Zane Grey Theater
''Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre'' is an American Western anthology television series that was broadcast on CBS from October 5, 1956, until September 20, 1962. Format Many episodes were based on novels by Zane Grey, to all of which Four Star Films held exclusive rights. Dick Powell was the host and the star of some episodes. Many of the guest stars made their TV debuts on the program. Powell said that working with Grey's stories proved to be both a benefit and a challenge. While he spoke of "the vast output of wonderful action stories from Zane Grey's pen", he acknowledged the challenge of "trying to compress a novel into half an hour of storytelling on television." Some stories could be adapted relatively easily, while others had to be skipped or only parts of them could be used for scripts. Over time, script writers used up the supply of adaptable material from Grey and began to adapt other authors' stories. Preview and reception A preview of the show in the trade publicati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Zane Grey
Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American frontier. '' Riders of the Purple Sage'' (1912) was his best-selling book. In addition to the success of his printed works, his books have second lives and continuing influence adapted for films and television. His novels and short stories were adapted into 112 films, two television episodes, and a television series, ''Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre''.Hulse 2007, pp. vii–x. Biography Early life Pearl Zane Grey was born January 31, 1872, in Zanesville, Ohio. His birth name may have originated from newspaper descriptions of Queen Victoria's mourning clothes as "pearl grey." He was the fourth of five children born to Alice "Allie" Josephine Zane, whose English Quaker immigrant ancestor Robert Zane came to the American colonies in 1673, and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Whit Bissell
Whitner Nutting Bissell (October 25, 1909 – March 5, 1996) was an American character actor. Early life Born in New York City, Bissell was the son of surgeon Dr. J. Dougal Bissell and Helen Nutting Bissell. He was educated at the Allen-Stevenson School and the Dalton School in New York City. He was related to Daniel Bissell, who was awarded the Badge of Military Merit, the predecessor of the Purple Heart, by George Washington. He trained with the Carolina Playmakers, a theatrical organization associated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in drama and English. Career Bissell had a number of roles in Broadway theatre, including the Air Force show ''Winged Victory'', when he was an airman serving in the United States Army Air Forces. In a film career that began with '' Holy Matrimony'' (1943), Bissell appeared in hundreds of films and television episodes as a prominent character actor. Regularly cast in low-budget science fiction and h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Constance Ford
Constance Ford (born Cornelia M. Ford; July 1, 1923 – February 26, 1993) was an American actress and model. She is best known for her long-running role as Ada Lucas Hobson on the daytime soap opera '' Another World'', which she played from 1967 until shortly before her death in 1993. She is also well-known for appearing in nearly two dozen movies from 1956 to 1974, with her most noteworthy role being the matriarch Helen Jorgenson in '' A Summer Place'' (1959). Early years Constance Ford was born Cornelia M. Ford on July 1, 1923 in The Bronx, to parents Cornelia R. (née Smith) and Edwin J. Ford. Her siblings were Arthur, John, and Evelyn. Ford was a graduate of St. Barnabas Grammar and High School, and she attended Hunter College. She studied acting at HB Studio in New York City. Career Ford initially worked as a model for the Montgomery Ward catalog when she was 15 years old. Her face became famous in the Elizabeth Arden 1941 advertising campaign for ''Victory Red'' lipsti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jack Palance
Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his roles in '' Sudden Fear'' (1952) and ''Shane'' (1953), and winning almost 40 years later for ''City Slickers'' (1991). Palance served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He briefly attended Stanford University before pursuing a career in the theatre. He made his film acting debut in '' Panic in the Streets'' (1950). Following his roles in ''Sudden Fear'' and ''Shane'', he starred as Count Dracula in the 1974 television film '' Bram Stoker's Dracula'', and played crime lord Yves Perret in ''Tango & Cash'' (1989). He was also the host of the ABC television series ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' (1982–1986). Early life Palance was born in Lattimer Mines, Pennsylvania, the so ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Harold Shumate
Harold Shumate (September 7, 1893 – August 5, 1983) was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 100 films between 1917 and 1954. He was born in Austin, Texas and died in Ventura County, California. Selected filmography * '' Fighting Back'' (1917) * '' Hitchin' Posts'' (1920) * ''The White Sin'' (1924) * '' Sealed Lips'' (1925) * ''Miss Brewster's Millions'' (1926) * ''Meet the Prince'' (1926) * '' The Wrong Mr. Wright'' (1927) * ''The Rose of Kildare'' (1927) * '' The Tigress'' (1927) * '' After the Storm'' (1928) * ''The River Woman'' (1928) *'' United States Smith'' (1928) * '' The Head of the Family'' (1928) * ''San Francisco Nights'' (1928) * ''Companionate Marriage'' (1928) (unconfirmed co-director with Erle C. Kenton) * ''Hold Your Man'' (1929) * ''The Voice of the Storm'' (1929) * '' Heritage of the Desert'' (1932) * '' Ridin' for Justice'' (1932) * '' High Speed'' (1932) * '' The Crime of Helen Stanley'' (1934) * ''Hell Bent for Love'' (1934) * ''A Man's Game'' (19 ... [...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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Phyllis Avery
Phyllis Avery (November 14, 1922-May 19, 2011) was an American actress. Early life Phyllis Avery was born to screenwriter Stephen Morehouse Avery and his wife Evelyn Martine Avery.''Prolific TV Actress Phyllis Avery Dies at 88'' Nachruf in: ''The Hollywood Reporter'' vom 23. Mai 2011 She grew up in and .''PASSINGS: Phyllis Avery'' Nachruf in '' [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lew Ayres
Lewis Frederick Ayres III (December 28, 1908 – December 30, 1996) was an American actor whose film and television career spanned 65 years. He is best known for starring as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1930) and for playing Dr. Kildare in nine films. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in '' Johnny Belinda'' (1948). Early life and career Ayres was born in Minneapolis to Irma Bevernick and Louis Ayres, who divorced when he was four. Louis, an amateur musician and court reporter, remarried soon afterwards. As a teen, he and his mother moved with his step-father, William Gilmore, and half brother and sister to San Diego, California. Leaving high school before graduating, he started a small band which traveled to Mexico. He returned months later to pursue an acting career, but continued working full-time as a musician. He played banjo and guitar for big bands, including the Henry Halstead Orche ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Luke Short (writer)
Luke Short (born Frederick Dilley Glidden November 19, 1908 – August 18, 1975) was a popular Western writer. At least nine of his novels were made into films. Biography Born in Kewanee, Illinois, he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for two and a half years and then transferred to the University of Missouri at Columbia to study journalism. Following graduation in 1930, he worked for a number of newspapers before becoming a trapper in Canada. He later moved to New Mexico to be an archeologist's assistant. After reading Western pulp magazines and trying to escape unemployment, he began to write Western fiction. He sold his first short story and novel in 1935 under the pen name of Luke Short (which was also the name of a famous gunslinger in the Old West, although it's unclear if he was aware of that when he assumed the pen name.) His apprenticeship in the pulps was comparatively brief. In 1938, he sold a short story, "The Warning", to '' Collier's'', and in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Michael Pate
Michael Pate OAM (born Edward John Pate; 26 February 1920 – 1 September 2008) was an Australian actor, writer, director, and producer, who also worked in Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s. Biography Early life Pate was born in Drummoyne, New South Wales, and attended Fort Street High School. Initially interested in becoming a medical missionary, but unable to afford the university fees due to the Depression, he worked in Sydney before 1938, when he became a writer and broadcaster for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, collaborating with George Ivan Smith on ''Youth Speaks''. For the remainder of the 1930s, he worked primarily in radio drama. He also published theatrical and literary criticism and enjoyed brief success as an author of short stories, publishing works in both Australia and the United States. World War II During World War II, Pate served in the Australian Army in the South West Pacific Area. He was transferred to the 1st Australian Army Amenities ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore Jr. (October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009) was an American actor. He received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Tony Award, plus two Academy Award nominations. Biography Early life and military service Born in White Plains, New York, to Florence Belle (née Crane) and James Allen Whitmore Sr., a park commission official, Whitmore attended Amherst Central High School in Snyder, New York, for three years, before transferring to the Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut, on a football scholarship. He went on to study at Yale University, but he had to quit playing football after severely injuring his knees."James Whitmore dies at 87" by Dennis McLellan. Los Angeles Times, February 7, 2009. After giving up football, he turned to the Yale Dramatic Society and began acting. While at Yale, he was a member of Skull and Bones, and was among the founders of the Yale radio s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino (4 February 1918Recorded in ''Births Mar 1918'' Camberwell Vol. 1d, p. 1019 (Free BMD). Transcribed as "Lupine" in the official births index – 3 August 1995) was an English-American actress, singer, director, writer, and producer. Throughout her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed eight, working primarily in the United States, where she became a citizen in 1948. She is widely regarded as the most prominent female filmmaker working in the 1950s during the Hollywood studio system. With her independent production company, she co-wrote and co-produced several message picture, social-message films and became the first woman to direct a film noir, ''The Hitch-Hiker,'' in 1953. Among her other directed films, the best known are ''Not Wanted'' (1949), about unwed pregnancy (she took over for a sick director and refused directorial credit); ''Never Fear'' (1950), loosely based upon her own experiences battling paralyzing polio; ''Outrage (1950 film), Outrag ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |