Will Geer

Will Geer

Born: March 9, 1902
Died: April 22, 1978
in Frankfort, Indiana, USA
​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Will Geer (March 9, 1902 – April 22, 1978) was an American actor and social activist. His original name was William Aughe Ghere. He is remembered for his portrayal of Grandpa Zebulon Tyler Walton in the 1970s TV series, The Waltons.  

Geer made his Broadway debut as Pistol in a 1928 production of Much Ado About Nothing, created the role of Mr. Mister in Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, played Candy in John Steinbeck's theatrical adaptation of his novella Of Mice and Men, and appeared in numerous plays and revues throughout the 1940s. From 1948 to 1951, he appeared in more than a dozen movies, including Winchester '73 (as Wyatt Earp), Broken Arrow, Comanche Territory (all 1950) and Bright Victory (1951).

Geer became a member of the Communist Party of the United States in 1934. Geer was also influential in introducing Harry Hay to organizing in the Communist Party. In 1934, Geer and Hay gave support to a labor strike of the port of San Francisco; the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike which lasted 83 days. Though marred by violence, it was an organizing triumph, one that became a model for future union strikes Geer became a reader of the West Coast Communist newspaper People's World.

Geer became a dedicated activist, touring government work camps in the 1930s with folk singers like Burl Ives and Woody Guthrie (whom he introduced to the People's World and the Daily Worker; Guthrie would go on to write a column for the latter paper). In 1956, the duo released an album together on Folkways Records, titled Bound for Glory: Songs and Stories of Woody Guthrie. In his biography, fellow organizer and homosexual rights pioneer Harry Hay described Geer's activism and outlined their activities while organizing for the strike. Geer is credited with introducing Guthrie to Pete Seeger at the 'Grapes of Wrath' benefit Geer organized in 1940 for migrant farm workers.

Geer acted with the Group Theatre (New York) studying under Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg. Geer also acted in radio, appearing as Mephistopheles (the Devil) in the 1938 and 1944 productions of Norman Corwin's The Plot to Overthrow Christmas. He also acted in the radio soap opera Bright Horizon.

Geer was blacklisted in the early 1950s for refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. As a result, Geer appeared in very few films over the next decade. Among them was Salt of the Earth (1954) which was produced, directed, written, and starring blacklisted Hollywood personnel and told the story of a miners' strike in New Mexico from a pro-union standpoint. The film was denounced as "subversive" and faced difficulties in its production and distribution as a consequence.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Will Geer, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for Will Geer...

Will Geer: America's Grandpa
Title: Will Geer: America's Grandpa
Released: May 2, 2019
Type: Movie
Blacklisted gay communist 1940’s character actor Will Geer became Grandpa Walton in the hit series “The Waltons”. How so?
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Woody Guthrie All-Star Tribute Concert 1970
Title: Woody Guthrie All-Star Tribute Concert 1970
Character: Narrator
Released: March 1, 2019
Type: Movie
In 1970, three years following his death from Huntington’s disease, an all-star cast of musicians gathered at Los Angeles, CA’s Hollywood Bowl to pay homage to iconic folk songwriter Woody Guthrie. Although the concert was a one-night-only event , four-time Emmy Award-winner Jim Brown filmed the historic Woody Guthrie All-Star Tribute Concert 1970, which included performances by Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Country Joe McDonald, Odetta, Richie Havens, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Earl Robinson, and The Band, along with narration by actors Will Geer and Peter Fonda.
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In Hollywood's Backyard: Topanga in the 1970s
Title: In Hollywood's Backyard: Topanga in the 1970s
Character: Self
Released: February 15, 2017
Type: Movie
Filmmakers (and canyon residents) Alexander and Anne Christine Von Wetter filmed this documentary for German Television in the early 1970s as a revealing close-up of an extraordinary period in America. The camera masters and 16mm negative were consequently lost to a devastating fire. Luckily, a lone VHS copy had been made, which spent the next 30 years on the studio shelf. The VHS was found heavily damaged, but a restoration team managed to salvage a fair grade of quality, which has since been remastered.
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James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Title: James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 22, 1988
Type: Movie
Documentary about James Stewart's long career as an actor and positive personal life.
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The New Deal for Artists
Title: The New Deal for Artists
Released: July 6, 1981
Type: Movie
The Arts Project of the Work Projects Administration (1935-1942) was a USA government agency established to support writers, theater people, painters, sculptors, and photographers.
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The Man Who Loved Bears
Title: The Man Who Loved Bears
Character: Narrator
Released: June 17, 1979
Type: Movie
The Man Who Loved Bears (1979) True-story documentary detailing the struggle of a man trying to raise a helpless grizzly bear cub named "Griz" in order to return him to the natural Colorado wild.
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Title: A Woman Called Moses
Character: Thomas Garrett
Released: December 11, 1978
Type: TV
A television miniseries based on the life of Harriet Tubman, the escaped African American slave who helped to organize the Underground Railroad, and who led dozens of African Americans from enslavement in the Southern United States to freedom in the Northern states and Canada.
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Rip Van Winkle
Title: Rip Van Winkle
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: November 20, 1978
Type: Movie
Rip Van Winkle, a lazy American man, wanders off one day with his dog Wolf into the Kaatskill mountains where he runs into an odd group of men drinking and playing bowls. He drinks some of their mysterious brew and passes out. When he wakes up under a tree he is astonished to find that 20 years have passed and things are a lot different.
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The Mafu Cage
Title: The Mafu Cage
Character: Zom
Released: March 19, 1978
Type: Movie
Two strange sisters live in a crumbling mansion, where they keep a pet ape, which belonged to their late father, locked in a cage. While one of the sisters seems to be keeping her head on straight, as it were, the other appears to be sinking further and further into barbarism and insanity.
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Unknown Powers
Title: Unknown Powers
Character: Host
Released: January 1, 1978
Type: Movie
A documentary –actually three episodes of a canceled TV series edited together– examining various phenomena, including ESP, psychic surgery and past-life hypnosis.
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The Billion Dollar Hobo
Title: The Billion Dollar Hobo
Character: Choo-Choo Trayne
Released: November 1, 1977
Type: Movie
Vernon Praiseworthy is a clumsy but lovable dope who stands to inherit his uncle's fortune. The condition is that he travel the rails as a penniless hobo just as his uncle did in the dark days of the depression. That seems simple enough until he gets involved in a dog-napping plot. Written by Jerry Roberts
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Title: The Love Boat
Character: Franklyn Bootherstone
Released: September 24, 1977
Type: TV
Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins.
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Title: Eight Is Enough
Released: March 15, 1977
Type: TV
Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series that ran on ABC from March 15, 1977, until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Thomas Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name.
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Bunco
Title: Bunco
Released: January 1, 1977
Type: Movie
Tom Selleck is a member of the "Bunco" squad the squad in charge of nabbing con men, cheats, and swindlers. Most of their time is spent dealing with penny-ante street-corner crooks. But their investigations start to reveal a larger con game in progress.
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Moving Violation
Title: Moving Violation
Character: Rockfield
Released: July 16, 1976
Type: Movie
A young drifter and small-town waitress witness a corrupt sheriff murder his own deputy. Framed for the murder and pursued by the sheriff, they run for their life to try and stay alive.
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Law and Order
Title: Law and Order
Character: Pat Crowley
Released: May 6, 1976
Type: Movie
Story follows three generations of a family in the New York City Police Department.
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The Blue Bird
Title: The Blue Bird
Character: Grandfather
Released: April 5, 1976
Type: Movie
A pair of peasant children, Mytyl and her brother Tyltyl, are led on a magical quest for the fabulous Blue Bird of Happiness by the Fairy Berylune. On their journey, they are accompanied by the humanized presences of a Dog, a Cat, Light, Fire, Bread, and other entities.
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The Night That Panicked America
Title: The Night That Panicked America
Character: Reverend Davis
Released: October 31, 1975
Type: Movie
A dramatization of the Oct. 30, 1938 mass panic that Orson Welles' radio play, "The War of the Worlds" accidentally provoked.
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Title: Starsky & Hutch
Character: Commodore Atwater
Released: September 10, 1975
Type: TV
Streetwise Detective David Starsky partners up with a more intellectual partner, Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson, to protect citizens and patrol the streets of Bay City.
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The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery
Title: The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery
Character: Dr. Simpson
Released: March 7, 1975
Type: Movie
Film noir parody with a private eye trying to solve the murder of his milkman.
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Title: Tony Orlando and Dawn
Character: Self
Released: December 4, 1974
Type: TV
CBS gave the group a television variety show (entitled Tony Orlando and Dawn) from the summer of 1974, after The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour ended its run, until December 1976. The show was in the same vein as its predecessor (with sketches featuring sarcastic back-and-forth banter between Orlando, Hopkins and Vincent, similar to the sarcastic dialogue between Sonny and Cher) and became a Top 20 hit. They are most famous for "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" &  "Knock Three Times"!
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Hurricane
Title: Hurricane
Character: Dr. McCutcheon
Released: September 10, 1974
Type: Movie
Two hurricane hunters track a huge, violent hurricane that is bearing down on a Gulf Coast town.
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Memory of Us
Title: Memory of Us
Character: Motel Manager
Released: May 1, 1974
Type: Movie
A young housewife and mother of two tries to cope with growing children and an unfaithful husband.
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Silence
Title: Silence
Character: Crazy Jack
Released: April 15, 1974
Type: Movie
Barbara and Al adopt Eric, who is deaf and mute, and take him camping in Santa Cruz Mountains of California. Eric becomes lost and is found by a hermit named Crazy Jack, who teaches him how to survive in the woods.
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Honky Tonk
Title: Honky Tonk
Character: Judge Cotton
Released: April 1, 1974
Type: Movie
In the wild west con-man 'Candy' Johnson heads to Nevada to set up his own gambling den and teams up with Lucy Cotton, a young woman he meets there. This failed television pilot film is loosely based on Honky Tonk (1941), which starred Clark Gable.
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The Hanged Man
Title: The Hanged Man
Character: Nameless
Released: March 13, 1974
Type: Movie
A gunfighter who survives his own hanging helps a young widow who is trying to keep a ruthless land baron from taking her ranch.
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Title: The Lives of Benjamin Franklin
Released: January 1, 1974
Type: TV
Benjamin Franklin is a 1974 American television miniseries that chronicles the life of Benjamin Franklin. It was broadcast by CBS. It won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series.
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Executive Action
Title: Executive Action
Character: Ferguson
Released: November 7, 1973
Type: Movie
Rogue intelligence agents, right-wing politicians, greedy capitalists, and free-lance assassins plot and carry out the JFK assassination in this speculative agitprop.
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Such Dust as Dreams Are Made On
Title: Such Dust as Dreams Are Made On
Character: Len McNeil
Released: November 3, 1973
Type: Movie
David Janssen plays Harry Orwell, a retired L.A. cop who was shot during a robbery and whose partner was killed in the incident. Harry is in constant pain due to the bullet lodged near his spine, but he works off and on as a private detective to supplement his pension. Late one night, Harry is approached in his home by one of the men who shot him (Martin Sheen) to help find the other man (Sal Mineo) involved in the robbery, who he says is trying to kill him. Is it a setup? This was the first pilot for the ABC detective series *Harry O*, which (after a second pilot, *Smile Jenny, You're Dead*, was picked up) aired from September 1974 to April 1976.
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Title: Doc Elliot
Character: Paul Bartlett
Released: October 10, 1973
Type: TV
Doc Elliot is an American medical drama that aired from March 5, 1973 until May 1, 1974.
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Isn't It Shocking?
Title: Isn't It Shocking?
Character: Lemuel Lovell
Released: October 2, 1973
Type: Movie
A small-town sheriff is confronted with the deaths of local senior citizens and strange goings-on in his town.
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A Gift of Terror
Title: A Gift of Terror
Character: Ben
Released: April 5, 1973
Type: Movie
Young woman starts having premonitions of her friends dying. Once her friends begin to die, she starts having premonitions of her own death.
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Savage
Title: Savage
Character: Joel Ryker
Released: March 31, 1973
Type: Movie
A TV reporter investigates compromising photographs of a nominee to the Supreme Court.
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Brock's Last Case
Title: Brock's Last Case
Character: J. Smiley Krenshaw
Released: March 5, 1973
Type: Movie
A New York City cop who has retired to a small Western town is drawn into the local case of an Indian who is accused of murdering a sheriff.
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Title: Kung Fu
Released: October 14, 1972
Type: TV
The adventures of a Shaolin Monk as he wanders the American West armed only with his skill in Kung Fu.
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Title: The Waltons
Character: Grandfather Walton
Released: September 14, 1972
Type: TV
The Waltons live their life in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II.
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Jeremiah Johnson
Title: Jeremiah Johnson
Character: Bear Claw
Released: September 10, 1972
Type: Movie
A mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta by Indians when he proves to be the match of their warriors in one-to-one combat on the early frontier.
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Napoleon and Samantha
Title: Napoleon and Samantha
Character: Grandpa
Released: July 5, 1972
Type: Movie
Two young children, who, rather than part with an old pet lion who was once a circus performer, go on a perilous mountain trek to stay with a recluse friend.
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The Rowdyman
Title: The Rowdyman
Character: Stan
Released: May 18, 1972
Type: Movie
Will Cole is a charismatic 35 year old paper mill laborer who seems to celebrate a life of bad choices. He lives and behaves as if he was still 18, womanizing and drinking and rejecting responsibility because he sees no reason to take life seriously. Surprisingly enough, despite his devil-may-care attitude, he has several important people in his life. He maintains a special relationship with Stan, an old mentor who lives in a nursing home, and Ruth, the only woman he truly cares about. Andrew is his best friend but grows tired of Will's antics, and he is soon to be married and moving on. Will constantly has something up his sleeve but his pranks inevitably bring pain and tragedy to those closest to him, forcing him to reevaluate his life and make some difficult decisions. (IMDb)
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Dear Dead Delilah
Title: Dear Dead Delilah
Character: Roy Jurroe
Released: May 5, 1972
Type: Movie
The stern matriarch of a family that lives in a creepy mansion finds that a killer is hiding in the house, searching for a $500,000 fortune rumored to be hidden there and chopping off the heads of anyone who gets in the way.
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Title: The Sixth Sense
Released: January 15, 1972
Type: TV
The Sixth Sense is an American paranormal thriller television
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Scarecrow
Title: Scarecrow
Character: Justice Gilead Merton
Released: January 10, 1972
Type: Movie
Just before the Salem Witch Trials, an embittered old woman, who has learned witchcraft, teams up with the Devil, and brings a scarecrow to life as part of her diabolical revenge on the judge who was once her lover.
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Title: Columbo
Character: Edmund Hidemann
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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Brother John
Title: Brother John
Character: Doc Thomas
Released: August 15, 1971
Type: Movie
An enigmatic man (Sidney Poitier) returns to his Alabama hometown as his sister is dying of cancer and incites the suspicion of notable town officials.
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Who Killed the Mysterious Mr. Foster?
Title: Who Killed the Mysterious Mr. Foster?
Character: Simon Anderson
Released: February 1, 1971
Type: Movie
An alcoholic drifter decides to run for sheriff in a small town. However, in order to get elected, he must find out who killed a visiting preacher.
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Title: Alias Smith and Jones
Character: Seth
Released: January 5, 1971
Type: TV
Alias Smith and Jones is an American Western series that originally aired on ABC from 1971 to 1973. It stars Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Jedediah "Kid" Curry, a pair of cousin outlaws trying to reform. The governor offers them a conditional amnesty, as he wants to keep the pact under wraps for political reasons. The condition is that they will still be wanted— until the governor can claim they have reformed and warrant clemency.
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Title: Night Gallery
Character: Walt Peckinpah
Released: December 16, 1970
Type: TV
Rod Serling narrates an anthology of fantasy, horror and sci-fi stories from a set resembling a macabre museum. A chilling work of art serves as the connective link between the stories.
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Pieces of Dreams
Title: Pieces of Dreams
Character: The Bishop
Released: September 23, 1970
Type: Movie
A young priest questions his faith after he falls in love with a social worker.
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The Brotherhood of the Bell
Title: The Brotherhood of the Bell
Character: Mike Patterson
Released: September 17, 1970
Type: Movie
A successful professor has his life disrupted by a secret from his past — in his college days he became a member of a powerful secret society, and now the society has a job for him.
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The Moonshine War
Title: The Moonshine War
Character: Mr. Baylor
Released: June 30, 1970
Type: Movie
A federal agent attempts to make some real money before the alcohol ban is lifted so he sets his sights on the whiskey cache of an old army buddy.
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The Reivers
Title: The Reivers
Character: Boss
Released: December 25, 1969
Type: Movie
In turn-of-the-century Mississippi, an 11-year-old boy comes of age as two mischievous adult friends talk him into sneaking the family car out for a trip to Memphis and a series of adventures.
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Title: Medical Center
Released: September 24, 1969
Type: TV
Medical Center is a medical drama series which aired on CBS from 1969 to 1976. It was produced by MGM Television.
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Title: Then Came Bronson
Released: September 17, 1969
Type: TV
Then Came Bronson is an American adventure/drama television series starring Michael Parks that aired on NBC from 1969 to 1970, and was produced by MGM Television. The series, created by Denne Bart Petitclerc, began with a movie pilot on Monday, March 24, 1969. The series was approved for one year and began its first run on September 17, 1969. The pilot was also released in Europe as a feature film.
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Title: The Courtship of Eddie's Father
Character: Harry I. Madison
Released: September 17, 1969
Type: TV
The Courtship of Eddie's Father is an American television sitcom based on the 1963 movie of the same name, which was based on the book written by Mark Toby. It tells the story of a widower, Tom Corbett, who is a magazine publisher, and his son, Eddie, who believes his father should marry, and manipulates situations surrounding the women his father is interested in. ABC had acquired the rights to the story; the series debuted on September 17, 1969, and was last broadcast on March 1, 1972. Bixby received an Emmy nomination for the show.
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Title: The Bill Cosby Show
Character: Mr. Kane
Released: September 14, 1969
Type: TV
The Bill Cosby Show is an American situation comedy that aired for two seasons on NBC's Sunday night schedule from 1969 until 1971, under the sponsorship of Procter & Gamble. There were 52 episodes made in the series. It marked Bill Cosby's first solo foray in television, after his co-starring role with Robert Culp in I Spy. The series also marked the first time an African American starred in his or her own eponymous comedy series.
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Title: Mayberry R.F.D.
Character: Captain Charles Wolford
Released: September 23, 1968
Type: TV
Mayberry R.F.D. is an American television series produced as a spin-off and direct continuation of The Andy Griffith Show. When star Andy Griffith decided to leave his series, most of the supporting characters returned for the new program, which ran for three seasons on the CBS Television Network from 1968–1971. During the final season of The Andy Griffith Show, widower farmer Sam Jones and his young son Mike are introduced and gradually become the show's focus. Sheriff Andy Taylor takes a backseat in the storylines, establishing the sequel series. The show's first episode, "Andy and Helen's Wedding", had the highest ratings in recorded television history. Sheriff Taylor and newlywed wife Helen make guest appearances on RFD until late 1969, and then relocate with Opie. Mayberry R.F.D. was popular throughout its entire run, but was canceled after its third season in CBS's infamous "rural purge" of 1971. R.F.D. stands for "Rural Free Delivery", a quaint postal depiction of the rural Mayberry community.
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Title: Hawaii Five-O
Character: Professor Harold Lochner
Released: September 20, 1968
Type: TV
Hawaii Five-O is an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productions and Leonard Freeman. Set in Hawaii, the show originally aired for 12 seasons from 1968 to 1980, and continues in reruns. Jack Lord portrayed Detective Lieutenant Steve McGarrett, the head of a special state police task force which was based on an actual unit that existed under martial law in the 1940s. The theme music composed by Morton Stevens became especially popular. Many episodes would end with McGarrett instructing his subordinate to "Book 'em, Danno!", sometimes specifying a charge such as "murder one".
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Certain Honorable Men
Title: Certain Honorable Men
Character: Malcolm Stoddard
Released: September 12, 1968
Type: Movie
The protégé of a powerful congressman discovers his boss's corruption.
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Bandolero!
Title: Bandolero!
Character: Pop Chaney
Released: June 1, 1968
Type: Movie
Posing as a hangman, Mace Bishop arrives in town with the intention of freeing a gang of outlaws, including his brother, from the gallows. Mace urges his younger brother to give up crime. The sheriff chases the brothers to Mexico. They join forces, however, against a group of Mexican bandits.
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Of Mice and Men
Title: Of Mice and Men
Character: Candy
Released: January 31, 1968
Type: Movie
Two ranch workers, one of them simple-minded, look for work and happiness during the Great Depression, but luck is not in their cards.
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The President's Analyst
Title: The President's Analyst
Character: Dr. Lee-Evan
Released: December 21, 1967
Type: Movie
At first, Dr. Sidney Schaefer feels honored and thrilled to be offered the job of the President's Analyst. But then the stress of the job and the paranoid spies that come with a sensitive government position get to him, and he runs away. Now spies from all over the world are after him, either to get him for their own side or to kill him and prevent someone else from getting him.
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In Cold Blood
Title: In Cold Blood
Character: Prosecutor
Released: December 15, 1967
Type: Movie
After a botched robbery results in the brutal murder of a rural family, two drifters elude police, in the end coming to terms with their own mortality and the repercussions of their vile atrocity.
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Title: Garrison's Gorillas
Released: September 6, 1967
Type: TV
Garrison's Gorillas is an ABC TV series broadcast from 1967 to 1968; a total of 26 hour-long episodes were produced. It was inspired by the 1967 film The Dirty Dozen, which featured a similar scenario of training Allied prisoners for World War II military missions. Garrison's Gorillas was canceled at the close of its first season and replaced by The Mod Squad in 1968. It managed to gather a cult following in China in the 1980s.
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The Crucible
Title: The Crucible
Character: Giles Corey
Released: May 4, 1967
Type: Movie
Landmark TV adaptation of the Arthur Miller play. Nominated for 3 Emmy awards.
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Title: The Invaders
Character: Hank Willis
Released: January 10, 1967
Type: TV
The Invaders, alien beings from a dying planet. Their destination: the Earth. Their purpose: to make it their world. David Vincent has seen them, for him it began one lost night on a lonely country road, looking for a shortcut that he never found. It began with a closed deserted diner, and a man too long without sleep to continue his journey. It began with the landing of a craft from another galaxy. Now, David Vincent knows that the Invaders are here, that they have taken human form. Somehow he must convince a disbelieving world that the nightmare has already begun.
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Seconds
Title: Seconds
Character: Old Man
Released: October 5, 1966
Type: Movie
An unhappy middle-aged banker agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity – one that comes with its own price.
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Title: Mission: Impossible
Released: September 17, 1966
Type: TV
Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force. In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin. The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973, then returned to television for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990, retaining only Graves in the cast. It later inspired a popular series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise, beginning in 1996.
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Title: The Trials of O'Brien
Character: Judge Lindemann
Released: September 18, 1965
Type: TV
The Trials of O'Brien is a 1965 television series starring Peter Falk as a sordid Shakespeare-quoting lawyer and featuring Elaine Stritch as his secretary and Joanna Barnes as his ex-wife. The series ran for only 22 episodes. Among its guest stars: Milton Berle, Robert Blake, David Carradine, Faye Dunaway, Britt Ekland, Tammy Grimes, Buddy Hackett, Gene Hackman, Frank Langella, Angela Lansbury, Cloris Leachman, Roger Moore, Rita Moreno, Estelle Parsons, Joanna Pettet, Brock Peters, Tony Roberts and Martin Sheen. Falk often said that he actually liked this financially unsuccessful series much better than his later smash-hit Columbo.
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Title: Run for Your Life
Character: Judge David P. Andrews
Released: September 13, 1965
Type: TV
Run for Your Life is an American television drama series starring Ben Gazzara as a man with only a short time to live. It ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968. The series was created by Roy Huggins, who had previously explored the "man on the move" concept with The Fugitive.
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Title: Daniel Boone
Character: Adam Jarrett
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: Bewitched
Released: September 17, 1964
Type: TV
Samantha Stephens is a seemingly normal suburban housewife who also happens to be a genuine witch, with all the requisite magical powers. Her husband Darrin insists that Samantha keep her witchcraft under wraps, but situations invariably require her to indulge her powers while keeping her bothersome mother Endora at bay.
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Black Like Me
Title: Black Like Me
Character: Truckdriver
Released: January 1, 1964
Type: Movie
Black Like Me is the true account of John Griffin's experiences when he passed as a black man.
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Advise & Consent
Title: Advise & Consent
Character: Senate Minority Leader
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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Title: The Mike Douglas Show
Character: Self
Released: December 11, 1961
Type: TV
The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.
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Title: Bonanza
Character: Ferris Callahan
Released: September 12, 1959
Type: TV
The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.
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Title: Bonanza
Character: Zach Randolph
Released: September 12, 1959
Type: TV
The High-Sierra adventures of Ben Cartwright and his sons as they run and defend their ranch while helping the surrounding community.
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Title: Tony Awards
Character: Self - Performer
Released: April 1, 1956
Type: TV
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre.
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Mobs, Inc.
Title: Mobs, Inc.
Character: Harry Robinson
Released: March 21, 1956
Type: Movie
Captain Braddock of the Los Angeles Racket Squad schools a group of cadet policemen by telling them of three precarious and dangerous cases of con artistry. Included are tracking down a dance hall girl, who, together with a big operative, are thwarted in attempting a robbery; a racketeer fleecing a book publisher on a Trans-Atlantic voyage, and the tripping up of the plans of a phony land syndicate.
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Title: Gunsmoke
Character: Slocum
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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Salt of the Earth
Title: Salt of the Earth
Character: Sheriff
Released: March 14, 1954
Type: Movie
At New Mexico's Empire Zinc mine, Mexican-American workers protest the unsafe work conditions and unequal wages compared to their Anglo counterparts. Ramon Quintero helps organize the strike, but he is shown to be a hypocrite by treating his pregnant wife, Esperanza, with a similar unfairness. When an injunction stops the men from protesting, however, the gender roles are reversed, and women find themselves on the picket lines while the men stay at home.
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The Barefoot Mailman
Title: The Barefoot Mailman
Character: Dan Paget - Miami Mayor / Postmaster
Released: December 3, 1951
Type: Movie
Sylvanus Hurley is a swindler who's been swindled: he's been given a deed to a large plot of mangrove swamp in the out-of-the-way community. So he decides to con the locals, some of whom are not as honest as he....
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The Tall Target
Title: The Tall Target
Character: Homer Crowley
Released: August 17, 1951
Type: Movie
A detective tries to prevent the assassination of President-elect Abraham Lincoln during a train ride headed for Washington in 1861.
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Bright Victory
Title: Bright Victory
Character: Mr. Nevins
Released: August 1, 1951
Type: Movie
A soldier blinded in war returns home and attempts to adjust to civilian life.
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Title: Racket Squad
Released: June 7, 1951
Type: TV
Racket Squad is an American TV crime drama series starring Reed Hadley as Captain John Braddock, a fictional detective working for the San Francisco, California Police Department. The show aired in syndication for a season before being picked up by CBS for three seasons. The series was filmed at Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California, and was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris, hence there was a pack of the sponsor's brand on Braddock's desk at the beginning and end of the episode, as well as occasional scenes of him or other characters "lighting up".
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Double Crossbones
Title: Double Crossbones
Character: Tom Botts
Released: April 26, 1951
Type: Movie
Falsely accused by the corrupt Governor Elden of Charleston of fencing stolen pirate booty, young Davey Crandall and friend Tom Botts buy passage on the ship of local buccaneer Bloodthirsty Ben. They avoid being killed by faking a case of the pox, which causes the panicked captain and crew to desert the ship. The two find themselves alone, and when a lucky cannon shot hits a mast on a British ship, they find themselves mistaken for pirates. They sail to Tortuga, where they recruit such notorious corsairs as Henry Morgan, Captain Kidd, Anne Bonney, and Blackbeard to lay siege to Chaleston and expose the villain Elden.
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To Please a Lady
Title: To Please a Lady
Character: Jack Mackay
Released: October 13, 1950
Type: Movie
Mike Brannon is a former war hero turned midget car racer. His ruthless racing tactics have made him successful but the fans consider him a villain and boo him mercilessly. Independent, beautiful reporter Regina Forbes tries to interview him but is put off by his gruff chauvinism, and when Brannon's daredevil tactics cause the death of a fellow driver, he finds himself a pariah in the sport thanks to her articles. When she finds him earning money as a barnstorming daredevil driver hoping for a comeback, they begin to become mutually attracted.
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Convicted
Title: Convicted
Character: Convict Mapes
Released: August 1, 1950
Type: Movie
A prison warden fights to prove one of his inmates was wrongly convicted.
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Broken Arrow
Title: Broken Arrow
Character: Rancher
Released: August 1, 1950
Type: Movie
Indian scout Tom Jeffords is sent out to stem the war between the Whites and Apaches in the late 1870s. He learns that the Indians kill only to protect themselves, or out of retaliation for white atrocities.
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Winchester '73
Title: Winchester '73
Character: Wyatt Earp
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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It's a Small World
Title: It's a Small World
Character: William Musk - Father
Released: June 24, 1950
Type: Movie
Harry Musk is one in a million. That means that he's the one out of a million children who is perfectly proportioned but will never grow larger than a typical six-year-old. Adult, pint-sized Harry longs to be part of the big world.
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Comanche Territory
Title: Comanche Territory
Character: Dan'l Seeger
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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The Kid from Texas
Title: The Kid from Texas
Character: O'Fallon
Released: March 1, 1950
Type: Movie
Billy the Kid becomes embroiled in Lincoln County, NM, land wars. When rancher who gave him a break is killed by rival henchman, Billy vows revenge. New employer takes advantage of his naivety to kill rivals, lets the Kid take rap. Kid takes to the hills with friends until caught. Escapes hanging but remains in area to be near employer's young wife with whom he's infatuated
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Intruder in the Dust
Title: Intruder in the Dust
Character: Sheriff Hampton
Released: November 22, 1949
Type: Movie
Rural Mississippi in the 1940s: Lucas Beauchamp, a local black man with a reputation of not kowtowing to whites, is found standing over the body of a dead white man, holding a pistol that has recently been fired. Quickly arrested for murder and jailed, Beauchamp insists he's innocent and asks the town's most prominent lawyer, Gavin Stevens, to defend him, but Stevens refuses. When a local boy whom Beauchamp has helped in the past and who believes him to be innocent hears talk of a mob taking Beauchamp out of jail and lynching him, he pleads with Stevens to defend Beauchamp at trial and prove his innocence.
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Anna Lucasta
Title: Anna Lucasta
Character: Noah
Released: July 11, 1949
Type: Movie
A prostitute is thrown out of her house by her alcoholic father, and her scheming brother-in-law tries to devise a plan to marry her off and make some money in the process.
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Lust for Gold
Title: Lust for Gold
Character: Deputy Ray Covin
Released: June 10, 1949
Type: Movie
A man determined to track down the fabled Arizona gold mine known as The Lost Dutchman has an affair with a married treasure hunter, whose pursuit of the mine has lead her to double-cross her husband.
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Johnny Allegro
Title: Johnny Allegro
Character: Schultzy
Released: May 26, 1949
Type: Movie
Treasury Department officials recruit a florist (Raft) to lead them to a wanted criminal (Macready); but once he gets too close, he finds he's the hunted.
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Deep Waters
Title: Deep Waters
Character: Nick Driver
Released: July 22, 1948
Type: Movie
A state welfare agent persuades a Maine lobsterman to take a troubled orphan boy aboard.
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Men and Dust
Title: Men and Dust
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: November 8, 1940
Type: Movie
This labor advocacy film is about diseases plaguing miners in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Sponsored by the Tri-State Survey Committee, "Men and Dust" is a stylistically innovative documentary and a valuable ecological record of landscapes radically transformed by extractive industry.
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The Fight for Life
Title: The Fight for Life
Character: Ballou
Released: March 7, 1940
Type: Movie
The Fight for Life was documentary filmmaker Pare Lorentz' first "dramatic" film, utilizing the talents of several top New York stage actors. A tribute to the Chicago Maternity Center and its efforts to provide the best possible care for destitute mothers, the film is based on the book of the same name by Paul de Kruif. Myron McCormick plays the largest role as a dedicated intern, while others in the cast include such theatrical heavywrights as Will Geer, Dudley Digges and Dorothy Adams. The film's many vignettes range from the tragic (a mother dying in childbirth in the opening scene) to the exultant (another mother rescued from the brink of death in a disease-ridden tenement). Filmed in Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland, Fight for Life is a worthwhile effort, though Lorentz seems more comfortable with the "actuality" scenes than with the dramatized passages.
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Union Pacific
Title: Union Pacific
Character: Foreman (uncredited)
Released: May 5, 1939
Type: Movie
One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?
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Becky Sharp
Title: Becky Sharp
Character: Spectator (uncredited)
Released: June 28, 1935
Type: Movie
The first feature length film to use three-strip Technicolor film. Adapted from a play that was adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's book "Vanity Fair", the film looks at the English class system during the Napoleonic Wars era.
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Wild Gold
Title: Wild Gold
Character: Poker Player (uncredited)
Released: June 8, 1934
Type: Movie
A young man desperately in love with a nightclub singer sees an opportunity to spend some time alone with her when they're traveling through the Nevada gold country, and he takes the carburetor off her car and throws it in the river, stranding them there. They wind up staying at the cabin of a crusty old prospector, and soon the manager of a nightclub act shows up with his bevy of beautiful showgirls.
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Spitfire
Title: Spitfire
Character: West Fry
Released: March 8, 1934
Type: Movie
Dirt-poor mountain girl Trigger Hicks is a loner. Her faith-healing is mistaken for witchcraft by the community. She falls for an engineer building a dam, who protects her.
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The Misleading Lady
Title: The Misleading Lady
Character: McMahon - Asylum Guard
Released: April 15, 1932
Type: Movie
A scheming socialite meets her match in the out-of-touch wildlife explorer she ventures to ensnare.