''Ghost Story'' was an American television horror

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 differ ...

that aired for one season on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

from 1972 to 1973. Executive-produced by

William Castle William Castle (born William Schloss Jr.; April 24, 1914 – May 31, 1977) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Orphaned at 11, Castle dropped out of high school at 15 to work in the theater. He came to the attenti ...

, ''Ghost Story'' featured supernatural entities such as ghosts, vampires, and witches. The show's format and tone drew comparisons to NBC's ''

Night Gallery ''Night Gallery'' is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC from December 16, 1970, to May 27, 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, ''The Twilight Zone'', ...

'' and

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''

The Sixth Sense ''The Sixth Sense'' is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient (Haley Joel Osment) claims he can see and talk to the dead. Released by ...

''. By mid-season, low ratings led to a title change to ''Circle Of Fear'' and a change to the format.

Premise

The series was hosted by Sebastian Cabot as Winston Essex, the owner of a mysterious hotel called Mansfield House. Cabot's introductions were filmed in the

Hotel del Coronado Hotel del Coronado, also known as The Del and Hotel Del, is a historic beachfront hotel in the city of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. A rare surviving example of an American architectural genre—the wooden ...

near San Diego, California. ''Ghost Story'' dealt exclusively with ghosts, vampires, witches, and other supernatural elements. Starting with the 14th episode when the show was retitled ''Circle of Fear'', Cabot's introduction and ending monologues are no longer featured.

Cast

Main

* Sebastian Cabot as Winston Essex (episodes 1-13)

Production

Casting

Guest stars included

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...

Jason Robards Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill, Robards received two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes ...

Patricia Neal Patricia Neal (born Patsy Louise Neal, January 20, 1926 – August 8, 2010) was an American actress of stage and screen. A major star of the 1950s and 1960s, she was the recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and two ...

William Windom William Windom (May 10, 1827January 29, 1891) was an American politician from Minnesota. He served as U.S. Representative from 1859 to 1869, and as U.S. Senator from 1870 to January 1871, from March 1871 to March 1881, and from November 1881 ...

Gena Rowlands Virginia Cathryn "Gena" Rowlands (born June 19, 1930) is an American retired actress, whose career in film, stage, and television has spanned seven decades. A four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner, she is known for her collaborations ...

Carolyn Jones Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress of television and film. Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy ...

Melvyn Douglas Melvyn Douglas (born Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg, April 5, 1901 – August 4, 1981) was an American actor. Douglas came to prominence in the 1930s as a suave leading man, perhaps best typified by his performance in the romantic comedy ''Ninotchka ...

Tyne Daly Ellen Tyne Daly (; born February 21, 1946) is an American actress. She has won six Emmy Awards for her television work, a Tony Award and is a 2011 American Theatre Hall of Fame inductee. Daly began her career on stage in summer stock in New York, ...

David Soul David Soul (born David Richard Solberg; August 28, 1943) is an American-British actor and singer. He is known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television series ''Starsky & Hutch'' from 1975 to 1979; Joshua Bolt on ' ...

Karen Black Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portrayi ...

and

Jodie Foster Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and the ho ...

Writing

Several episodes were also written by

Jimmy Sangster James Henry Kinmel Sangster (2 December 1927 – 19 August 2011) was a British screenwriter and director, most famous for his work on the initial horror films made by the British company Hammer Film Productions, Hammer Films, including ''The Cur ...

, a British screenwriter, producer and director of

Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...

. The episode "House of Evil" (working title "The Doll's House"), was an original teleplay by

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small ...

(written as "The Doll's House").Randall Larson. ''The Complete Robert Bloch: An Illustrated, Comprehensive Bibliography''. Fandom Unlimited, 1986, p. 76

D.C. Fontana Dorothy Catherine Fontana (March 25, 1939 – December 2, 2019) was an American television script writer and story editor, best known for her work on the original ''Star Trek'' franchise and several Western television series. After a short ...

scripted the episode "Earth, Air, Fire and Water", based on a story by herself and

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...

. Both writers had worked on ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'', the former extensively.

Renaming

Beginning with "Time of Terror", the series' thirteenth episode, which aired on January 5, 1973, the series was renamed ''Circle of Fear''. The change was necessary, according to executive producer William Castle, because of low ratings. He attributed the title change to the head of the production company,

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...

. Additionally, Cabot was dropped as the presenter. The opening title graphics and theme music were also changed. This reworked version lasted nine further episodes.

Episodes

Pilot (1972)

Season 1 (1972–73)

Home media

Two episodes of the series were included as bonuses in the 2009

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

box set ''The William Castle Film Collection''. On May 1, 2012,

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

released ''Ghost Story (a.k.a. Circle of Fear) - The Complete Series'' on DVD through its manufacture on demand (MOD) program. On July 22, 2020 The complete series was released by Via Vision Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray in Australia. As a bonus, it included audio tracks from the original 1972 story LP ''William Castle's Ghost Story — Thrilling, Chilling Sounds of Fright and the Supernatural'', originally released by

Peter Pan Records Peter Pan Records is an American record label specializing in children's music. The label was introduced to the public in March 1948. The label was owned by the Synthetic Plastics Company of Newark, New Jersey until the 1970s. The label became ...

References

External links

''Ghost Story'' at CVTA with episode list
*{{IMDb title, id=0068074, title=Circle of Fear/Ghost Story
A review of and more information on the ''Ghost Story'' Blu-ray release
1970s American anthology television series 1972 American television series debuts 1973 American television series endings English-language television shows 1970s American horror television series NBC original programming Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series by Screen Gems