Lyle Bettger
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Lyle Bettger
Lyle Stathem Bettger (February 13, 1915 – September 24, 2003) was an American character actor who had roles in Hollywood films and television from the 1950s onward, often portraying villains. One such role was the wrathfully jealous elephant handler Klaus from the Oscar-winning film '' The Greatest Show on Earth'' (1952). Early years Bettger was born in Philadelphia, the son of Frank Bettger, an infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals, and Mertie Stathem Bettger. He graduated from the Haverford School in Haverford, Pennsylvania, and from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Stage Bettger's theatrical debut was in ''Brother Rat'' at the '' Biltmore Theatre'' in New York City in 1936. His Broadway credits include ''Dance Night'' (1938), ''Summer Night'' (1939), ''The Flying Gerardos'' (1940–1941), ''The Moon Is Down'' (1942), ''All for All'' (1943), ''Oh, Brother!'' (1945), ''John Loves Mary'' (1947–1948), and ''Love Life'' (1948–1949). When Paramount ...
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The Greatest Show On Earth (film)
''The Greatest Show on Earth'' is a 1952 American drama film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille, shot in Technicolor and released by Paramount Pictures. Set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the film stars Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde as trapeze artists competing for the center ring and Charlton Heston as the circus manager. James Stewart also stars as a mysterious clown who never removes his makeup, and Dorothy Lamour and Gloria Grahame also play supporting roles. In addition to the actors, the real Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Circus' 1951 troupe appears in the film with its complement of 1,400 people, hundreds of animals and 60 railroad cars of equipment and tents. The actors learned their circus roles and participated in the acts. The film's storyline is supported by lavish production values, actual circus acts and documentary-style views into the complex logistics behind big-top circuses. The film won two Academy Awards for Best Picture and ...
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No Man Of Her Own (1950 Film)
''No Man of Her Own'' is a 1950 American film noir drama directed by Mitchell Leisen and featuring Barbara Stanwyck, John Lund, Phyllis Thaxter, Jane Cowl and Lyle Bettger. The production is the second film Stanwyck made with director Mitchell Leisen, and its screenplay was adapted from Cornell Woolrich's 1948 novel ''I Married a Dead Man''. Woolrich is cited in the film's opening credits by one of his commonly used pseudonyms, "William Irish". Plot Helen Ferguson, filled with dread, holds her baby as Bill Harkness reads a book. The phone rings, and police tell Bill that they are on the way to their home. She puts the child to bed, praying that the boy will not suffer for her mistakes and whispering that she was desperate. A year earlier in New York, Helen is eight months pregnant, unmarried, and broke. She goes to her unfaithful boyfriend Stephen Morley, tearfully pleading for help as she stands in the hallway outside his apartment door. He refuses to answer, but slips under th ...
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Old-time Radio
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early 1920s and lasted through the 1950s, when television gradually superseded radio as the medium of choice for scripted programming, variety and dramatic shows. Radio was the first broadcast medium, and during this period people regularly tuned in to their favorite radio programs, and families gathered to listen to the home radio in the evening. According to a 1947 C. E. Hooper survey, 82 out of 100 Americans were found to be radio listeners. A variety of new entertainment formats and genres were created for the new medium, many of which later migrated to television: radio plays, mystery serials, soap operas, quiz shows, talent shows, daytime and evening variety hours, situation comedies, play-by-play sports, children's shows, cooking s ...
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Impasse (1969 Film)
''Impasse'' is a 1969 American film about a group of adventurers trying to recover gold lost in the Philippines during World War II. It stars Burt Reynolds, Anne Francis, Vic Diaz, Lyle Bettger and Rodolfo Acosta. Plot Pat Morrison (Reynolds) runs a shady salvage operation in Manila. His latest scheme involves finding $3 million worth of gold bars hidden by the military during World War II. To this end, he needs the help of several former soldiers who were present when the gold was hidden. The first is Jesus (Vic Diaz), a Filipino muslim and Morrison's business associate. The second is Draco (Rodolfo Acosta), a hard-drinking, hot-tempered Apache living on an Indian reservation who answers Morrison's telegram with the promise of finding a wartime lover named Maria Bonita. The trio then breaks the third man, the bigoted Hansen (Lyle Bettger), out of a Filipino jail. Draco eventually manages to find Maria in a local bar, but discovers that she has grown older and gained weight. Mea ...
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The Sea Chase
''The Sea Chase'' is a 1955 World War II drama film starring John Wayne and Lana Turner, and featuring David Farrar, Lyle Bettger, and Tab Hunter. It was directed by John Farrow from a screenplay by James Warner Bellah and John Twist based on the novel of the same name by Andrew Geer. The plot is a nautical cat and mouse adventure, with Wayne determined to get his freighter home to Germany during the opening months of World War II, chased relentlessly across the Pacific then Atlantic oceans by the Australian and then British navies. The film was shot in CinemaScope and WarnerColor. Plot Captain Karl Ehrlich (John Wayne) is the master of the aging German steam freighter ''Ergenstrasse'', home port Hamburg, docked at Sydney, Australia, on the eve of the Second World War. Ehrlich is a former German Navy officer who lost his command after refusing to support the Nazi regime. As his ship prepares for sea to avoid internment, Erlich meets with an old friend, British Royal Navy Command ...
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Chief Officer
A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship's cargo and deck crew. The actual title used will vary by ship's employment, by type of ship, by nationality, and by trade: for instance, ''chief mate'' is not usually used in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, although ''chief officer'' and ''first mate'' are; on passenger ships, the first officer may be a separate position from that of the chief officer that is junior to the latter. The chief mate answers to the Sea captain, captain for the safety and security of the ship. Responsibilities include the crew's welfare and training in areas such as safety, firefighting, search and rescue. Senior on board Operations Manager The Chief Mate, who is the Second-in-command, second in command of the vessel, is often equated, in corpor ...
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Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Nazi Germany. During Hitler's rise to power in 1930s Europe, it was frequently referred to as Hitlerism (german: Hitlerfaschismus). The later related term " neo-Nazism" is applied to other far-right groups with similar ideas which formed after the Second World War. Nazism is a form of fascism, with disdain for liberal democracy and the parliamentary system. It incorporates a dictatorship, fervent antisemitism, anti-communism, scientific racism, and the use of eugenics into its creed. Its extreme nationalism originated in pan-Germanism and the ethno-nationalist '' Völkisch'' movement which had been a prominent aspect of German nationalism since the late 19th century, and it was strongly influenced by the paramilitary groups that ...
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Union Station (film)
''Union Station'' is a 1950 crime drama film noir directed by Rudolph Maté and starring William Holden, Nancy Olson and Barry Fitzgerald. Plot At Chicago Union Station (though filmed at Los Angeles Union Station), Police Lieutenant William "Bill" Calhoun is approached by an apprehensive passenger named Joyce Willecombe who believes that two men aboard her train may be up to no good. The two men deposit a suitcase in a storage locker. When Bill retrieves it, Joyce recognizes the clothing as belonging to Lorna Murchison, the blind daughter of wealthy Henry Murchison, Joyce's employer. When Mr. Murchison is brought in, he admits Lorna has been kidnapped and held for ransom, but does not want the police to get involved as they might endanger his daughter's life. Bill and his boss, Inspector Donnelly, persuade him to accept their help. The railway station where Calhoun works has been chosen as the location to pay off the ransom. Bill and Donnelly race against time to save Lorna and ...
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Gunfight At The O
A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only involve firearms (thus excluding crew-served weapons, combat vehicles, armed aircraft, or explosives). Shootouts often pit law enforcement against criminals, though they can also involve groups outside of law enforcement, such as rivalling gangs, militias, or individuals. Military combat situations are rarely called "shootouts", and are almost always considered battles, engagements, or skirmishes. Shootouts are often depicted in action films, Westerns, and video games. Notable shootouts in the United States and territories Gunfight on Vine Street May 30, 1856. The Gunfight involved Judge Bird, Dr. Troy, Dr. Hunter, Colonel John R. Bell and his two sons (Charles and John Bell) and took place in Cahaba, Alabama, the former State Capitol ...
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The Lone Ranger (1956 Film)
''The Lone Ranger'' is a 1956 Western film based on ''The Lone Ranger'' television series, starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels. ''The Lone Ranger'' was the first of two theatrical features based on the TV series of the same name; the other one being ''The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold'' (1958). This 1956 film was Bonita Granville's last credited film appearance. She had retired from the screen to marry Jack Wrather in 1947. Plot Set in the American Southwest, the territorial governor enlists the help of the Lone Ranger to investigate mysterious raids on white settlers by Indians who ride with saddles. Wealthy rancher Reese Kilgore (Lyle Bettger) wants to expand his land to include Spirit Mountain, which is sacred to the local tribes. The Lone Ranger realizes the natives wanted to keep settlers away so they would not discover the rich silver deposits on Spirit Mountain, while Kilgore wants to encourage a war between settlers and natives so that he can mine the mou ...
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Destry (1954)
''Destry'' is a 1954 American western film directed by George Marshall and starring Audie Murphy, Mari Blanchard, Lyle Bettger and Thomas Mitchell. This, the third film to utilise the title character of Max Brand's novel ''Destry Rides Again'', is a color remake of the black-&-white 1939 Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart film version. Indeed, ''Halliwell's Film Guide'' calls it an "almost scene-for-scene remake." Both films were directed by George Marshall and have a plot bearing no resemblance to Brand's novel or the original 1932 film adaptation. Plot The sheriff (Trevor Bardette) of a small western town dies of a 'heart attack' and the crooked mayor, The Honorable Hiram J. Sellers (Edgar Buchanan), and leading crook Phil Decker (Lyle Bettger) appoint the town drunk, Reginald T. "Rags" Barnaby ( Thomas Mitchell), as the new sheriff, believing that he will be easily controlled by them. Rags, however, immediately announces he is giving up drinking and refuses to accept Decke ...
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Drums Across The River (1954)
''Drums Across the River '' is a 1954 American Technicolor Western film directed by Nathan Juran and starring Audie Murphy, Walter Brennan and Lyle Bettger. Plot Gary Brannon, is a peaceful homesteader living a quiet existence with his father Sam. Frank Walker is hoping to open up the Ute Indian territory for gold-mining purposes and tries to foment a war between the Utes and the local whites, while he steals a gold shipment and pins the blame on Gary. Gary starts off hating the Utes because they were responsible for killing his mother but gradually comes to be on their side and wants to expose the machinations of Walker. Cast Production The film was shot mostly on the Universal backlot, with location filming at Barton Flats, California Barton Flats is a recreation area located in the San Bernardino National Forest near San Gorgonio Mountain. The nearest major town is Big Bear Lake, California. A fire began at 3:52 p.m. Wednesday the 17th of June, 2015 behind Camp de Benne ...
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