Mar 30, 2017
Jack Benny sets down his violin and climbs out of his Maxwell for his final appearances on Suspense. Radio’s most popular comedian returns to “radio’s outstanding theater of thrills” as a Martian on a mission in “Plan X” (originally aired on CBS on February 2, 1953) and a reluctant bank robber in “The Face...
Happy Birthday, Lucille Fletcher
Mar 28, 2017
Lucille Fletcher, the writer who gave radio some of its all-time classic spine-tingling thrillers, was born March 28, 1912. Though she penned novels, plays, and even the libretto of an opera, Fletcher remains best known for her radio plays, a roster that includes some of the best episodes of Suspense.
A graduate of...
Happy Birthday, Frank Lovejoy
Mar 28, 2017
Actor Frank Lovejoy was born March 28, 1912. In his all-too short career before his death at age 50, Lovejoy appeared on the big and small screens in memorable roles. One of my favorites is his turn as Detective Nicolai, an old friend of Humphrey Bogart's who begins to suspect Bogie of murder in Nicholas Ray's In a...
Happy Birthday, Gloria Swanson
Mar 27, 2017
Actress and three-time Oscar nominee Gloria Swanson was born March 27, 1899. Best known as silent movie queen Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, Swanson's career spanned from the silent era to television, and she also produced several films.
A major star of the silent era, Swanson's career began to decline with the...
Happy Birthday, Joan Crawford
Mar 23, 2017
Oscar-winning actress Joan Crawford was born March 23, 1904. After bursting on to the Hollywood scene in the 1930s with success in both silent films and talkies - an era where she was one of the highest-paid women in America, she closed out the decade branded as “box office poison.” However, a comeback with...