James Best

James Best

Born: July 26, 1926
Died: April 6, 2015
in Powderly, Kentucky, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Best (born Jewel Franklin Guy; July 26, 1926 – April 6, 2015) was an American television, film, character, voice, and stage actor, as well as a writer, director, acting coach, artist, college professor, and musician, whose career spanned seven decades of television. He appeared as a guest on various country music and talk shows.

One of the busiest actors in Hollywood, who began his contract career with Universal Studios in 1949, where he met unfamiliar actors Julie Adams, Piper Laurie, Tony Curtis and Rock Hudson. Best's long career began in films in 1950. He appeared primarily in Westerns, playing opposite Audie Murphy in Kansas Raiders (1950), The Cimarron Kid (1952) and The Quick Gun (1964), Raymond Massey in Seven Angry Men (1955), George Montgomery in Last of the Badman (1957), Frank Lovejoy in Cole Younger Gunfighter (1958), and Randolph Scott in Ride Lonesome (1959). He also starred in the science fiction cult movie, The Killer Shrews (1959) and its sequel, Return of the Killer Shrews (2012). He is most known for playing bumbling Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the action/comedy Dukes of Hazzard, a role that he revised in The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! (1997) as his character was now "boss" of Hazzard County as well as sheriff, and again in The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood (2000).

Movies for James Best...

Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists!
Title: Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists!
Character: Self
Released: February 13, 2021
Type: Movie
A comprehensive story of Hollywood's horror and science fiction films of the 1950s, told by the people who made them.
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The Sweeter Side of Life
Title: The Sweeter Side of Life
Character: Paddy Kerrigan
Released: July 11, 2013
Type: Movie
Pampered Manhattan housewife Desiree Harper has it all. That is until her husband unexpectedly dumps her for his acupuncturist. Faced with an airtight prenup, Desiree reluctantly lands a job making cupcakes at her father's bakery in Flemington, NJ. She soon discovers there's more to life than 5th Avenue and true love can be even sweeter in small town America.
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Return of the Killer Shrews
Title: Return of the Killer Shrews
Character: Thorne Sherman
Released: November 15, 2012
Type: Movie
A reality TV crew charter a boat to an island for filming, one which the boat's captain had been to before and attacked by giant shrews, more than fifty years earlier.
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Moondance Alexander
Title: Moondance Alexander
Character: McClancy
Released: April 22, 2007
Type: Movie
The curiously named, Moondance Alexander is a spirited teen living with her eccentric mother. She is faced with another uneventful summer until she discovers a lost pinto pony named Checkers who has jumped out of his paddock. Although Moondance returns the horse to his rightful owner, the gruff and mysterious Dante Longpre, she is convinced that Checkers is a champion jumper in disguise and is determined to help him realize his full potential. Moondance manages to talk Dante into training her and Checkers for the Bow Valley Classic and despite the criticism of her peers; discovers that perseverance, loyalty and individuality can land you in the winner's circle.
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Hot Tamale
Title: Hot Tamale
Character: Hank Larson
Released: April 23, 2006
Type: Movie
A road trip to Los Angeles inadvertently leads a young man from Wyoming into a wild maze of psychotic hit-men, racy women, jewel thieves and a salsa band.
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Title: CMT: Inside Fame
Released: May 13, 2005
Type: TV
What is it really like to be a famous country singer? CMT Inside Fame brings you a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your favorite entertainers. See the stars in action, from life on the road to meeting the fans.
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The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Title: The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Character: Sgt. David Brent (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: July 2, 2002
Type: Movie
Samuel Fuller discusses his career as a filmmaker, illustrated by plenty of clips.
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The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood
Title: The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood
Character: Rosco P. Coltrane
Released: June 5, 2000
Type: Movie
The Duke Boys and company travel to Hollywood to sell some musical recordings in order to raise money to build a new hospital in Hazzard County. However, when their recordings and money are stolen, they wind up on the run from mysterious hitmen, sleazy record producers, Russian gangsters, and vicious loan sharks.
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Death Mask
Title: Death Mask
Character: Wilbur Johnson
Released: January 1, 1998
Type: Movie
Wilbur works in an old carnival and shows some gruesome things to the public. He covers his face because he had a sadistic father who burned his face as a child. Everybody makes jokes about his scars and when the new boss fires him, he goes to an old swamp-witch who gives him a peace of wood from a hanging tree. Wilbur makes a mask from this piece of wood and puts all his anger in this mask. When he puts the mask on, everybody who looks at him commits suicide.
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The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!
Title: The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!
Character: Boss / Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane
Released: April 25, 1997
Type: Movie
Mama Josephine Max wants to build a theme park in Hazzard, right on the Duke family farm! To stop her, Bo and Luke have to win a cross-country moonshine race. Because that's how things get settled in Hazzard.
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Title: E! True Hollywood Story
Released: August 21, 1996
Type: TV
E! True Hollywood Story is an American documentary series on E! that deals with famous Hollywood celebrities, movies, TV shows and also well-known public figures. Among the topics covered on the program include salacious re-tellings of Hollywood secrets, show-biz scandals, celebrity murders and mysteries, porn-star biographies, and "where-are-they-now?" investigations of former child stars. It frequently features in-depth interviews, actual courtroom footage, and dramatic reenactments. When aired on the E! network, episodes will be updated to reflect the current life or status of the subject.
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Title: B.L. Stryker
Released: February 13, 1989
Type: TV
B.L. Stryker is an American detective drama that aired on ABC from February 13, 1989 to May 5, 1990 as part of the ABC Mystery Movie along with Gideon Oliver, Columbo and Kojak. The series was executive produced by Tom Selleck.
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Title: In the Heat of the Night
Released: March 6, 1988
Type: TV
In the Heat of the Night is an American television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name starring Carroll O'Connor as the white police chief William Gillespie, and Howard Rollins as the African-American police detective Virgil Tibbs. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995. Its executive producers were Fred Silverman, Juanita Bartlett and Carroll O'Connor. TGG Direct released the first season of the series to DVD on August 28, 2012.
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Title: The Dukes
Character: Rosco Coltrane (voice)
Released: February 5, 1983
Type: TV
The Dukes is an animated series which ran on CBS in 1983 based directly on the popular live-action television series The Dukes of Hazzard.
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Title: Enos
Released: November 12, 1980
Type: TV
Enos is an American television series from the 1980–1981 season that aired on the CBS network. A spinoff of The Dukes of Hazzard, Enos focused on the adventures of Enos Strate, a former small-town deputy in Hazzard County, after having moved to Los Angeles to join the L.A.P.D. Each episode featured Enos, alongside his partner Turk, and usually began and ended with Enos writing a letter to Daisy Duke in which he told her of his adventures in Los Angeles. Enos Strate was portrayed by actor Sonny Shroyer in both series. In an attempt to boost ratings, a number of characters from The Dukes of Hazzard were brought in as guest stars but the show still failed to catch on. It was canceled after one eighteen episode season and the character consequently returned to The Dukes of Hazzard in the fall of 1982. In the CBS movie specials The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! and The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood!, it was explained that Enos had returned to the L.A.P.D. where he was now a detective after having served on the force for fifteen years.
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Title: The Dukes of Hazzard
Character: Rosco P. Coltrane
Released: January 26, 1979
Type: TV
Cousins Bo and Luke Duke and their car "General Lee", assisted by Cousin Daisy and Uncle Jesse, have a running battle with the authorities of Hazzard County (Boss Hogg and Sheriff Coltrane), plus a string of ne'er-do-wells often backed by the scheming Hogg.
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Title: Centennial
Released: October 1, 1978
Type: TV
The economic and cultural growth of town of Centennial, Colorado, through the intertwining lives of the brave men and women inhabiting it. Spanning two centuries from the settling of the area in the 1700s, to the late 1970s.
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Hooper
Title: Hooper
Character: Cully
Released: July 28, 1978
Type: Movie
Legendary stunt man Sonny Hooper remains one of the top men in his field, but due to too many stressful impacts to the spine and the need to pop painkillers several times a day, he knows he should get out of the industry before he ends up permanently disabled.
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The End
Title: The End
Character: Pacemaker Patient
Released: May 10, 1978
Type: Movie
Wendell Lawson has only six months to live. Not wanting to endure his last few months of life waiting for the end, he decides to take matters into his own hands and enlists the help of a delusional mental patient to help him commit suicide.
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Rolling Thunder
Title: Rolling Thunder
Character: Texan
Released: November 2, 1977
Type: Movie
A Vietnam veteran, Charles Rane, returns home after years in a POW camp and is treated as a hero. When thugs invade his home to steal the silver coins he received for his service, they mangle his hand and leave him and his family for dead. Rane survives and becomes obsessed with getting revenge. Aided by his loyal friend Johnny Vohden, Rane, now wielding a hook for a hand, sets out on his mission of vengeance.
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Title: How the West Was Won
Released: February 6, 1977
Type: TV
The Macahans, a family from Virginia headed by Zeb Macahan, travel across the country to pioneer a new land and a new home in the American West.
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Nickelodeon
Title: Nickelodeon
Character: Jim
Released: December 21, 1976
Type: Movie
In the silent film era, attorney Leo Harrigan and gunslinger Buck Greenway are hired to stop an illegal film production. However, they soon team up with the filmmakers and become important players in the show business industry. Leo learns he has a talent for directing, and Buck's cowboy persona quickly earns him leading-man status — but both men fall for beautiful starlet Kathleen Cooke, leading to a heated personal rivalry.
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The Savage Bees
Title: The Savage Bees
Character: Pellegrino
Released: November 22, 1976
Type: Movie
In this horror-drama the festive fun of the annual Mardi Gras celebration is brought to a halt when a swarm of African killer bees escape from a foreign freighter.
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Ode to Billy Joe
Title: Ode to Billy Joe
Character: Dewey Barksdale
Released: June 4, 1976
Type: Movie
Set in sultry 1950s Mississippi, two teenagers grapple with surging hormones and the enticing promise of love, unknowing of the tragedy that looms ahead.
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The Runaway Barge
Title: The Runaway Barge
Character: Bingo Washington
Released: March 24, 1975
Type: Movie
Two bargemen on the Mississippi River find themselves mixed up in a kidnapping and hijacking plot.
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Savages
Title: Savages
Character: Sheriff Bert Hamilton
Released: September 11, 1974
Type: Movie
Ben Campbell, a 22 year old gas station attendant in a small desert town, is looking to make some extra money. He is surprised when Madec, a wealthy lawyer, asks him to be his guide on a hunting trip in the desert. When Madec accidentally shoots a prospector, he is fearful of what it will do his reputation and decides to eliminate the only witness, Ben, who is forced to go on the run. In addition to being hunted by Madec, Ben must also contend with the harsh desert elements. But if he does make it back to town alive, will anyone believe his story?
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Title: The Manhunter
Released: September 11, 1974
Type: TV
The Manhunter is an American crime drama that was part of CBS' lineup for the 1974–1975 television season. The series was produced by Quinn Martin and starred Ken Howard as Dave Barret, a 1930s-era private investigator from Idaho. The series was executive produced by Quinn Martin.
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Title: Hawkins
Character: Sheriff John Early
Released: March 13, 1973
Type: TV
Hawkins is a television series which aired for one season on CBS between 1973 and 1974. The mystery, created by Robert Hamner and David Karp, starred James Stewart as rural-bred lawyer Billy Jim Hawkins, who investigated the cases he was involved in, similarly to Stewart's earlier smash hit movie Anatomy of a Murder. Despite being critically well received and winning a Golden Globe Award, the series was cancelled after one season consisting of seven 90-minute episodes. Stewart requested the cancellation since he believed that the quality of scripts and directors in television could not continuously measure up to the level to which he was accustomed with theatrical films. Seen as part of The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies, it alternated with the TV movie adaptations of Shaft. Contemporary analysts suggested that since the two shows appealed to vastly different audience bases, alternating them only served to confuse fans of both series, giving neither one the time to build up a large viewership.
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Sounder
Title: Sounder
Character: Sheriff Charlie Young
Released: September 24, 1972
Type: Movie
The oldest son of a loving and strong family of black sharecroppers comes of age in the Depression-era South after his father is imprisoned for stealing food.
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The Brain Machine
Title: The Brain Machine
Character: Rev. Emory Neill
Released: January 1, 1972
Type: Movie
Several people volunteer for a scientific experiment about mind-reading and memory, but the experiment goes horribly wrong.
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Run, Simon, Run
Title: Run, Simon, Run
Character: Henry Burroughs
Released: December 1, 1970
Type: Movie
A Papago Indian returns to his reservation after a prison term and searches for his brother's killer.
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Title: The Mod Squad
Released: September 24, 1968
Type: TV
The Mod Squad was the enormously successful groundbreaking "hippie" undercover cop show that ran on ABC from September 24, 1968, until August 23, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Pete Cochren, Peggy Lipton as Julie Barnes, Clarence Williams III as Linc Hayes, and Tige Andrews as Captain Adam Greer. The executive producers of the series were Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas. The iconic counter-culture police series earned six Emmy nominations, four Golden Globe nominations plus one win for Peggy Lipton, one Directors Guild of America award, and four Logies. In 1997 the episode "Mother of Sorrow" was ranked #95 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
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Title: Lancer
Released: September 24, 1968
Type: TV
Lancer is an American Western series that aired on CBS from September 1968, to May 1970. The series stars Andrew Duggan, James Stacy, and Wayne Maunder as a father with two half-brother sons, an arrangement similar to the more successful Bonanza on NBC.
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Firecreek
Title: Firecreek
Character: Drew
Released: January 24, 1968
Type: Movie
A peace-loving, part-time sheriff in the small town of Firecreek must take a stand when a gang of vicious outlaws takes over his town.
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Title: The Guns of Will Sonnett
Released: September 8, 1967
Type: TV
The Guns of Will Sonnett is a Western television series
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First to Fight
Title: First to Fight
Character: Sergeant Carnavan
Released: January 25, 1967
Type: Movie
Jack is the sole survivor of a Japanese attack on his squad at Guadalcanal. Because of his heroism and the fact that he is still alive, he becomes a Medal of Honor hero. He returns to train new recruits for the Marines and falls for a girl named Peggy. When training and marriage leave him with an empty feeling, he decides on a transfer back to the front lines. Soon he will find that marriage and life will change his outlook on the grueling battles that lie ahead.
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Title: Felony Squad
Released: September 12, 1966
Type: TV
Twenty-year veteran Detective Sergeant Sam Stone is paired with rookie Briggs in a large Western metropolis.
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Title: The Green Hornet
Character: Yale Barton
Released: September 9, 1966
Type: TV
The Green Hornet is a television series on the ABC US television network that aired for the 1966–1967 TV season starring Van Williams as the Green Hornet/Britt Reid and Bruce Lee as Kato.
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Title: Hawk
Released: September 8, 1966
Type: TV
The crime busting techniques of Iroquois detective John Hawk of the New York City District Attorney's office.
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Three on a Couch
Title: Three on a Couch
Character: Dr. Ben Mizer
Released: March 1, 1966
Type: Movie
An artist has an opportunity to go to Paris and wants to bring his fiancee along. However, she's a psychiatrist who currently has three female patients who don't like men. So, he guises himself as three different men to gauge their trust and hopefully cure them so that his fiancee can go with him.
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Title: Honey West
Character: Vince Zale
Released: September 17, 1965
Type: TV
After her father's death, Honey West takes over his high-tech private-detective firm, assisted by rugged Sam Bolt--and her pet ocelot Bruce.
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Shenandoah
Title: Shenandoah
Character: Carter, Rebel Soldier
Released: June 3, 1965
Type: Movie
Charlie Anderson, a farmer in Shenandoah, Virginia, finds himself and his family in the middle of the Civil War he wants nothing to do with. When his youngest boy is taken prisoner by the North, the Civil War is forced upon him.
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Black Spurs
Title: Black Spurs
Character: Ralph Elkins
Released: May 28, 1965
Type: Movie
A dissatisfied ranch hand becomes a bounty hunter. He conspires with a crooked town boss to dirty up a neighboring village where a valuable railroad franchise is headed.
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Title: Daniel Boone
Character: Jethro Wyatt
Released: September 24, 1964
Type: TV
Daniel Boone is an American action-adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Cherokee friend, for the first four seasons of the series. Albert Salmi portrayed Boone's companion Yadkin in season one only. Dallas McKennon portrayed innkeeper Cincinnatus. Country Western singer-actor Jimmy Dean was a featured actor as Josh Clements during the 1968–1970 seasons. Actor and former NFL football player Rosey Grier made regular appearances as Gabe Cooper in the 1969 to 1970 season. The show was broadcast "in living color" beginning in fall 1965, the second season, and was shot entirely in California and Kanab, Utah.
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Title: Flipper
Released: September 19, 1964
Type: TV
Flipper, from Ivan Tors Films in association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, is an American television program first broadcast on NBC from September 19, 1964, until April 15, 1967. Flipper, a bottlenose dolphin, is the companion animal of Porter Ricks, Chief Warden at fictional Coral Key Park and Marine Preserve in southern Florida, and his two young sons, Sandy and Bud. The show has been dubbed an "aquatic Lassie", and a considerable amount of juvenile merchandise inspired by the show was produced during its first-run.
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The Quick Gun
Title: The Quick Gun
Character: Scotty Wade
Released: April 1, 1964
Type: Movie
Gunslinger Murphy helps an ungrateful town fight off a raid by his former gang.
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Shock Corridor
Title: Shock Corridor
Character: Stuart
Released: September 25, 1963
Type: Movie
With the help of his girlfriend Cathy and Dr. Fong, a psychiatrist, ambitious journalist Johnny Barrett poses as a madman in order to be admitted to a mental institution where a bloody murder has been committed.
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Title: Redigo
Released: September 24, 1963
Type: TV
Redigo is a 15-week Western dramatic series, set on a New Mexico ranch during the early 1960s, which aired over NBC from September 24 to December 31, 1963. The series features Richard Egan as ranch owner Jim Redigo, Roger Davis as Mike the ranch hand, and Elena Verdugo as Gerry. Don Diamond appeared in four episodes, three as the character Arturo. Redigo was the truncated second half-hour season of the previous one-hour series, Empire, which aired from September 25, 1962, to May 13, 1963. Both programs were placed on the Tuesday evening schedule against CBS's The Red Skelton Show. Redigo also lost out in the ratings to the ABC military sitcom, McHale's Navy, starring Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway. In Redigo, Egan's character Jim Redigo was no longer the manager of the large Garrett Ranch but the owner of his own smaller spread nearby. The half-hour format made it hard for the program to develop complex characters as had been done in the initial one-hour version of the show.
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Title: Burke's Law
Character: Tucson, 'The Cowboy'
Released: September 20, 1963
Type: TV
Burke's Law is an American detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II.
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Title: The Fugitive
Character: Dan Murray
Released: September 17, 1963
Type: TV
Richard Kimble is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death penalty. En route to death row, Kimble's train derails and crashes, allowing him to escape and begin a cross-country search for the real killer, a "one-armed man". At the same time, Dr. Kimble is hounded by the authorities, most notably dogged by Police Lieutenant Philip Gerard.
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Title: The Gallant Men
Released: October 5, 1962
Type: TV
The Gallant Men is a 1962–1963 ABC television series which depicted an infantry company of American soldiers fighting their way through Italy in World War II.
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Title: Combat!
Character: Trenton
Released: October 2, 1962
Type: TV
Combat! is an American television program that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers fighting the Germans in France during World War II. The program starred Rick Jason as platoon leader Second Lieutenant Gil Hanley and Vic Morrow as Sergeant "Chip" Saunders.
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Title: General Electric True
Released: September 30, 1962
Type: TV
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Title: The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Character: Tom Carmody
Released: September 20, 1962
Type: TV
A continuation of the anthology series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, hosted by the master of suspense and featuring thrillers and mysteries.
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Title: The Virginian
Character: Curt Westley
Released: September 19, 1962
Type: TV
The Shiloh Ranch in Wyoming Territory of the 1890s is owned in sequence by Judge Henry Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Colonel Alan MacKenzie. It is the setting for a variety of stories, many more based on character and relationships than the usual western.
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Black Gold
Title: Black Gold
Character: Jericho Larkin
Released: July 21, 1962
Type: Movie
Two friends join together to strike oil, court women, and battle an unscrupulous oilman politician during the Oklahoma oil boom of the 1920s.
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Title: Ben Casey
Released: October 2, 1961
Type: TV
Ben Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph Ransohoff was a medical consultant for the show and may have influenced the personality of the title character.
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Title: Whispering Smith
Released: May 8, 1961
Type: TV
Whispering Smith is an American Western series that aired on NBC. Based on a 1948 movie, the series stars Audie Murphy as Tom "Whispering" Smith, a police detective in Denver, Colorado. Filming of the series began in 1959, but the program did not air until May 8, 1961, because of unexpected production problems. Whispering Smith combines elements of CBS's Have Gun – Will Travel starring Richard Boone, NBC's Tales of Wells Fargo starring Dale Robertson, the syndicated Shotgun Slade with Scott Brady, and ABC's The Man From Blackhawk, a Stirling Silliphant production starring Robert Rockwell. While the setting of the series is unique, it is otherwise a standard detective program.
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Title: Surfside 6
Released: October 6, 1960
Type: TV
Surfside 6 was an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered on a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison; and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne. Diane McBain co-starred as socialite Daphne Dutton, whose yacht was berthed next to their houseboat. Margarita Sierra also had a supporting role as Cha Cha O'Brien, an entertainer who worked at The Boom Boom Room, a popular Miami Beach hangout at the Fontainebleau Hotel, directly across the street from Surfside 6. Surfside 6 was in fact a real address in Miami Beach, where an unrelated houseboat was moored at the time; it can also be seen in the sweeping aerial establishing shot of the Fontainebleu in 1964's Goldfinger.
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Title: Stagecoach West
Released: October 4, 1960
Type: TV
Stagecoach West is an American Western drama television series which ran for thirty-eight episodes on the ABC network from October 4, 1960, until June 27, 1961. Characters Luke Perry and Simon Kane operate the Timberland Stage Line from fictitious Outpost, Missouri to San Francisco, California. Simon's 15-year-old son, David "Davey" Kane, joins the two as they face stagecoach robbers, murderers, inclement weather, and human interest stories. Perry and Kane, who are both deputy U.S. marshals, had been on opposite sides of the American Civil War; Kane, a captain in the Union Army, while Perry had fought for the Confederate States of America. The one-hour black-and-white program was offered at 9 p.m. Eastern on Tuesdays opposite NBC's Thriller, hosted by Boris Karloff, and CBS's The Red Skelton Show. Rogers became well-known a dozen years later on M*A*S*H, and Bray later portrayed the forest ranger Corey Stuart on Lassie from 1964–1969, both on CBS. Child actor Richard Eyer had starred in a number of films in the 1950s, including Friendly Persuasion and Desperate Hours. Stagecoach West was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television. It is believed that the series was cancelled despite the high quality of its production because of the glut of westerns on television at the time that it aired. The same fate had fallen on CBS's Johnny Ringo, a 1959 one-season spin-off of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater.
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Title: The Andy Griffith Show
Character: Jim Lindsey
Released: October 3, 1960
Type: TV
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised on CBS between October 3, 1960 and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays the widowed sheriff of the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina. His life is complicated by an inept, but well-meaning deputy, Barney Fife, a spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee, and a precocious young son, Opie. Local ne'er-do-wells, bumbling pals, and temperamental girlfriends further complicate his life. Andy Griffith stated in a Today Show interview, with respect to the time period of the show: "Well, though we never said it, and though it was shot in the '60s, it had a feeling of the '30s. It was when we were doing it, of a time gone by." The series never placed lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings and ended its final season at number one. It has been ranked by TV Guide as the 9th-best show in American television history. Though neither Griffith nor the show won awards during its eight-season run, series co-stars Knotts and Bavier accumulated a combined total of six Emmy Awards. The show, a semi-spin-off from an episode of The Danny Thomas Show titled "Danny Meets Andy Griffith", spawned its own spin-off series, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D., and a reunion telemovie, Return to Mayberry. The show's enduring popularity has generated a good deal of show-related merchandise. Reruns currently air on TV Land, and the complete series is available on DVD. All eight seasons are also now available by streaming video services such as Netflix.
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Title: Michael Shayne
Released: September 30, 1960
Type: TV
Michael Shayne is an American detective television series starring Richard Denning that aired on NBC from September 30, 1960 to May 19, 1961.
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Title: The Barbara Stanwyck Show
Character: Joe
Released: September 19, 1960
Type: TV
The Barbara Stanwyck Show is an American anthology drama television series which ran on NBC from September 1960 to September 1961. Barbara Stanwyck served as hostess, and starred in all but four of the half-hour productions. The four she did not star in were actually pilot episodes of potential series programs which never materialized. Stanwyck won the Emmy Award in 1961 for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Series. Three of the shows in which Stanwyck starred were an attempt at spinning off a dramatic series of her own, in which she appeared as "Josephine Little", an American woman running an import-export shop in Hong Kong. The series, produced at Desilu Studios, was directed by Stuart Rosenberg. The Barbara Stanwyck Show lasted one season. It aired at 10 p.m. Eastern on Mondays opposite Jackie Cooper's military sitcom Hennesey on CBS and the second half of Gardner McKay's Adventures in Paradise on ABC.
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The Mountain Road
Title: The Mountain Road
Character: Niergaard
Released: June 15, 1960
Type: Movie
In 1944, in eastern part of China, U.S.Army Major Baldwin and his volunteer team of demolition engineers are left behind the retreating Chinese forces. Their task is to slow down the Japanese advance into eastern China by blowing up bridges, roads, airfields and munitions dumps. They start by blowing up an American airfield and ammo dump. They receive the order to destroy a vital bridge over a mountain pass.The team uses a few army trucks to move around. At the bridge, they encounter a Nationalist Chinese Army unit in charge of guarding the bridge. Thanks to an American soldier who speaks some Chinese, Major Baldwin requests the permission, from the Chinese commander, to blow up the bridge.The Chinese colonel agrees but asks the American Major to do him a favor by also destroying a munitions dump located at some distance away.He also requests that Madame Sue-Mei Hung, the widow of a Chinese colonel, be transported by the American demolition team to the nearest major town.
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Aftermath
Title: Aftermath
Character: Hardy Coulter
Released: April 17, 1960
Type: Movie
Aftermath was the pilot for an unsold TV series called "The Code of Jonathan West"; it aired as part of The General Electric Theater. The film takes place just after the Civil War, in a small southern town – war-ravaged, impoverished, and seething with hatred and resentment.
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Title: Pony Express
Character: Bart Gentry
Released: March 9, 1960
Type: TV
Pony Express is an American western television series about the adventures of an agent in the 1860s of the Central Overland Express Company, better known as the Pony Express. The half-hour program starring Grant Sullivan was created by California National Productions. Pony Express ran for thirty-five episodes in syndication from the fall of 1959 until the May 1960.
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Title: Overland Trail
Released: February 7, 1960
Type: TV
Overland Trail was a short lived television western about the adventures of an earthy stage coach line superintendent and his young partner as they strive to keep the stage routes open and safe. William Bendix played Frederick Thomas "Fred" Kelly, the superintendent of the fictitious Overland Stage Company. Doug McClure appeared as Frank "Flip" Flippen, Kelly's associate in the business.
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Title: Hawaiian Eye
Released: October 7, 1959
Type: TV
Private Eyes Tom Lopaka and Tracy Steele are based out of Hawaiian Village Resort where they work both hotel security and are hired by others to look into various matters. They're helped by their trusty right-hand man Kazuo Kim who runs a taxi company and is always eager to help them.
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Title: Startime
Released: October 6, 1959
Type: TV
Startime is an anthology show of drama, comedy, and variety, and was one of the first American television shows broadcast in color. The program was aired Tuesday nights in the United States on the NBC Television network in the 1959-60 television season.
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Title: The Rebel
Character: Ted Evans
Released: October 4, 1959
Type: TV
The Rebel is a 76-episode American western television series starring Nick Adams that debuted on the ABC network from 1959 to 1961. The Rebel was one of the few Goodson-Todman Productions outside of their game show ventures. Beginning in December 2011, The Rebel reruns began to air Saturday mornings on Me-TV.
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Title: The Rebel
Character: Abel Waares
Released: October 4, 1959
Type: TV
The Rebel is a 76-episode American western television series starring Nick Adams that debuted on the ABC network from 1959 to 1961. The Rebel was one of the few Goodson-Todman Productions outside of their game show ventures. Beginning in December 2011, The Rebel reruns began to air Saturday mornings on Me-TV.
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Title: The Twilight Zone
Character: Jeff Myrtlebank
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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Title: The Twilight Zone
Character: Billy-Ben Turner
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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Title: Men into Space
Released: September 30, 1959
Type: TV
Men Into Space is an American science-fiction television series broadcast from September 30, 1959 to September 7, 1960 by CBS which depicted future efforts by the United States Air Force to explore and develop outer space. The black-and-white filmed show starred William Lundigan as Col. Edward McCauley.
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Title: Lock-Up
Released: September 28, 1959
Type: TV
Lock-Up is an American legal drama series that premiered in syndication in September 1959 and concluded in June 1961. The half-hour episodes had little time for character development or subplots and presented a compact story without embellishment.
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Title: The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Character: Jovan Wilanskov
Released: September 21, 1959
Type: TV
The DuPont Show with June Allyson is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959 to April 3, 1961 with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961. The series was hosted by actress June Allyson.
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Title: Laramie
Released: September 15, 1959
Type: TV
Laramie is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1963. A Revue Studios production, the program originally starred John Smith as Slim Sherman, Robert Fuller as Jess Harper, Hoagy Carmichael as Jonesy and Robert L. Crawford, Jr., as Andy Sherman.
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Title: The Man and the Challenge
Released: September 12, 1959
Type: TV
The Man and the Challenge is a 36-segment half-hour television adventure/science fiction series which ran new episodes on NBC from September 12, 1959, to June 11, 1960. It starred George Nader as Dr. Glenn Barton, a research scientist for the Institute of Human Factors, an agency that conducted experiments designed to measure human endurance for the United States government. The series was produced by Ivan Tors. Nader's costars included Jack Ging as Dan Wright, Michael Masters as Bill Locke, the Canadian-born Joyce Meadows as Lynn Allen, and Michael Keith as Matt Adams. The episodes focused on various individuals setting world records of strength, endurance, and mastery of various difficult skills. The program also featured appearances by Bethel Leslie as Eleanor Beck in "The Early Warning", Ted Knight, as Dr. Herter in the episode "Daredevils", and Raymond Bailey, in the role of Dr. Kramer on the series opener "The Sphere of No Return". Joining Knight in that segment was Paul Burke.
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Cast a Long Shadow
Title: Cast a Long Shadow
Character: Sam Mullen
Released: August 24, 1959
Type: Movie
A young man without surname inherits a big indebted ranch and has to prove his worthiness managing a cattle drive.
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The Killer Shrews
Title: The Killer Shrews
Character: Thorne Sherman
Released: June 25, 1959
Type: Movie
Trapped on a remote island by a hurricane, a group discover a doctor has been experimenting on creating half sized humans. Unfortunately, his experiments have also created giant shrews, who when they have run out of small animals to eat, turn on the humans.
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Title: The David Niven Show
Character: Boland
Released: April 7, 1959
Type: TV
The David Niven Show is an American anthology series that aired from April 7 until July 7, 1959.
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Verboten!
Title: Verboten!
Character: Sgt. David Brent
Released: March 25, 1959
Type: Movie
A young American serviceman stationed in Germany after the fall of the Third Reich, jeopardises his future after falling in love with a German woman.
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Ride Lonesome
Title: Ride Lonesome
Character: Billy John
Released: February 1, 1959
Type: Movie
On the way to pick up the bounty on a wanted murderer, a bounty hunter stops at a staging post where he is forced to continue his journey with two outlaws who want the murderer for their own reasons and a recently-widowed woman, with the murderer's brother and his men in hot pursuit.
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Title: Black Saddle
Character: Ben Travers
Released: January 10, 1959
Type: TV
Black Saddle is an American Western television series starring Peter Breck that aired 44 episodes on ABC from January 10, 1959 to May 6, 1960. The half-hour program was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television, and the original pilot was an episode of CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, with Chris Alcaide portraying the principal character, Clay Culhane. For syndicated reruns, Black Saddle was combined with three other Western series from the same company, Law of the Plainsman starring Michael Ansara, Johnny Ringo starring Don Durant and Mark Goddard, and the critically acclaimed creation of Sam Peckinpah, The Westerner with Brian Keith, under the umbrella title, The Westerners, with new hosting sequences by Keenan Wynn.
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Title: Rawhide
Character: Willie Cain
Released: January 9, 1959
Type: TV
The tale of trail boss Gil Favor and his trusty foreman Rowdy Yates as they drives cattle across the old west. Along the way they meet up with adventure and drama.
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Title: Rawhide
Character: Brock Quade
Released: January 9, 1959
Type: TV
The tale of trail boss Gil Favor and his trusty foreman Rowdy Yates as they drives cattle across the old west. Along the way they meet up with adventure and drama.
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Title: 77 Sunset Strip
Released: October 10, 1958
Type: TV
Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer are the wisecracking, womanizing private-detective heroes of this Warner Brothers drama. They work out of an office located at 77 Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, California, right next door to a snazzy restaurant where Kookie works as a valet. The finger-snapping, slang-talking Kookie occasionally helps Stu and Jeff with their cases, and eventually becomes a full-fledged member of the detective agency. Rex Randolph and J.R. Hale also join the firm, and Suzanne is their leggy secretary.
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Title: Bat Masterson
Character: Joe Best
Released: October 8, 1958
Type: TV
Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black-and-white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961. The series was produced by Ziv Television Productions, the company responsible for such hit series as Sea Hunt and Highway Patrol.
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Title: Bat Masterson
Character: Danny Dakota
Released: October 8, 1958
Type: TV
Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black-and-white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961. The series was produced by Ziv Television Productions, the company responsible for such hit series as Sea Hunt and Highway Patrol.
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Title: Behind Closed Doors
Character: Webb
Released: October 2, 1958
Type: TV
Behind Closed Doors is an American drama series set during the Cold War hosted by and occasionally starring Bruce Gordon in the role of Commander Matson. The series, which aired on NBC from October 2, 1958, to April 9, 1959, focuses, among other themes, on how the former Soviet Union stole American missile secrets and proposes steps to prevent further espionage. Behind Closed Doors is based on the files and experiences of Rear Admiral Ellis M. Zacharias, who offers comments at the end of each segment. Behind Closed Doors, a Screen Gems production, replaced Jackie Cooper's sitcom The People's Choice, followed the NBC quiz show, Twenty-One, and preceded the The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show. Its competition was The Pat Boone Chevy Show on ABC and Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater western anthology series on CBS.
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Title: The Rifleman
Released: September 30, 1958
Type: TV
The Rifleman is an American Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black-and-white, half-hour episodes. "The Rifleman" aired on ABC from September 30, 1958 to April 8, 1963 as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first prime time series to have a widowed parent raise a child.
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Title: The Texan
Released: September 29, 1958
Type: TV
The Texan was a Western television series starring popular B movie actor Rory Calhoun, which aired on the CBS television network from 1958 to 1960.
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Title: Bronco
Released: September 23, 1958
Type: TV
Bronco is a Western series on ABC from 1958 through 1962. It was shown by the BBC in the United Kingdom. The program starred Ty Hardin as Bronco Layne, a former Confederate officer who wandered the Old West, meeting such well-known individuals as Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Theodore Roosevelt, Belle Starr, Cole Younger, and John Wesley Hardin.
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Title: Wanted: Dead or Alive
Character: Luke Perry
Released: September 6, 1958
Type: TV
Wanted: Dead or Alive is an American Western television series starring Steve McQueen as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons from 1958–61. The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown, a 1957–59 western series starring Robert Culp. Both series were produced by Four Star Television in association with CBS Television. The series launched McQueen into becoming the first television star to cross over into comparable status on the big screen.
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Title: Wanted: Dead or Alive
Character: Stoner
Released: September 6, 1958
Type: TV
Wanted: Dead or Alive is an American Western television series starring Steve McQueen as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons from 1958–61. The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown, a 1957–59 western series starring Robert Culp. Both series were produced by Four Star Television in association with CBS Television. The series launched McQueen into becoming the first television star to cross over into comparable status on the big screen.
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The Naked and the Dead
Title: The Naked and the Dead
Character: Rhidges
Released: August 6, 1958
Type: Movie
Fighting men in World War II learn the value of courage and quickness at the risk of losing their lives.
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The Left Handed Gun
Title: The Left Handed Gun
Character: Tom Folliard
Released: May 7, 1958
Type: Movie
When a crooked sheriff murders his employer, William "Billy the Kid" Bonney decides to avenge the death by killing the man responsible, throwing the lives of everyone around him into turmoil, and endangering the General Amnesty set up by Governor Wallace to bring peace to the New Mexico Territory.
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Cole Younger, Gunfighter
Title: Cole Younger, Gunfighter
Character: Kit Caswell
Released: March 30, 1958
Type: Movie
An outlaw must decide whether to stick his neck out for an innocent man.
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Man on the Prowl
Title: Man on the Prowl
Character: Doug Gerhardt
Released: December 1, 1957
Type: Movie
A neglected wife (Mala Powers) unknowingly places her family in danger when she becomes friends with a psychologically disturbed deliveryman (James Best).
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Title: Tombstone Territory
Released: October 16, 1957
Type: TV
Tombstone Territory is an American Western series starring Pat Conway and Richard Eastham. The series' first two seasons aired on ABC from 1957 to 1959. The third and final season aired in syndication from 1959 until 1960.
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Title: Trackdown
Released: October 4, 1957
Type: TV
Trackdown is an American Western television series starring Robert Culp that aired on CBS between 1957 and 1959. More than seventy episodes of this series were produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television and filmed at the Desilu-Culver Studio. The series was itself a spin-off of Powell's anthology series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater.
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Title: Perry Mason
Character: Martin Potter
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: Allan Winford
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: Have Gun, Will Travel
Released: September 14, 1957
Type: TV
Have Gun – Will Travel is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons. It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958. The television show is presently shown on the Encore-Western channel. Have Gun – Will Travel was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and produced by Frank Pierson, Don Ingalls, Robert Sparks, and Julian Claman. There were 225 episodes of the TV series, 24 written by Gene Roddenberry. Other contributors included Bruce Geller, Harry Julian Fink, Don Brinkley and Irving Wallace. Andrew McLaglen directed 101 episodes and 19 were directed by series star Richard Boone.
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Title: Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Character: Jack Milhoan
Released: July 1, 1957
Type: TV
Richard Diamond, Private Detective is an American detective drama which aired on radio from 1949 to 1953, and on television from 1957 to 1960.
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Last of the Badmen
Title: Last of the Badmen
Character: Ted Hamilton
Released: February 17, 1957
Type: Movie
Chicago detectives in the 1880s head west to find the killers of their colleague.
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Hot Summer Night
Title: Hot Summer Night
Character: Kermit
Released: February 15, 1957
Type: Movie
An out-of-work reporter (Leslie Nielsen) seeks out a bank robber, and his bride (Colleen Miller) has to rescue him.
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The Rack
Title: The Rack
Character: Millard Chilson Cassidy
Released: November 2, 1956
Type: Movie
Army Captain Edward Hall returns to the US after two years in a prison camp in the Korean War. In the camp he was brainwashed and helped the Chinese convince the other prisoners that they were fighting an unjust war. When he comes back he is charged for collaboration with the enemy. Where does loyalty end in a prison camp, when the camp is a living hell?
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Title: West Point
Released: October 5, 1956
Type: TV
The West Point Story is a dramatic anthology television series shown in the United States by Columbia Broadcasting System during the 1956-57 season and by ABC during the 1957-58 season. The West Point Story, produced with the full cooperation of the United States Department of Defense and the United States Military Academy, was said to be based on actual files documenting many of the real-life dramatic occurrences at West Point over the years. Names and dates were altered in order to protect the privacy of the real people portrayed, however. The program was at first hosted by a fictional cadet, Charles C. Thompson, but this device was discontinued prior to the end of 1956. During its second season on ABC, The West Point Story was in competition with NBC's The Californians, set in San Francisco during the gold rush of the 1850s, and with The $64,000 Question quiz series on CBS. The West Point Story was replaced on the summer schedule in 1958 by Jack Wyatt's Confession, which continued to air during the first half of the 1958-1959 season in the 10 p.m. Tuesday evening time slot. At the time that The West Point Story was broadcast, four other military dramas aired either through syndication or on the major networks: Harbor Command, Navy Log, The Silent Service, and Men of Annapolis.
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Calling Homicide
Title: Calling Homicide
Character: Det. Arnie Arnhoff
Released: September 30, 1956
Type: Movie
Cop Andy Doyle investigates a car-bombing murder and the killing of a sleazy modeling agency owner. Are they connected?
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Gaby
Title: Gaby
Character: Jim
Released: May 9, 1956
Type: Movie
A ballerina resorts to prostitution when her fiance is reported killed in World War II.
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Forbidden Planet
Title: Forbidden Planet
Character: Crewman (uncredited)
Released: March 23, 1956
Type: Movie
Starship C57D travels to planet Altair 4 in search of the crew of spaceship "Bellerophon," a scientific expedition that has been missing for 20 years, only to find themselves unwelcome by the expedition's lone survivor and warned of destruction by an invisible force if they don't turn back immediately.
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Come Next Spring
Title: Come Next Spring
Character: Bill Jackson
Released: March 9, 1956
Type: Movie
Matt Ballot has returned home after 12 years of hard-drinking in all 48 states. His wife has managed to raise their 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son nicely without his help. Matt is considered a disgrace to the town he came from and now he finds himself trying to win the love of his children, his wife, and the respect of the townspeople. Set in Arkansas in the 1920s.
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Title: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Character: Hennessy
Released: October 2, 1955
Type: TV
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
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Title: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Character: Norman Frayne
Released: October 2, 1955
Type: TV
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
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Title: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Character: Bish Darby
Released: October 2, 1955
Type: TV
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
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Title: Frontier
Released: September 25, 1955
Type: TV
Frontier is an American Western anthology series that aired on NBC from September 1955, to September 1956. The series de-emphasizes gunplay and focuses on the hazards of the settlement of the American West. It was only the second anthology Western series in television history, having been preceded by Death Valley Days. Frontier aired premiered on September 25, 1955, and ran sporadically in its last five months. Walter Coy narrated the series and starred in occasional episodes, which are dramatizations based on actual events. The program was produced by Worthington Miner.
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Title: Cheyenne
Released: September 20, 1955
Type: TV
Cheyenne is an American western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season. It was also the first series to be made by a major Hollywood film studio which did not derive from its established film properties, and the first of a long chain of Warner Brothers original series produced by William T. Orr.
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Title: Gunsmoke
Character: Beal
Released: September 10, 1955
Type: TV
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.
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Title: Gunsmoke
Character: Charlie Noon
Released: September 10, 1955
Type: TV
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.
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Top Of The World
Title: Top Of The World
Character: Col. French's Orderly (uncredited)
Released: May 1, 1955
Type: Movie
A team of Air Force servicemen become stranded after setting up a weather station on an island of ice in Alaska.
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Seven Angry Men
Title: Seven Angry Men
Character: Jason Brown
Released: March 27, 1955
Type: Movie
Rise, fall and execution of John Brown, fanatic abolitionist.
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Title: Buffalo Bill Jr.
Released: March 1, 1955
Type: TV
Buffalo Bill, Jr. is an American Western television series starring Dickie Jones that aired in syndication from March 1, 1955, until September 21, 1956.
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Title: The Millionaire
Character: Fred Morgan
Released: January 19, 1955
Type: TV
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.
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Title: Climax!
Character: Shag
Released: October 7, 1954
Type: TV
Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color. Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live.
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Title: The Lineup
Released: October 1, 1954
Type: TV
The Lineup is an American police drama which aired on CBS radio from 1950 to 1953 and on CBS television from 1954 to 1960. Syndicated reruns of the series were broadcast under the title San Francisco Beat.
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The Raid
Title: The Raid
Character: Lt. Robinson
Released: August 4, 1954
Type: Movie
A group of confederate prisoners escape to Canada and plan to rob the banks and set fire to the small town of Saint Albans in Vermont. To get the lie of the land, their leader spends a few days in the town and finds he is getting drawn into its life and especially into that of an attractive widow and her son.
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Return from the Sea
Title: Return from the Sea
Character: Barr
Released: July 28, 1954
Type: Movie
A hardened career navel officer must come to terms with adapting to civilian life with the help of a waitress that can see through his tough veneer.
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The Caine Mutiny
Title: The Caine Mutiny
Character: Lt. JG Jorgensen
Released: June 24, 1954
Type: Movie
When a US Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardize his ship, the first officer relieves him of command and faces court martial for mutiny.
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The Yellow Tomahawk
Title: The Yellow Tomahawk
Character: Private Bliss
Released: May 1, 1954
Type: Movie
When the army insists on building a fort on Indian land, in defiance of a treaty, the warnings of a scout go unheeded.
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Title: Stories of the Century
Released: January 23, 1954
Type: TV
Stories of the Century is a 39-episode Western television series starring Jim Davis that ran in syndication through Republic Pictures between January 23, 1954, and March 11, 1955.
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Riders to the Stars
Title: Riders to the Stars
Character: Dr. Sidney K. Fuller
Released: January 14, 1954
Type: Movie
Three men gamble their lives in space to change the history of the world
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City of Bad Men
Title: City of Bad Men
Character: Deputy Gig (uncredited)
Released: September 11, 1953
Type: Movie
Outlaws plan a robbery to take place during a championship prizefight in Carson City, Nevada.
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Column South
Title: Column South
Character: Primrose
Released: May 20, 1953
Type: Movie
In the weeks prior to the start of the Civil War, Confederate sympathizers hope to help their cause by inciting a Navajo war in the New Mexico Territory. Director Frederick de Cordova's 1953 western stars Audie Murphy, Robert Sterling, Joan Evans, Ray Collins, Dennis Weaver, Palmer Lee, Jack Kelly, James Best, Bob Steele and Ralph Moody.
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Seminole
Title: Seminole
Character: Corp. Gerad
Released: March 20, 1953
Type: Movie
Lance Caldwell, a cavalry lieutenant, recounts his efforts to make peace with the Seminole Indian tribe, under an evil major.
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Title: General Electric Theater
Character: Hardy Coulter
Released: February 1, 1953
Type: TV
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.
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Title: Cavalcade of America
Character: Slate Morley
Released: October 1, 1952
Type: TV
Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. Cavalcade of America documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. This was consistent with DuPont's overall conservative philosophy and legacy as an American company dating back to 1802. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation.
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Title: Cavalcade of America
Character: Harry
Released: October 1, 1952
Type: TV
Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. Cavalcade of America documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. This was consistent with DuPont's overall conservative philosophy and legacy as an American company dating back to 1802. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation.
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Title: Cavalcade of America
Released: October 1, 1952
Type: TV
Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. Cavalcade of America documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. This was consistent with DuPont's overall conservative philosophy and legacy as an American company dating back to 1802. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation.
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Title: Hopalong Cassidy
Released: September 19, 1952
Type: TV
Hopalong Cassidy was television's first western program. The series aired on NBC and stared William Boyd as the cowboy Hopalong Cassidy.
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Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
Title: Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair
Character: Marvin Johnson
Released: July 11, 1952
Type: Movie
Ma and Pa are trying to raise enough money at the county fair to send their daughter Rosie to college. Ma competes in baking and Pa enters a trotter in a horse race, while Rosie takes up with handsome young Marvin Johnson.
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Francis Goes to West Point
Title: Francis Goes to West Point
Character: Cpl. Ransom
Released: July 1, 1952
Type: Movie
Francis the talking mule gets his owner in and out of trouble while he is taking basic training at West Point.
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Steel Town
Title: Steel Town
Character: Joe Rakich
Released: May 9, 1952
Type: Movie
Steve Kostain, nephew of the owner, begins working at a steel mill to learn the business from the bottom up. He rooms with a steel working family, the McNamaras, and falls for the daughter, "Red", who is already involved with another steelworker. Although he is at first has a hard time with his co-workers, he eventually wins them over, and also wins the girl.
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The Battle at Apache Pass
Title: The Battle at Apache Pass
Character: Cpl. Hassett
Released: May 9, 1952
Type: Movie
Major Jim Colton is a sympathetic leader who has a working relationship with Apache leader Cochise. Colton is undermined by corrupt and politically ambitious Indian agent Neil Baylor who sets up a false attack, and the abduction of a local farmer's son. While Colton is away investigating the matter, Baylor convinces Lieutenant Bascom that Cochise's band is to blame, and incites him to lead an expedition against the Apache band to return the boy.
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The Cimarron Kid
Title: The Cimarron Kid
Character: Bitter Creek Dalton
Released: January 13, 1952
Type: Movie
Audie Murphy comes into his own as a Western star in this story. Wrongly accused by crooked railroad officials of aiding a train heist by his old friends the Daltons, he joins their gang and becomes an active participant in other robberies. Betrayed by a fellow gang member, Murphy becomes a fugitive in the end. Seeking refuge at the ranch of a reformed gang member, he hopes to flee with the man's daughter to South America, but he's captured in the end and led off to jail. The girl promises to wait.
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Title: Hallmark Hall of Fame
Released: December 24, 1951
Type: TV
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, though the program began with live telecasts of dramas and then changed to videotaped productions before finally changing to filmed ones. The series has received eighty Emmy Awards, twenty-four Christopher Awards, eleven Peabody Awards, nine Golden Globes, and four Humanitas Prizes. Once a common practice in American television, it is the last remaining television program such that the title includes the name of the sponsor. Unlike other long-running TV series still on the air, it differs in that it broadcasts only occasionally and not on a weekly broadcast programming schedule.
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Title: Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Released: October 5, 1951
Type: TV
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.
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Title: The Adventures of Kit Carson
Released: August 11, 1951
Type: TV
The Adventures of Kit Carson is an American Western series that aired in syndication from August 1951 to November 1955, originally sponsored by Coca-Cola. It stars Bill Williams in the title role as frontier scout Christopher "Kit" Carson. Don Diamond co-starred as "El Toro", Carson's Mexican companion.
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Apache Drums
Title: Apache Drums
Character: Bert Keon
Released: April 1, 1951
Type: Movie
A gambler is thrown out of a western town, but returns when the town is suddenly threatened by a band of marauding Apaches.
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Air Cadet
Title: Air Cadet
Character: Jerry Connell
Released: March 14, 1951
Type: Movie
A group of cadets have assorted problems at the U.S. Air Force Pilot Training Academy.
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Target Unknown
Title: Target Unknown
Character: Sgt. Ralph Phelps
Released: February 8, 1951
Type: Movie
World War II drama about members of an American bomber squadron who are captured and held prisoners by the German army.
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Kansas Raiders
Title: Kansas Raiders
Character: Cole Younger
Released: November 15, 1950
Type: Movie
Outraged by Redleg atrocities, the James and Younger Brothers along with Kit Dalton join Quantrill's Raiders and find themselves participating in even worse war crimes.
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Title: Lux Video Theatre
Character: Clem Wallace
Released: October 2, 1950
Type: TV
Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.
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Title: The Gene Autry Show
Released: July 23, 1950
Type: TV
The Gene Autry Show is an American western/cowboy television series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23, 1950 until August 7, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley's Doublemint chewing gum.
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Winchester '73
Title: Winchester '73
Character: Crater
Released: July 12, 1950
Type: Movie
Lin McAdam rides into town on the trail of Dutch Henry Brown, only to find himself in a shooting competition against him. McAdam wins the prize, a one-in-a-thousand Winchester rifle, but Dutch steals it and leaves town. McAdam follows, intent on settling his old quarrel, while the rifle keeps changing hands and touching a number of lives.
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Peggy
Title: Peggy
Character: Frank Addison
Released: July 1, 1950
Type: Movie
Professor Brookfield along with daughters Peggy and Susan move to small town Pasadena, California. Their new neighbor Mrs. Fielding helps them move in, and urges the girls to participate in the annual Rose Bowl beauty pageant. Meanwhile Mrs. Fielding's son Tom makes eyes at Peggy but she's smitten with a famous football star so she tries to redirect his interest to Susan.
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I Was a Shoplifter
Title: I Was a Shoplifter
Released: May 13, 1950
Type: Movie
A police detective uses any means possible to trap a gang of shoplifters.
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Comanche Territory
Title: Comanche Territory
Character: Sam
Released: May 1, 1950
Type: Movie
Silver has been found on comanche territory and the government accomplished a peaceful agreement with the indians. When James 'Jim' Bowie comes into the scene he finds the white settlers living near by planning to attack the indians although they know about that agreement and the beautiful Katie seems to play a leading role in this intrigue.
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One Way Street
Title: One Way Street
Character: Driver
Released: April 1, 1950
Type: Movie
After stealing a gangster's money and his girlfriend, a doctor heads for a small village in Mexico to hide out.