Episode 411 - Frank Lovejoy (Part 8)
Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)
Radio and big screen star Frank Lovejoy makes his final appearances on Suspense in a pair of shows where he plays characters both scary and sympathetic. First, he's a man with an unhealthy fixation on his Army buddy's wife in "Friend of Daddy's" (AFRS rebroadcast from May 17, 1959). Then, his wife is going into labor when their car breaks down on the Hollywood Freeway in "Ivy is a Lovely Name" (originally aired on CBS on June 21, 1959). Plus, we'll hear him as a con man in "Windfall" from The Whistler (originally aired on CBS on May 5, 1947) and as Chicago reporter Randy Stone in...
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Episode 410 - Jackie Kelk
Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)
For seven years on radio, Jackie Kelk portrayed cub reporter and Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen, and he helped to define the character for generations of depictions in comics, cartoons, and films. We'll hear him in a pair of Suspense thrillers - first as a man who murders his brother to preserve their childhood home in "Shadow on the Wall" (originally aired on CBS on September 22, 1957), and then in a western drama as a young gunfighter out for revenge in "Sundown" (originally aired on CBS on May 4, 1958). Plus we'll hear him as Jimmy in "The Mystery of the Flying Monster" from The Adventures of...
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Episode 409 - Elsa Lanchester
Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)
Elsa Lanchester achieved cinematic immortality with her iconic portrayal of the Bride of Frankenstein in the Universal horror classic. But her work in the realm of monsters was just a part of her long career on the stage and screen - a career that included two Oscar nominations and a dozen films where she co-starred with her husband Charles Laughton. We'll hear the couple in a Suspense adaptation of "The ABC Murders" (originally aired on CBS on May 18, 1943) and in a true crime historical drama from Columbia Presents Corwin ("The Moat Farm Murder," originally aired on CBS on July 18,...
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Episode 408 - Lee Patrick
Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)
Best known as Effie, the loyal secretary to Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, Lee Patrick enjoyed great success on the Broadway stage and worked steadily as a character actress on the big and small screens. We'll hear her in a pair of shows from Suspense: first, she's half of a murderous married couple in "Just One Happy Little Family" (originally aired on CBS on April 6, 1958), and then she plays a woman whose part-time job takes a turn for the dangerous in "My Dear Niece" (originally aired on CBS on November 16, 1958). Plus, she recreates one of her great Broadway roles alongside Orson Welles...
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Episode 407 - Berry Kroeger
Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)
In the earliest days of Suspense, Berry Kroeger introduced each week's story as the "Man in Black." Years later, this talented and versatile actor would step into starring roles on "radio's outstanding theatre of thrills." We'll hear him in an adaptation of W.F. Harvey's "August Heat" (originally aired on CBS on March 20, 1948) and as a would-be murderer who develops unusual mental powers in "It's All In Your Mind" (AFRS rebroadcast from July 20, 1958). Plus we'll hear more of his radio performances that show off his range - as a killer in "Eight Steps to Murder" from Inner Sanctum...
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Episode 406 - Herbert Marshall (Part 9)
Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)
We say goodbye to Herbert Marshall - one of the most frequent guest stars on Suspense. Marshall logged twenty appearances on "radio's outstanding theatre of thrills" between 1944 and 1959. He also starred in the 1940 audition show that helped to get Suspense a slot on the schedule. We'll hear him in a pair of those shows - an adaptation of Wilkie Collins' "The Dead Alive" (originally aired on CBS on March 9, 1953) and "The Long Shot," the story of a very deadly road trip (AFRS rebroadcast from February 9, 1958). Plus, we'll hear Marshall in his own radio series as The Man Called...
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BONUS - Best of William Bendix
Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)
In this bonus episode, I share my favorite Suspense shows starring William Bendix - the lovable lug of The Life of Riley and the Oscar-nominated character actor of Lifeboat, The Blue Dahlia, and more. He's a Runyonesque brawler turned detective in Raymond Chandler's "Pearls are a Nuisance" (originally aired on CBS on April 19, 1945), and an unwitting participant in a political blackmail scheme in "Three Faces at Midnight" (originally aired on CBS on February 27, 1947). Finally, Bendix is a safecracker who discovers his estranged son is eager to go into the family business...
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Episode 405 - Vanessa Brown
Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)
Born in Austria, Vanessa Brown and her family fled the Nazis and made their way to America where she soon found success on the Broadway stage and as a juvenile contestant on The Quiz Kids. She broke into films in the 1940s before returning to the stage, where she originated the iconic role made famous by Marilyn Monroe in the original production of The Seven Year Itch. We'll hear Ms. Brown in an adaptation of a classic urban legend of paranoia and deception - "The Vanishing Lady" (AFRS rebroadcast from April 7, 1957). Then, she goes undercover to catch her sister's killer in...
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Episode 404 - Torin Thatcher
Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)
British character actor Torin Thatcher made a name for himself as a Hollywood heavy in everything from seafaring adventures to magical fantasies. We'll hear him as a miner forced to return to the site of an accident where he was the only survivor in "The Digger" (originally aired on CBS on October 9, 1956). Plus, he plays Mark Anthony as CBS brings you a "live" report of "The Assassination of Julius Caesar" in You Are There (originally aired on CBS on April 24, 1949) and he's part of a terrific cast in a fascinating adaptation of fourteenth-century Japanese theatre in "Noh Plays of Japan"...
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Episode 403 - Lee Bowman (Part 2)
Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)
We bid goodbye to Lee Bowman with his first and last appearances on Suspense. He co-stars with Walter Hampden and Susan Hayward in "The Dead Sleep Lightly" (originally aired on CBS on March 30, 1943) - the story of a man who places a call to a grave and hears the voice of the dead on the other end of the line. Then, Bowman is a man whose fiancee disappears off the face of the earth - or does she? - in "I Won't Take a Minute" (originally aired on CBS on December 6, 1945). Finally, Bowman plays one of America's most famous detectives in "The Pinkerton Man" from The Cavalcade of America...
info_outlineWith Halloween right around the corner, I'm sharing some classic episodes of Suspense featuring some of the biggest stars of classic Hollywood horror: Peter Lorre in "Till Death Do Us Part" (originally aired on CBS on December 15, 1942); Bela Lugosi in "The Doctor Prescribed Death" (originally aired on CBS on February 16, 1943); Boris Karloff in "Drury's Bones" (originally aired on CBS on January 25, 1945); Claude Rains and Vincent Price in "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1948); and Price again in "The Pit and the Pendulum" (originally aired on CBS on November 19, 1957).