James Westerfield

James Westerfield

Born: March 22, 1913
Died: September 20, 1971
in Nashville, Tennessee, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James A. Westerfield (22 March 1913 – 20 September 1971) was an American actor of stage, film, and television.

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, to candy-maker Brasher Omier Westerfield and his wife Dora Elizabeth Bailey, he was raised in Detroit, Michigan. (A news story in the June 12, 1949, issue of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle calls the information in the preceding sentence into question. It describes Westerfield as "the son of a famous producer-director" and says that he was "a youngster in Denver, Col.")

He became interested in theatre as a young man and in the 1930s joined Gilmor Brown's famed Pasadena Community Playhouse, appearing in dozens of plays. He played in numerous films following his debut in 1940, then went to New York City and appeared on Broadway, winning two New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for his supporting roles in The Madwoman of Chaillot and Detective Story. He then returned to Hollywood and made more than 40 more films. Westerfield maintained an interest in the theatre. He directed more than 50 musicals in a summer-musical tent he owned in Danbury, Connecticut, and was the original stage director and producer for the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. He directed three seasons of "Theatre Under the Stars" in Vancouver, British Columbia, and appeared in musical roles with the Detroit Civic Light Opera, the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, and the San Francisco Civic Light Opera.

On film, Westerfield had roles in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), On The Waterfront (1954), Lucy Gallant (1955), the 1957 Budd Boetticher-directed Western Decision at Sundown starring Randolph Scott, Cowboy (1958), a repeating role in The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and its sequel Son of Flubber (1963), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Man's Favorite Sport (1964), The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), Hang 'Em High (1968) and True Grit (1969).

Westerfield had many roles on television, including seven episodes as John Murrel from 1963 to 1964 on ABC's The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, starring child actor Kurt Russell in the title role. He made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Sheriff Bert Elmore in the 1957 episode, "The Case of the Angry Mourner." He also appeared in an episode of The Lone Ranger in 1954 entitled "Texas Draw."

Westerfield's other appearances were on such series as The Rifleman, The Californians, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, The Alaskans, The Rebel, Straightaway, Going My Way, The Asphalt Jungle, Hazel, The Andy Griffith Show, Daniel Boone, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Gunsmoke. He played the circus leader, Dr. Marvello, in an episode of Lost in Space "Space Circus" (1966).

Westerfield as a young man was a roommate of fellow Pasadena Playhouse actor George Reeves. The two remained close friends until Reeves's death in 1959.

Westerfield was married to Alice G. Fay (an actress under the name Fay Tracey), who, along with his mother, survived him. Westerfield died from a heart attack in Woodlands Hills, California, at the age of fifty-eight.

Movies for James Westerfield...

Set This Town on Fire
Title: Set This Town on Fire
Character: Cark Rickter
Released: January 8, 1973
Type: Movie
After serving seven years in prison for manslaughter, a man returns to his hometown to find that the eyewitness whose testimony convicted him has second thoughts, and the town drunk has confessed to the crime.
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Dead Aim
Title: Dead Aim
Character: John Applebee
Released: January 1, 1971
Type: Movie
A traveling gravedigger during an (unspecified) war adopts a orphan he finds alone in the desert. After the war with the orphan grown and business slow, the orphan begins to generate business himself by shooting people. The orphan wants to make one big score by robbing a bank but the gravedigger resists. Their dream is to open a fancy funeral parlor and cemetery. The orphan becomes obsessed with a prostitute he saw who was later abandoned by her outlaw partner after a robbery attempt on a gold wagon goes bad. He eventually leaves the gravedigger to find her
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The Boy Who Stole the Elephant
Title: The Boy Who Stole the Elephant
Character: Sheriff Berry
Released: September 20, 1970
Type: Movie
A frontier huckster, Colonel Ryder, and a young orphan, Davey, operate a travelling tent show. They are loaned an elephant by an old friend, Molly, who is also a rival circus owner. Davey trains the elephant and the two soon become inseparable. When the Colonel loses the elephant in gambling, Davey steals the elephant and begins a 20-mile search for Molly, the rightful owner.
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Bartleby
Title: Bartleby
Character: The Lawyer
Released: October 10, 1969
Type: Movie
Bartleby, an enigmatic man who calmly refuses to carry out his duties, is introduced in this period dramatization of Melville’s haunting story as a scrivener in a 1969 film production of Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation.
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The Love God?
Title: The Love God?
Character: Rev. Wilkerson
Released: August 1, 1969
Type: Movie
Ornithologist Abner Peacock sells off his modest-selling birdwatching periodical to a charlatan who turns it into a girlie mag, making it a massive financial success. After Peacock and the magazine are taken to court on obscenity charges, he unwillingly becomes a reluctant hero and ends up a swinging libertine.
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True Grit
Title: True Grit
Character: Judge Parker
Released: June 11, 1969
Type: Movie
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
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Smith!
Title: Smith!
Character: Sheriff
Released: March 21, 1969
Type: Movie
When the Indian Jimmyboy is accused of murder of a white man, he flees onto the ranch of Smith, who's well known for his tolerance for Indians, since he was raised by the old Indian Antoine. Smith helps Jimmyboy against the mean Sheriff and promises to speak for him in court, thus persuading him to surrender himself to the police.
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Now You See It, Now You Don't
Title: Now You See It, Now You Don't
Character: Capt. Boyle
Released: November 11, 1968
Type: Movie
A bumbling art expert, hired by an insurance company to protect a Rembrandt on loan from the Louvre, schemes to steal it.
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Title: Mayberry R.F.D.
Character: Sheriff Matson
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: The Outcasts
Released: September 23, 1968
Type: TV
The Outcasts is an American Western genre television series, appearing on ABC in the 1968-69 season. The series stars Don Murray and Otis Young. It is most notable for being the first television Western with an African American co-star.
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Blue
Title: Blue
Character: Abe Parker
Released: May 9, 1968
Type: Movie
A young man is torn between the woman he loves and his loyalty to his father, the leader of a Mexican gang.
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Hang 'em High
Title: Hang 'em High
Character: Prisoner
Released: April 12, 1968
Type: Movie
Marshall Jed Cooper survives a hanging, vowing revenge on the lynch mob that left him dangling. To carry out his oath for vengeance, he returns to his former job as a lawman. Before long, he's caught up with the nine men on his hit list and starts dispensing his own brand of Wild West justice.
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A Man Called Gannon
Title: A Man Called Gannon
Character: Amos
Released: March 8, 1968
Type: Movie
A seasoned cowboy takes a young tender-foot under his wing. They become embroiled in a range war, and end up on opposite sides.
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Title: Mannix
Released: September 16, 1967
Type: TV
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors. Mannix was the last series produced by Desilu Productions.
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Title: Judd for the Defense
Released: September 8, 1967
Type: TV
High-priced Houston lawyer Clinton Judd and his assistant Ben Caldwell take difficult cases throughout the U.S.
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Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round
Title: Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round
Character: Jack Balter
Released: October 12, 1966
Type: Movie
A sophisticated con man mounts an intricate plan to rob an airport bank while the Soviet premier is due to arrive.
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Title: The Time Tunnel
Character: Sheriff
Released: September 9, 1966
Type: TV
The Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series, written around a theme of time travel adventure. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science fiction television series, released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran for one season of 30 episodes. Reruns are viewable on cable and by internet streaming. A pilot for a new series was produced in 2002, although it was not picked up.
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Scalplock
Title: Scalplock
Character: Nehemiah
Released: April 10, 1966
Type: Movie
This Western is a pilot for the series "The Iron Horse," in which a dapper frontier gambler wins a railroad line in a poker game and has his hands full holding it from the clutches of various conniving bad guys.
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The Further Adventures of Gallegher
Title: The Further Adventures of Gallegher
Character: Charley Mardis
Released: October 3, 1965
Type: Movie
The young copyboy helps the town’s first female newspaper reporter, who is writing a series on confidence men. The swindlers are caught up in a sting, but they catch on and the reporter and Gallegher have to subdue them in order to escape and write their article.
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Title: Green Acres
Released: September 15, 1965
Type: TV
Green Acres is an American sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a rural country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to Petticoat Junction, the series was first broadcast on CBS, from September 15, 1965 to April 27, 1971. Receiving solid ratings during its six-year run, Green Acres was cancelled in 1971 as part of the "rural purge" by CBS. The sitcom has been in syndication and is available in DVD and VHS releases. In 1997, the two-part episode "A Star Named Arnold is Born" was ranked #59 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
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Title: The Big Valley
Character: Jeb Lassiter
Released: September 15, 1965
Type: TV
The Big Valley is an American western television series which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969. The show stars Barbara Stanwyck, as the widow of a wealthy nineteenth century California rancher. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman, and produced by Levy-Gardner-Laven for Four Star Television.
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Title: Lost in Space
Character: Dr. Marvello
Released: September 15, 1965
Type: TV
The space family Robinson is sent on a five-year mission to find a new planet to colonise. The voyage is sabotaged time and again by an inept stowaway, Dr. Zachary Smith. The family's spaceship, Jupiter II, also carries a friendly robot who endures an endless stream of abuse from Dr. Smith, but is a trusted companion of young Will Robinson
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That Funny Feeling
Title: That Funny Feeling
Character: Officer Brokaw
Released: August 14, 1965
Type: Movie
Joan Howell, a young and pretty maid-for-hire, meets and begins dating wealthy New York City businessman Tom Milford. Embarrassed about bringing him back to her tiny apartment that she shares with her roommate Audrey, Joan brings Tom over to a fancy apartment that she cleans on a daily basis not knowing that it's his place. Tom plays along with the charade despite not knowing who Joan really is, while she tries to tidy up Tom's place not knowing who he really is. Written by Matthew Patay
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The Sons of Katie Elder
Title: The Sons of Katie Elder
Character: Mr. Vennar
Released: June 23, 1965
Type: Movie
The four sons of Katie Elder reunite in their Hometown of Clearwater, Texas for their Mother's funeral, and discover that the family ranch is now in the hands of Morgan Hastings, the town's gunsmith.
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Title: Profiles in Courage
Character: Sen. Samuel Pomeroy
Released: November 8, 1964
Type: TV
Profiles in Courage is an American historical anthology series that was telecast weekly on NBC from November 8, 1964 to May 9, 1965. The series was based on the recently President John F. Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize winning book, Profiles in Courage.
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Title: Daniel Boone
Character: Simon Girty
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: Daniel Boone
Character: Hand
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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Bikini Beach
Title: Bikini Beach
Character: Cop #2
Released: July 22, 1964
Type: Movie
A millionaire sets out to prove his theory that his pet chimpanzee is as intelligent as the teenagers who hang out on the local beach, where he is intending to build a retirement home.
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Man's Favorite Sport?
Title: Man's Favorite Sport?
Character: Policeman
Released: January 31, 1964
Type: Movie
Roger Willoughby is a renowned fishing expert, who, unbeknownst to his friends, co-workers, or boss, has never cast a line in his life. One day, he crosses paths with Abigail Paige, a sweetly annoying girl who has just badgered his boss into signing Roger up for an annual fishing tournament.
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Title: The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
Character: John Murrel
Released: September 29, 1963
Type: TV
The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters is an American western television series based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Robert Lewis Taylor. The show aired on ABC in the 1963-1964 television season and was produced by MGM Television.
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Title: The Great Adventure
Character: Attorney Thomas Green
Released: September 27, 1963
Type: TV
The Great Adventure is a historical anthology series that appeared on CBS for the 1963-1964 television season. The series, narrated each week by Van Heflin, and featuring theme music by Richard Rodgers, presented a weekly one-hour dramatization of the lives of famous Americans and important historical events in American History.
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Son of Flubber
Title: Son of Flubber
Character: Officer Hanson
Released: January 16, 1963
Type: Movie
Beleaguered professor Ned Brainard has already run into a pile of misfortunes with his discovery of the super-elastic substance "Flubber." Now he hopes to have better luck with a gravity-busting derivative he's dubbed "Flubbergas." Ned's experiments, constantly hampered by government obstruction, earn the consternation of his wife, Betsy. But a game-winning modification to a football uniform may help Ned make the case for his fantastic new invention.
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Title: The Dakotas
Released: January 7, 1963
Type: TV
The Dakotas is an ABC/Warner Brothers western television series starring Larry Ward and featuring Jack Elam broadcast during 1963. The short-lived program is considered a spin-off of Clint Walker's Cheyenne. The Dakotas is perhaps most notable for the fact that it was cancelled one week after heavy viewer protest over an objectionable scene.
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Title: Going My Way
Released: October 3, 1962
Type: TV
Going My Way is an American comedy-drama series
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Title: The Lucy Show
Character: Weitzman
Released: October 1, 1962
Type: TV
The Lucy Show is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1962–68. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the 1965–66 season divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program for its second season, remained. For the first three seasons, Vivian Vance was the co-star. The earliest scripts were entitled The Lucille Ball Show, but when this title was declined, producers thought of calling the show This Is Lucy or The New Adventures of Lucy, before deciding on the title The Lucy Show. Ball won consecutive Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the series' final two seasons, 1966–67 and 1967–68.
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Title: The Beverly Hillbillies
Released: September 26, 1962
Type: TV
Jed Clampett's swamp is loaded with oil. When a wildcatter discovers the huge pool, Jed sells his land to the O.K. Oil Company and at the urging of cousin Pearl, moves his family to a 35-room mansion in Beverly Hills, California.
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Birdman of Alcatraz
Title: Birdman of Alcatraz
Character: Jess Younger
Released: July 4, 1962
Type: Movie
After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stroud's life gains new meaning when he happens upon a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard and nurses it back to health. Despite having only a third grade education, Stroud goes on to become a renowned ornithologist and achieves a greater sense of freedom and purpose behind bars than most people find in the outside world.
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Title: Straightaway
Released: October 6, 1961
Type: TV
Straightaway is a 26-week half-hour adventure/drama television series which aired on ABC during the 1961–1962 season – the story of two young men who operate a garage and engage in auto racing. John Ashley and Brian Kelly played race car designers Clipper Hamilton and Scott Ross, respectively. Scott designs the vehicles, and Clipper is the mechanic. Asa Maynor was cast in four episodes as Dixie. Most episodes center on the clients who bring a race car to the Straightaway Garage. The series was originally planned to be named “The Racers”, but the title had to be altered because of sponsor problems. Straightaway ran at 7:30 Eastern on Fridays opposite CBS’s Rawhide with Clint Eastwood and Eric Fleming. Straightaway was moved to Wednesdays effective January 10, 1962, for the remainder of its brief run.
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Homicidal
Title: Homicidal
Character: Alfred S. Adrims
Released: July 26, 1961
Type: Movie
A woman named Emily checks into a hotel and offers the bellboy $2000 to temporarily marry her. We soon find out Emily is the caretaker of a wheelchair-bound mute named Helga, who was the childhood guardian of a pair of siblings: Miriam Webster and her half-brother, Warren, who is about to inherit the estate of their late father. Who is the mysterious Emily and what are her intentions?
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Title: The Asphalt Jungle
Released: April 2, 1961
Type: TV
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The Absent-Minded Professor
Title: The Absent-Minded Professor
Character: Officer Hanson
Released: March 16, 1961
Type: Movie
Bumbling professor Ned Brainard accidentally invents flying rubber, or "Flubber", an incredible material that gains energy every time it strikes a hard surface. It allows for the invention of shoes that can allow jumps of amazing heights and enables a modified Model-T to fly. Unfortunately, no one is interested in the material except for Alonzo Hawk, a corrupt businessman who wants to steal the material for himself.
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The Plunderers
Title: The Plunderers
Character: Mike Baron
Released: November 5, 1960
Type: Movie
Four young toughs have ridden into Trail City and claimed it as easy pickings for their bullying and gunplay. The whole town will be overrun by lawlessness if decent folks like rancher and Civil War veteran Sam Christy don’t take a stand.
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Title: The Andy Griffith Show
Character: Uncle Ollie
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: My Three Sons
Released: September 29, 1960
Type: TV
A widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas raises three sons with the help of his father-in-law, and later the boys' great-uncle. An adopted son, a stepdaughter, wives, and another generation of sons join the loving family in later seasons.
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Title: Thriller
Character: Al Matthews
Released: September 13, 1960
Type: TV
Thriller is an American anthology television series that aired during the 1960–61 and 1961–62 seasons on NBC. The show featured host Boris Karloff introducing a mix of self-contained, macabre weird-horror and morbid, hitchockian crime stories, in some of which he also starred.
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Title: The Tall Man
Released: September 10, 1960
Type: TV
The Tall Man is a half-hour American western television series about Sheriff Pat Garrett and the gunfighter Billy the Kid that aired seventy-five episodes on NBC from 1960 to 1962, filmed by Revue Productions.
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Wild River
Title: Wild River
Character: Cal Garth
Released: May 26, 1960
Type: Movie
A young bureaucrat for the Tennessee Valley Authority goes to rural Tennessee to oversee the building of a dam. He encounters opposition from the local people, in particular a farmer who objects to his employment (with pay) of local black laborers. Much of the plot revolves around the eviction of a stubborn octogenarian from her home on an island in the river, and the young man's love affair with that woman's widowed granddaughter.
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Title: The Alaskans
Released: October 4, 1959
Type: TV
The Alaskans is a 1959-1960 ABC/Warner Brothers western television series set during the late 1890s in the port of Skagway, Alaska. The show features Roger Moore as "Silky Harris" and Jeff York as "Reno McKee", a pair of adventurers intent on swindling travelers bound for the Yukon Territories during the height of the Klondike Gold Rush. Their plans are inevitably complicated by the presence of singer "Rocky Shaw", "an entertainer with a taste for the finer things in life". The show was the first regular work on American television for the British actor Roger Moore.
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Title: The Rebel
Character: Suee
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: Johnny Ringo
Character: Aben Burke
Released: October 2, 1959
Type: TV
Johnny Ringo is an American Western television series starring Don Durant that aired on CBS from October 1, 1959, until June 30, 1960. It is loosely based on the life of the notorious gunfighter and outlaw Johnny Ringo, also known as John Peters Ringo or John B. Ringgold, who tangled with Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Buckskin Franklin Leslie.
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Title: The Twilight Zone
Character: Anthony O'Toole
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: Law of the Plainsman
Character: Joshua Jones
Released: October 1, 1959
Type: TV
Law of the Plainsman is a Western television series starring Michael Ansara that aired on the NBC television network from October 1, 1959, until May 5, 1960. The character of Native American U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart was introduced in two episodes of the popular ABC Western television series The Rifleman starring Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain. Law of the Plainsman is distinctive and unique in that it was one of the few television programs that featured a Native American as the lead character, a bold move for U.S.network television at that time. Ansara had earlier appeared in the series Broken Arrow, having portrayed the Apache chief, Cochise. Ansara, however, was not Native American but of Syrian descent. Ansara played Sam Buckhart, an Apache Indian who saved the life of a U.S. Cavalry officer after an Indian ambush. When the officer died, he left Sam money that was used for an education at private schools and Harvard University. After school, he returned to New Mexico where he became a Deputy Marshal working for Marshal Andy Morrison. He lived in a boarding house run by Martha Commager. The only other continuing character was 8-year old Tess Logan, an orphan who had been rescued by Buckhart. Robert Harland, later of Target: The Corruptors! starred in seven episodes as Deputy Billy Lordan. Wayne Rogers, who went on to star in another Four Star western, Stagecoach West, and later, M*A*S*H, also played deputy Lordan in several episodes.
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Title: Tightrope
Released: September 8, 1959
Type: TV
Tightrope is an American crime drama series that aired on CBS from September 1959 to September 1960, under the alternate sponsorship of the J.B. Williams Company, and American Tobacco. Produced by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene in association with Screen Gems, the series stars Mike Connors as an undercover agent named "Nick" who was assigned to infiltrate criminal gangs. The show was to have originally been titled Undercover Man but it was changed before going to air.
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The Hangman
Title: The Hangman
Character: Herb Loftus
Released: June 17, 1959
Type: Movie
A marshal nicknamed "The Hangman" because of his track record in hunting down and capturing wanted criminals traces a robbery suspect to a small town. However, the man is known and liked in the town, and the citizens band together to try to help him avoid capture.
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The Gunfight at Dodge City
Title: The Gunfight at Dodge City
Character: Reverend Howard
Released: May 1, 1959
Type: Movie
Fleeing to Dodge City after killing a man in self defence Masterson finds his brother Ed (Harry Lauter) running for sheriff of the town. When Ed is killed by hired guns of the corrupt incumbent Bat is determined to settle the score with violence but he is convinced by the townspeople that the best way to avenge his brother's death is by taking Ed's place on the ballot. Bat agrees and wins the election but his new role on the right side of the law will lead him to unexpected confrontations as he finds himself torn between his loyalties to his friends and his duties as sheriff.
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The Shaggy Dog
Title: The Shaggy Dog
Character: Officer Hanson
Released: March 19, 1959
Type: Movie
Through an ancient spell, a boy changes into a sheepdog and back again. It seems to happen at inopportune times and the spell can only be broken by an act of bravery....
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Title: Rawhide
Character: Mort Henry
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: Matt Lucas
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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Old Man
Title: Old Man
Character: Warden
Released: November 20, 1958
Type: Movie
In the South, convicts get a temporary release to help during a flood.
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Title: Bat Masterson
Character: Shapley Howell
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: Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Released: October 6, 1958
Type: TV
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse is an American television anthology series produced by Desilu Productions. The show ran on CBS television between 1958 and 1960. Two of its 48 episodes served as pilots for the 1950s television series The Twilight Zone and The Untouchables.
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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: Wanted: Dead or Alive
Character: Dr. Langland
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 Proud Rebel
Title: The Proud Rebel
Character: Birm Bates
Released: July 1, 1958
Type: Movie
Searching for a doctor who can help him get his son to speak again--the boy hadn't uttered a word since he saw his mother die in the fire that burned down the family home--a Confederate veteran finds himself facing a 30-day jail sentence when he's unfairly accused of starting a brawl in a small town. A local woman pays his fine, providing that he works it off on her ranch. He soon finds himself involved in the woman's struggle to keep her ranch from a local landowner who wants it--and whose sons were responsible for the man being framed for the fight.
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Cowboy
Title: Cowboy
Character: Mike Adams
Released: January 23, 1958
Type: Movie
Chicago hotel clerk Frank Harris dreams of life as a cowboy, and he gets his chance when, jilted by the father of the woman he loves, he joins Tom Reece and his cattle-driving outfit. Soon, though, the tenderfoot finds out life on the range is neither what he expected nor what he's been looking for...
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Decision at Sundown
Title: Decision at Sundown
Character: Otis, the Bartender
Released: November 10, 1957
Type: Movie
A man and his partner arrive at a small Western town to kill its most powerful man because the former blames him for his wife's death.
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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: The Walter Winchell File
Released: October 2, 1957
Type: TV
The Walter Winchell File is the title of a television crime drama series that initially aired from 1957 to 1958, dramatizing cases from the New York City Police Department that were covered in the New York Daily Mirror. The series featured columnist and announcer Walter Winchell, John Larch, George Cisar, Robert Anderson, Robert Brubaker, Dolores Donlon, and Gene Barry, a year before he was cast in the lead of NBC's Bat Masterson. Thirty-nine episodes were produced; the first twenty-six aired on ABC during the 1957-1958 season, and the final thirteen were seen in syndication in 1959. Among the guest stars was the child actor Dennis Holmes, who played 7-year-old Allie Marisch in the 1957 episode "Thou Shalt Not Kill."
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Title: Maverick
Released: September 22, 1957
Type: TV
Maverick is an American Western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, an adroitly articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother Bart, and from that point on, Garner and Kelly alternated leads from week to week, sometimes teaming up for the occasional two-brother episode. The Mavericks were poker players from Texas who traveled all over the American Old West and on Mississippi riverboats, constantly getting into and out of life-threatening trouble of one sort or another, usually involving money, women, or both. They would typically find themselves weighing a financial windfall against a moral dilemma. More often than not, their consciences trumped their wallets since both Mavericks were intensely ethical. When Garner left the series after the third season due to a legal dispute, Roger Moore was added to the cast as their cousin Beau Maverick. Robert Colbert appeared later in the fourth season as a third Maverick brother, Brent Maverick. No more than two of the series leads ever appeared together in the same episode, and usually only one.
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Title: Perry Mason
Character: Sheriff Elmore
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: Roger Quigley
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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Jungle Heat
Title: Jungle Heat
Character: Harvey Mathews
Released: July 22, 1957
Type: Movie
Japanese communists attempt to take over Hawaii and only Dr. Jim Ransom can stop them.
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Title: Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Character: McAllister
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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The Helen Morgan Story
Title: The Helen Morgan Story
Character: Frank Piggin
Released: May 16, 1957
Type: Movie
Broadway legend Helen Morgan 's life as told by her mother, from her early start in second rate speakeasies to star of top rated shows and owning her own club. Also seen is her poor choices, such as her affair with a married man, her short marriage to a much younger man, a court fight over an adopted baby and her fatal descent into booze addiction.
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Three Brave Men
Title: Three Brave Men
Character: Chief O'Reilly
Released: December 1, 1956
Type: Movie
A lawyer takes the case of a Navy clerk who sues after he's fired for suspected Communist beliefs.
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Title: Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Character: Bert Farrow
Released: October 5, 1956
Type: TV
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.
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Title: State Trooper
Released: September 25, 1956
Type: TV
State Trooper is an American crime drama set in the 1950s American West, starring Rod Cameron as Rod Blake, an officer of the Nevada Department of Public Safety. The series aired 104 episodes in syndication from September 25, 1956, to June 25, 1959.
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Title: The Adventures of Jim Bowie
Released: September 7, 1956
Type: TV
The Adventures of Jim Bowie is an American Western television series that aired on ABC from 1956 to 1958. Its setting was the 1830s-era Louisiana Territory. The series was an adaptation of the book Tempered Blade, by Monte Barrett. The series stars Scott Forbes as the real-life adventurer Jim Bowie. The series initially portrayed Jim Bowie as something of an outdoors-man, riding his horse through the wilderness near his home in Opelousas, where he would stumble across someone needing his assistance. He was aided by the Bowie Knife, his ever-present weapon. He designed it in the first episode, The Birth of the Blade.
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Away All Boats
Title: Away All Boats
Released: August 16, 1956
Type: Movie
The story of USS 'Belinda', a U.S. naval ship, and its crew during the battle of the Pacific 1943-1945, as it prepares for action and landing troops on enemy beachheads.
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Man with the Gun
Title: Man with the Gun
Character: Mr. Zender (drummer)
Released: November 5, 1955
Type: Movie
A stranger comes to town looking for his estranged wife. He finds her running the local girls. He also finds a town and sheriff afraid of their own shadow, scared of a landowner they never see who rules through his rowdy sidekicks. The stranger is a town tamer by trade, and he accepts a $500 commission to sort things out.
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Lucy Gallant
Title: Lucy Gallant
Character: Harry Wilson
Released: October 20, 1955
Type: Movie
A spirited dressmaker's small store flourishes into a business empire in the midst of the Texas oil boom of the 1940s.
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Title: The 20th Century Fox Hour
Released: October 5, 1955
Type: TV
The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Some of the shows in this series were restored, remastered and shown on the Fox Movie Channel in 2002 under the title Hour of Stars. The season one episode Overnight Haul, starring Richard Conte and Lizabeth Scott, was released in Australia as a feature film.
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Title: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Character: Pops Lafferty
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: Commissioner Cummings
Released: October 2, 1955
Type: TV
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
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Title: Gunsmoke
Character: Harry Duggan
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: Rance Bradley
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: Cleed
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: Franks
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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The Scarlet Coat
Title: The Scarlet Coat
Character: Col. Jameson
Released: July 29, 1955
Type: Movie
An American officer goes undercover to unmask a Revolutionary War traitor.
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The Cobweb
Title: The Cobweb
Character: James Petlee
Released: June 7, 1955
Type: Movie
Patients and staff at a posh psychiatric clinic clash over who chooses the clinic’s new drapes - but drapes are the least of their problems.
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Chief Crazy Horse
Title: Chief Crazy Horse
Character: Caleb Mantz
Released: April 1, 1955
Type: Movie
When young Crazy Horse, of whom great things were predicted, wins his bride, rival Little Big Man goes to villainous traders with evidence of gold in the sacred Lakota burial ground. Of course, a new gold rush starts despite all treaties, and Crazy Horse becomes military leader of his people. Initial Indian victories lead to the inevitable result. Uniquely, all is told from the Indian perspective.
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The Violent Men
Title: The Violent Men
Character: Sheriff Magruder
Released: January 26, 1955
Type: Movie
A former Union Army officer plans to sell out to Anchor Ranch and move east with his fiancée, but the low price offered by Anchor's crippled owner and the outfit's bullying tactics make him reconsider. When one of his hands is murdered he decides to stay and fight, utilizing his war experience. Not all is well at Anchor with the owner's wife carrying on with his brother who also has a Mexican woman in town.
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Three Hours to Kill
Title: Three Hours to Kill
Character: Sam Minor
Released: November 4, 1954
Type: Movie
After three years on the run, Jim Guthrie returns with the scar of a rope burn on his neck. In a flashback, we learn how he was framed for murder but then escaped from the lynch mob just as he was about to be hung. Tired of running, he has returned to find the real killer and the Sheriff has given him just three hours to do it.
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The Human Jungle
Title: The Human Jungle
Character: Marty Harrison
Released: October 3, 1954
Type: Movie
Danforth is assigned to take over the police department in a section of a large city saddled with juvenile delinquency, petty crimes, graft and also a recent unsolved murder of a strip-tease dancer. Recognizing the laxity of the department he implements many changes and soon finds himself under fire by the newspapers, the attorney of a racket leader and the denizens of this human jungle.
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Title: Lassie
Released: September 12, 1954
Type: TV
Lassie is the pet of Jeff Miller, an 11-year-old farm boy. The two become best friends and enjoy family adventures in the American countryside, teaching each other about love, nature and commitment.
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On the Waterfront
Title: On the Waterfront
Character: Big Mac
Released: June 22, 1954
Type: Movie
A dim-witted yet kind-hearted boxer, Terry Malloy, who failed to succeed unintentionally lures a man to his death after being tricked by a criminal called Johnny Friendly whose men pick of every man who has the courage to speak up to their crimes. As he works on the waterfronts that Friendly owns, he is sent to a church meeting run by a good preacher about how to deal with the problem and runs into the dead man’s sister. Slowly, he falls in love with her and begins to feel guilt about his crime.
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Title: Inner Sanctum
Released: January 9, 1954
Type: TV
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The Bachelor Party
Title: The Bachelor Party
Character: Bookkeeper
Released: October 11, 1953
Type: Movie
Five office friends meet up for a night on the town to celebrate the forthcoming marriage of one of them. As the night wears on and the drink starts to tell, they become more confidential in expressing their concerns and hopes.
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Title: General Electric Theater
Character: Bartender
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: General Electric Theater
Character: The General
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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The Whistle at Eaton Falls
Title: The Whistle at Eaton Falls
Character: Joe London
Released: August 2, 1951
Type: Movie
A newly promoted plant supervisor finds himself in the position of having to announce a layoff of his fellow workers.
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Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
Title: Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
Character: Harvey (Zoo Attendant) (uncredited)
Released: April 1, 1950
Type: Movie
When Pa wins a jingle-writing contest, he and Ma head for New York City. They they get in trouble with gangsters when they lose some stolen money which they had already agreed to deliver to one of the thugs.
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Side Street
Title: Side Street
Character: Charlie (policeman)
Released: March 23, 1950
Type: Movie
A struggling young father-to-be gives in to temptation and impulsively steals an envelope of money from the office of a corrupt attorney. Instead of a few hundred dollars, it contains $30,000, and when he decides to return the money things go wrong and that is only the beginning of his troubles.
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Title: Studio One
Character: Captain James Reagan
Released: November 7, 1948
Type: TV
An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions.
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Title: Studio One
Character: Bilgeboy / Jimmy Scaggs
Released: November 7, 1948
Type: TV
An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions.
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Title: The Philco Television Playhouse
Character: H.T. Carmichael
Released: October 3, 1948
Type: TV
The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956.
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Title: The Philco Television Playhouse
Released: October 3, 1948
Type: TV
The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956.
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The Chase
Title: The Chase
Character: Job the Butler
Released: November 16, 1946
Type: Movie
Chuck Scott gets a job as chauffeur to tough guy Eddie Roman; but Chuck's involvement with Eddie's fearful wife becomes a nightmare.
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Undercurrent
Title: Undercurrent
Character: Henry Gilson
Released: November 11, 1946
Type: Movie
After a rapid engagement, a dowdy daughter of a chemist weds an industrialist, knowing little of his family or past. He transforms her into an elegant society wife, but becomes enraged whenever she asks about Michael, his mysterious long-lost brother.
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Around the World
Title: Around the World
Character: Bashful Marine
Released: November 27, 1943
Type: Movie
Bandleader Kay Kyser takes his troupe of nutty musicians, goofball comics and pretty girl singers on a tour around the world to entertain the troops during World War II.
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The Pride of the Yankees
Title: The Pride of the Yankees
Character: Spectator (uncredited)
Released: July 14, 1942
Type: Movie
The story of the life and career of the baseball hall of famer, Lou Gehrig.
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The Magnificent Ambersons
Title: The Magnificent Ambersons
Character: Policeman at Accident (uncredited)
Released: July 10, 1942
Type: Movie
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
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About Face
Title: About Face
Character: Soldier with Daisy (uncredited)
Released: April 16, 1942
Type: Movie
Two Army sergeants disrupt a bar, a party and an Army-Navy dance.
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Highway West
Title: Highway West
Character: Swede, Trucker at Cafe
Released: August 7, 1941
Type: Movie
A young woman marries a man who turns out to be a bank robber.
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The Howards of Virginia
Title: The Howards of Virginia
Character: Backwoodsman
Released: September 19, 1940
Type: Movie
Beautiful young Virginian Jane steps down from her proper aristocratic upbringing when she marries down-to-earth surveyor Matt Howard. Matt joins the Colonial forces in their fight for freedom against England. Matt will meet Jane's father in the battlefield.