywood technical advisor on the subject
of quick-draw with a revolver. He also worked as an actor; his most
famous role was that of the unnamed man shot by Marshal Matt Dillon in
the opening sequences of the long-running television series Gunsmoke.
As a joke on the producers, James Arness and Arvo actually did the
opener once with Dillon falling to the ground.Born to Finnish
immigrant parents as a young man, Ojala taught himself marksmanship
and how to quick-draw a handgun while living on his father's ranch
near Yakima, Washington. He said he sharpened his marksmanship skill
by shooting the heads off rattlesnakes.During the early 1950s, Ojala
was living in Los Angeles, and working for the Hollywood film studios.
"I watched these guys in Westerns," he told a reporter in 1957, "and
realized that they were slow on the draw because the cylinder of their
guns got stuck in their holsters. I decided the trick was to keep the
cylinder free. I began making holsters in my garage. I lined each one
with metal so a man could draw without any impediment. Then I began
practicing myself. After a year or two I got it down so pat that today
I can double draw in one-sixth of a second."Ojala was "the genuine
article" to those he tutored. His speed was clocked and verified a
number of times. He could draw, fire, and hit the target in one-sixth
of a second, faster than the eye can blink. His technique of cocking
"in the holster" as he drew revolutionized the western and was shown
in detail both by Henry Fonda in the western film The Tin Star and by
John Payne in his series The Restless Gun. At the height of the TV
Westerns, Ojala opened a "quick-draw" studio on the 8500 block of the
Sunset Strip, next to the famous King's Cellar Liquor Store.
in Gresham, Oregon) was a Hollywood technical advisor on the subject
of quick-draw with a revolver. He also worked as an actor; his most
famous role was that of the unnamed man shot by Marshal Matt Dillon in
the opening sequences of the long-running television series Gunsmoke.
As a joke on the producers, James Arness and Arvo actually did the
opener once with Dillon falling to the ground.Born to Finnish
immigrant parents as a young man, Ojala taught himself marksmanship
and how to quick-draw a handgun while living on his father's ranch
near Yakima, Washington. He said he sharpened his marksmanship skill
by shooting the heads off rattlesnakes.During the early 1950s, Ojala
was living in Los Angeles, and working for the Hollywood film studios.
"I watched these guys in Westerns," he told a reporter in 1957, "and
realized that they were slow on the draw because the cylinder of their
guns got stuck in their holsters. I decided the trick was to keep the
cylinder free. I began making holsters in my garage. I lined each one
with metal so a man could draw without any impediment. Then I began
practicing myself. After a year or two I got it down so pat that today
I can double draw in one-sixth of a second."Ojala was "the genuine
article" to those he tutored. His speed was clocked and verified a
number of times. He could draw, fire, and hit the target in one-sixth
of a second, faster than the eye can blink. His technique of cocking
"in the holster" as he drew revolutionized the western and was shown
in detail both by Henry Fonda in the western film The Tin Star and by
John Payne in his series The Restless Gun. At the height of the TV
Westerns, Ojala opened a "quick-draw" studio on the 8500 block of the
Sunset Strip, next to the famous King's Cellar Liquor Store.
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