William Dennis Weaver (June 4 1924 – February 24 2006) was an American television actor, best known for his roles as lame sidekick "Chester Goode" from 1955 to 1964 on TV's first "adult Western" Gunsmoke, as Marshal Sam McCloud on the NBC police drama McCloud, which ran from 1970 to 1977, and as the protagonist in Steven Spielberg's feature-length directorial debut, the made-for-TV movie Duel.