Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

During a wartime break in her acting career, Sarah Churchill worked on the planning of the British invasion of North Africa, and she served as an unofficial advisor to her father Winston - who just happened to be prime minister. After the war, she returned to the stage and screen, but struggles with alcoholism cut short what should have been a long career on both sides of the pond. We'll hear her...

Over the course of his long career, character actor Jerome Cowan prosecuted Santa Claus and took a bullet to kick off The Maltese Falcon . We'll hear him in his only visit to  Suspense as a crooked lawyer out to frame his law partner in "Mortmain" (originally aired on CBS on July 31, 1947). Then, he co-stars with Madeleine Carroll in Noel Coward's "Tonight at 8:30" from  Best Plays (originally air...

In this bonus episode, we're saying goodbye to Dean Stockwell, the Oscar-nominated star whose career stretched over seven decades in Hollywood who passed away on November 7th. From his earliest days as a child star in the 40s to his work with David Lynch, his Golden Globe-winning turn on Quantum Leap and his many memorable screen turns, Stockwell was always a compelling presence in a film or TV sh...

Ann Sothern's career on the stage and screen stretched six decades from bit parts in the 20s to an Oscar nomination for her final performance in 1987. She was most famous for her ten B-picture comedies as brash but lovable showgirl Maisie and for a pair of TV sitcoms that earned her four Emmy nods. We'll hear her in her only  Suspense appearance - "Beware the Quiet Man" (originally aired on CBS on...

Richard Widmark takes on the role of Iago, one of Shakespeare's most complex characters, in this ambitious two-part adaptation of Othello (originally aired on CBS on May 4th and 11th, 1953). Widmark is joined by  Suspense director Elliott Lewis as Othello and Cathy Lewis as Desdemona in this production featuring Verdi operas and an all-star cast of radio character actors.

For this year's final bonus Halloween show, we're taking a trip to Transylvania. Orson Welles and  The Mercury Theatre On the Air present a spine-tingling adaptation of Bram Stoker's  Dracula (originally aired on CBS on July 11, 1938).

With Halloween right around the corner, we welcome Herbert Marshall back to the podcast in a pair of old time radio chillers. First, he has the title role in an adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" (originally aired on CBS on November 3, 1952). Then, Marshall stars in a one-man show - the tale of terror called "The Waxwork" (originally aired on CBS on March 1, 1959).

Late at night, Jeanette Nolan takes the long way home all by herself as a killer stalks her town. Ray Bradbury's terrifying short story becomes a classic radio horror tale in "The Whole Town's Sleeping" (originally aired on CBS on June 14, 1955).

Before he was a big screen character actor in Psycho and Cloak and Dagger and a steady hand on network TV dramas like Naked City and Wagon Train , John McIntire was a busy radio performer. We'll hear him co-starring with real-life wife Jeanette Nolan in a sixty-minute adaptation of Curt Siodmak's sci-fi horror classic "Donovan's Brain" (originally aired on CBS on February 7, 1948).  For tickets to...

We head into the mountains with William Conrad in this week's Halloween bonus episode. Here, he's part of a hunting party searching the Himalayas for the mythical yeti. It's a terrifying tale from  Escape - "The Abominable Snowman" (originally aired on CBS on September 13, 1953).

Frank Lovejoy returns to the podcast in two of the mot intense stories to ever air on Suspense . First, Lovejoy and real-life wife Joan Banks run out of gas right in the middle of a classic radio horror story - "On a Country Road" (originally aired on CBS on January 4, 1954). Then, he tries to talk an inexperienced pilot down to the ground safely in "The Long Night" (originally aired on CBS on Nov...

This week's bonus scary story comes from the mind of science fiction master Ray Bradbury. It stirred up controversy when it aired on CBS, and it still provides chills nearly 70 years later. It's "Zero Hour" (originally aired on CBS on April 5, 1955), a tale of a child's backyard game with catastrophic consequences.

Character actor and comedian Jack Carson closes out his run on  Suspense with three old time radio thrillers. First, he's an ambitious circus employee with the gift of gab in "Death Pitch" (originally aired on CBS on March 29, 1951). Then, Carson narrates a tense tale of a malfunctioning atomic bomb at a test site in "Misfire" (originally aired on CBS on October 6, 1957). Finally, he arrives at hi...

Our countdown to Halloween kicks off with one of the scariest shows to air on  Suspense ! The great William Conrad stars in "The Waxwork" (originally aired on CBS on May 1, 1956) - a psychological horror story where he plays every role.

Suave and silver-haired, Otto Kruger made a name for himself as debonair villains on screen. He memorably ran a deadly domestic spy ring in Alfred Hitchcock's  Saboteur , menaced Philip Marlowe in  Murder, My Sweet , and many more. We'll hear him in his only  Suspense appearance - the Cornell Woolrich story "After Dinner Story" (originally aired on CBS on October 26, 1943). Then, he joins the cast...

In this bonus episode, I'll share my picks for the best  Suspense installments starring the legendary Orson Welles. We'll hear him first on a cross-country trip into a nightmare in "The Hitch-Hiker" (originally aired on CBS on September 2, 1942). Then, in a rare  Suspense two-parter, Welles plays a scientist whose innovation could bring about the end of the world in "Donovan's Brain" (originally a...

Though he was born into Hollywood fame - the son of one of the movies' first major stars - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. hadn't intended on becoming an actor. Ultimately, his screen successes were just one chapter in a rich and colorful life including wartime service in counterintelligence. We'll hear the star of Little Caesar and  Gunga Din  in "Deep Into Darkness" (originally aired on CBS on July 22, 1...

Stage and screen star Victor Jory makes his final appearances on  Suspense in a pair of episodes that didn't belong on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." We'll hear the actor from  Gone With the Wind and  A Midsummer Night's Dream in "Old Army Buddy" (originally aired on CBS on September 8, 1957) and "Death Notice" (originally aired on February 8, 1959). Plus, he stars as a dogged detective...

Dorothy McGuire jumped from the Broadway stage to the big screen with acclaimed performances in  Claudia and  A Tree Grows in Brooklyn . She earned an Oscar nod for her turn as a woman confronting her bigotry in  Gentleman's Agreement and she'd later gain Disney fame as memorable moms in  Old Yeller and  Swiss Family Robinson . We'll hear her as a woman trying to reconstruct the night of a murder...

In his final visits to  Suspense , Charles Boyer played two legendary lawmen from his native France. First, the four-time Oscar nominee plays Eugene Vidocq, the master thief who switched sides and became the head of the Sûreté. We'll hear "Vidocq's Final Case" (originally aired on CBS on September 29, 1952). Then, Boyer stars as Alphonse Bertillion, a policeman who used anthropology to develop a s...

Stan Freberg was a master of satire and memorably sent up politics, history, and popular culture over his 70 years in show business. His spoofs of  Dragnet , popular music, and history still hold up today, and he put his unique sense of humor to work as a successful advertising director. We'll hear the legendary performer in a rare dramatic radio turn as a murderer in "Alibi Me" (AFRS rebroadcast...

Our annual birthday salute to Alfred Hitchcock isn't just a celebration of the legendary director and big screen master of suspense. It's also a tribute to his daughter, Patricia Alma O'Connell, who passed away on August 9th. We'll hear Patricia recreate her screen role in Strangers on a Train , recreated for the  Lux Radio Theatre (rehearsal for the December 3, 1951 broadcast). Then, we'll hear A...

Actor and singer Robert Horton broke out with his stint on  Wagon Train , where he spent several years on one of the top-rated TV shows in the country. But Horton left the show at the peak of its popularity to avoid typecasting and to pursue his singing career. During his years on the television frontier, Horton made two visits to  Suspense . He played the titular condemned killer immortalized in...

For the start of our sixth season, we're shining a spotlight on  Suspense MVP Cathy Lewis. One of the busiest and most talented actresses of the era, Lewis was a standout supporting player on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" in some of the program's greatest episodes. She proved just as strong when she stepped into starring roles. We'll hear her alongside husband Elliott in "Love, Honor, o...

Charles Laughton stars in a pair of stories pulled from the pages of two great English writers. These tales of murder have plenty of dark comedy mixed in along with the corpses and crimes. First, a garden party results in an accidental homicide in Dorothy L. Sayers' "The Fountain Plays" (originally aired on CBS on November 23, 1944). Then, a man discovers a new hobby - murder - in John Collier's "...