Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

Ruth Hussey picked up an Oscar nomination for her performance as a cyncial photographer in  The Philadelphia Story , and she had a long career on the big and small screens, as well as on the Broadway stage. We'll hear as the wife of a pilot who's moments away from a catastrophe in the sky in "Firing Run" (AFRS rebroadcast from November 3, 1957). Plus, she recreates her  Philadelphia Story role wit...

Character actress Eve McVeagh was a regular presence on the Broadway stage, the big screen, and on TV for over five decades, and during her career she starred in everything from High Noon to Petticoat Junction . We'll hear her as a woman whose auction purchase comes loaded with trouble in "Going, Going, Gone" (originally aired on CBS on May 10, 1955) and as part of a film crew who discovers real-l...

In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite Suspense shows starring the great James Mason. The smooth, polished star of Lolita , North by Northwest, and The Veil plays crooks, cops, and a man whose guilt or innocence may never be known for sure. We'll hear "Where There's a Will" (originally aired on CBS on February 24, 1949), "Banquo's Chair" (originally aired on CBS on March 9, 1950), "The Gre...

Herbert Marshall returns to the podcast in two old time radio thrillers - a pair of shows where he plays a coward and a man unafraid of death who find their worldviews challenged in critical moments. He stars in an adaptation of Graham Greene's "The Man Within" (originally aired on CBS on April 27, 1953) and in "Action" (originally aired on CBS on October 5, 1953). Plus, we'll hear him as globe-tr...

Just in time for trick-or-treating, here are my picks for the scariest stories to ever air on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." Orson Welles takes a long drive with an uninvited guest in "The Hitch-hiker" (originally aired on CBS on September 2, 1942), and Robert Taylor soon regrets moving into "The House in Cypress Canyon" (originally aired on CBS on December 5, 1946). Ralph Edwards goes...

With Halloween right around the corner, I'm sharing some classic episodes of  Suspense featuring some of the biggest stars of classic Hollywood horror: Peter Lorre in "Till Death Do Us Part" (originally aired on CBS on December 15, 1942); Bela Lugosi in "The Doctor Prescribed Death" (originally aired on CBS on February 16, 1943); Boris Karloff in "Drury's Bones" (originally aired on CBS on January...

Best known as the "Control Voice" that opened each episode of  The Outer Limits , Vic Perrin was all over the dial during the golden age of radio. He was a regular resident of Dodge City on  Gunsmoke , he frequently encountered Sgt. Joe Friday on Dragnet , and he co-starred with Raymond Burr on  Fort Laramie . We'll hear him as a reporter who has a rendezvous with a killer in "The Lady in the Red...

Character actor John McIntire - who rode the range on  Wagon Train and the mean streets of the city in a squad car on  Naked City  - returns to the podcast for his third starring appearance. McIntire plays a car enthusiast who takes his antique on a 500 mile tour in "The Big Day" (originally aired on CBS on May 26, 1957) and a convict who's crafted a seemingly perfect plan to escape from prison in...

Eva Le Gallienne was a legend of the American stage - not only for her performances on Broadway but for her support of the development of off-Broadway and regional theatrical companies across the country. She made only one appearance on  Suspense  in "Phobia" (originally aired on CBS on June 26, 1947), where she played a wealthy wheelchair-bound woman with a fear of metal, a kleptomaniac sister, a...

June Havoc - actress, singer, and younger sister of Gypsy Rose Lee - returns to the podcast in a sixty-minute adaptation of Cornell Woolrich's "The Black Angel" (originally aired on CBS on January 24, 1948). She plays a woman who plays detective to clear her husband of murder, only to get close to the man who may be the real killer. Then, she recreates one of her big screen roles opposite George R...

We'll turn on the TV this week with three radio thrillers featuring future television stars. Before he was Bart Maverick, Jack Kelly led the frantic search for a deadly snake on a boat in "A Shipment of Mute Fate" (originally aired on CBS on January 6, 1957). Beloved TV mom June Lockhart of  Lassie and  Lost in Space is an actress who's had enough poor treatment at the hands of a producer in "Shoo...

To the Batcave! In this bonus episode, we'll hear five  Suspense stars who played Gotham City bad guys opposite Adam West and Burt Ward on  Batman . We'll hear Vincent Price (Egghead) and Ida Lupino (Dr. Cassandra Spellcraft) in "Fugue in C Minor" (originally aired on CBS on June 1, 1944), Roddy McDowall (Bookworm) in "One Way Street" (originally aired on CBS on January 23, 1947), Anne Baxter (Zel...

John Dickson Carr - one of the giants of the golden age of mystery fiction - penned dozens of scripts in the early years of  Suspense with stories ranging from historical crime drama to international espionage to good old fashioned murders. We'll hear a tale of spies and sorcery in "The Lord of the Witch Doctors" (originally aired on CBS on October 27, 1942) and of a sabotage plot exposed in Madam...

In this bonus episode, we salute some of the singers who stepped up to the  Suspense microphone and traded trills for thrills. Lena Horne is caught up in wartime espionage in "You Were Wonderful" (originally aired on CBS on November 9, 1944), and Frank Sinatra is the handyman from hell in "To Find Help" (AFRS rebroadcast from January 18, 1945). Ezio Pinza is an opera singer who leaves them dead in...

Best known to radio fans as Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve's on again/off again fiancee, Shirley Mitchell had a long career on the air and the big and small screens. We'll hear her meet a man and his knife in "Blind Date" (originally aired on CBS on November 18, 1954). Plus, she's Leila Ransom opposite Harold Peary in  The Great Gildersleeve (originally aired on NBC on September 26, 1943).

The great character actor John Dehner signs off with his final starring role on  Suspense . He plays a husband and father who tries to keep his family safe after an armed fugitive breaks into their home in "Strange for a Killer" (originally aired on CBS on September 6, 1955). Plus, we'll hear him as the narrator in one of the best (and scariest)  Suspense episodes - "Zero Hour" (originally aired o...

Happy Birthday, Hitch! This month, we celebrate the birthday of the big screen master of suspense with the audition recording for  The Alfred Hitchcock Show - a series that would have featured the director as narrator of thrillers and chillers. Joseph Kearns stars in an adaptation of "Malice Aforethought," hosted and narrated by Alfred Hitchcock.

A busy character actor on the big and small screens, Sam Edwards was also a versatile radio performer. Even in his 30s, he could still play teens - to comedic effect on  Meet Corliss Archer or in dramas like  Gunsmoke and  Dragnet . But he was also effective at playing adults in shows all around the dial, including  Suspense . We'll hear him as man on the run, accused of murder and without shoes,...

Radio, TV, and big screen star Frank Lovejoy returns to the podcast in a trio of stories that show off his talents as well as the variety of tales that  Suspense could tell. First, he's a human guinea pig (and co-stars with his wife, Joan Banks) in an experiment to expand his senses in "Man from Tomorrow" (AFRS rebroadcast from September 1, 1957). Next, Mr. and Mrs. Lovejoy star in the story of a...

Vivi Janiss was one of the radio era's most versatile and talented actresses, and she lent her voice to roles in comedies, westerns, thrillers, and everything in between. We'll hear her on a long car ride with her husband and an armed fugitive in "Backseat Driver" (originally aired on CBS on July 19, 1955), and she plays the wife of a man about to be executed in "Waiting" (originally aired on CBS...

We bid a fond farewell to actor, director, and occasional  Suspense host Robert Montgomery. In addition to acting as emcee and narrator, Montgomery plays a man who may (or may not) be the homicidal maniac stalking the streets of London in "The Lodger" (originally aired on CBS on February 14, 1948). Plus, he recreates his big screen role of Philip Marlowe in "Lady in the Lake" from The Lux Radio Th...

Character Walter Abel began his career in Eugene O'Neill stage dramas in the 1920s and he worked steadily on the big and small screens all the way through the 1980s. We'll hear him as a bank employee who wants to add some fun - and some ill-gotten gains - to his life in "Quiet Desperation" (originally aired on CBS on August 7, 1947). Plus, he co-stars in a radio version of "Double Indemnity" from ...

We bid goodbye to the "First Lady of  Suspense " as Agnes Moorehead stars in three old time radio thrillers. First, she plays a high school teacher who tries to save her student from a grisly end behind the wheel of a hot rod in "The Empty Chair" (originally aired on CBS on September 21, 1953). Then, Ms. Moorehead plays a mother who's a little too close to her adult son and who grows very upset wh...

In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite  Suspense shows from the 18 appearances Joseph Cotten made on the program. The star of  Shadow of a Doubt and  The Third Man plays both heroes and villains across these six episodes. First, he's searching for his missing wife in "You'll Never See Me Again" (originally aired on CBS on September 14, 1944), and he's hunted by J. Carrol Naish in "The Most...

As a contract player for Warner Brothers and Fox, Mark Stevens starred in film noir and dramas alongside the likes of Lucille Ball and Richard Widmark. But even though he was hailed as one of the most promising new stars of Hollywood, his career never really took off. We'll hear Stevens in his one and only appearance on  Suspense ; he plays a man who walks into the wrong house and into a murder in...