SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Memorial services will be held at a chapel Thursday for actress Amanda Blake of television's 'Gunsmoke' series and her ashes will be sent to a game preserve in Kenya.
Blake died Wednesday of throat cancer at age 60 at Mery General Hospital, where she had been a patient for three weeks after experiencing deteoriating health in a 12-year battle with cancer.
Non-religious services will be at the Sacramento Garden Chapel and Blake's ashes will be flown to a game preserve in Kenya by ABC News wildlife correspondent Roger Caras.
Blake starred on the long-running 'Gunsmoke' series from 1955-1974, portraying the red-haired Kitty Russell, a tough, but kind saloon keeper who was the undeclared love of Marshal Matt Dillon, played by James Arness.
Blake retired from the show in 1974, just before it folded. She was stricken with cancer in 1977 but after recovered after extensive surgery and resumed her career.
An avid animal lover, Blake moved from Los Angeles two years ago to the Sacramento County community of Galt, where she lived on a ranch owned by former 'Gunsmoke' animal trainer Pat Derby and her husband, and enjoyed tending their domestic and wild animals.
Blake crusaded for animal rights, vigorously opposing mistreatment of performing animals and the sale of ivory and fur. She appeared three months ago at fund-raisers for the group Performing Animals Welfare Society.
Her friends asked that no flowers be sent to the memorial service, but instead contributions be made to the Amanda Blake Memorial Fund in care of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Galt, or the local animal Humane Society.
Caras, who with his wife, Jill, shared Blake's interest in animals and frequently traveled together, will lead the memorial service.
