Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

Sonny Tufts was the Hollywood discovery of 1943 and seemed primed for a huge career. Unfortunately, a battle with alcohol and some tawdry headlines soon overshadowed his screen performances. His dubious reputation in his later years also led to a rumor surrounding his one and only visit to Suspense. We'll hear him as a ham radio operator investigating something suspicious on the other end of the l...

Macdonald Carey starred on television for nearly 30 years in  Days of Our Lives , and his voice still introduces each episode of the long-running soap opera. But before he was a daytime TV star, he played a detective in love in Alfred Hitchcock's  Shadow of a Doubt and was one of Hollywood's B-movie kings. We'll hear him as a reporter searching for "The Missing Person" (originally aired on CBS on...

At the height of his career, Francis X. Bushman received over one thousand fan letters a week and was hailed as the "king of the movies." Bushman was a screen idol of the silent film era and he starred in hundreds of films in the earliest years of Hollywood. We'll hear him narrate a tale of romance and murder from classic Tinseltown in "The City That Was" (an AFRS rebroadcast from November 17, 195...

In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite  Suspense shows starring the great Edward G. Robinson. Best known for his tough guy turns in movies like  Little Caesar and  Key Largo , Robinson played against type to great effect on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." We'll hear him as a man accused of his imaginary wife's murder in "My Wife, Geraldine" (originally aired on CBS on March 1, 19...

Before Humphrey Bogart played tortured writer Dix Steele on the big screen in In a Lonely Place , Robert Montgomery played the man with a deadly secret in an adaptation of the novel on Suspense . The actor and director of  Lady in the Lake and  Ride the Pink Horse is star, producer, and host of this sixty-minute version of Dorothy B. Hughes' novel (originally aired on CBS on March 6, 1948).

Lurene Tuttle was the "first lady of radio" and one of the most-heard women in America during the 1940s and 50s. No matter where you turned your dial, you'd probably hear her on the air. She was Sam Spade's secretary, the  Great Gildersleeve's niece, and the mom of Red Skelton's "mean widdle kid" Junior, just to mention a few. We'll hear her in a pair of radio thrillers - first as a woman held hos...

Agnes Moorehead contends with a shipwreck and armed robbers in two more old time radio thrillers starring "the first lady of  Suspense ." First, she stars in a tale pulled from the history books as a sea captain's wife who is marooned along with her husband and his crew in "The Wreck of the Maid of Athens" (originally aired on CBS on November 30, 1952). Then, she's trapped in a closed grocery stor...

We kick off 2023 with Frank Lovejoy, star of radio ( Night Bea t), screen ( I Was a Communist for the FBI , In a Lonely Place ), and television ( Meet McGraw ). He co-stars with his wife Joan Banks as a married pair of entertainers caught in the path of a hurricane in "The Storm" (originally aired on CBS on March 2, 1953). Then, he's trapped in a carnival fun house with a dead body in "The Giant o...

In our annual holiday bonus episode, we'll hear the film's original cast reunite for a radio recreation of  It Happened on 5th Avenue . Charles Ruggles, Victor Moore, Gale Storm, and Don DeFore reprise their roles in this Christmas comedy about a hobo who makes his winter home in the New York mansion of the second richest man in the world, the evicted ex-GI who moves in, and the wealthy man's daug...

Before she was ten years old, Evelyn Rudie earned an Emmy nomination for her performance as Eloise in a TV adaptation of Kay Thompson's classic children's book. She also made two appearances on  Suspense , including a holiday offering from "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." We'll hear her as a little girl who wants a dog for Christmas in "Dog Star" (originally aired on CBS on December 22, 1...

The Oscar-winning star of  The Lost Weekend takes center stage in this bonus episode as I share my favorite episodes of Suspense starring Hitchcock villain and  Columbo killer Ray Milland. First, he's a cop who crosses the line in "Night Cry" (originally aired on CBS on October 7, 1948). Next, he lands in hot water when he leaves the house without so much as a nickel in "Chicken Feed" (originally...

At one time, Madeleine Carroll was the world's highest-paid actress, but she gave up Hollywood stardom to devote her life to helping children displaced by war and servicemen wounded on the battlefield. The English-born star appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps and co-starred with the likes of Gary Cooper, Ronald Colman, and Bob Hope before she committed herself to her charitable works. We'l...

Radio legend, TV detective, and Rocky and Bullwinkle narrator William Conrad returns in a pair of thrillers well calculated to keep you in  Suspense . First, he plays a man who confesses to murders he never committed. Charlotte Lawrence co-stars in "Case Study of a Murderer" (originally aired on CBS on January 20, 1955). Then, Conrad stars in an unusual - but excellent - episode of  Suspense . It'...

With a tough face, a gravelly voice, and a demeanor that meant business, Charles McGraw made memorable impressions on screen as both cops and criminals in movies like The Narrow Margin  and  The Killers .   McGraw starred on the big and small screens as well as the stage over the course of his long career. We'll hear him in a pair of "tales well calculated to keep you in  Suspense " plus the audit...

Note: No intro; is cold season over yet? We say goodbye to Tony-winner and Oscar-nominee Nancy Kelly this week as the star of The Bad Seed and the Broadway production of  Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? takes her final bow on the podcast. We'll hear her in a pair of thrillers from  Suspense plus an episode of  Escape for even more old time radio excitement. First, Ms. Kelly co-stars with Suspense...

June Havoc wore many hats during her long showbiz career - actress, singer, playwright, director, and more. The sister of legendary burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee, Havoc found her biggest successes on Broadway with appearances on the big and small screens in between acclaimed stage runs. In 1948, she married William Spier - "the Hitchcock of the airwaves" and longtime producer and director of  Sus...

For this bonus episode, we're celebrating "Noirvember" with five tales from crime fiction master Cornell Woolrich. His stories inspired movies like  Rear Window and  Phantom Lady and dozens of old time radio shows. First, Nancy Kelly is out to save her husband from a date with the executioner in "Eve" (an AFRS rebroadcast from October 19, 1944). Then, Lee Bowman stars in the search for a missing w...

Lloyd Nolan makes his final podcast visit in "Vial of Death" - the tale of a missing sample of cholera that threatens a city. This tense and timely thriller originally aired on CBS on May 18, 1953. We'll also hear the character actor in a radio adaptation of The House on 92nd Street . Nolan reprises his role as an FBI agent hunting Nazi spies in America in this broadcast from The Screen Guild Thea...

**Note: Intros aren't back yet. Thanks for your patience! In his final appearance on the podcast, Charles Laughton menaces June Havoc and recreates one of his classic screen roles. First, he co-stars with Ms. Havoc in "Blind Date" (originally aired on CBS on September 29, 1949). Then, Laughton is back in the uniform of the infamous Captain Bligh. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his perfo...

We close out this Halloween season of bonus spooky shows with an encore production of "The Hitchhiker" - Lucille Fletcher's harrowing account of horror on the highway that was later adapted for television by Rod Serling as an episode of  The Twilight Zone . We've heard Orson Welles in the 1942 Suspense production of the story; today, we'll hear Welles return to the role of cross-country driver Ron...

Note: No intro - 'tis the season for colds, congestion, and froggy voices. The name Edgar Allan Poe is synonymous with suspense and horror, and his tales of terror continue to give readers thrills and chills today. We'll hear a pair of Poe's stories adapted for "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." First, Henry Hull stars in the Inquisition-era tale of torture "The Pit and the Pendlum" (origin...

H.P. Lovecraft's classic chiller comes to life on radio in this week's bonus scary story. Ronald Colman stars in the  Suspense adaptation of "The Dunwich Horror" (Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast from November 1, 1945).

On radio, Stacy Harris chased crooks as a G-man, menaced Jack Webb on Dragnet , and lent his voice to Batman. Harris was a great actor who could be heard all over the dial and - later - seen on the big and small screens. We'll hear him in three old time radio thrillers, beginning with a terrific radio adaptation of Mary Shelley's  Frankenstein (originally aired on CBS on June 7, 1955). Then, he st...

In this week's bonus scary story, we catch a ride with  The Mysterious Traveler as the sinister storyteller relates the tale of an archeological expedition gone horribly wrong. It's "Behind the Locked Door" (originally aired on Mutual on November 6, 1951).

The son of radio actor Frank Readick, Robert Readick made his first radio appearances when he was a child, and he'd racked up nearly 7,000 broadcasts by his early 20s. He starred in shows like  21st Precinct ,  The Cavalcade of America , and as  Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar . We'll hear Readick in four old time radio thrillers from the sixties  Suspense era: "Two Came Back" (originally aired on CBS...