One of Chester’s most noticeable features is his stiff right leg — the cause of which is never explicitly stated, though it’s implied that he was injured during the Civil War. In an interview conducted four years before his death, Dennis revealed that he invented the character’s disability during his audition. 

The former Screen Actors Guild president recalled being told that producers were hesitant to cast him because he didn’t look like a supporting player. 

He remembered one agent saying, "You know, my problem is that you are physically a leading man, and James Arness [who played Matt Dillon] is physically a leading man, and historically and traditionally, a sidekick has always been too old or too fat or too young or too something to get involved in the physical stuff."

In order to secure the part, Dennis added the limp. "I thought that is really a silly reason for someone developing a handicap, but I was excited about the challenge," he admitted. However, the decision would come back to haunt him.

"If I knew I was going to be doing that for nine years, I might’ve had a different thought about it," the Emmy winner confessed. "Because you ever try and build a campfire with a stiff leg? Or worst of all, you ever try to put your boot on without bending your knee? I had to take yoga lessons to do some of that stuff."