Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

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 vis...

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 Decembe...

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...

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 Septembe...

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 bi...

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...

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 t...

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...

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' Pla...

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...

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...

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 S...

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 Jul...

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...