Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

Latest Episodes:

BONUS - Best Two-Handers Mar 27, 2024

Show notes

We've got two stars for the price of one in each of these Suspense shows! For this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite installments of "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" that featured a pair of big name stars at the microphone. J. Carrol Naish and Joseph Cotten are hunter and hunted in "The Most Dangerous Game" (originally aired on CBS on February 1, 1945) and Hume Cronyn and Keenan Wynn hope a big bet will bail them out of trouble in "Double Entry" (originally aired on CBS on December 20, 1945). Vincent Price joins Lloyd Nolan on a "Hunting Trip" (originally aired on CBS on September 12, 1946) and walks the streets of London with Claude Rains in "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1948). Finally, Fibber McGee and Molly are joined by an armed and unwelcome passenger in "Backseat Driver" (originally aired on CBS on February 3, 1949), and Phil Harris and Alice Faye try to escape a small town's harsh justice in "Death on My Hands" (originally aired on CBS on May 10, 1951).

Episode 371 - Virginia Gregg Mar 24, 2024

Show notes

Virginia Gregg was one of the radio era's busiest and best performers. The versatile and talented actress could be heard on everything from detective dramas to westerns, often playing multiple characters in the same episode. We'll hear her as a woman held captive by a maniac in "Goodnight, Mrs. Russell" (originally aired on CBS on August 3, 1954) and as half of a murderous pair of newlyweds in "When the Bough Breaks" (originally aired on CBS on December 6, 1955). Plus, we'll hear her in a thriller from the typewriter of the great Arch Oboler - "Come to the Bank With Me" (originally aired on NBC on October 31, 1964).

BONUS - When Irish Stars Are On Suspense Mar 16, 2024

Show notes

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, we've got a line-up of Irish-American stars making appearances on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." Maureen O'Hara is an amateur sleuth hunting a killer in "The White Rose Murders" (originally aired on CBS on July 6, 1943) and Thomas Mitchell is a railroad magnate plagued by nightmares in "Case History of Edgar Lowndes" (originally aired on CBS on June 8, 1944). Edmond O'Brien plays a reporter chasing a story worth killing for in "The Argyle Album" (originally aired on CBS on September 4, 1947) and James Cagney takes a deadly trip behind the wheel in "No Escape" (originally aired on CBS on December 16, 1948). Pat O'Brien is a cop who finds a suspect close to home in "True Report" (originally aired on CBS on August 31, 1950) and Dennis Day is a beatnik - you read that right - in "Like Man, Somebody Dig Me" (AFRS rebroadcast from August 16, 1959).

Episode 370 - Joseph Cotten (Part 8) Mar 07, 2024

Show notes

We bid farewell to Joseph Cotten - an institution on Suspense. The star of The Third Man made 18 appearances on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," and we'll hear his final shows, including an adaptation of Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" (originally aired on CBS on December 15, 1957). In his last starring role on Suspense, Cotten plays a man trying to save one of his former soldiers from prisons both mental and physical in "Red Cloud Mesa" (originally aired on CBS on August 2, 1959). Plus, he recreates his role from Shadow of a Doubt on Academy Award (originally aired on CBS on September 11, 1946) and he pinch hits as a secret agent in The Man Called X (originally aired on NBC on July 6, 1951).

Episode 369 - Martha Scott Mar 01, 2024

Show notes

Though never considered a bankable star by the studios, Martha Scott worked steadily on the big and small screens for fifty years. She earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film version of Our Town and she set baby Moses in the basket in The Ten Commandments. She stars in a very odd episode of Suspense as a mother who experiences a frightening vision of her child's future in "Crisis" (originally aired on CBS on August 19, 1948). Plus she recreates one of her film roles in "Cheers for Miss Bishop" on The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on CBS on March 17, 1941).

BONUS - Suspense Goes West Feb 28, 2024

Show notes

For this bonus episode, we're saddling up with the best Suspense stories of the old west. Alan Ladd hunts for his brother's murderer in "A Killing in Abilene" (originally aired on CBS on December 14, 1950). Then, Richard Widmark fights a bloody feud in "The Hunting of Bob Lee" (originally aired on CBS on October 29, 1951) and he tracks a deadly panther through the snow in "The Track of the Cat" (originally aired on CBS on February 18, 1952). Frank Lovejoy stars as one of the west's most infamous gunslingers in "The Shooting of Billy the Kid" (originally aired on CBS on April 28, 1952) and Richard Widmark returns - this time as another notorious outlaw - in "The Spencer Brothers" (originally aired on CBS on January 26, 1953). Finally, Victor Mature stars as a legendary bandit in "The Love and Death of Joaquin Murietta" (originally aired on CBS on February 16, 1953).

Episode 368 - William Conrad (Part 4) Feb 23, 2024

Show notes

Whether he was keeping the peace in Dodge City or playing a villain on Suspense, William Conrad was one of radio's all-time greatest performers. We'll hear the man with one of Hollywood's best voices in three old time radio thrillers. First, he's a hired killer whose plans never quite pan out in "A Matter of Timing" (originally aired on CBS on June 12, 1956). Then, he's on a cross-country drive that gets detoured when he and his friend are wrongfully accused of murder in "Two for the Road" (originally aired on CBS on November 9, 1958). Finally, Conrad narrates a tense tale of an effort to fix an active atomic bomb at a test site in "Misfire" (AFRS rebroadcast from November 30, 1958). And as a bonus, we'll hear him in his signature radio role as Matt Dillon in "The Buffalo Hunter" from Gunsmoke (originally aired on CBS on May 9, 1953).

BONUS - Romance Gone Wrong Feb 14, 2024

Show notes

In this bonus podcast episode, a collection of characters makes the St. Valentine's Day massacre look like a picnic. We'll hear five Suspense stories about romances gone wrong with husbands and wives at each other's throats. Peter Lorre plots to get rid of an unfaithful wife in "Till Death Do Us Part" (originally aired on CBS on December 15, 1942), and even though his wife isn't real, Edward G. Robinson still winds up accused of her murder in "My Wife Geraldine" (originally aired on CBS on March 1, 1945). Robert Young's wife vanishes into the night in "You'll Never See Me Again" (originally aired on CBS on September 5, 1946) and Kirk Douglas plans to bump off his wife instead of sharing an inheritance in "Community Property" (originally aired on CBS on April 10, 1947). Finally, Joan Fontaine is a Mrs. planning to do away with her Mr. in "The Lovebirds" (originally aired on CBS on March 3, 1949).

BONUS - Best of Van Heflin Feb 09, 2024

Show notes

In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite installments of Suspense starring Oscar-winner Van Heflin. First, he's an executive with a murderous plan to climb the corporate ladder in "Three Blind Mice" (originally aired on CBS on January 30, 1947) and he's a man caught by his own trap for his unfaithful wife in "Three O'Clock" (originally aired on CBS on March 10, 1949). Heflin plays a hitchhiker who plots to take the place of the man who gives him a lift in "Murder of Aunt Delia" (originally aired on CBS on November 10, 1949) and he plays a reporter invited to a midnight meeting with a serial killer in "The Lady in the Red Hat" (originally aired on CBS on November 30, 1950). Finally, Heflin stars as America's first Public Enemy Number One in "The Last Days of John Dillinger" (originally aired on CBS on May 10, 1954).

Episode 367 - Parley Baer Feb 08, 2024

Show notes

Parley Baer may be best known to old time radio fans for his many years in Dodge City as Deputy Chester Proudfoot on Gunsmoke, but he lent his voice to hundreds of radio shows across nearly every genre on the air. We'll hear him in a Suspense western as a man hunting his brother's murderer in "A Killing in Abilene" (originally aired on CBS on February 3, 1955). Then, he's a husband planning a deadly summer getaway for his wife in "Variations on a Theme" (originally aired on CBS on February 7, 1956). Finally, we'll hear Baer in his signature radio role in "Westbound" from Gunsmoke (originally aired on CBS on January 3, 1953).

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