Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

For his third and fourth visits to Suspense, James Mason played two criminals who feel the pressure of the law closing in on them. In two different tales, the star of North by Northwest and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea proves once again that the wages of sin is death. First, he's "The Greatest Thief in the World" (originally aired on CBS on June 21, 1951). Then, he recreates his film role in an adaptation of Carol Reed's 1947 classic noir film Odd Man Out (originally aired on CBS on February 11, 1952).

Sometimes the stars who appeared on Suspense were up and comers in Hollywood, and they made their visits to "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" before their big breaks or signature roles. Our leading men this week would go on to find big fame on the small screen in the 1960s. We'll hear Robert Wagner –before It Takes a Thief and long before Hart to Hart – in "Listen, Young Lovers" (originally aired on CBS on May 31, 1954). Then, DeForest Kelley – several years before he boarded the USS Enterprise – in "Flesh Peddler" (an AFRS rebroadcast of an episode from August 4, 1957).

Oscar-winner Ray Milland makes two more visits to "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" as two men in two very different but equally desperate situations. First, the star of The Lost Weekend is a man whose wife has been kidnapped in "After the Movies" (originally aired on CBS on December 7, 1950). Then, he stars in a story pulled from the history books - a tense confrontation between the British and Chinese - in "The Log of the Marne" (originally aired on CBS on October 22, 1951).

Vincent Price delivers a pair of terrifically unhinged performances in two more tales well calculated to keep you in Suspense. The star of House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler plays an axe murderer reliving his crime in "Present Tense" (originally aired on CBS on March 3, 1957). Then, Price stars as an actor who hopes to give his best performance - and get away with murder - in "Rave Notice" (originally aired on CBS on June 1, 1958).

Four-time Oscar nominee Barbara Stanwyck was one of the biggest stars of Hollywood, dazzling audiences with her dynamic turns in Double Indemnity, Stella Dallas, and more. We'll hear Stanwyck in her one and only Suspense appearance - "The Wages of Sin" (originally aired on CBS on October 19, 1950). Then, she stars in a radio recreation of a big screen adaptation of one of the most famous Suspense shows of all time - "Sorry, Wrong Number" (originally aired on The Lux Radio Theatre on January 9, 1950).

Oscar-winner Ronald Colman was a radio fixture as Jack Benny's long-suffering neighbor and a college president in The Halls of Ivy, but he could also be heard in tales of terror on Suspense. We'll hear Colman in an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror" (an Armed Forces Radio rebroadcast of an episode from November 1, 1945) and in "The Noose of Coincidence" (originally aired on CBS on April 7, 1949).

Whether he was a thorn in the side of The Absent Minded Professor or reluctantly destroying Coke machines in Dr. Strangelove, Keenan Wynn was always a welcome presence on screen. We'll hear the character actor in two of his visits to "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" - "The Walls Came Tumbling Down" (originally aired on CBS on June 29, 1944) and "I Had an Alibi" (originally aired on CBS on January 4, 1945).

Charles Laughton plays two very different - but equally disturbed - men in these installments of "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." The star of Witness for the Prosecution and Mutiny on the Bounty is "An Honest Man" (originally aired on CBS on August 5, 1948) and the infamous English executioner "Jack Ketch" (originally aired on CBS on September 22, 1952).

After she worked on radio as a child actor, Joan Lorring broke out in movies at age 19 with an Oscar-nominated turn in The Corn is Green. It was one of many successes she'd have in a career that took her to the big and small screens as well as the Broadway stage. We'll hear her in two old time radio tales of Suspense: "A Man in the House" (originally aired on CBS on August 2, 1945) and "The Great Horrell" (originally aired on CBS on August 22, 1946).

Oscar-nominated actor Richard Widmark brings more of his unique intensity to Suspense as he stars in a pair of dramas pitting man against nature. We'll hear him in "The Track of the Cat" (originally aired on CBS on February 18, 1952) and "How Long is the Night?" (originally aired on CBS on October 13, 1952).

Oscar and Tony-winning actor Jose Ferrer came to Suspense before he made his Hollywood debut when he was the toast of the Great White Way for his performance as Cyrano. He brought his stage actor's intensity to his only performance on radio's outstanding theater of thrills - an adaptation of Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" (originally aired on CBS on November 28, 1947). We'll also hear the star as detective Philo Vance in "The Case of the Strange Music" (originally aired on NBC on August 9, 1945).

Feisty, fiercely independent Maureen O'Hara - the red-headed Irish-American leading lady of old Hollywood - made only one visit to "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," but it's a great episode that finds her playing a strong woman stepping up to track down a killer. It's "The White Rose Murders" (originally aired on CBS on July 6, 1943). Then she recreates her screen role from How Green Was My Valley in a broadcast from the Gulf Screen Guild Theatre (originally aired on CBS on March 22, 1942).

Joseph Cotten - hero of The Third Man and heel of Shadow of a Doubt - is back for two more visits to "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." He stars as a director caught up in a real-life mystery in "Sneak Preview" (originally aired on CBS on March 23, 1944) and as a convict who assumes the identity of a dead reverend in "Beyond Good and Evil" (originally aired on CBS on October 11, 1945).

We couldn't let 2018 end without one more Star On Suspense, and our final leading lady of the year is the great Judy Garland. She doesn't sing in her one and only visit to Suspense but she delivers a terrific dramatic performance in "Drive-In" (originally aired on CBS on November 21, 1946). Then, she recreates her iconic film role of Dorothy Gale as The Lux Radio Theatre presents "The Wizard of Oz" (originally aired on CBS on December 25, 1950).

Dapper British leading man Herbert Marshall returns to the Suspense microphone in two radio thrillers - including a chiller of a Christmas story. The star of Foreign Correspondent and The Little Foxes stars in "My Own Murderer" (originally aired on CBS on May 24, 1945) and in "Holiday Story" - an adaptation of John Collier's "Back for Christmas" - (originally aired on CBS on December 23, 1948).

Oscar-winning actress Mary Astor started in the silent era, transitioned to the talkies, and worked on stage, screen, and television even as she struggled with tragedies and trials off screen. We'll hear her in the only visit she made to Suspense - "In Fear and Trembling" (originally aired on February 16, 1943). Then, Mary Astor recreates her screen role of Brigid O'Shaughnessy in a Screen Guild Theatre production of "The Maltese Falcon" (originally aired on CBS on September 20, 1943).

For Gene Kelly's final performances on Suspense, he headlined two stories as a pair of dangerous, desperate men - characters who were miles from the men he played in musicals like Anchors Away and Singing in the Rain. Kelly trades song and dance for sinister scares in "The Man Who Couldn't Lose" (originally aired on CBS on September 28, 1944) and "To Find Help" (originally aired on CBS on January 4, 1949).

Gregory Peck stars in a "ripped from the headlines" tale of teenage drug addiction in his fifth and final appearance on Suspense. Peck plays a juvenile investigator in "The Truth About Jerry Baxter" (originally aired on CBS on June 14, 1951). Then, he recreates his screen role in a radio adaptation of Yellow Sky from the Screen Director's Playhouse (originally aired on NBC on July 15, 1949).

Jane Wyman won as Oscar for her performance as a deaf-mute woman in Johnny Belinda, but this week we'll hear her put her voice to excellent use acting and singing. She stars in "Catch Me If You Can" (originally aired on CBS on February 17, 1949) and visits Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in an episode of their comedy show from November 30, 1951.

Edmund Gwenn may be best known as Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street, but in his two visits to Suspense no one would mistake him for Santa Claus. We'll hear the Oscar-winning English actor in Dorothy L. Sayers' "The Fountain Plays" (originally aired on CBS on August 10, 1943) and in "Murder in Black and White" (originally aired on CBS on April 14, 1949).

Gloria Swanson is ready for her close-up. The silent movie star and box office sensation ruled Hollywood in the 1920s and returned with a vengeance with a sensational turn in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard. We'll hear Swanson recreate her Oscar-nominated role of Norma Desmond in a Lux Radio Theatre adaptation (originally aired on CBS on September 17, 1951). We'll also hear her one and only visit to Suspense - "Murder by the Book" (originally aired on CBS on July 10, 1947).

Edward G. Robinson - one of the great big screen gangsters, begins and ends his run on Suspense with these two old time radio thrillers. We'll hear him as a man with an imaginary wife in "My Wife, Geraldine" (originally aired on CBS on March 1, 1945) and as a man who wants his actual wife to disappear in "A Case of Nerves" (originally aired on CBS on June 1, 1950).

"The man with the perfect profile" enjoyed great success as a Hollywood leading man, but Robert Taylor explored darker, more complex roles as his career went on. We'll hear the star in a pair of radio thrillers - "Four Hours to Kill" (originally aired on CBS on January 12, 1950) and - just in time for Halloween - the classic chiller "The House in Cypress Canyon" (originally aired on CBS on December 5, 1946).

It's the 100th episode of well-calculated tales from Stars On Suspense, and we're marking the occasion with the first and last episodes of "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" - "The Burning Court" (originally aired on CBS on June 17, 1942) and "Devilstone" (originally aired on CBS on September 30, 1962). Plus - we'll hear "The Lodger," the Forecast episode that served as a sort of audition for the program (originally aired on CBS on July 22, 1940).

One of the screen's brightest stars, Myrna Loy broke out with her wry and sophisticated comedy turn as Nora Charles in The Thin Man and grew so popular she earned the nickname "Queen of the Movies." Her one and only appearance on Suspense played to her talents with both comedy and drama. It's a tale of a librarian on a quest to find a vandal in "Library Book" (originally aired on CBS on September 20, 1945). We'll also hear her recreate her big screen role in The Best Years of Our Lives from Screen Guild Players (originally aired on CBS on November 24, 1947).

Equally effective as weary heroes and psychotic villains, Robert Mitchum had a screen presence that few actors could replicate. Best known for his turns in film noir and thrillers, Mitchum gave Hollywood some of its most iconic baddies and toughest antiheroes. We'll hear him as a man plotting a murder in "Death at Live Oak" (originally aired on CBS on May 15, 1947) and as Washington Irving in a biographical drama from The Cavalcade of America (originally aired on NBC on May 3, 1948).

The great William Conrad lends his booming voice to two outstanding "tales well calculated to keep you in Suspense." One of the all-time legends of the medium, Conrad was best known as US Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, and he made these visits to Suspense during his run in one of radio's best westerns. We'll hear him in a terrifying one-man show in "The Waxwork" (originally aired on CBS on May 1, 1956) and in an amazing radio tale of high adventure in "Leningen vs. the Ants" (originally aired on CBS August 25, 1957).

Actor, writer, and director Cornel Wilde was a gifted mimic with a talent for languages. It served him well in his screen career, and it especially helped in his five appearances on Suspense, where Wilde could play characters both good and bad from all corners of the world. He's a man plotting a dangerous insurance fraud in "A Ring for Marya" (originally aired on CBS on December 28, 1950), and then he's a southern lawyer in the Big Apple in "Allen in Wonderland" (originally aired on CBS on October 27, 1952).

In his second and final appearance on Suspense, Jimmy Cagney stars in "No Escape," a cautionary tale of distracted (and deadly) driving (originally aired on CBS on December 16, 1948). Then we'll hear the star of Angels with Dirty Faces and Yankee Doodle Dandy in an adaptation of "Night Must Fall" from the Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater (originally aired on CBS on July 24, 1944).

Claire Trevor - the "queen of film noir" - returns to the Suspense microphone in two more old time radio thrillers. We'll hear Trevor as a woman scorned out for revenge against a cheating husband in "The Light Switch" (originally aired on CBS on May 12, 1949). Then, she stars in a story from Cornell Woolrich - the master of noir fiction - in "Angel Face" (originally aired on CBS on May 18, 1950).

Despite his long career in Hollywood (and his fantastic voice), Roddy McDowall made only one visit to Suspense. We'll hear the star of Planet of the Apes in "One Way Street" (originally aired on CBS on January 23, 1947). Then he's in lighter fare in an adaptation of Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper" from Family Theater (originally aired on the Mutual Network on March 8, 1950).

Oscar-nominated actress and singer Ava Gardner turned in sensational performances in The Killers, Seven Days in May, and more, and her off-screen romances with Mickey Rooney and Frank Sinatra made for memorable chapters in Hollywood history. We'll hear Ms. Gardner in her one and only Suspense appearance - "Lady in Distress" (originally aired on CBS on May 1, 1947). Then we'll hear her as she makes a visit to Edwards Air Force Base with Bob Hope in an episode from the comedian's radio show from March 6, 1951.

The "First Lady of Suspense" is back! Agnes Moorehead stars in a pair of eerie thrillers that will keep you on the edge of your seat: "Uncle Henry's Rosebush" (originally aired on CBS on June 23, 1943) and an adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" (originally aired on CBS on July 29, 1948).

Hail to the Chief! Before he sat in the Oval Office, Ronald Reagan made a pair of visits to the Suspense microphone. Tune in and "hear one for the Gipper." Better yet, hear two as Reagan stars in "One and One's a Lonesome" (originally aired on CBS on March 23, 1950) and "Circumstantial Terror" (originally aired on CBS on March 8, 1954).

"Stars On Suspense" salutes the master of suspense – Alfred Hitchcock. We're celebrating the anniversary of the legendary director's birth with an old time radio adaptation of one of his big screen classics. Tallulah Bankhead recreates her role in Hitch's wartime drama set on the high seas – Lifeboat. Jeff Chandler and Sheldon Leonard join her aboard this production from the Screen Directors' Playhouse, originally aired on NBC on November 16, 1950.

We're back with more legends of Hollywood in tales well calculated to keep you in Suspense. This week, our star is John Lund, the boyishly good looking leading man who made thirteen visits to the program. He plays a man conspiring to bump off his wife's lover in "A Plane Case of Murder" (originally aired on CBS on October 10, 1946). Then, Lund is first mate on a ship with a killer among the crew in "Murder Aboard the Alphabet" (originally aired on CBS on August 21, 1947).

Father may have known best, but when Robert Young starred on Suspense he played characters miles away from beloved radio and TV dad Jim Anderson. We'll hear Young co-star with Geraldine Fitzgerald in "A Friend to Alexander" (originally aired on CBS on August 3, 1943). Then, Young plays a patient in an insane asylum fighting to regain his memory in "The High Wall" (originally aired on CBS on June 6, 1946).

With his good looks and affable demeanor, Van Johnson was a matinee idol to the bobbysoxer crowd during the war years. He went on to success on the big and small screens in a career that stretched into the 1980s. We'll hear Johnson on Suspense in "The Singing Walls" (an AFRS rebroadcast of a show from November 2, 1944) and "The Defense Rests" (originally aired on CBS on October 6, 1949).

Best known as the mother of The Bad Seed, Nancy Kelly made eight visits to Suspense during her long Broadway and Hollywood career. We'll hear the Tony winner and Oscar nominee as a wife fighting for her husband's life in "Eve" (an Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast) and as a carhop who gets a ride from the wrong stranger in "Drive-In" (originally aired on CBS on January 11, 1945).

Emmy winner Hume Cronyn was no stranger to thrills and chills. A frequent collaborator of Alfred Hitchcock, Cronyn played the scene stealing true crime buff in Shadow of a Doubt and helped with the story for Rope. He played many roles over his award-winning career, but his background with the master certainly must have helped prepare him for his work on Suspense. We'll hear him in "Too Many Smiths" (originally aired on CBS on June 13, 1946) and "Blue Eyes" (originally aired on CBS on August 29, 1946).

Best known for his strong, heroic performances on screen, Henry Fonda played presidents, farmers, cowboys, and killers with a quiet authority over a fifty year career. We'll hear the Oscar winner in "Summer Storm," his only appearance on Suspense (originally aired on CBS on October 18, 1945). Then, he creates the titular role in Young Mr. Lincoln on Academy Award (originally aired on CBS on July 10, 1946).

Big and small screen legend Mickey Rooney plays two small-time hoods yearning to be big and facing the consequences of their actions in these old time radio thrillers: "Alibi Me" from Suspense - his final appearance on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" - (originally aired on CBS on January 4, 1951) and "Knee High to a Corpse" from The Hollywood Star Playhouse (originally aired on CBS on July 19, 1951).

To generations of radio, TV, and movie fans, Eve Arden lives in the halls of high school as Principal McGee of Grease or the titular Our Miss Brooks in one of radio's best comedies. But there was more to this talented comedienne than her sense of deadpan humor, as seen in performances in Mildred Pierce and Anatomy of a Murder. We'll hear Eve Arden get serious in "The Well-Dressed Corpse" (originally aired on CBS on January 18, 1951). Then, she's Madison High's favorite English teacher in the March 6, 1949 episode of Our Miss Brooks - "Miss Brooks Gets the Works."

For his final visits to Suspense, the great Orson Welles starred in an epic two-part adaptation of Curt Siodmak's "Donovan's Brain." Welles plays a scientist whose experiments into the power of the brain take a sinister turn and gives rise to a monster. The story originally aired on CBS on May 18 and May 25, 1944.

Whether she was locked in a surfside embrace with Burt Lancaster or dancing with Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr turned in memorable performances on screen and earned six Oscar nominations over her long career. The star of An Affair to Remember and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allyson made only one appearance on Suspense as a beautiful thief in "The Lady Pamela" (originally aired on CBS on March 31, 1952). We'll also hear her in a thriller from the Hollywood Star Playhouse - "Haunt Me Not" (originally aired on NBC on August 17, 1952).

Singer, actor, director, producer - Dick Powell wore many hats during his career in Hollywood. Starting out in musical comedies, Powell reinvented himself as a tough guy film noir hero in the 1940s and he'd go on to a successful run as a director and producer on the big and small screens. We'll hear both of his Suspense appearances: "Slow Burn" (originally aired on CBS on February 23, 1950); and "Overdrawn" (originally aired on CBS on May 31, 1951).

Actress, singer, and World War II pin-up legend Betty Grable brings her "million dollar legs" to "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." Ms. Grable stars in a twisting mystery about an invalid mother, a frustrated daughter, and poison - "The Copper Tea Strainer" (originally aired on CBS on April 21, 1949). Then, we'll hear her playing for laughs with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in "Altar Bound," originally aired on The Gulf Screen Guild Theatre on CBS on February 23, 1941.

Oscar-winner Charles Laughton is back in more "tales well calculated to keep you in Suspense." We'll hear him co-star with his wife Elsa Lanchester in a radio adaptation of Agatha Christie's "The ABC Murders" (originally aired on May 18, 1943). Then, Laughton plays one of history's most notorious murderers in "Neil Cream, Doctor of Poison" (originally aired on CBS on September 17, 1951).

Eddie Bracken endeared himself to audiences with winning turns as lovable losers in comedies like The Miracle oft Morgan's Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero, but on Suspense he turned his "aw shucks" persona on its head for a series of shows as mysterious characters with sinister sides. We'll hear him in "The Visitor" (originally aired on CBS on May 11, 1944) and in "Elwood" (originally aired on CBS on March 5, 1947).

Suspense regular Richard Widmark is back in the saddle for two more old time radio thrillers. In "Tell You Why I Shouldn't Die" (originally aired on CBS on June 7, 1951), he's a pitchman trying to save his own life from an angry man with a gun. Then, Widmark stars in the story of an infamous and bloody Texas feud in "The Hunting of Bob Lee" (originally aired on CBS on October 29, 1951).