Birthday:
09-26-1877
Deathday:
09-06-1959 (81 years)
Birthplace:
Wandsworth, London, England, UK
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edmund Gwenn (born Edmund John Kellaway, 26 September 1877– 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is perhaps best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street (1947), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the corresponding Golden Globe Award. He received a second Golden Globe and another Academy Award nomination for the comedy film Mister 880 (1950). He is also remembered for being in four films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
As a stage actor in the West End and on Broadway, Gwenn was associated with a wide range of works by modern playwrights, including Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy and J. B. Priestley. After the Second World War, he lived in the United States, where he had a successful career in Hollywood and on Broadway.
Actor Arthur Chesney was his brother and actor Cecil Kellaway was their cousin.
Edmund Gwenn (born Edmund John Kellaway, 26 September 1877– 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is perhaps best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street (1947), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the corresponding Golden Globe Award. He received a second Golden Globe and another Academy Award nomination for the comedy film Mister 880 (1950). He is also remembered for being in four films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
As a stage actor in the West End and on Broadway, Gwenn was associated with a wide range of works by modern playwrights, including Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy and J. B. Priestley. After the Second World War, he lived in the United States, where he had a successful career in Hollywood and on Broadway.
Actor Arthur Chesney was his brother and actor Cecil Kellaway was their cousin.
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Their works
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Lassie Come Home
Act like Rowlie Palmer
event1943 star_border 6.6
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Hard times come for the Carraclough family and they are forced to sell their dog, Lassie, to the rich Duke of Rudling. Lassie, however, is unwilling to remain apart from young Carraclough son Joe and sets out on a long and dangerous journey to rejoin him.
Them!
Act like Dr. Harold Medford
event1954 star_border 6.8
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As a result of nuclear testing, gigantic, ferocious mutant ants appear in the American desert southwest, and a father-daughter team of entomologists join forces with the state police officer who first discovers their existence, an FBI agent and, eventually, the US Army to eradicate the menace, before it spreads across the continent — and the world.
The Trouble with Harry
Act like Captain Wiles
event1955 star_border 7
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When a local man's corpse appears on a nearby hillside, no one is quite sure what happened to him. Many of the town's residents secretly wonder if they are responsible, including the man's ex-wife, Jennifer, and Capt. Albert Wiles, a retired seaman who was hunting in the woods where the body was found. As the no-nonsense sheriff gets involved and local artist Sam Marlowe offers his help, the community slowly unravels the mystery.
Sylvia Scarlett
Act like Henry Scarlett
event1935 star_border 6.3
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When her father decides to flee to England, young Sylvia Scarlett must become Sylvester Scarlett and protect her father every step of the way, with the questionable help of plenty others.
Miracle on 34th Street
Act like Kris Kringle
event1947 star_border 7.4
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Kris Kringle, seemingly the embodiment of Santa Claus, is asked to portray the jolly old fellow at Macy's following his performance in the Thanksgiving Day parade. His portrayal is so complete that many begin to question if he truly is Santa Claus, while others question his sanity.
Between Two Worlds
Act like Scrubby
event1944 star_border 7
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Passengers on an ocean liner can't recall how they got onboard or where they are going. Soon it becomes apparent that they all have something in common.
The Walking Dead
Act like Dr. Evan Beaumont
event1936 star_border 6.2
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Down-on-his-luck John Ellman is framed for a judge's murder. After he's convicted and sentenced to death, witnesses come forth and prove his innocence. But it was too late for a stay to be granted and Ellman is executed. A doctor uses an experimental procedure to restore him to life, though the full outcome is other than expected.
Life with Father
Act like Rev. Dr. Lloyd
event1947 star_border 6.5
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A straitlaced turn-of-the-century father presides over a family of boys and the mother who really rules the roost.
Bewitched
Act like Dr. Bergson
event1945 star_border 5.3
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A girl enlists a psychic to get rid of her murderous alternate personality.
Challenge to Lassie
Act like John Traill
event1949 star_border 4.8
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When Lassie's master dies, an old friend tries to convince a judge that the dog's life should be spared.
Forever and a Day
Act like Stubbs
event1943 star_border 7.4
top_panel_open
In World War II, American Gates Trimble Pomfret is in London during the Blitz to sell the ancestral family house. The current tenant, Leslie Trimble, tries to dissuade him from selling by telling him the 140-year history of the place and the connections between the Trimble and Pomfret families.
Charley's Aunt
Act like Stephen Spettigue
event1941 star_border 5.8
top_panel_open
In 1890, two students at Oxford force their rascally friend and fellow student to pose as an aunt from Brazil--where the nuts come from.
The Devil and Miss Jones
Act like Hooper
event1941 star_border 7.7
top_panel_open
The wealthiest man in the world, John P. Merrick, is a private person who likes to stay anonymous. One of his many assets is Neeley's Department Store. There is labor unrest at the store, and the employees' anger is directed at him, who they hang in effigy outside the store despite not knowing what he looks like. Merrick, not happy at what he sees going on, decides to mete out the rabble-rousers. So he goes undercover as a sales clerk in the shoe department.
Anthony Adverse
Act like John Bonnyfeather
event1936 star_border 5.7
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Based on the novel by Hervey Allen, this expansive drama follows the many adventures of the eponymous hero, Anthony Adverse. Abandoned at a convent by his heartless nobleman father, Don Luis, Anthony is later mentored by his kind grandfather, John Bonnyfeather, and falls for the beautiful Angela Giuseppe. When circumstances separate Anthony and Angela and he embarks on a long journey, he must find his way back to her, no matter what the cost.
Pride and Prejudice
Act like Mr. Bennet
event1940 star_border 6.9
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Mrs. Bennet wishes to wed her five unmarried daughters and is overjoyed when a wealthy bachelor begins living nearby, but misunderstandings make happiness difficult.
Undercurrent
Act like Professor Hamilton
event1946 star_border 5.8
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After a rapid engagement, a dowdy daughter of a chemist weds an industrialist, knowing little of his family or past. He transforms her into an elegant society wife, but becomes enraged whenever she asks about Michael, his mysterious long-lost brother.
The Keys of the Kingdom
Act like Fr. Hamish MacNabb
event1944 star_border 7
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A young priest, Father Chisholm is sent to China to establish a Catholic parish among the non-Christian Chinese. While his boyhood friend, also a priest, flourishes in his calling as a priest in a more Christian area of the world, Father Chisholm struggles. He encounters hostility, isolation, disease, poverty and a variety of set backs which humble him, but make him more determined than ever to succeed.
The Student Prince
Act like Prof. Juttner
event1954 star_border 6.3
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A prince has a romance with a barmaid before he must give up personal happiness for duty.
Early to Bed
Act like Kruger
event1933
top_panel_open
'Manicurist Grete and nightclub waiter Carl share a bed, but not at the same time. They hate each other, even though they have never met. Their rented room is next to a cinema with its frankfurter-munching projectionist and romantic musical numbers that seem to permeate their lives. Might they meet and fall in love?' (BFI)
The Skin Game
Act like Mr. Hornblower
event1931 star_border 5.3
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An old traditional family and a modern family battle over land in a small English village.
Waltzes from Vienna
Act like Johann Strauss, the Elder
event1934 star_border 5.3
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Johann Strauss Jr. is forced by his father to forget music and to work in a bakery, where he falls in love with Resi, the baker's daughter. The girl gets jealous when a contessa asks Strauss Jr. to write a waltz for her.
The Bigamist
Act like Mr. Jordan
event1953 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
San Francisco businessman Harry Graham and his wife and business partner, Eve, are in the process of adopting a child. When private investigator Mr. Jordan uncovers the fact that Graham has another wife, Phyllis, and a small child in Los Angeles, he confesses everything.
Bonzo Goes to College
Act like Coach Ted 'Pop' Drew
event1952 star_border 5
top_panel_open
When Bonzo turns out to be the answer to the football teams troubles, the only solution is to enroll him college.
Mister 880
Act like William "Skipper" Miller
event1950 star_border 6.9
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The Skipper is a charming old man loved by all his neighbors. What they don't know is that he is also Mr. 880, an amateurish counterfeiter who has amazingly managed to elude the Secret Service for 20 years.
For Heaven's Sake
Act like Arthur
event1950 star_border 6.9
top_panel_open
An angel takes on human form in order to persuade a theatrical couple to finally consummate their child that has been waiting to be born.
The Good Companions
Act like Jess Oakroyd
event1933 star_border 5.8
top_panel_open
Film musical taken from JB Priestley's novel about three musicians joining together to save a failing concert party, the Dinky Doos.
South Riding
Act like Alfred Huggins
event1938 star_border 6.2
top_panel_open
Winifred Holtby realised that Local Government is not a dry affair of meetings and memoranda:- but 'the front-line defence thrown up by humanity against its common enemies of sickness, poverty and ignorance.' She built her story around six people working for a typical County Council:- Beneath the lives of the public servants runs the thread of their personal drama. Our story tells how a public life affects the private life; and how a man's personal sufferings make him what he is in public. " Corruption, intrigue and romance in a Yorkshire setting. A country squire whose wife is in a mental hospital becomes attracted to a crusading local schoolmistress.
The Doctor Takes a Wife
Act like Dr. Lionel Sterling
event1940 star_border 6.5
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A best-selling author of women's issues and a medical academic find it is to their mutual advantage to falsely claim that they are married.
Mister Scoutmaster
Act like Dr. Stone
event1953 star_border 6.5
top_panel_open
Snobby TV star, Robert Jordan, worries that he is out of touch with the younger generation and that's why his TV show is failing. He becomes a Boy Scout leader in an effort to "get in touch." Overnight hikes and other adventures follow, all centered around one small boy who takes a liking to the old curmudgeon.
The Rocket from Calabuch
Act like Prof. Jorge Serra Hamilton
event1956 star_border 7.4
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Professor Hamilton, a naive Nuclear scientist who once thought bombs were good for humanity, realizes his mistake and runs away from his inventions. He hides in Calabuch, a beautiful seaside town where people still believe in humor and friendship.
Green Dolphin Street
Act like Octavius Patourel
event1947 star_border 6.1
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Sophie loved Edmund, but he left town when her parents forced her to marry wealthy Octavius. Years later, Edmund returns with his son, William. Sophie's daughter, Marguerite, and William fall in love. Marguerite's sister, Marianne, also loves William. Timothy, a lowly carpenter, secretly loves Marianne. He kills a man in a fight, and Edmund helps him flee to New Zealand. William deserts inadvertently from the navy, and also flees in disgrace to New Zealand, where he and Timothy start a profitable business. One night, drunk, William writes Octavius, demanding his daughter's hand; but, being drunk, he asks for the wrong sister.
Dangerous Partners
Act like Albert Richard Kingby
event1945 star_border 6.3
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A young couple's accident could make them rich, if they can evade a Nazi spy ring.
Cheers for Miss Bishop
Act like President Corcoran
event1941 star_border 5.9
top_panel_open
Ella Bishop is an inhibited girl whose frustrations grow as she approaches womanhood. As a women, her ambitions to teach cause her to lose her only opportunity for true love. Ella's life becomes one of missed chances and wrong choices. As she reaches old age, she reflects back and realizes she allowed the years to go by without achieving what she believes to be her true fulfillment. However, her years have not been without glory, and her moment of triumph arrives when her numerous now-famous students from over the years, return to honor their beloved Miss Bishop.
Sally and Saint Anne
Act like Grandpa Pat Ryan
event1952 star_border 8
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An Irish-American girl asks the saint to guide her family and save them from an alderman.
Hills of Home
Act like Mr. Milton
event1948 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
William McClure is the villlage doctor in a remote Scottish glen. Tricked into buying Lassie, a collie afraid of water, he sets about teaching her to swim. At the same time he has the bigger problem that he is getting older and must ensure the glen will have a new local doctor ready.
The Earl of Chicago
Act like Munsey, the Butler
event1940 star_border 5.6
top_panel_open
A behind the times Chicago bootlegger goes to England with his lawyer to claim his estate as the Earl of Gorley.
A Woman of Distinction
Act like J.D. Middlecott
event1950 star_border 6.2
top_panel_open
Ice-cold college dean Susan Middlecott feels there's no room in her life for romance. Enter Prof. Alec Stevenson, British lecturer on astronomy, touring North America and in possession of a keepsake of Susan's he wants to return. Desperate for publicity, lecture bureau press agent Teddy Evans magnifies this into a great romance. The efforts of both dignified principals to quash the story have the opposite effect; matters get more and more involved.
Les Miserables
Act like Bishop Courbet
event1952 star_border 5.4
top_panel_open
In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.
Mad Holiday
Act like Williams
event1936 star_border 6
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A temperamental film star's vacation turns deadly when he uncovers a murder.
Of Human Bondage
Act like Athelny
event1946 star_border 6
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A medical student with a club foot falls for a beautiful but ambitious waitress. She soon leaves him, but gets pregnant and comes back to him for help.
Cheer Boys Cheer
Act like Edward Ironside
event1939 star_border 5.8
top_panel_open
Shades of "Romeo and Juliet" with rival British Brewery owners who hate each other and their children who fall in love.
Peking Express
Act like Father Joseph Murray
event1951 star_border 8
top_panel_open
A group of refugees fleeing Chinese Communist rule via train are beset by a gang of terrifying outlaws.
It's a Dog's Life
Act like Jeremiah Edward Emmett Augustus Nolan
event1955 star_border 3
top_panel_open
A bull terrier tells his life story, from the streets of the Bowery to a life of luxury.
Pretty Baby
Act like Cyrus Baxter
event1950 star_border 6
top_panel_open
A young woman living in Manhattan pretends to be the mother of an infant in order to get a seat on the subway.
I Was a Spy
Act like Burgomaster
event1933 star_border 5.5
top_panel_open
During World War I, a young nurse in a hospital in German-occupied Belgium is secretly feeding military information to the British. Complicating matters is the guilt she feels when she has to treat the German casualties inflicted as a result of the information she's passed on, and the fact that the local German commandant is falling in love with her.
Cash
Act like Edmund Gilbert
event1933 star_border 4.6
top_panel_open
A formerly wealthy man and his daughter try to regain wealth by selling a scheme to some investors, when they come upon a huge amount of unclaimed cash that a young electrician has in his tool box.
The Skin Game
Act like Hornblower
event1921
top_panel_open
An old traditional family and a modern family battle over land in a small English village. The original silent version of a film Hitchcock later adapted with sound.
Penny Paradise
Act like Joe Higgins
event1938 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
A Liverpool tug boat captain finds he's won a fortune on the penny pools and it changes his life. However, after giving up his job and throwing a large expensive party, he discovers that he may not really have won after all.
Apartment for Peggy
Act like Prof. Henry C. Barnes
event1948 star_border 7.8
top_panel_open
Professor Henry Barnes decides he's lived long enough and contemplates suicide. His attitude is changed by Peggy Taylor, a chipper young mother-to-be who charms him into renting out his attic as an apartment for her and her husband Jason, a former GI struggling to finish college.
Java Head
Act like Jeremy Ammidon
event1934 star_border 6
top_panel_open
The port city of Bristol, England, in the 1800s is home to Java Head, a sailing ship line company. The owner has two sons. One, a handsome seafarer, is in love with a local girl, but cannot marry her due to a long-running feud between their fathers. After a lengthy voyage, he returns with a very exotic, noble Chinese wife, which scandalizes the conservative town. His other son, a "landlubber", seeks to convert to steamships, to the disgust of his father. Even worse, he is secretly dealing in contraband.
Laburnum Grove
Act like Mr. Radfern
event1936 star_border 7
top_panel_open
To rid himself of his sponging relatives a man tells them he is really a forger which causes them to leave. His wife believes he is joking, but he has in fact allowed the truth to slip out and now he is danger of being arrested.
The Real Thing at Last
Act like Rupert K. Thunder / Macbeth
event1916
top_panel_open
Shakespeare parody
Parnell
Act like Henry Campbell
event1937 star_border 4.6
top_panel_open
Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell struggles to free his country from English rule, but his relationship with married Katie O'Shea threatens to ruin all his dreams of freedom.
Foreign Correspondent
Act like Rowley
event1940 star_border 7
top_panel_open
American crime reporter John Jones is reassigned to Europe as a foreign correspondent to cover the imminent war. When he walks into the middle of an assassination and stumbles on a spy ring, he seeks help from a beautiful politician’s daughter and an urbane English journalist to uncover the truth.
She Went to the Races
Act like Dr. Homer Pecke
event1945 star_border 5.5
top_panel_open
A group of scientists develop a system to pick winners at the racetrack. Comedy.
Thunder in the Valley
Act like Adam MacAdam
event1947 star_border 7.5
top_panel_open
The popular Alfred Ollivant novel "Bob, Son of Battle" is the source for this drama about sheep dogs in the Scottish highlands, filmed in mountains in Utah’s Garfield County. Gwenn is a crusty shepherd whose struggling relationship with his son McCallister is complicated by a predatory animal that is attacking the flocks of local shepherds.
Something for the Birds
Act like 'Admiral' Johnnie Adams
event1952
top_panel_open
A conservationist fights to save the habitat of the California condor and to do it she works her way into the affections of a representative of the oil company that wants the land for their own purposes.
Happy Family
Act like Dad
event1939
top_panel_open
Summer 1939, and an ordinary family gets an alarming taste of war to come.
A Yank at Eton
Act like Headmaster Justin
event1942 star_border 6.2
top_panel_open
An American playboy is sent to a British boarding school to learn discipline.
The Greer Case
Act like Jack Baldwin
event1957
top_panel_open
When a rich woman dies without signing her new will, all kinds of problems ensue.
Condemned to Death
Act like Banting
event1932
top_panel_open
A condemned man uses hypnotism on a judge. After the man's death, the judge finds himself acting like the condemned man.
The Meanest Man in the World
Act like Frederick P. Leggitt
event1943 star_border 6.4
top_panel_open
Compassionate small-town lawyer Richard Clarke moves to New York City to seek his fortune, but is unsuccessful until he takes a friend's advice and tries to convince the world he's a ruthless heel. Suddenly he's the most popular lawyer in town -- but he could lose his fiancée.
Hindle Wakes
Act like Chris Hawthorne
event1931
top_panel_open
A Lancashire mill girl has an illicit adventure with the owner's son while on holiday. Based on the once notorious Houghton play.
Frail Women
Act like Jim Willis
event1932 star_border 4.7
top_panel_open
An illegitimate war-baby adopted by a wealthy spinster.
A Yank at Oxford
Act like Dean of Cardinal
event1938 star_border 6.7
top_panel_open
A brash young American aristocrat attending Oxford University gets a chance to prove himself and win the heart of his antagonist's sister.
Scotland Yard
Act like Insp. Cork
event1941
top_panel_open
Inspector Cork pursues a bank robber who serves in the army and receives facial injuries. After plastic surgery he shows up as a bank president planning an enormous robbery.
How He Lied to Her Husband
Act like Her Husband (Teddy Bompas)
event1931
top_panel_open
'Rich man suspects wife loves poet.' (British Film Catalogue)
The Admiral's Secret
Act like Adm. Fitzporter
event1934
top_panel_open
A retired Admiral steals jewels and is pursued by Spanish bandits.
All American Chump
Act like Jeffrey Crane
event1936 star_border 5.8
top_panel_open
A country bumpkin who's a mathematical genius falls into the hands of gangsters.
Channel Crossing
Act like Trotter
event1933
top_panel_open
Money isn't everything. Tycoon races against time to cross the English Channel in order to save a business deal, but along the way his whole value system is thrown into turmoil.
One Night In Lisbon
Act like Lord Fitzleigh
event1941
top_panel_open
Saucy screwball comedy wherein lovely Madeleine falls in love with flier Fred despite interference from her fiancee and his ex.
The Bishop Misbehaves
Act like Bishop
event1935 star_border 4
top_panel_open
On a walking tour of English cathedrals, Donald Meadows meets Hester Granthem in church. Hearing he is from that hot-bed of crime, Chicago, Hester asks Donald to help her in a robbery she has planned. Thinking it a joke, he plays along; but Hester is serious, and hearing that she plans to rob Mr. Waller, the man who has cheated her father out of thousands of pounds, Donald agrees. A robbery at a pub is arranged, but the Bishop of Broadminster, an avid mystery fan, and his sister stumble into it. Playing detective the Bishop complicates matters and each side, the Bishop, the unscrupulous Waller, the gang Hester hires, and Hester and Donald, each get the upper hand along the way.
Louisa
Act like Mr. Hammond
event1950 star_border 6.1
top_panel_open
Architect Hal Norton and wife Meg invite his widowed mother Louisa to move in with them, only to discover the sweet elderly lady is romantically involved with what seems to be every old coot in town.
Father and Son
Act like John Bolton
event1935
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A bank clerk takes the blame for a theft which he believes was committed by his ex-convict father.
Love on Wheels
Act like Philpotts
event1932
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A department store assistant becomes publicity conscious.
An Englishman's Home
Act like Tom Brown
event1940
top_panel_open
A German spy is dispatched to Britain to search out targets for a planned invasion.
Money for Nothing
Act like Sir Henry Blossom
event1932
top_panel_open
As he pursues Joan Blossom, ruined gambler Jeff Cheddar is mistaken for two-faced financier Jay Cheddar, eventually leading to Joan's stockbroker father, Sir Henry Blossom, investing heavily in a supposedly worthless gold mine. Financial chaos ensues in a farcical comedy of confused identities, romantic entanglements, and a fortune hiding in a hat.
Tell Me Tonight
Act like Mayor Pategg
event1932
top_panel_open
An Italian operatic tenor is dominated by his female business manager.
Passing Shadows
Act like David Lawrence
event1934
top_panel_open
The film stars Edmund Gwenn, who plays a chemist, whose son Lawrence (played by Barry MacKay) is attacked on a train. He appears to have shot the man.
The Greatest Gift
Act like Bartolomé the Juggler
event1942 star_border 7
top_panel_open
Medieval French monks find a freezing, ill juggler and take him in. Upon recovering, the impoverished man wishes to illustrate his tremendous gratitude. He eventually finds a way to.
Hollywood’s Children
Act like Self (archive footage)
event1982
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A documentary about child actors, since the beginning of motion pictures (narrated by Roddy McDowell).
Friday the Thirteenth
Act like Wakefield
event1933 star_border 6
top_panel_open
It is pouring with rain at one minute to midnight on Friday the thirteenth, and the driver of a London bus is peering through his blurred windscreen as his vehicle sails down an empty road. Suddenly, lightning strikes, and a vast crane above topples into the path of the oncoming bus... Then Big Ben begins to wind backwards. Time recedes. And we discover the lives of all the passengers and the events that brought them to that late-night bus journey, from the con-man with a hundred-pound cheque to the businessman's distraught and elderly wife. Time flows on, inevitably, to the crash -- and past it, as some live and some die.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Act like Joe Saunders (1 ep.)
event1955 star_border 7.7
top_panel_open
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
The Millionaire
Act like Walter Clinton Carter (1 ep.)
event1955 star_border 5
top_panel_open
An anthology series that explored the ways sudden and unexpected wealth changed life for better or for worse. It told the stories of people who were given one million dollars from a benefactor who insisted they never know him, with one exception.
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Act like Self - Narrator (1 ep.)
event1951 star_border 7
top_panel_open
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.
Matinee Theater
(1 ep.)
event1955 star_border 4.6
top_panel_open
Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets.
Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled:
When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.
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