Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

Jackie Cooper began his career in  Our Gang shorts and earned an Oscar nomination at the age of nine. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he continued acting on screen and embarked on a successful Emmy-winning career as a director. During his years in front of and behind the camera, he endeared himself to generations of movie fans as irascible editor Perry White in the  Superman films....

After making her first visits to  Suspense in 1945, Joan Lorring returned to "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" in 1960. By then, both the series and star had left Hollywood behind. The Oscar-nominee had transitioned to Broadway and television, and production of the show moved to CBS' New York studios. We'll hear Lorring in three 60s  Suspense stories: "The Daisy Chain" (originally aired on...

It was ironic that Helmut Dantine broke out in Hollywood playing Nazis in wartime dramas; he'd been part of the anti-Nazi resistance in his native Austria and was imprisoned in a concentration camp because of those efforts. Fortunately, he secured his release and escaped to California, where he pursued acting on the stage and screen. We'll hear him plotting an assassination in "Russian New Year" (...

Michael O'Shea dropped out of school at the age of 12 and wound up on stages in the vaudeville circuit and in speakeasies before he arrived on Broadway. Hollywood came calling after an acclaimed stage performance and soon he was co-starring with Barbara Stanwyck. His film career waned in the early 1950s, but he continued to work on television and make headlines for his off-screen antics. We'll hea...

Actress and singer Virginia Bruce introduced a Cole Porter classic and starred as the quintessential showgirl in  The Ziegfeld Follies , but studio politics hurt her career just as it was getting started. We'll hear her in an international manhunt for a missing heir in "The Cross-Eyed Bear" (originally aired on CBS on September 16, 1943). Then, Virginia Bruce is an amateur sleuth looking into a ba...

Through the 40s and 50s, Margaret Whiting was one of America's most popular singing stars. She recorded and performed through the 90s, but she took on relatively few dramatic acting roles. Whiting did, however, lend her powerful voice to four episodes of "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." We'll hear her star (and sing) in the dramatic recreation of the popular ballad "Frankie and Johnny" (o...

Warren William, one of the kings of pre-Code Hollywood, won over audiences with his powerful portrayals of slightly unscrupulous characters. He was the first actor to play Perry Mason on screen, and he made nine films as The Lone Wolf, a reformed thief turned sleuth. For his one appearance on  Suspense , William reprised the role of the Lone Wolf in "Murder Goes for a Swim" (originally aired on CB...

Character actor Keenan Wynn returns for his final appearances on  Suspense in a pair of shows that show of the silly and serious sides of "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." First, Wynn co-stars with Hume Cronyn in a comedic tale of embezzlement - "Double Entry" (originally aired on CBS on December 20, 1945). Then, he stars in "The Night Reveals," Cornell Woolrich's tale of an arson investig...

Phil Silvers broke out on Broadway before he became a household name as the scheming Sgt. Bilko on TV's The Phil Silvers Show . The funny man showed off another side of himself in "The Swift Rise of Eddie Albright" on  Suspense (originally aired on CBS on April 3, 1947). Plus, we'll hear him welcome his buddy Frank Sinatra to an episode of radio's  The Phil Silvers Show (originally aired on NBC on...

The star of  Shadow of a Doubt and  The Third Man returns for more old time radio thrillers. Joseph Cotten stars in two tales of  Suspense and plays three different characters. First, he plays a pair of twin brothers with a deadly case of sibling rivalry in "The Pasteboard Box" (originally aired on CBS on January 17, 1946). Then, Cotten may hold the key to the survival of an old enemy in Dorothy L...

With her powerful, belting voice and inimitable stage presence, Ethel Merman became one of the biggest stars on Broadway and the queen of musical comedy. Her performances were acclaimed, and the songs she introduced onstage became standards - tunes like "I Got Rhythm" and "There's No Business Like Show Business." She made one visit to  Suspense as a singer paired with a homicidal partner in "Never...

Jeff Chandler returns to the podcast in another pair of old time radio thrillers. First, he stars in a story set to the lyrics of a haunting ballad in "My True Love's Hair" (originally aired on CBS on October 19, 1953). Then, Chandler is on trial for crimes committed to preserve the anti-Nazi underground in "Death at Skirkerud Pond" (originally aired on CBS on February 8, 1954). Then, he shows off...

Two-time Oscar nominee John Garfield broke out of the New York theatre scene, and his star burned brightly until he ran afoul of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Known for his intense performances and his battles with his studio to find stronger scripts, Garfield made memorable impressions in movies like  The Postman Always Rings Twice and  Body and Soul before his career - and his life...

In his final  Suspense appearance, Brian Donlevy played a doctor coming to the aid of a man recently returned from the dead. The Oscar nominee stars in "Lazarus Walks" (originally aired on CBS on October 31, 1946). Then, we'll hear him recreate his role as a derelict who winds up in the governor's mansion from  The Great McGinty on  Academy Award (originally aired on CBS on April 20, 1946).

Irish-born actor Dan O'Herlihy broke out on the big screen when he earned an Oscar nod for the title role in Robinson Cru soe . Over the course of his career, he worked steadily on in films and on television, including his memorable role of "The Old Man" in  Robocop and a recurring part on  Twin Peaks . We'll hear him in two starring turns on  Suspense - "Strange for a Killer" (originally aired on...

Katina Paxinou came to the United States at the outset of World War II, unable to return to her native Greece. The theatre star made a big Hollywood debut with her Oscar and Golden Globe-winning performance in For Whom the Bell Tolls , but her film career was short-lived as she returned to her homeland to continue her work on the stage. We'll hear her in the wartime espionage drama "The Woman in R...

Dane Clark prided himself on playing average joes on the big screen, and in the two episodes we'll hear this week he plays a pair of men caught up in murder. One falls into a trap, and the other plots the perfect crime, but both are in tales well calculated to keep you in  Suspense . We'll hear Clark in "A Guy Gets Lonely" (originally aired on CBS on April 5, 1945) and "This Will Kill You" (origin...

When  Suspense was revamped as an hour-long series, two-time Academy Award nominee and director Robert Montgomery was on hand as producer, host, and occasional star. He took the lead role in the program's first sixty-minute installment - an adaptation of Cornell Woolrich's "The Black Curtain" (originally aired on CBS on January 3, 1948).

Hitchcock leading man, sitcom star, wartime flight instructor, and godson of a Wright Brother - Robert Cummings wore many hats during his life and career. The Emmy-winning actor made a pair of visits to  Suspense ten years apart playing both an innocent man caught up in a crime and its cover-up and a seasoned criminal trying to stay out of the clutches of the police. We'll hear him in "The Dead of...

For his final appearances on Suspense , Vincent Price starred in an encore production of one of the scariest shows of the series, as well as an adaptation of a classic short story.  We'll hear him in "Three Skeleton Key" (originally aired on CBS on October 19, 1958) and "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (originally aired on CBS on July 19, 1959). Plus, Price stars in a terrifying tale of life an...

Hailed as the "Queen of the B-movies," Marie Windsor carved out a career playing tough femme fatale roles in noir dramas like  The Narrow Margin and  The Killing . Her brassy, sultry aura made her a natural fit for those characters, and she put her talents to work in her one visit to  Suspense as a woman caught in a love triangle with deadly results. We'll hear her in "Script by Mark Brady" (origi...

Before his Oscar-nominated turn in  The Defiant Ones and before he wore a dress and wooed Marilyn Monroe in  Some Like It Hot , Tony Curtis made his one and only visit to  Suspense . Curtis starred as a college basketball player approached to throw a game in "The McKay College Basketball Scandal" (originally aired on CBS on September 24, 1951). Plus, Curtis clowns around with Dean Martin and Jerry...

Burly character actor Alan Hale was a regular presence in films through the 30s and 40s, lending support to stars like Barbara Stanwyck, Basil Rathbone, Humphrey Bogart, and - in over a dozen films - Errol Flynn. Hale made one visit to  Suspense as a colorful con man in "The Leading Citizen of Pratt County" (originally aired on CBS on May 30, 1946). Plus, we'll hear Hale and Flynn in "Allergic to...

B-movie leading man Dennis O'Keefe grew up in a vaudeville family and embarked on a screen career - both starring in films and writing them. We'll hear the star of T-Men ,  Brewster's Millions , and  Cover Up in a pair of  Suspense  shows that find him playing both hero and heel: "The X-Ray Camera" (originally aired on CBS on October 13, 1947) and "Very Much Like a Nightmare" (originally aired on...

For her final visit to  Suspense , Dame May Whitty recreated a performance she'd memorably played on stage and screen. In this hour-long adaptation of Emlyn Williams' play Night Must Fall (originally aired on CBS on March 27, 1948), Whitty reprises her Oscar-nominated role opposite Robert Montgomery.