Other radio series that Macdonnell either produced, directed, or at various times wrote scripts for include Suspense, Escape, The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, Fort Laramie, Rogers of the Gazette, and Have Gun – Will Travel.
[5] With regard to Norman's education, after high school he completed three years of college before joining the military just prior to the United States' formal involvement in World War II.
[7] Three years before his enlistment in the army, Macdonnell's radio career had begun in Los Angeles at station KNX, which served as the center for West Coast or "Hollywood" programming for the Columbia Broadcasting System's nationwide network.
In 1946, after returning to California from his service in World War II, he resumed his employment in Los Angeles with CBS Radio and was soon involved with directing several of the network's most popular dramatic programs, anthology series, instructional shows, and comedies.
The critic for the influential trade paper Variety praised the first episode's story and acting, and he commended Macdonnell's direction in particular, describing the new series as "a blazing radioater...with top thesping and scripting values that pull it way ahead of the pack of AM westerns.
"[13][14] The growing number of fan letters received by CBS appeared to confirm Variety's assessment and to reflect the type of audience that Macdonnell and Meston intended to attract, for much of the complimentary mail arriving at the network "came from a highly educated section of the population".
[15] Following the successful premiere of Gunsmoke, Macdonnell's work as producer and director and Meston's scripts would dominate for years the radio series' weekly episodes, which were often complimented in reviews in trade publications for their voice acting, dialogue, pacing, music, and sound effects.
[18] Then, in 1956, Macdonnell produced and directed another 30-minute radio "Old West" drama, Fort Laramie That series' lead character is a cavalry officer, Captain Lee Quince, performed by Raymond Burr, who a year later would move to television and star on Perry Mason.
Collaborating with Macdonnell on Fort Laramie was his Gunsmoke colleague John Meston, who wrote many episodes for the new series, including the one for its initial broadcast from Hollywood on Sunday afternoon, January 22, 1956.
The star of that television Western was Richard Boone in the role of "Paladin", a well-educated, cultured resident of 1870s San Francisco who advertised his services as a gunfighter or well-armed "negotiator" for hire.
Wanting to capitalize further on the popularity of Have Gun—Will Travel, CBS decided to duplicate the series on radio with veteran character actor John Dehner performing in the same role as Boone.
[22] At a time when radio dramas, adventure series, and comedies were increasingly being abandoned by sponsors and audiences in favor of televised programming, the "duplicate" of Have Gun—Will Travel proved successful, continuing for over two years with 106 episodes being broadcast.
The radio version of the series continued to be popular for several years after the debut of its televised counterpart with James Arness, Dennis Weaver, Milburn Stone, and Amanda Blake in their respective roles as Marshal Dillon, Chester (his surname changed from Proudfoot to Goode), Doc, and Kitty.
[10] Macdonnell by then was already serving too as producer of Gunsmoke on television, having been assigned to replace Warren, who left the series at the end of its second season due to "fatigue" and to pursue other projects.
[28][citation needed] Then, after leaving Gunsmoke, he began working for CBS competitor NBC, serving as executive producer on over 110 episodes of another long-running Western series, The Virginian (1962-1971), starring James Drury, starting with its fourth season.