Four Star Theatre
''Four Star Playhouse'' is an American anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956. Four Star Playhouse was owned by Four Star International. Its episodes ranged anywhere from surreal mysteries, such as "The Man on the Train", to light comedies, such as "The Lost Silk Hat". The original premise was that Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, David Niven, and Dick Powell would take turns starring in episodes. However, several other performers took the lead from time to time, including Ronald Colman and Joan Fontaine. The show was sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company. Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953 (both sponsors' names alternated as part of the show's title in its initial broadcasts). While it never made the Nielsen Top 30, the ratings were sufficient to keep it on the air for four seasons. In 1954, Billboard voted it the second best filmed network television drama series. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Anthology Series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different cast in each episode, but several series in the past, such as ''Four Star Playhouse'', employed a permanent troupe of character actors who would appear in a different drama each week. Some anthology series, such as '' Studio One'', began on radio and then expanded to television. Etymology The word comes from Ancient Greek ἀνθολογία (''anthología'', “flower-gathering”), from ἀνθολογέω (''anthologéō'', "I gather flowers"), from ἄνθος (''ánthos'', "flower") + λέγω (''légō'', "I gather, pick up, collect"), coined by Meleager of Gadara circa 60 BCE, originally as Στέφανος (στέφανος (''stéphanos'', "garland")) to describe a collection of poetry, later retitled anthology – see Gr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ray Walker (actor)
Warren Reynolds "Ray" Walker (August 10, 1904 – October 6, 1980) was an American actor, born in Newark, New Jersey, who starred in ''Baby Take a Bow'' (1934), ''Hideaway Girl'' (1936), ''The Dark Hour'' (1936), '' The Unknown Guest'' (1943) and ''It's A Wonderful Life'' (1946). Death Ray Walker died in Los Angeles, California, on October 6, 1980, at age 76. Partial filmography * '' Goodbye Love'' (1933) as Brooks * ''Devil's Mate'' (1933) as Natural * ''Skyway'' (1933) as Robert 'Flash' Norris * ''He Couldn't Take It'' (1933) as Jimmy Case * '' Million Dollar Baby'' (1934) as Terry Sweeney * ''One Hour Late'' (1934) as Cliff Miller * ''When Strangers Meet'' (1934) as Steve * '' Happy Landing'' (1934) as Lt. Nick Terris * ''Baby Take a Bow'' (1934) as Larry Scott * '' The Loudspeaker'' (1934) as Joe Miller * '' Thirty Day Princess'' (1934) as Dan Kirk * '' City Limits'' (1934) as Jimmy Dugan * '' The Fighting Coward'' (1935) as Bob Horton * '' Music Is Magic'' (1935) a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Walter Sande
Walter Sande (July 9, 1906 – November 22, 1971) was an American character actor, known for numerous supporting film and television roles. Films Born in Denver, Colorado, he was one of those stern, heavyset character actors in Hollywood no person could recognize by name. Sande showed an early interest in music as a youth and by his college years managed to start his own band. This led to a job as musical director for 20th Century-Fox's theater chain, which, in turn, led him to acting in films beginning in 1937. Usually providing atmospheric bits with no billing, he made an initial impression in serial cliffhangers as a third-string heavy with the popular ''The Green Hornet Strikes Again!'' and ''Sky Raiders''. His first top featured role, however, would come with '' The Iron Claw'' as Jack "Flash" Strong, a photographer who, uncharacteristically for Walter, served as a comic sidekick to our serial hero. Best of all would be his role in another serial as Red Pennington, the am ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joseph Waring
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic countries. In Portuguese and Spanish, the name is "José". In Arabic, including in the Quran, the name is spelled ''Yūsuf''. In Persian, the name is "Yousef". The name has enjoyed significant popularity in its many forms in numerous countries, and ''Joseph'' was one of the two names, along with ''Robert'', to have remained in the top 10 boys' names list in the US from 1925 to 1972. It is especially common in contemporary Israel, as either "Yossi" or "Yossef", and in Italy, where the name "Giuseppe" was the most common male name in the 20th century. In the first century CE, Joseph was the second most popular male name for Palestine Jews. In the Book of Genesis Joseph is Jacob's eleventh son and Rachel's first son, and kn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Berry Kroeger
Berry Kroeger (October 16, 1912 – January 4, 1991) was an American film, television and stage actor. Career Kroeger was born in San Antonio, Texas. He got his acting start on radio as an announcer on ''Suspense'' and as an actor, playing for a time '' The Falcon'' in the radio seriesSies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition, Volume 1''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . pg. 13. Also on radio, he portrayed Dr. Reed Bannister on ''Big Sister'', narrated ''Salute to Youth'', and was a regular as Sam Williams on ''Young Doctor Malone''. Kroeger made his Broadway debut on December 6, 1943, at the Royale Theatre as Miley in Nunnally Johnson's ''The World's Full of Girls'', which was adapted from Thomas Bell's 1943 novel ''Till I Come Back to You''. He went on to appear in ''Reclining Figure'' (1954), ''Julius Caesar'' (1950), and '' The Tempest'' (1944). He portrayed the High Lama in the 1956 musical adaptation of ''Lost Horizon'' titled ''Shangri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nestor Paiva
Nestor Paiva (June 30, 1905 – September 9, 1966) was an American actor of Portuguese descent. He is most famous for his recurring role of Teo Gonzales the innkeeper in Walt Disney's Spanish Western series ''Zorro'' and its feature film ''The Sign of Zorro'', as well as Lucas the boat captain in ''Creature from the Black Lagoon'' and its sequel ''Revenge of the Creature''. Early years Paiva attended the University of California. During his senior year, he directed a production, ''The Youngest'', after the previous director resigned because of sickness. Career In the early 1930s, Paiva was director of the Eight o'Clock Players troupe at KLX radio in Oakland, California. Paiva also appeared in network radio programs, including the 07/18/1953 episode of Gunsmoke entitled "Wild West". Nestor appeared in motion pictures and television from the 1930s to the 1960s including such TV programs as ''The Lone Ranger '', ''Zorro'', ''Get Smart'', ''Bonanza'', ''I Spy'', ''Family Affair ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Beverly Garland
Beverly Lucy Garland (née Fessenden; October 17, 1926 – December 5, 2008) was an American actress. Her work in feature films primarily consisted of small parts in a few major productions or leads in low-budget action or science-fiction movies. On television, however, she had prominent recurring roles on several popular series. She may be best remembered as Barbara Harper Douglas, the woman who married widower Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray) in the latter years of the sitcom ''My Three Sons''. She played in that role from 1969 until the series concluded in 1972. In the 1980s, she co-starred as Dotty West, the mother of Kate Jackson's character, in the CBS television series ''Scarecrow and Mrs. King''. She had a recurring role as Ginger Jackson on '' 7th Heaven''. In 1957–1958, she starred in the TV crime-drama ''Decoy'', which ran for 39 episodes. Early life and career Beverly Lucy Fessenden was born on October 17, 1926, in Santa Cruz, California, the daughter of Amelia R ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon (born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson; 19 February 191123 November 1979) was a British actress who began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' (1933). After her success in ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' (1934), she travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel Goldwyn. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in '' The Dark Angel'' (1935). A traffic collision in 1937 caused facial injuries that could have ended her career, but she recovered and remained active in film and television until 1973. Early life Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson was born in Bombay, British India, on 19 February 1911. Merle was given "Queenie" as a nickname, in honour of Queen Mary, who visited India along with King George V in 1911.Higham and Moseley 1983, p. 25. Parentage For most of her life, Merle protected herself by concealing the truth about her parentage, claiming that she had been born in Tasmani ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dorothy Green (actress Born 1920)
Dorothy Green (born Dorothy Jeanette Hufford; January 12, 1920 – May 8, 2008) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Her career spanned more than four decades, with her work principally being in supporting roles on many popular television series from the early 1950s into the 1980s. Early life Born in Los Angeles, California, in 1920, Green was raised in an upper middle-class family, the eldest child of Russell and Gladys Hufford."The Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930" Santa Monica City, Los Angeles County, California; enumeration date April 2, 1930. Bureau of the Census, United States Department of Commerce. Digital copy of original census page available at [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Forrest (actor)
William Forrest (October 10, 1902 – January 26, 1989) was an American theatre, film, and television actor. Biography Forest attended Princeton University, where he was a star in athletics. His acting career began in 1938 at the Pasadena Playhouse, and he appeared in more than 250 films between 1939 and 1977. He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and died in Santa Monica, California, from heart failure. Partial filmography * ''The Green Hornet Strikes Again'' (1940) * ''The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady'' (1940) *''The Secret Seven'' (1940) * ''The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance'' (1941) * ''Keep 'Em Flying'' (1941) * ''Of Pups and Puzzles'' (1941) (short) * ''Daring Young Man'' (1942) * ''Tarzan's New York Adventure'' (1942) * ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' (1942) as 1st Critic (uncredited) * ''The Masked Marvel'' (1943) * '' Good Morning, Judge'' (1943) * ''The Fighting Seabees'' (1944) * '' Adventures of Kitty O'Day'' (1945) * ''Girls of the Big House'' (1945) * ''Gangs of the Waterfr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard Reeves (actor)
Richard Jourdan Reeves (August 10, 1912 – March 17, 1967) was an American character actor best known for playing henchmen and thugs. He performed in hundreds of film and television roles between the 1940s and 1960s. Early life and film career Richard Jourdan Reeves grew up in an affluent section of Queens, New York, the elder of two children of bank executive Walter Reeves and his wife, the former Marie Titsink. He studied music in school; and then, at the age of 18, he worked as a seaman, spending much of his time in the 1930s aboard ships that plied the New York-Havana route. In April 1942, shortly after the United States entered World War II, Reeves enlisted in the U.S. Army and by war's end had risen to the rank of sergeant in the 1208 Service Command Unit. After the war, he resumed his efforts to get more film work as an actor in Los Angeles, where by the late 1940s and early 1950s he became a busy supporting player in various movie productions. Television Beginnin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alan Mowbray
Alan Mowbray (born Alfred Ernest Allen; 18 August 1896 – 25 March 1969) was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood. Early life Mowbray was born in London, England. He served with distinction in the British Army in World War I, being awarded the Military Medal and the French Croix de Guerre for bravery in action. He applied for transfer to the Royal Air Force, which was granted just six days before the war ended. This placed him in London on Armistice Day. His service came to an end when the Royal Air Force wanted another seven years from him. Career Mowbray began his stage career in London in 1922, as an actor and stage manager. In 1923 he arrived in the United States and was soon acting with New York stock companies. He debuted on Broadway in ''The Sport of Kings'' (1926); in 1929 he wrote, directed and starred in the unsuccessful ''Dinner Is Served''. Mowbray made his film debut in ''God's Gift to Women'' (1931) playing a butler, a role in which ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |