Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

Latest Episodes:

Episode 322 - Robert Montgomery (Part 3) Jan 26, 2023

Show notes

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).

Episode 321 - Lurene Tuttle Jan 19, 2023

Show notes

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 hostage by a gunman waiting to kill her husband in "The Tip" (originally aired on CBS on July 6, 1954). Then, she co-stars with Rosalind Russell in "The Sisters," a dark tale of sibling rivalry (originally aired on CBS on December 9, 1948).

Episode 320 - Agnes Moorehead (Part 9) Jan 12, 2023

Show notes

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 store with a pair of gun-toting thieves who want to rob the safe and eliminate any witnesses in "Weekend Special - Death" (originally aired on CBS on May 24, 1954).

Episode 319 - Frank Lovejoy (Part 4) Jan 05, 2023

Show notes

We kick off 2023 with Frank Lovejoy, star of radio (Night Beat), 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 of Thermopalye" (originally aired on CBS on May 3, 1954). Plus we'll hear Lovejoy in "The Hangtree Affair" from The Whistler (originally aired on CBS on December 19, 1948).

BONUS - Silver Bells, Silver Screen 2022 Dec 23, 2022

Show notes

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 daughter who falls in with these friendly trespassers. This is an Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast of a show that originally aired on CBS on May 19, 1947.

Episode 318 - Evelyn Rudie Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

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, 1957). Then, she's got a new imaginary friend and a new game in an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "Zero Hour" (originally aired on CBS on May 18, 1958). Plus, as a bonus, we'll hear "The Cave," another Suspense Christmas story about two boys who discover a world of adventure when they go exploring on Christmas Day (originally aired on CBS on December 20, 1955).

BONUS - Best of Ray Milland Dec 16, 2022

Show notes

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 aired on CBS on September 8, 1949). Then, Milland is a gumshoe in an adaptation of Raymond Chandler's "Pearls are a Nuisance" (originally aired on CBS on April 20, 1950). And finally, he's a juror who discovers a plan to swing the verdict in "After the Movies" (originally aired on CBS on December 7, 1950).

Episode 317 - Madeleine Carroll Dec 15, 2022

Show notes

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'll hear Ms. Carroll in her one and only Suspense show "The Morrison Affair" - a story of a woman who steals a baby and tries to pass the child off as her own (originally aired on CBS on September 2, 1948). Plus, she co-stars with Charles Boyer in a Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (originally aired on CBS on December 1, 1947).

Episode 316 - William Conrad (Part 3) Dec 08, 2022

Show notes

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's an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's science fiction story "Kaleidoscope" (originally aired on CBS on July 12, 1955). Plus, we'll hear Conrad as a private eye long before Cannon hit the small screen. He plays Philip Marlowe in "The Anniversary Gift" (originally aired on CBS on April 11, 1950). And finally we'll hear him in his best-known radio role - US Marshal Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke (originally aired on CBS on November 21, 1953).

Episode 315 - Charles McGraw Dec 06, 2022

Show notes

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 audition recording for a hardboiled police procedural drama. First, he's trying to avert a disaster in the sky in "Two Hundred and Twenty Seven Minutes of Hate" (an AFRS rebroadcast from February 24, 1957). Then, he's fresh out of prison with a plan to get revenge on the prosecutor who sent him there in "The Silver Frame" (originally aired on CBS on February 2, 1958). Finally, McGraw stars as Lt. Lou Dana in the audition recording for The Man from Homicide (recorded on or around September 16, 1950).

Coming up next: A bonus episode featuring the best of Ray Milland on Suspense and on Sunday, 12/11 William Conrad returns to the podcast!

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