Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

It's a mix of two-handers, adaptations, comedy, mystery, and horror with my favorite  Suspense shows from 1945! Joseph Cotten is hunted by J. Carrol Naish in "The Most Dangerous Game" (originally aired on CBS on February 1, 1945), and William Bendix hunts for a missing necklace in "Pearls are a Nuisance" (originally aired on CBS on April 19, 1945). John Payne is a small town police chief in hot wa...

Our journey back through the years of Suspense continues with my favorite episodes from 1944. Lucille Ball is a taxi dancer who hopes to avoid a murderous dance partner in "Dime a Dance" (originally aired on CBS on January 13, 1944), and Charles Ruggles suspects his new housekeeper may be too good to be true in "Suspicion" (originally aired on CBS on February 10, 1944). Orson Welles stars in a rar...

Join me on a trip back to 1943 and my favorite episodes of Suspense from that year. It was the year production of the show moved from New York to Hollywood, which meant it was easier for film stars to make appearances, and it picked up a sponsor in the form of Roma Wines. We'll hear Maureen O'Hara as a debutante turned detective in "The White Rose Murders" (originally aired on CBS on July 6, 1943)...

Myron McCormick took home a Tony for his performance as gruff but lovable sailor Luther Billis in the original Broadway production of South Pacific , and before his premature passing at the age of 54 he logged several memorable turns on the stage and screen. We'll hear him as an archeologist who may have found a lost treasure in "Door of Gold" (originally aired on CBS on February 10, 1957) and as...

One of the busiest (and best) actors of the radio era, Harry Bartell could be heard everywhere - as an announcer chatting with Nigel Bruce on  Sherlock Holmes , as cowboys on  Gunsmoke , and as suspects on  Dragnet . We'll hear him as a man who cooks up what he thinks is a perfect swindle in "Final Payment" (originally aired on CBS on January 13, 1955) and as a pharmacist racing to correct a fatal...

Radio and big screen star Frank Lovejoy makes his final appearances on  Suspense in a pair of shows where he plays characters both scary and sympathetic. First, he's a man with an unhealthy fixation on his Army buddy's wife in "Friend of Daddy's" (AFRS rebroadcast from May 17, 1959). Then, his wife is going into labor when their car breaks down on the Hollywood Freeway in "Ivy is a Lovely Name" (o...

For seven years on radio, Jackie Kelk portrayed cub reporter and Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen, and he helped to define the character for generations of depictions in comics, cartoons, and films. We'll hear him in a pair of Suspense thrillers - first as a man who murders his brother to preserve their childhood home in "Shadow on the Wall" (originally aired on CBS on September 22, 1957), and then in a...

Elsa Lanchester achieved cinematic immortality with her iconic portrayal of the Bride of Frankenstein in the Universal horror classic. But her work in the realm of monsters was just a part of her long career on the stage and screen - a career that included two Oscar nominations and a dozen films where she co-starred with her husband Charles Laughton. We'll hear the couple in a  Suspense adaptation...

Best known as Effie, the loyal secretary to Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon , Lee Patrick enjoyed great success on the Broadway stage and worked steadily as a character actress on the big and small screens. We'll hear her in a pair of shows from Suspense : first, she's half of a murderous married couple in "Just One Happy Little Family" (originally aired on CBS on April 6, 1958), and then she play...

In the earliest days of  Suspense , Berry Kroeger introduced each week's story as the "Man in Black." Years later, this talented and versatile actor would step into starring roles on "radio's outstanding theatre of thrills." We'll hear him in an adaptation of W.F. Harvey's "August Heat" (originally aired on CBS on March 20, 1948) and as a would-be murderer who develops unusual mental powers in "It...

We say goodbye to Herbert Marshall - one of the most frequent guest stars on  Suspense . Marshall logged twenty appearances on "radio's outstanding theatre of thrills" between 1944 and 1959. He also starred in the 1940 audition show that helped to get  Suspense a slot on the schedule. We'll hear him in a pair of those shows - an adaptation of Wilkie Collins' "The Dead Alive" (originally aired on C...

In this bonus episode, I share my favorite  Suspense shows starring William Bendix - the lovable lug of  The Life of Riley and the Oscar-nominated character actor of  Lifeboat ,  The Blue Dahlia , and more. He's a Runyonesque brawler turned detective in Raymond Chandler's "Pearls are a Nuisance" (originally aired on CBS on April 19, 1945), and an unwitting participant in a political blackmail sche...

Born in Austria, Vanessa Brown and her family fled the Nazis and made their way to America where she soon found success on the Broadway stage and as a juvenile contestant on  The   Quiz Kids . She broke into films in the 1940s before returning to the stage, where she originated the iconic role made famous by Marilyn Monroe in the original production of  The Seven Year Itch . We'll hear Ms. Brown i...

British character actor Torin Thatcher made a name for himself as a Hollywood heavy in everything from seafaring adventures to magical fantasies. We'll hear him as a miner forced to return to the site of an accident where he was the only survivor in "The Digger" (originally aired on CBS on October 9, 1956). Plus, he plays Mark Anthony as CBS brings you a "live" report of "The Assassination of Juli...

We bid goodbye to Lee Bowman with his first and last appearances on Suspense . He co-stars with Walter Hampden and Susan Hayward in "The Dead Sleep Lightly" (originally aired on CBS on March 30, 1943) - the story of a man who places a call to a grave and hears the voice of the dead on the other end of the line. Then, Bowman is a man whose fiancee disappears off the face of the earth - or does she?...

I won't be able to put together new episodes for the next two weeks, so I've decided to reach back into the "Stars on Suspense" archive and share some of my favorite "best of" collections. This week, it's a showcase of the comedians who showed a different side of their talents when they starred on Suspense in thrillers. First, Danny Kaye schemes to bump off a rival and steal his girl in "The Too-P...

Tony Barrett was a very busy radio actor, with recurring and regular roles on  The Adventures of Frank Race ,  Defense Attorney , and  Tales of The Texas Rangers . He could also be heard in guest spots on all sorts of mysteries, westerns, and dramas. Barrett went on to a long and successful career as a writer, where - among other things - he developed the classic 60s/70s cop show  The Mod Squad ....

Donald Crisp took home on Oscar for his powerful performance in How Green Was My Valley , but that was just one notch on his belt during a long Hollywood career that stretched from the silent era to the 1960s and included stints as actor, producer, and director. We'll hear him in "Banquo's Chair" - the story of a Scotland Yard inspector with an ingenious method to catch a killer (originally aired...

To celebrate 400 episodes of  Stars on Suspense , I'm sharing five of my favorites from the first decade of "radio's outstanding theatre of thrills" - a star-studded showcase of classic chillers. First, Orson Welles wishes he only had a brain...and gets one with disasterous results in "Donovan's Brain," a two-part sci-fi/horror epic (originally aired on CBS on May 18 and May 25, 1944). Then, Rober...

We're ringing in 2025 with the great Frank Lovejoy in three radio thrillers, including a belated New Year's Eve story. First, he tries to talk an amateur pilot safely down to the ground in "The Long Night" (originally aired on CBS on July 13, 1958). Then, an unusual watch leads him to find a lot of time on his hands in "The Thirty-Second of December" (originally aired on CBS on December 28, 1958)....

Before we sign off for the year, it's time for our annual presentation of a classic Christmas film recreated for radio. This year, it's the holiday romantic comedy  Remember the Night , recreated with original stars Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray in a broadcast from  The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on March 25, 1940).

Christmastime is here, and to celebrate I've got five  Suspense seasonal stories that - in a departure from the usual fare on this podcast - all have happy endings! Eddie Cantor stars in a tale of clerical crime at Christmastime in "Double Entry" (originally aired on CBS on December 22, 1949), and Greer Garson joins a little girl in her long wait in "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" (originally a...

Herbert Marshall is back for Christmas! He stars in John Collier's tale of holly jolly homicide "Holiday Story" (originally aired on CBS on December 23, 1948), and he plays a naval officer whose fast thinking changes the course of history in "The Man Who Won the War" (originally aired on CBS on October 5, 1958). Plus, we'll hear him in an episode of his own radio spy adventure series  The Man Call...

Best known as the kindly attorney who takes on Kris Kringle's case in  Miracle on 34th Street , John Payne starred in crime dramas, westerns, and adventures on the big screen and as a TV gunslinger in  The Restless Gun . We'll hear him as a small town police chief with a big-time mystery on his hands in Dashiell Hammett's "Two Sharp Knives" (originally aired on CBS on June 7, 1945). Plus, he recre...

It's another TV-radio crossover as we hear four  Suspense stars who also played murderers on the classic detective series  Columbo : Anne Baxter ("Requiem for a Fallen Star") in "The Death of Barbara Allen" (originally aired on CBS on October 20, 1952); Richard Basehart ("Dagger of the Mind") in "The Perfectionist" (originally aired on CBS on January 21, 1952); Jose Ferrer ("Mind Over Mayhem") in...