Stars On Suspense (old Time Radio)

Whether she was locked in a surfside embrace with Burt Lancaster or dancing with Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr turned in memorable performances on screen and earned six Oscar nominations over her long career. The star of An Affair to Remember and Heaven Knows, Mr. Allyson made only one appearance on Suspense as a beautiful thief in "The Lady Pamela" (originally aired on CBS on March 31, 1952). We'll also hear her in a thriller from the Hollywood Star Playhouse - "Haunt Me Not" (originally aired on NBC on August 17, 1952).

Singer, actor, director, producer - Dick Powell wore many hats during his career in Hollywood. Starting out in musical comedies, Powell reinvented himself as a tough guy film noir hero in the 1940s and he'd go on to a successful run as a director and producer on the big and small screens. We'll hear both of his Suspense appearances: "Slow Burn" (originally aired on CBS on February 23, 1950); and "Overdrawn" (originally aired on CBS on May 31, 1951).

Actress, singer, and World War II pin-up legend Betty Grable brings her "million dollar legs" to "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." Ms. Grable stars in a twisting mystery about an invalid mother, a frustrated daughter, and poison - "The Copper Tea Strainer" (originally aired on CBS on April 21, 1949). Then, we'll hear her playing for laughs with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in "Altar Bound," originally aired on The Gulf Screen Guild Theatre on CBS on February 23, 1941.

Oscar-winner Charles Laughton is back in more "tales well calculated to keep you in Suspense." We'll hear him co-star with his wife Elsa Lanchester in a radio adaptation of Agatha Christie's "The ABC Murders" (originally aired on May 18, 1943). Then, Laughton plays one of history's most notorious murderers in "Neil Cream, Doctor of Poison" (originally aired on CBS on September 17, 1951).

Eddie Bracken endeared himself to audiences with winning turns as lovable losers in comedies like The Miracle oft Morgan's Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero, but on Suspense he turned his "aw shucks" persona on its head for a series of shows as mysterious characters with sinister sides. We'll hear him in "The Visitor" (originally aired on CBS on May 11, 1944) and in "Elwood" (originally aired on CBS on March 5, 1947).

Suspense regular Richard Widmark is back in the saddle for two more old time radio thrillers. In "Tell You Why I Shouldn't Die" (originally aired on CBS on June 7, 1951), he's a pitchman trying to save his own life from an angry man with a gun. Then, Widmark stars in the story of an infamous and bloody Texas feud in "The Hunting of Bob Lee" (originally aired on CBS on October 29, 1951).

Oscar-winner Edmond O'Brien was one of Hollywood's most colorful character actors, making memorable appearances in The Killers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Seven Days in May, and more. He brought a tough, hard-boiled intensity to his Suspense appearances: as a reporter on the trail of a story worth killing for in "The Argyle Album" (originally aired on CBS on September 4, 1947) and as a gambler framed for murder in "Muddy Track" (originally aired on CBS on November 11, 1948).

Sophisticated and charming on screen, three-time Oscar nominee William Powell showed a different side in his performances on Suspense. His desperate characters - men on the run with greed and murder in their hearts - are miles away from his witty roles in The Thin Man films and My Man Godfrey. We'll hear Powell in "Give Me Liberty" (originally aired on CBS on October 21, 1948) and "The Escape of Lacey Abbott" (originally aired on CBS on January 19, 1950).

In her third and final performance on Suspense, four-time Oscar nominee Rosalind Russell is new bride whose marriage falls in the shadow of her grandfather's murder. We'll hear her in "When the Bough Breaks" (originally aired on CBS on May 3, 1951). Then, Russell reunites with Cary Grant in a radio recreation of His Girl Friday from The Gulf Screen Guild Theatre (originally aired on CBS on March 30, 1941).

A comedian's ability to keep audiences in stitches didn't mean he couldn't deliver a strong dramatic performance, and our stars this week prove that to be the case in their appearances on Suspense. Ed "Archie" Gardner of Duffy's Tavern is a crook hiding out among the ranks of the Spanish Civil War in "The Palmer Method" (originally aired on CBS on April 20, 1944). Then, Red Skelton isn't clowning around - he's a man obsessed with a mystery woman in "The Search for Isabel" (originally aired on CBS on November 3, 1949).

Alan Ladd returns to the podcast for the end of his run on Suspense. Ladd's big break came in film noir classics like This Gun for Hire, and his characters in these two radio thrillers are cut from the same cloth as the hard-boiled residents of those movies. We'll hear "One Way Ride to Nowhere" (originally aired on CBS on January 6, 1944) and "Motive for Murder" (originally aired on CBS on March 17, 1950).

Oscar and Emmy winner William Holden was one of Hollywood's biggest stars for decades, with his performances as cynical, conflicted men winning acclaim and awards. Whether he was the washed up screenwriter of Sunset Boulevard or the reluctant hero of The Bridge on the River Kwai, Holden kept audiences engrossed. We'll hear two of his visits to Suspense, beginning with the New Orleans jazz murder mystery "Blood on the Trumpet" (originally aired on CBS on November 9, 1950). Then he stars in a cautionary tale about the hell on wheels that are hot rods in "Report on the Jolly Death Riders" (originally aired on CBS on August 27, 1951).

For her final appearances on Suspense, Lucille Ball was joined by her then-husband Desi Arnaz. But unlike I Love Lucy, where they played for laughs, Lucy and Desi were cast in radio thrillers: tales of greed and menace. We’ll hear one of those shows – “The Red-Headed Woman,” originally aired on CBS on November 17, 1949. Then, we’ll hear an episode of My Favorite Husband, the Lucille Ball radio sitcom that led to the creation of I Love Lucy (originally aired on CBS on January 28, 1949).

Best known for crooning and comedy, Dennis Day shows off his dramatic side in a pair of thrillers from Suspense. The longtime cast member of The Jack Benny Program plays a beatnik who thinks a murder wrap is a gas in "Like, Man, Somebody Dig Me" (an Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast of an episode from August 16, 1959). Then, in a story just in time for the holidays, Day is a man who turns to crime for the money he desperately needs to care for his family in "Christmas for Carol" (originally aired on CBS on December 21, 1950). And as a special holiday bonus, we'll hear Dennis Day in his natural element in a Christmas episode of A Day in the Life of Dennis Day (originally aired on NBC on December 25, 1946).

Generations of viewers knew Lloyd Nolan from B-movies of the 1940s and later in television appearances through the 1980s. The Emmy winning star worked steadily in a fifty-six year career, always elevating material with his performances, whether he was playing heroes (like private eye Michael Shayne) or heavies. He had the opportunity to play bad guys of varying levels of villainy in his appearances on Suspense. We'll hear Nolan in "Heart's Desire" (originally aired on CBS on March 22, 1945) and "Murder for Myra" (originally aired on CBS on August 9, 1945).

Horror icon Vincent Price is back on Suspense in two more old time radio thrillers - including one of the scariest the medium ever produced. We'll hear Price as an artist with a dangerous muse in "The Name of the Beast" (originally aired on CBS on April 11, 1946). Then, you'll want to leave the lights on for "Three Skeleton Key" (originally aired on CBS on November 11, 1956). In this classic chiller, Price narrates the story of a lighthouse under siege from thousands of ravenous rats.

You'd never guess J. Carrol Naish hailed from New York. Celebrated as "Hollywood's one-man U.N.", Naish could convincingly play characters from all around the world. He played Italian immigrant Luigi Basco in the delightful radio comedy Life with Luigi, and he earned two Oscar nominations over his career. In his appearances on Suspense, Naish put his talents for accents and dialects to good use. We'll hear him in "Footfalls" (originally aired on July 12, 1945) and "Commuter's Ticket" (originally aired on CBS on August 1, 1946).

Tough big screen leading man Dana Andrews made four visits to “radio’s outstanding theater of thrills,” and the star of Laura, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and The Best Years of Our Lives made memorable impressions as both heroes and villains. We’ll hear him as a writer plotting the perfect murder in “Two Birds With One Stone” (originally aired on CBS on May 17, 1945) and as a cop pursuing a psychotic killer in an adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s “The Crowd” (originally aired on CBS on September 21, 1950).

With her glamorous looks and her mellifluous accent, Marlene Dietrich kept audiences captivated on stage and screen in her native Germany and later in Hollywood. She was one of the biggest stars of the World War II era, and she would go on to deliver indelible performances in Touch of Evil and Witness for the Prosecution. We'll hear Marlene Dietrich in her only Suspense appearance: "Murder Strikes Three Times" (originally aired on CBS on February 16, 1950). Then, she stars as a singer and spy in an episode of the international adventure drama Time for Love.

The "first lady of Suspense" returns to the podcast as Agnes Moorehead stars in two more old time radio thrillers. In these two shows - one a blend of comedy and crime and the other a tense psychological drama - Ms. Moorehead demonstrates why she made more appearances on the program than any other guest star. We'll hear "Post Mortem" (originally aired on CBS on April 4, 1946) and "The Thirteenth Sound" (originally aired on CBS on February 13, 1947).