Leon Alton

Leon Alton

Born: August 23, 1907
Died: August 25, 1995
in New York, USA
Leon Alton enjoyed a career on stage, screen, and television starting in the 1920s and lasting until the late 1970s.

In the 1930s he started out on the Broadway stage appearing in various musicals which lasted until the early 1940s. Then like many Broadway actors and dancers, he seemingly drifted his way to Hollywood where he was able to use his talents as a dancer to appear in many party scenes in a suit dancing in some of the most well known films.

Like many dancers though, that was only part of their work as they could not survive on musicals alone and by the mid 1950s musicals started to lose their popularity so he had to find work elsewhere He was never unemployed long.

Alton's appearance was ideal for bankers, or distinguished townsman, or whatever was needed. By the late 1950s, he was able to secure some roles in which he received screen credit in shows like Bat Masterson, Tombstone Territory, and Lock-Up all while still appearing at the usual party scenes or the social gatherings.

By the 1960s his career was still going strong as he still found work in the usual places and managed to appear in several well known movies like True Grit, The Cheyenne Social Club, and Airport and appearing in most of the well known television shows of the time.

His career wound down by the 1970s and while his name won't garner the attention or recognition to film audiences of today, most casting directors could tell you it was a name that should be respected and could be depended on.

Movies for Leon Alton...

Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Title: Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Character: Soldier at Portobello Road (uncredited)
Released: October 7, 1971
Type: Movie
Three children evacuated from London during World War II are forced to stay with an eccentric spinster. The children's initial fears disappear when they find out she is in fact a trainee witch.
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Title: Columbo
Character: Theatre Patron (uncredited)
Released: September 15, 1971
Type: TV
Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmindedness, he shrewdly solves all of his cases and secures all evidence needed for indictment. His formidable eye for detail and meticulously dedicated approach often become clear to the killer only late in the storyline.
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Watermelon Man
Title: Watermelon Man
Character: Pedestrian (uncredited)
Released: May 27, 1970
Type: Movie
A racist insurance agent lives in a typical suburban neighborhood. But his bigoted world of taunting and harassing black people on and off the job is turned upside down when his skin inexplicably turns dark overnight.
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Tora! Tora! Tora!
Title: Tora! Tora! Tora!
Character: Official (uncredited)
Released: January 26, 1970
Type: Movie
In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words use by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.
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The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
Title: The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
Character: Collingsgood Associate (uncredited)
Released: December 29, 1969
Type: Movie
Some college students manage to persuade the town's big businessman, A. J. Arno, to donate a computer to their college. When the problem- student, Dexter Riley, tries to fix the computer, he gets an electric shock and his brain turns to a computer; now he remembers everything he reads. Unfortunately, he also remembers information which was in the computer's memory, like Arno's illegal businesses..
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The Love God?
Title: The Love God?
Character: Club Patron (uncredited)
Released: August 1, 1969
Type: Movie
Ornithologist Abner Peacock sells off his modest-selling birdwatching periodical to a charlatan who turns it into a girlie mag, making it a massive financial success. After Peacock and the magazine are taken to court on obscenity charges, he unwillingly becomes a reluctant hero and ends up a swinging libertine.
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True Grit
Title: True Grit
Character: Boarding House Guest (uncredited)
Released: June 11, 1969
Type: Movie
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
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Sweet Charity
Title: Sweet Charity
Character: Dancer (uncredited)
Released: February 25, 1969
Type: Movie
Taxi dancer Charity continues to have faith in the human race despite apparently endless disappointments at its hands, and hope that she will finally meet the nice young man to romance her away from her sleazy life. Maybe, just maybe, handsome Oscar will be the one to do it.
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Hellfighters
Title: Hellfighters
Character: Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Released: November 27, 1968
Type: Movie
The adventures of oil well fire specialist Chance Buckman (based on real-life Red Adair), who extinguishes massive fires in oil fields around the world.
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Funny Girl
Title: Funny Girl
Character: Audience Member (uncredited)
Released: September 19, 1968
Type: Movie
The life of Fanny Brice, famed comedian and entertainer of the early 1900s. We see her rise to fame as a Ziegfeld girl, her subsequent career, and her personal life, particularly her relationship with Nick Arnstein.
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Star!
Title: Star!
Character: Party Guest (uncredited)
Released: July 18, 1968
Type: Movie
Gertrude Lawrence rises to stage stardom at the cost of happiness.
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Yours, Mine and Ours
Title: Yours, Mine and Ours
Character: Wedding Guest (uncredited)
Released: April 24, 1968
Type: Movie
When a widower with ten children marries a widow with eight, can the twenty of them ever come together as one big happy family?
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Blackbeard's Ghost
Title: Blackbeard's Ghost
Character: Auction Guest
Released: February 8, 1968
Type: Movie
The eponymous wraith returns to Earth to aid his descendant, elderly Emily Stowecroft. The villains want to kick Emily and her friends out of their group home so that they can build a crooked casino. Good guy Steve Walker gets caught in the middle of the squabble after evoking Blackbeard's ghost.
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How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life
Title: How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life
Character: Bartender (uncredited)
Released: January 17, 1968
Type: Movie
Wealthy playboy David Sloane wrongly believes good girl Carol Corman is his best friend's mistress.
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Divorce American Style
Title: Divorce American Style
Character: Bank Officer
Released: June 21, 1967
Type: Movie
After 17 years of marriage in American suburbia, Richard and Barbara Harmon step into the new world of divorce.
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Warning Shot
Title: Warning Shot
Released: January 18, 1967
Type: Movie
Hounded by the press for shooting a doctor, an ousted Los Angeles policeman works his own case.
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Batman
Title: Batman
Character: Official (uncredited)
Released: July 30, 1966
Type: Movie
The Dynamic Duo faces four super-villains who plan to hold the world for ransom with the help of a secret invention that instantly dehydrates people.
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Our Man Flint
Title: Our Man Flint
Character: Military Officer at Meeting (uncredited)
Released: January 16, 1966
Type: Movie
When scientists use eco-terrorism to impose their will on the world by affecting extremes in the weather, Intelligence Chief Cramden calls in top agent Derek Flint.
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Do Not Disturb
Title: Do Not Disturb
Character: Party Guest (uncredited)
Released: December 22, 1965
Type: Movie
American Mike Harper, sent to do business in England, moves there with his wife, Janet. But she soon becomes convinced that Mike is carrying on with his attractive new assistant, Claire. Mike also has been spending a considerable amount of time with his British bachelor buddies. Vexed and lonely, Claire hires charming antiques expert Paul to decorate the Harper home and maybe make Mike jealous in the process.
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The Cincinnati Kid
Title: The Cincinnati Kid
Character: Poker Game Spectator (uncredited)
Released: October 15, 1965
Type: Movie
An up-and-coming poker player tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game.
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Ship of Fools
Title: Ship of Fools
Character: Ship Passenger (uncredited)
Released: July 29, 1965
Type: Movie
Passengers on a ship traveling from Mexico to Europe in the 1930s represent society at large in that era. The crew is German, including the ship's Dr. Schumann, who falls in love with one of the passengers, La Condesa. A young American woman, Jenny, is traveling with the man she loves, David. Jenny is fascinated and puzzled by just who some of the other passengers are.
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Brainstorm
Title: Brainstorm
Character: Spectator (uncredited)
Released: May 5, 1965
Type: Movie
Scientist Jim Grayam saves his boss' wife from suicide but then falls in love with her.
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What a Way to Go!
Title: What a Way to Go!
Character: Awards Ceremony Guest (uncredited)
Released: October 12, 1964
Type: Movie
A four-time widow discusses her four marriages, in which all of her husbands became incredibly rich and died prematurely because of their drive to be rich.
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Kisses for My President
Title: Kisses for My President
Character: Burlesque Show Spectator (uncredited)
Released: August 21, 1964
Type: Movie
A hapless husband takes a back seat to his wife, the first female president of the United States.
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Looking for Love
Title: Looking for Love
Character: Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Released: August 5, 1964
Type: Movie
An aspiring young singer unexpectedly gets her big break by inventing a specialized clothes rack.
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Marnie
Title: Marnie
Character: Party Guest (uncredited)
Released: July 17, 1964
Type: Movie
Marnie is a thief, a liar, and a cheat. When her new boss, Mark Rutland, catches on to her routine kleptomania, she finds herself being blackmailed.
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The Best Man
Title: The Best Man
Character: Russell Supporter (uncredited)
Released: April 5, 1964
Type: Movie
The other party is in disarray. Five men vie for the party nomination for president. No one has a majority as the first ballot closes and the front-runners begin to decide how badly they want the job.
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The Incredible Mr. Limpet
Title: The Incredible Mr. Limpet
Character: Officer at Fleet Admiral's Meeting (uncredited)
Released: March 28, 1964
Type: Movie
Milquetoast Henry Limpet experiences his fondest wish and is transformed into a fish. As a talking fish he assists the US Navy in hunting German submarines during World War II.
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The Wheeler Dealers
Title: The Wheeler Dealers
Character: Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Released: November 14, 1963
Type: Movie
Henry J. Tyroon leaves Texas, where his oil wells are drying up, and arrives in New York with a lot of oil money to play with in the stock market. He meets stock analyst Molly Thatcher, who tries to ignore the lavish attention he spends on her but, in the end, she falls for his charm.
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Take Her, She's Mine
Title: Take Her, She's Mine
Character: Man at Airport (uncredited)
Released: November 13, 1963
Type: Movie
After reluctantly packing up his daughter, Mollie, and sending her away to study art at a Paris college, Frank Michaelson gives new meaning to the term "concerned parent." Reading Mollie's letters describing her counter-culture experiences and beatnik friends, Frank eventually grows so paranoid that he boards a plane to Paris to see firsthand the kind of lessons his daughter is learning with her new artist amour.
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Twilight of Honor
Title: Twilight of Honor
Character: Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Released: November 13, 1963
Type: Movie
A young lawyer defends a drifter accused of murder that he has already confessed to. He asks a retired, legendary lawyer for help.
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Critic's Choice
Title: Critic's Choice
Character: Audience Member (uncredited)
Released: February 24, 1963
Type: Movie
Parker Ballantine is a New York theater critic and his wife writes a play that may or may not be very good. Now Parker must either get out of reviewing the play or cause the breakup of his marriage.
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Days of Wine and Roses
Title: Days of Wine and Roses
Character: Party Guest (uncredited)
Released: February 4, 1963
Type: Movie
An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.
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Period of Adjustment
Title: Period of Adjustment
Character: Visitor at Station (uncredited)
Released: October 31, 1962
Type: Movie
A newlywed couple on their honeymoon visit friends who are having marital problems of their own.
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Advise & Consent
Title: Advise & Consent
Character: Senator (uncredited)
Released: June 6, 1962
Type: Movie
Proposed by the President of the United States to fill the post of Secretary of State, Robert Leffingwell appears before a Senate committee, chaired by the idealistic Senator Brig Anderson, which must decide whether he is the right person for the job.
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The Notorious Landlady
Title: The Notorious Landlady
Character: Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Released: April 13, 1962
Type: Movie
An American junior diplomat in London rents a house from, and falls in love with, a woman suspected of murder.
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Tender Is the Night
Title: Tender Is the Night
Character: Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Released: January 19, 1962
Type: Movie
Against the counsel of his friends, psychiatrist Dick Diver marries Nicole Warren, a beautiful but unstable young woman from a moneyed family. Thoroughly enraptured, he forsakes his career in medicine for life as a playboy, until one day Dick is charmed by Rosemary Hoyt, an American traveling abroad. The thought of Dick possibly being attracted to someone else sends Nicole on an emotional downward spiral that threatens to consume them both.
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Babes in Toyland
Title: Babes in Toyland
Character: Villager (uncredited)
Released: December 14, 1961
Type: Movie
All roads lead to magical, merry Toyland as Mary Contrary and Tom Piper prepare for their wedding! But villainous Barnaby wants Mary for himself, so he kidnaps Tom, setting off a series of comic chases, searches, and double-crosses! The "March Of The Wooden Soldiers" helps put Barnaby in his place, and ensures a "happily ever after" for Tom and Mary!
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Cimarron
Title: Cimarron
Character: Townsman at Celebration (uncredited)
Released: December 1, 1960
Type: Movie
The epic story of a family involved in the Oklahoma Land Rush of April 22, 1889.
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Inherit the Wind
Title: Inherit the Wind
Character: Townsman (uncredited)
Released: July 7, 1960
Type: Movie
Schoolteacher Bertram Cates is arrested for teaching his students Darwin's theory of evolution. The case receives national attention and one of the newspaper reporters, E.K. Hornbeck, arranges to bring in renowned defense attorney and atheist Henry Drummond to defend Cates. The prosecutor, Matthew Brady is a former presidential candidate, famous evangelist, and old adversary of Drummond.
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Who Was That Lady?
Title: Who Was That Lady?
Character: Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Released: April 8, 1960
Type: Movie
In order to get back into the good graces with his wife with whom he has had a misunderstanding, a young chemistry professor concocts a wild story that he is an undercover FBI agent. To help him with his story he enlists the aid of a friend who is a TV writer. The wife swallows the story and the film's climax takes place in the sub-basements of the Empire State Building. The professor and his friend, believing themselves prisoners on an enemy submarine, patriotically try to scuttle the vessel and succeed only in rocking the building.
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Title: The Twilight Zone
Character: Bartender (uncredited)
Released: October 2, 1959
Type: TV
A series of unrelated stories containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.
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Holiday for Lovers
Title: Holiday for Lovers
Character: Party guest
Released: July 21, 1959
Type: Movie
Clifton Webb as a strict, conservative father heads the cast of this 1959 comedy, about an American family vacationing in South America. Directed by Henry Levin, the film also features Jane Wyman, Jill St. John, Carol Lynley, Paul Henreid, Gary Crosby, Henny Backus, Wally Brown, Gardner McKay and Jose Greco.
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The Last Hurrah
Title: The Last Hurrah
Character: Banquet Guest (uncredited)
Released: December 31, 1958
Type: Movie
In a changing world where television has become the main source of information, Adam Caulfield, a young sports journalist, witnesses how his uncle, Frank Skeffington, a veteran and honest politician, mayor of a New England town, tries to be reelected while bankers and captains of industry conspire in the shadows to place a weak and manageable candidate in the city hall.
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Bell, Book and Candle
Title: Bell, Book and Candle
Character: Club Patron (uncredited)
Released: December 25, 1958
Type: Movie
A modern-day witch likes her neighbor but despises his fiancée, so she enchants him to love her instead... only to fall in love with him for real.
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Party Girl
Title: Party Girl
Character: Police Officer (uncredited)
Released: October 28, 1958
Type: Movie
Slick lawyer Thomas Farrell has made a career of defending mobsters in trials. It's not until he meets a lovely showgirl at a mob party that he realizes that there's more to life than winning trials. Farrell tries to quit the racket, but mob boss Rico Angelo threatens to hurt the showgirl if Farrell leaves him.
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Title: Perry Mason
Character: Court Stenographer (uncredited)
Released: September 21, 1957
Type: TV
The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.
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Title: Perry Mason
Character: Juror (uncredited)
Released: September 21, 1957
Type: TV
The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.
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The Young Stranger
Title: The Young Stranger
Character: Peter Kalish (uncredited)
Released: February 1, 1957
Type: Movie
The lack of communication between a wealthy film producer and his troubled teenage son after the boy is involved in an altercation at a movie theater leads to even more trouble.
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Hollywood or Bust
Title: Hollywood or Bust
Character: Casino Patron
Released: December 6, 1956
Type: Movie
The last movie with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin together, is a satire of the life in Hollywood. Steve Wiley is a deceiver who cheats Malcolm Smith when he wins a car, claiming that he won it too. Trying to steal the car, Steve tells Malcolm that he lives in Hollywood, next to Anita Ekberg's. When Malcom hears that, they both set out for Hollywood and the adventure begins...
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Somebody Up There Likes Me
Title: Somebody Up There Likes Me
Character: Fight Spectator (uncredited)
Released: July 4, 1956
Type: Movie
The story of boxer Rocky Graziano's rise from juvenile delinquent to world champ.
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The Swan
Title: The Swan
Character: Ball Attendee
Released: April 26, 1956
Type: Movie
Princess Beatrice's days of enjoying the regal life are numbered unless her only daughter, Princess Alexandra, makes a good impression on a distant cousin when he pays a surprise visit to their palace. Prince Albert has searched all over Europe for a bride and he's bored by the whole courtship routine. He is more interested in the estate's dairy than Alexandra's rose garden. And then he starts playing football with the tutor and Alexandra's brothers. Invite the tutor to the ball that night and watch how gracefully Alexandra dances with him.
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The Killer is Loose
Title: The Killer is Loose
Character: Bank Robber (uncredited)
Released: February 3, 1956
Type: Movie
A savings-and-loan bank is robbed; later, a police wiretap identifies bank teller Leon Poole as the inside man. In capturing him, detective Sam Wagner accidentally kills Poole's young wife, and at his trial Poole swears vengeance against Wagner. Poole begins his plans to get revenge when he escapes his captors.
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Illegal
Title: Illegal
Character: Court Clerk (uncredited)
Released: October 9, 1955
Type: Movie
A hugely successful DA goes into private practice after sending a man to the chair -- only to find out later he was innocent. Now the drunken attorney only seems to represent criminals and low lifes.
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Three for the Show
Title: Three for the Show
Character: Bit Role (uncredited)
Released: February 24, 1955
Type: Movie
This musical reworking of Too Many Husbands (1940), features Grable as a top singer and dancer who's been widowed by WW II. She marries her late husband's songwriting partner, Gower Champion, but the new marriage is thrown for a loop when Lemmon, her first husband, turns up very much alive and eager to see Grable.
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New York Confidential
Title: New York Confidential
Released: February 15, 1955
Type: Movie
Story follows the rise and subsequent fall of the notorious head of a New York crime family, who decides to testify against his pals in order to avoid being killed by his fellow cohorts.
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Phffft
Title: Phffft
Character: Nightclub Patron (uncredited)
Released: November 10, 1954
Type: Movie
Robert and Nina Tracey resolve to live separate lives when their eight-year marriage dissolves into disagreements and divorce. But their separate attempts to get back out on the dating scene have a funny way of bringing them together.
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A Star Is Born
Title: A Star Is Born
Character: Usher (uncredited)
Released: October 1, 1954
Type: Movie
A movie star helps a young singer-actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.
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Knock On Wood
Title: Knock On Wood
Character: Bellhop
Released: April 6, 1954
Type: Movie
Ventriloquist Jerry Morgan has failed with another love affair. The reason: when the relationship reaches the point when it is time to discuss marriage, his two dolls become mean and jealous. Morgan's dollmaker Papinek is a member of a spy ring who has stolen the secret plans for the top-secret Lafayette airplane. Since Morgan is leaving for Zurich the same night, he decides to hide the secret plan in the heads of the dolls.
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The Juggler
Title: The Juggler
Character: Bus Driver (uncredited)
Released: May 11, 1953
Type: Movie
A Holocaust survivor moves to Israel and experiences difficulty adjusting to life.
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Small Town Girl
Title: Small Town Girl
Character: Townsman
Released: April 10, 1953
Type: Movie
Rick Belrow Livingston, in love with Broadway star Lisa, is sentenced to 30 days in jail for speeding through a small town. He persuades the judge's daughter Cindy to let him leave for one night, so that he can visit Lisa on her birthday. After that he goes on the town with Cindy and she falls in love with him. But Dr. Schemmer wants his son to become her husband.
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The Iron Mistress
Title: The Iron Mistress
Character: Riverboat Passenger
Released: November 19, 1952
Type: Movie
In this biopic, Jim Bowie goes to New Orleans, where he falls for Judalon and befriends her brother, Narcisse. Soon, Jim is forced to avenge Narcisse's murder, but Judalon takes up with another man. Jim eventually has another romantic interlude with Judalon and is forced to kill one of her suitors in self-defense. Jim leaves town, and falls for the daughter of a Texas politician, but his entanglement with Judalon continues to bedevil him.
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Les Miserables
Title: Les Miserables
Character: Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Released: August 14, 1952
Type: Movie
Jean Valjean, a Frenchman of good character, has nevertheless been convicted for the minor crime of stealing bread. A minor infraction leads to his pursuit by the relentless policeman Javert, a pursuit that consumes both men's lives for many years.
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Sirocco
Title: Sirocco
Character: Soldier (uncredited)
Released: June 13, 1951
Type: Movie
A mysterious American gets mixed up with gunrunners in Syria.
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Cry Danger
Title: Cry Danger
Released: February 23, 1951
Type: Movie
After serving five years of a life sentence, Rocky Mulloy hopes to clear his friend who's still in prison for the same crime.
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The Iroquois Trail
Title: The Iroquois Trail
Released: June 15, 1950
Type: Movie
An American scout and his Indian friend help the English troops against the French during the French and Indian War.
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Destination Murder
Title: Destination Murder
Character: Nightclub Patron (Uncredited)
Released: June 9, 1950
Type: Movie
Laura Mansfield catches a glimpse of mob hit man Jackie Wales after he shoots her businessman father. At the police station, Laura identifies Jackie as the murderer, but the policeman in charge of the case, Lt. Brewster, lets him go, citing a lack of corroborating evidence. Outraged, Laura worms her way into the unsuspecting Jackie's heart, trying to snare him and mob-connected club owner Armitage in her trap.
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Alias Nick Beal
Title: Alias Nick Beal
Character: Supporter
Released: March 4, 1949
Type: Movie
After straight-arrow district attorney Joseph Foster says in frustration that he would sell his soul to bring down a local mob boss, a smooth-talking stranger named Nick Beal shows up with enough evidence to seal a conviction. When that success leads Foster to run for governor, Beal's unearthly hold on him turns the previously honest man corrupt, much to the displeasure of his wife and his steadfast minister.
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Caught
Title: Caught
Character: Cafe Customer (uncredited)
Released: February 17, 1949
Type: Movie
Wide-eyed and poor young Leonora weds an obsessive millionaire named Ohlrig, but the marriage is loveless. Even worse, Ohlrig seems to have manic, violent tendencies. Eventually, young Leonora escapes her unhappy life and begins working with New York City doctor Larry Quinada, who she soon falls for. Unfortunately, Ohlrig refuses to grant his wife a divorce, and things get even darker for Leonora when she realizes she's pregnant with his child.
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So You Want to Be a Salesman
Title: So You Want to Be a Salesman
Character: Salesman (uncredited)
Released: September 13, 1947
Type: Movie
Joe McDoakes begins a new job as a vacuum cleaner salesman but can't seem to sell any.
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Desperate
Title: Desperate
Character: Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Released: June 20, 1947
Type: Movie
An innocent trucker takes it on the lam when he's accused of robbery.
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College Holiday
Title: College Holiday
Character: Dancer
Released: December 19, 1936
Type: Movie
College students rally to save a struggling hotel from closing. Comedy.