Arvo Ojala: Hollywood Quick-Draw Artist. Taught the Western Actors

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Arvo Ojala. 1920 - 2005.

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Blog Created: 6-9-2025

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Arvo Oswald Ojala (February 21, 1920 – July 1, 2005) 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.

Arvo Ojala was the man that Matt Dillion faced in the opening credit to the TV show, Gunsmoke. Ojala and James Arness were close friends in real life.

Biography ~

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.

For further proof, Arvo would drop a silver dollar with his gun hand (right) from belt height, then draw and hit the coin before it could fall four inches. This was using "live", or full-power ammunition, not the wax bullets and quarter-loads used today in so-called "fast draw" competitions. In another exhibition, his opponent (using blanks) would face him with his pistol out of the holster and cocked, then nod as he simultaneously fired his revolver, while Arvo would draw and fire before the opponent could get a shot off. He never lost.

In August 1956, Ojala filed a patent application for his low-slung, metal-lined "Quick Draw Holster", and in April 1958, he was granted US Patent 2832519. His holster was publicly described in the New York Times on May 3, 1958. Disputes over similar holsters made by others resulted in a published court case—California Court of Appeals, OJALA v. BOHLIN, 178 Cal.App.2d 292 (1960) Docket No. 23844, February 24, 1960.

Arvo's patent. Dated April 29, 1958.

Among the TV and film stars that Ojala taught to shoot included James Arness, Robert Culp, James Garner, Kevin Kline, Paul Newman, Hugh O'Brian, Clint Walker, Marilyn Monroe and Thomas F. Wilson. He was a close personal friend to Audie Murphy with Murphy becoming Arvo's children's Godfather. He noted that most actors in westerns had, at best, a nodding acquaintance with handguns, especially the 1873 Colt .45s widely used in television and film because of their reliability. But, a gifted teacher, he said he could teach the necessary skills to anyone in two weeks. He also had speaking roles in many television series and films, to include the 1959 film The Oregon Trail, in which his expertise as a gunhandler, fastdraw artist, and instructor were shown. Usually, it was Arvo's hand that was actually shown in close-up when real speed and spinning skills were needed.

His wife Doris (née Seversen, 1925–1978) preceded him in death. He is survived by his children Valerie, Jon, Erikk, Inga, and Kym.

Filmography ~

The Oregon Trail (1959) as Ellis

Two-Gun Lady (1955) as Henchman

The McConnell Story (1955) as Cadet

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At first, the opening credit was filmed on a Hollywood studio backlot.

Later on, when the closed soundstage set of Dodge City was built, the scene was re-shot. Each week, when this opening was used, Arvo was payed.

Singer, dancer and actor, Sammy Davis Jr. was a gun collector and was taught the quick-draw by Arvo Ojala.

Sammy Davis Jr. talks with Arvo on set.

Actor and WWII hero, Audie Murphy, (left). He and Arvo were close friends. Murphy was Arvo's children's godfather.

Actor Kevin Kline having a lesson with Arvo.

Teaching Mari Blanchard to handle revolvers.

Arvo, (left) with a friend talks guns with James Arness.

Teaching Marilyn Monroe how to aim the pistol. This photo was used for the cover of Guns Magazine in July 1956.

Guns Magazine with Arvo teaching Marilyn Monroe to shoot. July 1956. The magazine sold for 50c at the time.

Arvo made the holster for Richard Boone that starred in Have Gun Will Travel. A popular 1950s TV Western.

Arvo's company made holster rigs for countless actors, celebrities, TV shows and movies.

One of Arvo's vintage holsters and belt was listed on eBay. Several have sold on online auction sites. Prices range from $600 to $4,000. Sometimes more. Originally, he sold his holsters to the general public for $40.

No "Made in China" here. Arvo's holsters were 100% made in Hollywood.

Arvo's gun rig.

Arlo Ojala commemorative Colt .45, 1996.

Signed by Arvo.

Arvo sold other gun-related items as well. Such as...

Gun mounts for wall or plaque.

Dummy bullet keyrings.

Marshall Wells of Spokane. Saddle owned by Arvo Ojala.

Arvo Ojala Obituary:

OJALA, ARVO February 21, 1920 - July 1, 2005. Arvo Ojala of Gresham died Friday, July 1, 2005, at the age of 85. Born Feb. 21, 1920, in Seattle to Finnish parents, Wilfred and Siama Ojala, Arvo grew up in the 1930s on his father's ranch in Washington's Yakima Valley. He recalled teaching himself marksmanship by "shooting the heads off rattlesnakes." Those skills served him well, because when he came to Hollywood in 1950, Arvo became Hollywood's legendary gun coach with his patented fastdraw holster. In 1951 Arvo married his first and only wife - actress, model, and professional figure skater, Doris Seversen. They raised five children in their 26 years of marriage until Doris's untimely death in 1978. Arvo worked behind, and in front of the camera on television's most popular westerns, including Gunsmoke. In the opening Gunsmoke gun duel that kicks off every episode, Arvo is the man who challenges Marshal Dillon. Arvo lost that battle every week, but his students were winning gunfights all over the television frontier. Arvo was also technical advisor on such films as, The War Wagon, Silverado, Three Amigos, and Back to the Future III. A few of his students were Kevin Kline, Michael J. Fox, Kevin Costner, James Garner, Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Arvo attributes much of his past success to having "sisu" - a Finnish word describing a person's driving determination to be the best! Arvo leaves behind sons, Jon and Erikk; daughters, Valerie, Kym, and Inga; grandchildren, Jarno, Jensen, Jacob, Jorgen, and Sammantha, and one great grandchild, Kasandra.

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