Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

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" (ori...

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'l...

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...

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," or...

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...

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).

Oscar-winner Edmond O'Brien was one of Hollywood's most colorful character actors, making memorable appearances in  The Killers ,  The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ,  Seven Days in May , and more. He brought a tough, hard-boiled intensity to his  Suspense appearances: as a reporter on the trail of a story worth killing for in "The Argyle Album" (originally aired on CBS on September 4, 1947) and as...

Sophisticated and charming on screen, three-time Oscar nominee William Powell showed a different side in his performances on  Suspense . His desperate characters - men on the run with greed and murder in their hearts - are miles away from his witty roles in  The Thin Man films and  My Man Godfrey . We'll hear Powell in "Give Me Liberty" (originally aired on CBS on October 21, 1948) and "The Escape...

In her third and final performance on  Suspense , four-time Oscar nominee Rosalind Russell is new bride whose marriage falls in the shadow of her grandfather's murder. We'll hear her in "When the Bough Breaks" (originally aired on CBS on May 3, 1951). Then, Russell reunites with Cary Grant in a radio recreation of  His Girl Friday from  The Gulf Screen Guild Theatre (originally aired on CBS on Mar...

A comedian's ability to keep audiences in stitches didn't mean he couldn't deliver a strong dramatic performance, and our stars this week prove that to be the case in their appearances on  Suspense . Ed "Archie" Gardner of  Duffy's Tavern is a crook hiding out among the ranks of the Spanish Civil War in "The Palmer Method" (originally aired on CBS on April 20, 1944). Then, Red Skelton isn't clowni...

Alan Ladd returns to the podcast for the end of his run on  Suspense . Ladd's big break came in film noir classics like  This Gun for Hire , and his characters in these two radio thrillers are cut from the same cloth as the hard-boiled residents of those movies. We'll hear "One Way Ride to Nowhere" (originally aired on CBS on January 6, 1944) and "Motive for Murder" (originally aired on CBS on Mar...

Oscar and Emmy winner William Holden was one of Hollywood's biggest stars for decades, with his performances as cynical, conflicted men winning acclaim and awards. Whether he was the washed up screenwriter of  Sunset Boulevard or the reluctant hero of  The Bridge on the River Kwai , Holden kept audiences engrossed. We'll hear two of his visits to  Suspense , beginning with the New Orleans jazz mur...

For her final appearances on Suspense , Lucille Ball was joined by her then-husband Desi Arnaz. But unlike I Love Lucy, where they played for laughs, Lucy and Desi were cast in radio thrillers: tales of greed and menace. We'll hear one of those shows – "The Red-Headed Woman," originally aired on CBS on November 17, 1949. Then, we'll hear an episode of My Favorite Husband , the Lucille Ball radio s...

Best known for crooning and comedy, Dennis Day shows off his dramatic side in a pair of thrillers from  Suspense . The longtime cast member of  The Jack Benny Program plays a beatnik who thinks a murder wrap is a gas in "Like, Man, Somebody Dig Me" (an Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast of an episode from August 16, 1959). Then, in a story just in time for the holidays, Day is a man who turns...

Generations of viewers knew Lloyd Nolan from B-movies of the 1940s and later in television appearances through the 1980s. The Emmy winning star worked steadily in a fifty-six year career, always elevating material with his performances, whether he was playing heroes (like private eye Michael Shayne) or heavies. He had the opportunity to play bad guys of varying levels of villainy in his appearance...

Horror icon Vincent Price is back on  Suspense in two more old time radio thrillers - including one of the scariest the medium ever produced. We'll hear Price as an artist with a dangerous muse in "The Name of the Beast" (originally aired on CBS on April 11, 1946). Then, you'll want to leave the lights on for "Three Skeleton Key" (originally aired on CBS on November 11, 1956). In this classic chil...

You'd never guess J. Carrol Naish hailed from New York. Celebrated as "Hollywood's one-man U.N.", Naish could convincingly play characters from all around the world. He played Italian immigrant Luigi Basco in the delightful radio comedy  Life with Luigi , and he earned two Oscar nominations over his career. In his appearances on  Suspense , Naish put his talents for accents and dialects to good us...

Tough big screen leading man Dana Andrews made four visits to "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," and the star of  Laura ,  Where the Sidewalk Ends , and  The Best Years of Our Lives  made memorable impressions as both heroes and villains. We'll hear him as a writer plotting the perfect murder in "Two Birds With One Stone" (originally aired on CBS on May 17, 1945) and as a cop pursuing a psy...

With her glamorous looks and her mellifluous accent, Marlene Dietrich kept audiences captivated on stage and screen in her native Germany and later in Hollywood. She was one of the biggest stars of the World War II era, and she would go on to deliver indelible performances in  Touch of Evil and  Witness for the Prosecution . We'll hear Marlene Dietrich in her only  Suspense appearance: "Murder Str...

The "first lady of  Suspense " returns to the podcast as Agnes Moorehead stars in two more old time radio thrillers. In these two shows - one a blend of comedy and crime and the other a tense psychological drama - Ms. Moorehead demonstrates why she made more appearances on the program than any other guest star. We'll hear "Post Mortem" (originally aired on CBS on April 4, 1946) and "The Thirteenth...

Oscar winner Van Heflin made memorable appearances in  Johnny Eager ,  3:10 to Yuma and  Shane , and he lent his powerful presence to the radio role of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. In nine visits to  Suspense , he played complex heroes and despicable heels, and sometimes his characters were blends of both. We'll hear him in "Three Blind Mice" (originally aired on CBS on January 30, 1947) and...

For Halloween, "Stars On Suspense" presents two of the biggest names in horror cinema – Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff starring in "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." Lugosi plays a psychologist with a murderous theory he plans to test in "The Doctor Prescribed Death" (originally aired on CBS on February 2, 1943). Then, Karloff is a Scotland Yard man who's new case has strange ties to his own...

Fredric March was one of the most celebrated stars of stage and screen, a man whose performances earned him a pair of Oscars and two Tony Awards. Equally at home in comedy and drama, March brought to life characters ranging from Dr. Henry Jekyll and his monstrous alter ego Mr. Hyde to a beleaguered president fighting for peace in Seven Days in May . We'll hear him in two appearances on Suspense :...