Stars On Suspense (old Time Radio)

One of the earliest winners of the "Triple Crown" of acting, Thomas Mitchell was an always-welcome presence in some of the greatest movies of old Hollywood. Whether he was the bumbling but lovable Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life or the drunk Doc Boone in Stagecoach, Mitchell is always a treat to watch with an impish charm to his performances. He sheds that friendly nature for his two visits to Suspense: "Case History of Edgar Lowndes" (originally aired on CBS on June 8, 1944) and "John Barbie and Son" (originally aired on CBS on February 22, 1945).

For his third and fourth visits to Suspense, James Mason played two criminals who feel the pressure of the law closing in on them. In two different tales, the star of North by Northwest and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea proves once again that the wages of sin is death. First, he’s “The Greatest Thief in the World” (originally aired on CBS on June 21, 1951). Then, he recreates his film role in an adaptation of Carol Reed’s 1947 classic noir film Odd Man Out (originally aired on CBS on February 11, 1952).

Sometimes the stars who appeared on Suspense were up and comers in Hollywood, and they made their visits to “radio’s outstanding theater of thrills” before their big breaks or signature roles. Our leading men this week would go on to find big fame on the small screen in the 1960s. We’ll hear Robert Wagner –before It Takes a Thief and long before Hart to Hart – in “Listen, Young Lovers” (originally aired on CBS on May 31, 1954). Then, DeForest Kelley – several years before he boarded the USS Enterprise – in “Flesh Peddler” (an AFRS rebroadcast of an episode from August 4, 1957).

Oscar-winner Ray Milland makes two more visits to “radio’s outstanding theater of thrills” as two men in two very different but equally desperate situations. First, the star of The Lost Weekend is a man whose wife has been kidnapped in “After the Movies” (originally aired on CBS on December 7, 1950). Then, he stars in a story pulled from the history books - a tense confrontation between the British and Chinese - in “The Log of the Marne” (originally aired on CBS on October 22, 1951).

Vincent Price delivers a pair of terrifically unhinged performances in two more tales well calculated to keep you in Suspense. The star of House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler plays an axe murderer reliving his crime in “Present Tense” (originally aired on CBS on March 3, 1957). Then, Price stars as an actor who hopes to give his best performance - and get away with murder - in “Rave Notice” (originally aired on CBS on June 1, 1958).

Four-time Oscar nominee Barbara Stanwyck was one of the biggest stars of Hollywood, dazzling audiences with her dynamic turns in Double Indemnity, Stella Dallas, and more. We’ll hear Stanwyck in her one and only Suspense appearance - “The Wages of Sin” (originally aired on CBS on October 19, 1950). Then, she stars in a radio recreation of a big screen adaptation of one of the most famous Suspense shows of all time - “Sorry, Wrong Number” (originally aired on The Lux Radio Theatre on January 9, 1950).

Oscar-winner Ronald Colman was a radio fixture as Jack Benny’s long-suffering neighbor and a college president in The Halls of Ivy, but he could also be heard in tales of terror on Suspense. We’ll hear Colman in an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Dunwich Horror” (an Armed Forces Radio rebroadcast of an episode from November 1, 1945) and in “The Noose of Coincidence” (originally aired on CBS on April 7, 1949).

Whether he was a thorn in the side of The Absent Minded Professor or reluctantly destroying Coke machines in Dr. Strangelove, Keenan Wynn was always a welcome presence on screen. We’ll hear the character actor in two of his visits to “radio’s outstanding theater of thrills” - “The Walls Came Tumbling Down” (originally aired on CBS on June 29, 1944) and “I Had an Alibi” (originally aired on CBS on January 4, 1945).

Charles Laughton plays two very different - but equally disturbed - men in these installments of “radio’s outstanding theater of thrills.” The star of Witness for the Prosecution and Mutiny on the Bounty is “An Honest Man” (originally aired on CBS on August 5, 1948) and the infamous English executioner “Jack Ketch” (originally aired on CBS on September 22, 1952).

After she worked on radio as a child actor, Joan Lorring broke out in movies at age 19 with an Oscar-nominated turn in The Corn is Green. It was one of many successes she’d have in a career that took her to the big and small screens as well as the Broadway stage. We’ll hear her in two old time radio tales of Suspense: “A Man in the House” (originally aired on CBS on August 2, 1945) and “The Great Horrell” (originally aired on CBS on August 22, 1946).

Oscar-nominated actor Richard Widmark brings more of his unique intensity to Suspense as he stars in a pair of dramas pitting man against nature. We’ll hear him in “The Track of the Cat” (originally aired on CBS on February 18, 1952) and “How Long is the Night?” (originally aired on CBS on October 13, 1952).

Oscar and Tony-winning actor Jose Ferrer came to Suspense before he made his Hollywood debut when he was the toast of the Great White Way for his performance as Cyrano. He brought his stage actor’s intensity to his only performance on radio’s outstanding theater of thrills - an adaptation of Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” (originally aired on CBS on November 28, 1947). We’ll also hear the star as detective Philo Vance in “The Case of the Strange Music” (originally aired on NBC on August 9, 1945).

Feisty, fiercely independent Maureen O'Hara - the red-headed Irish-American leading lady of old Hollywood - made only one visit to "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," but it's a great episode that finds her playing a strong woman stepping up to track down a killer. It's "The White Rose Murders" (originally aired on CBS on July 6, 1943). Then she recreates her screen role from How Green Was My Valley in a broadcast from the Gulf Screen Guild Theatre (originally aired on CBS on March 22, 1942).

Joseph Cotten - hero of The Third Man and heel of Shadow of a Doubt - is back for two more visits to "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." He stars as a director caught up in a real-life mystery in "Sneak Preview" (originally aired on CBS on March 23, 1944) and as a convict who assumes the identity of a dead reverend in "Beyond Good and Evil" (originally aired on CBS on October 11, 1945).

We couldn't let 2018 end without one more Star On Suspense, and our final leading lady of the year is the great Judy Garland. She doesn't sing in her one and only visit to Suspense but she delivers a terrific dramatic performance in "Drive-In" (originally aired on CBS on November 21, 1946). Then, she recreates her iconic film role of Dorothy Gale as The Lux Radio Theatre presents "The Wizard of Oz" (originally aired on CBS on December 25, 1950).

Dapper British leading man Herbert Marshall returns to the Suspense microphone in two radio thrillers - including a chiller of a Christmas story. The star of Foreign Correspondent and The Little Foxes stars in "My Own Murderer" (originally aired on CBS on May 24, 1945) and in "Holiday Story" - an adaptation of John Collier's "Back for Christmas" - (originally aired on CBS on December 23, 1948).

Oscar-winning actress Mary Astor started in the silent era, transitioned to the talkies, and worked on stage, screen, and television even as she struggled with tragedies and trials off screen. We'll hear her in the only visit she made to Suspense - "In Fear and Trembling" (originally aired on February 16, 1943). Then, Mary Astor recreates her screen role of Brigid O'Shaughnessy in a Screen Guild Theatre production of "The Maltese Falcon" (originally aired on CBS on September 20, 1943).

For Gene Kelly's final performances on Suspense, he headlined two stories as a pair of dangerous, desperate men - characters who were miles from the men he played in musicals like Anchors Away and Singing in the Rain. Kelly trades song and dance for sinister scares in "The Man Who Couldn't Lose" (originally aired on CBS on September 28, 1944) and "To Find Help" (originally aired on CBS on January 4, 1949).

Gregory Peck stars in a "ripped from the headlines" tale of teenage drug addiction in his fifth and final appearance on Suspense. Peck plays a juvenile investigator in "The Truth About Jerry Baxter" (originally aired on CBS on June 14, 1951). Then, he recreates his screen role in a radio adaptation of Yellow Sky from the Screen Director's Playhouse (originally aired on NBC on July 15, 1949).

Jane Wyman won as Oscar for her performance as a deaf-mute woman in Johnny Belinda, but this week we'll hear her put her voice to excellent use acting and singing. She stars in "Catch Me If You Can" (originally aired on CBS on February 17, 1949) and visits Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in an episode of their comedy show from November 30, 1951.