Howard Duff

Howard Duff was born in Bremerton, Washington on November 23, 1913. His first film role was as a prisoner in Brute Force (1947). His notable films include The Naked City (1948), All My Sons (1948), Panic in the City (1968), In Search of America (1971), A Wedding (1978), and No Way Out (1987).

He appeared in numerous films with his first wife, actress and director Ida Lupino. One of Duff's last and best performances was as Dustin Hoffman's lawyer in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).

On radio, Duff worked locally in Seattle-area theater until entering the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. He was assigned to their radio service, and announced re-broadcasts prepared for the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS). In this role, he served as the announcer for the drama Suspense, dated March 16, 1943. Duff's most memorable radio role was as Dashiell Hammett's private eye Sam Spade in The Adventures of Sam Spade (1946–1950). Due to accusations of Duff being a communist and with his TV and film career starting to take hold, he ultimately left the program in 1950 at the start of its final season; Stephen Dunne took over the voice role of Sam Spade.

On television, he had several roles, including an episode of the television series Climax! titled "Escape From Fear" in 1955. Duff also appeared alongside Ida Lupino on the CBS sitcom "Mr. Adams and Eve" from January 1957 to September 1958. From October 1960 to April 1961, Duff played the role of Willie Dante on the NBC adventure mystery series "Dante." In 1964, he guest-starred in the episode "Prodigy" on the NBC medical drama "The Eleventh Hour," alongside Jack Ging and Ralph Bellamy.

From September 1966 to January 1969, Duff played Detective Sergeant Sam Stone on the ABC series "Felony Squad," on which he worked with Dennis Cole. In the 1980s, he appeared in dramas such as "Flamingo Road" on NBC and "Knots Landing" and "Dallas," both on CBS.
Duff had a stormy relationship with actress Ava Gardner in the late 1940s. He married fellow actress Ida Lupino in 1951. They had one daughter, Bridget Duff, born on April 23, 1952. They separated in 1966 and divorced in 1984. He later married Judy Jenkinson.

Duff died in 1990, at the age of 76, of a heart attack in Santa Barbara, California. He was cremated, and his ashes were given to his family.

Elinor Donahue

Elinor Donahue (born Mary Eleanor Donahue pn 2 April 19, 1937) is a retired American actress best known for playing Betty Anderson, the eldest daughter of Jim and Margaret Anderson, on the 1950s American sitcom Father Knows Best. Donahue was born in Tacoma, Washington, on April 19, 1937, to Doris Genevieve (née Gelbaugh) and Thomas William Donahue.

From the age of five, Donahue performed in films with dance choruses and was a ballet partner of Barrie Chase, future partner of Fred Astaire. She was a child actress in vaudeville and had several supporting roles in teen films, including Love Is Better Than Ever (1952), starring Elizabeth Taylor, and Tea for Two (1950), starring Doris Day. She played one of the daughters in Three Daring Daughters in 1948 and appeared as Mamie Van Doren's sister in Girls Town (1959).

Donahue rose to stardom for her role as the eldest daughter, Betty, in the family television series Father Knows Best, which aired from 1954 to 1960. Her co-stars were Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Billy Gray as her younger brother, James "Bud" Anderson Jr., and Lauren Chapin as her younger sister, Kathy. Donahue was a musical judge on ABC's Jukebox Jury (1953–54), and during the first season of Father Knows Best, she also appeared on The Ray Bolger Show, starring Ray Bolger as a singer-dancer. She later starred alongside James Best, Ann Doran, and J. Carrol Naish in the 1956 episode "The White Carnation" of the religious anthology series Crossroads. She guest-starred in an episode of U.S. Marshal. She also appeared as a newlywed in the episode of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show titled "The Newlyweds" which aired on April 2, 1956. She starred in the feature film Girls Town (1959 film), which she later described as "a horrible movie."

Donahue played Georgiana Balanger, the niece of George and Martha Wilson, in the 1960 Dennis the Menace episode "Dennis and the Wedding." Donahue also appeared alongside Marion Ross in a 1960 episode ("Duet") of The Brothers Brannagan. She played Miriam Welby on ABC's The Odd Couple, Jane Mulligan on Mulligan's Stew, and the evil Nurse Hunnicut on Days of Our Lives.

She was part of the main cast of the first season of CBS's The Andy Griffith Show as Ellie Walker, Andy's pharmacist in love with her. She was even mentioned in the opening credits before Don Knotts. After one season (1960–1961), Donahue asked for a release from her three-year contract.

In 1963, Donahue appeared in an episode of the short-lived NBC modern western series Redigo, opposite Richard Egan as rancher Jim Redigo. She then starred in another western series, Have Gun Will Travel, as Letty May in the episode "The Burning Tree."

In 1964, she appeared in the NBC series The Eleventh Hour, a medical drama about psychiatry starring Jack Ging and Ralph Bellamy, where she played the role of Melanie in the episode "The Secret in the Stone."

In 1966, she guest-starred on the television series A Man Called Shenandoah, episode 8, "Town on Fire."

In 1967, she made a guest appearance on Star Trek in the second-season episode "Metamorphosis," playing Commissioner Nancy Hedford.

Donahue played Sister Bertrille's (Sally Field) sister in three episodes of the ABC series The Flying Nun (1968–70).

She played Miriam Welby in 17 episodes of The Odd Couple (1972–75).
In 1977, she appeared in an episode of the ABC police series The Feather and Father Gang.
In 1978, Donahue starred in the NBC sitcom Please Stand By.
In 1979, she appeared on Diff'rent Strokes as Mr. Drummond's fiancée in the first season.
In 1981, Donahue appeared in an episode of One Day at a Time as Felicia, Alex's mother.
In 1984, she made an appearance as Mrs. Broderick, the mother of a drug-addicted teenager, in the final season of Happy Days.
In 1987, she played the mother of the title character in the short-lived Fox series The New Adventures of Beans Baxter.
In 1988, she appeared in an episode of Newhart ("Courtin' Disaster").
In 1989, she appeared in an episode of The Golden Girls as the new wife of Dorothy Zbornak's ex-husband, Stan.
In 1990, she played Bridget, a Beverly Hills clothing store manager, in the film Pretty Woman. Donahue played Gladys, the mother of Chris Peterson (Chris Elliott), in all 35 episodes of the sitcom Get a Life (1990–92), and had a recurring role as Rebecca Quinn on the CBS drama series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
In 1991, she played the "orphanage woman" in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.
In 1992, she voiced the mother in the Fox Kids animated series Eek! the Cat. In 1994, she made an appearance as Aunt Lillian in "The One Where Nana Dies Twice," an episode of Friends. She played Lorraine, Luther Van Dam's girlfriend, in the fifth season of Coach in the early 1990s.

In 1998, Donahue published a memoir titled "In the Kitchen with Elinor Donahue," in which she relived some of her Hollywood memories and provided over 150 of her recipes. 

In September 2010, Donahue appeared on The Young and the Restless as Judge Anderson, one of Nikki Newman's old friends and also the minister who will officiate at the wedding of Billy Abbott and Nikki's daughter, Victoria Newman. The wedding took place in front of the Abbotts' new house, which happened to be a replica of the Andersons' house from "Father Knows Best."

In 2015, Donahue played the role of Mrs. Chumley in the Judson Theatre Company's production of Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Harvey." Donahue called the role her "swan song."

Donahue was married three times. Her first husband was sound producer Richard Smith, whom she married in 1955. They had one son with him. They divorced in 1961. Her second marriage, to producer Harry Ackerman, who was 25 years her senior, took place in 1962 at the Court of Liberty. Ackerman was the adoptive father of her son from her first marriage, and he and Donahue had three children together. Ackerman died in 1991. As a tribute and resource for American television history, Donahue donated Ackerman's personal papers to the Rauner Library at Dartmouth College, her alma mater. In 1992, she married actor Lou Genevrino.

Ted Donaldson

 

Theodore D. "Ted" Donaldson (August 20, 1933 – March 1, 2023) was an American actor and child actor. Donaldson was best known for his roles as Bud Anderson in the radio version of Father Comes Home and as Cornelius "Neely" Nolan in the 1945 film A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

 

Donaldson was born Theodore D. Donaldson in Brooklyn, the son of Josephine Marion Plant and the singer and composer William John Donaldson. His mother died when he was four and a half months old. His stepmother was the radio organist and composer Muriel Pollock. He attended the Professional Children's School in New York City.

 

At the age of eight, he played Harlan in the Broadway production of Life With Father. In the same year, he was heard as Tiny Tim alongside Edmund Gwenn in a radio play adaptation of A Christmas Carol by the Wheatena Playhouse. In 1943, he appeared on Broadway in Sons and Soldiers alongside Gregory Peck at the Morosco Theatre.

In 1944, he made his film debut in Pinky and Curly as Arthur “Pinky” Thompson alongside Cary Grant; Grant called him ‘Teddy’ and attended Donaldson's 1949 high school graduation at the Beverly Hills Hotel with his wife Betsy Drake. In addition to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, he appeared in films such as Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1945), A Stranger Calls (1952), and a series of eight films starring the German Shepherd “Rusty”. From 1949 to 1954, he was heard as Bud Anderson, son of the character Jim Anderson, voiced by Robert Young, in the radio version of Father's the Best. When the program was broadcast on television, Donaldson turned down the role because he was already 21 years old at the time and did not want to be typecast; the on-camera role was taken by Billy Gray.

 

He later appeared in television series such as Front Row Center, Matinee Theatre and 1958's The Silent Service, his last role in front of the camera. After giving up acting in the late 1950s, he taught acting and worked in a Hollywood bookstore in the late 1970s.

Donaldson was a guest of honor at several TCM Classic Film Festivals, for example in 2016, when a restored version of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was shown to enthusiastic audiences. 

He died on March 1, 2023 at the age of 89 from injuries sustained in a fall.

Jean Thurston Vander Pyl

Jean Thurston Vander Pyl was born on October 11, 1919 and was an American voice actress. She is best known as the voice of Wilma Flintstone for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Flintstones. In addition to Wilma Flintstone, she also provided the voices of Pebbles Flintstone; Rosie the robot maid from The Jetsons; Goldie, Lola Glamour, Nurse LaRue, and other characters in Top Cat; Winsome Witch on The Secret Squirrel Show; and Ogee on The Magilla Gorilla Show.

On radio, she participated in such programs as The Halls of Ivy (1950–52) and on Father Knows Best during the early 1950s, where she portrayed Margaret Anderson; the role was played on television by Jane Wyatt. Her husband, Carroll G. O'Meara, was a graduate of Stanford University who worked as a copywriter at KHJ radio in the mid-1930s and later became an advertising executive.

Vander Pyl was born in Philadelphia to John Howard and Kathleen Hale Vander Pyl. Her grandfather had come from the Netherlands. Her father was the district manager for Knit Underwear; her mother was from Tennessee. The two died within six months of each other in the early 1950s. By 1939, she was already working as a radio actress.

Vander Pyl made numerous TV appearances as an actress in programs such as Leave It to Beaver, The Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best, The Beverly Hillbillies, That Girl, and Petticoat Junction. She did the voices of Maw Rugg and her daughter Floral Rugg on a rural cartoon, The Hillbilly Bears and Winsome Witch; both shows were part of The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show (1965–1967). Jean Vander Pyl was also the voice of Little Ogee on The Magilla Gorilla Show. In 1969, Vander Pyl guest-starred on the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode "Foul Play in Funland", playing Sarah Jenkins.

In the 1970s, she was the voice of Marge Huddles, the main character's wife on Where's Huddles?, in which she played a role similar to that of Wilma Flintstone and was reunited with her Flintstones cast members Alan Reed and Mel Blanc. She went on to voice Mrs. Finkerton on Inch High, Private Eye, and several female characters on Hong Kong Phooey, The Tom and Jerry Show, and Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels.

In the 1980s and 1990s, she did voices on Mister T, Snorks, and Yogi's Treasure Hunt, and also on The Flintstone Kids as Mrs. Slaghoople. She mostly reprised Wilma Flintstone on spin-off series and films such as The Flintstone Comedy Hour, The New Fred and Barney Show, The Flintstone Comedy Show, The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones, I Yabba-Dabba Do!, Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby, and A Flintstones Christmas Carol.

She married Carroll G. O'Meara on March 9, 1939; together they had three children. O'Meara died on February 18, 1962, at the age of 53. She then married her second husband Roger Wells DeWitt in 1963; the couple had one son. They remained married until DeWitt's death in 1992.

Vander Pyl died of lung cancer at her home in Dana Point, California, at the age of 79. Vander Pyl was buried in Ascension Cemetery in Lake Forest, California.

ABC Mystery Time

 

The ABC Mystery Radio Show, also known simply as Mystery Theater, was an American radio anthology series that aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) during the Golden Age of Radio, specifically at 8:30 pm in the later years of the 1940s and 1950s.

The show was a weekly mystery/thriller program, often featuring classic literature and starring A-list movie talent like Sir Laurence Olivier, Jon Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Orson Welles, and Michael Redgrave.

Don Dowd of "The Breakfast Club" hosted ABC Mystery Time. ABC Mystery Time, along with other radio programs like Suspense, Inner Sanctum, The Shadow, and Gang Busters, offered listeners a variety of mystery and thriller programs that helped define the genre during the Golden Age of Radio.

It provided listeners with a sense of escape and adventure, allowing them to experience thrilling stories without leaving their homes.

 

starring A-list movie talent like Sir Laurence Olivier, Jon Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Orson Welles, and Michael Redgrave. 

 

 It featured a variety of stories that often centered around Inspector Mark Saber, a British detective from the Homicide Squad, and his assistant, Sergeant Tim Maloney. The show's format allowed for a diverse range of murder mysteries, each week presenting a new case for the sharp-witted inspector to solve.

The show's appeal lay not only in its thrilling narratives but also in the rich, atmospheric soundscapes that accompanied them. The creak of a door, the ticking of a clock, or the distant sound of footsteps all served to draw listeners deeper into the story, proving that sound could be just as evocative as any visual cue.
 
The ABC Mystery Radio Show reminds us of a time when storytelling was an auditory art, where the imagination was the canvas, and sound was the brush. It stands as a testament to the enduring power of narrative and the timeless appeal of a good mystery.

 

 

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke​ is an American television and radio series, first broadcast in 1955 and starring James Arness. It was the series broadcast in primetime with the most episodes in the history of American television for 43 years, until 2018, when it was surpassed by The Simpsons.

In the late 1940s, CBS president William S. Paley, a fan of the Philip Marlowe radio series, asked his head of programming, Hubell Robinson, to develop a hardcore Western series about a Philip Marlowe of the Old West. Robinson delegated this task to his West Coast vice president at CBS, Harry Ackerman, who had developed the Philip Marlowe series.

Ackerman and his writers, Mort Fine and David Friedkin, created an audition script titled "Mark Dillon Goes to Gouge Eye" based on one of their Michael Shayne radio scripts, "The Case of the Crooked Wheel," from mid-1948. Two versions were recorded. The first, recorded in June 1949, closely resembled a hard-boiled detective series and starred Michael Rye (credited as Rye Billsbury) as Dillon; The second, recorded in July 1949, starred Straight Arrow actor Howard Culver in a lighter, more Western version of the same script. CBS liked Culver's version better, and told Ackerman to move forward.

A complication arose when Culver's contract as the star of Straight Arrow prevented him from making another Western series. The project was put on hold for three years when producer Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston discovered him while developing his own Western series for adults.

Macdonnell and Meston wanted to create an adult radio Western, in contrast to the prevailing youth series such as The Lone Ranger and The Cisco Kid. Gunsmoke was set in Dodge City, Kansas, during the booming cattle era of the 1870s. Dunning notes, "The series was critically acclaimed for its unprecedented realism."

Gunsmoke is often a grim show, especially in its early years. Dunning writes that Dillon "played his hand and often lost. He arrived too late to prevent a lynching. He amputated a dying man's leg and lost the patient anyway. He saved a girl from brutal rapists, then found himself unable to provide what she needed to keep her from turning to prostitution." Some listeners, like Dunning, argue that the radio version was more realistic. The episodes were aimed at adults with some of the most explicit content of its time, including violent crimes, scalping, massacres, and opium addicts. Many episodes end on a grim note, and the villains often get away with their crimes.

The show is set after the arrival of the railroad to Dodge City (1872), and Kansas had been a state since 1861. In reality, a U.S. A marshal (actually a deputy marshal, because only the highest-ranking officer in the district holds the title of "marshal") would not be based in Dodge City and would not be involved in local law enforcement.

Aside from its gloomy tone, Gunsmoke is distinguished from other radio westerns in that the dialogue is often slow and staccato, and the extraordinary sound effects give a palpable sense of the prairie setting. The effects are subtle yet multi-layered, giving the show a sense of spaciousness. John Dunning wrote, "The listener heard strange dialogue in the background, just above the muffled cries of children playing in an alley. He also heard noises from the next block, where the inevitable dog was barking."

Gunsmoke differs from other westerns in that it was not sponsored during the first years of production. The show was financed by CBS for the first two years. The producers of the series said that if the show were to be sponsored, they would have to "clean up the show." The producers wanted to find a sponsor who would allow them to keep the show as it was.

Shortly after the radio show began, talk of adapting it for television began. Privately, Macdonnell had a reserved interest in bringing the show to television, but publicly declared, "Our show is perfect for radio," and feared, as Dunning writes, "Gunsmoke, confined by an image, couldn't be as authentic or attentive to detail. In the end, CBS simply took it away from Macdonnell and began preparing the television version."

Conrad and the others were auditioned, but they were little more than token efforts—especially in Conrad's case, due to his obesity. However, Meston was retained as the primary writer. In the early years, most television episodes were adapted from radio scripts, often using identical scenes and dialogue. Dunning wrote: "That radio fans considered the television show a farce and its actors impostors should surprise no one. That the television show was not a farce is due in large part to the continuing strength of Meston's scripts."

Macdonnell and Meston continued the radio version of Gunsmoke until 1961, making it one of the longest-running period radio dramas.

Conrad directed two television episodes, in 1963 and 1971, and McNear appeared in six, playing characters other than Doc, including three times as grocer Howard Rudd.

In 1955, CBS executives attempted to cast John Wayne to play the lead character, Matt Dillon, but ultimately settled on James Arness. The series first aired that same year.

Between 1955 and 1961, each episode of the series was 30 minutes long, and later grew to an hour. Between 1955 and 1975, 635 episodes aired. Stars such as John Wayne (host of the pilot), Bette Davis, Harrison Ford, Jon Voight, Kurt Russell, Jodie Foster, and many more appeared on the show. In 1987, Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge was filmed, with Arness again in the role of Dillon. The film was followed by Gunsmoke: The Last Apache (1990), Gunsmoke: To the Last Man (1992), Gunsmoke: The Long Ride (1993), and Gunsmoke: One Man's Justice (1994).

Norma Jean Nilsson

Norma Jean Nilsson was born on January 1, 1938 in Hollywood, California, United States. She is an actress, known for The Actress (1953), The Green-Eyed Blonde (1957) and Lux ​​Video Theatre (1950).

Nilsson was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur V. Nilsson. Her father was a professor of anatomy at the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic. Acting on radio from the age of three, she had become the highest paid radio child actress in America by 1947. From the mid-50s, she acted in juvenile roles on television. She has an older brother, Arthur Jr. She began performing when she was 3 years old and was active during World War II, entertaining troops at Army camps across the United States.

Nilsson attended Victory Garden School and Bancroft Junior High School. Newspaper columnist Louella Parsons wrote in 1946 that Nilsson had an IQ of 162.

When Nilsson was 4 years old, she won a talent contest on Tune-Out Time on KECA. At 5, she made her "first big-time radio appearance", portraying a dying girl on Free World Theatre. At 8, her picture was featured on the cover of the July 21, 1946, issue of Radio Life magazine.

Nilsson was reading a commercial on an Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy episode when guest Cecil B. DeMille recognized her talent, and she performed on many Lux Radio Theatre episodes. In 1947, Nilsson was the highest paid child actor.

An article published in Radio and Television Mirror in 1951 reported that she was "a charter member of the Five Hundred Club, an organization of children who have appeared on five hundred or more radio broadcasts."

Nilsson played Cookie (the Bumsteads' daughter) in the radio version of Blondie, Kathy (the Andersons' younger daughter) on the radio version of Father Knows Best, Glory Mae (the "little girl who lives next door") on The Jack Carson Show.,and as the lead actress Lois to Raymond Burr's antagonist in the "Murder on Mike" (1957) episode of Suspense.

Nilsson’s other OTR credits include Cavalcade of America, Luke Slaughter of Tombstone, Have Gun, Will Travel, Stars Over Hollywood, The Doctor Fights, This My Best.

She was also heard on Luke Slaughter of Tombstone, Cavalcade of America and the radio version of Have Gun, Will Travel.

Nilsson passed away at age 87.