Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

Latest Episodes:

Episode 292 - Virginia Bruce (Part 2) Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

The singing star of The Great Ziegfeld returns to the podcast as we listen to Virginia Bruce's final appearances on Suspense. First, she's afraid she's being stalked by a man who's supposedly still in prison in "The Night Man" (originally aired on CBS on October 26, 1946). Then, Ms. Bruce is a lonely housewife who falls for a handsome - and mysterious - new handyman in "Knight Comes Riding" (originally aired on CBS on May 22, 1947).

Click here for two more of Virginia Bruce's Suspense shows.

And click here to hear her opposite Robert Young in the Suspense drama "Celebration."

Episode 291 - Nancy Coleman Jun 09, 2022

Show notes

Nancy Coleman got her start in the casts of radio soap operas before she hit the Broadway stage and the big screen. We'll hear her as a young woman who may be losing her mind in "Fear Paints a Picture" (originally aired on CBS on April 13, 1943). Then, she co-stars with George Murphy in a tale of a couple who decide to kill to collect an early inheritance in "Too Little to Live On" (AFRS rebroadcast from February 7, 1946). Plus, Nancy Coleman stars in "The Second-Hand Pistol," a cautionary tale from the syndicated series Crime Does Not Pay.

Episode 290 - George Coulouris Jun 04, 2022

Show notes

George Coulouris arrived on the Broadway stage from London and soon struck up a friendship with a young Orson Welles. It led to a long professional relationship as Coulouris appeared in Welles' plays, his radio dramas, and his classic film Citizen Kane. Outside of his work with Welles, Coulouris found success on stage and both the big and small screens in the States and in England. We'll hear him as a professor caught in a murder plot in "The Last Detail" (originally aired on CBS on July 5, 1945). Then, he's a con man with his eye on an inheritance in "The Long Shot" (originally aired on CBS on January 31, 1946). We'll also hear him as debonair detective Bulldog Drummond in the 1941 audition recording that brought the character to radio.

BONUS - Best of Vincent Price May 27, 2022

Show notes

In this bonus show, I'm sharing my four favorite episodes of Suspense starring the great Vincent Price. First, he co-stars with Ida Lupino in "Fugue in C Minor," a Victorian-era chiller from Lucille Fletcher (originally aired on CBS on June 1, 1944). Next, Price and Lloyd Nolan go on a "Hunting Trip," but only one man will come back alive (originally aired on CBS on September 12, 1946). Then, Claude Rains joins Vincent Price in the hunt for a serial strangler in "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1948). Finally, Price stars in one of the scariest old time radio shows of all time - "Three Skeleton Key" (originally aired on CBS on November 11, 1956).

Episode 289 - Margaret Whiting (Part 2) May 26, 2022

Show notes

In her final appearances on Suspense, singer Margaret Whiting found herself menaced by a pair of deranged villains. First, in "Never Follow a Banjo Act," she's a cabaret singer on tour with a knife-loving psychopath (originally aired on CBS on March 2, 1958). Then, as a carhop, she accepts a ride home from a dangerous stranger in "Drive-In" (originally aired on CBS on June 14, 1959).

Episode 288 - Jim Backus May 19, 2022

Show notes

Before he was one of seven castaways stranded on Gilligan's Island, Jim Backus showed off his dramatic chops in two episodes of Suspense. Backus leaves Mr. Magoo behind - first as a blind man marked for death by the mob in "See How He Runs" (originally aired on CBS on April 19, 1959). Then - co-starring with his wife Henny - he plays a man plunging deeper into mental illness in "Pages from a Diary" (originally aired on CBS on August 19, 1962). We'll also hear him as Alan Young's haughty romantic rival in an episode of The Alan Young Show (originally aired on NBC on May 16, 1947) and as a tailor with an unusual problem in Richard Diamond, Private Detective (originally aired on ABC on February 9, 1951).

Episode 287 - Paul Lukas (Part 2) May 12, 2022

Show notes

Oscar-winner Paul Lukas takes his final bow on the podcast as a blind man who witnesses a murder in "A World of Darkness" (originally aired on CBS on January 20, 1944). Then, he recreates the performance that won him his Best Actor prize in "Watch on the Rhine" on Academy Award (originally aired on CBS on August 7, 1946).

Episode 286 - Tyrone Power May 05, 2022

Show notes

He made a name for himself in swashbuckling, sword and sandal movies, but Tyrone Power wanted to be more than a romantic hero. After his military service, he sought to leave the fencing of Zorro behind and embraced darker, more complex roles in movies like Nightmare Alley and Witness for the Prosecution. We'll hear him as a man accused of a murder he didn't commit in "The Guilty Always Run" (originally aired on CBS on March 29, 1954). Then, he joins Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone for an evening at a Paris nightclub in The Jack Benny Program (originally aired on CBS on December 4, 1949).

Episode 285 - Robert Ryan Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

Robert Ryan was a classic big screen heavy, a memorable menace in Crossfire, Bad Day at Black Rock, and more. He was a terrific tough guy, but offscreen, he was a pacifist who supported the civil rights movement and opposed McCarthyism. We'll hear him opposite Ruth Warrick in the sixty-minute Suspense drama "Beyond Reason" (originally aired on CBS on February 21, 1948).

Episode 284 - Ray Bradbury (Part 2) Apr 20, 2022

Show notes

The worlds of Ray Bradbury jump from the page to the airwaves with four old time radio adaptations of his stories. First, a ventriloquist's dummy holds the key to a murder case in "Riabouchinska" (originally aired on CBS on November 13, 1947). Next, a little girl tries to save a woman in danger, but no one believes "The Screaming Woman" is real (originally aired on CBS on March 1, 1955). Finally, we'll hear a pair of Bradbury's classic sci-fi tales adapted for the airwaves. First, his novel "The Martian Chronicles" is presented on Dimension X (originally aired on NBC on August 18, 1950). And a group of astronauts wonder if "Mars is Heaven" on X Minus One (originally aired on NBC on May 8, 1955).

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