Stars on Suspense (Old Time Radio)

Helen Walker's Hollywood career was short and marked by an offscreen tragedy, but she made memorable appearances in comedies and dramas opposite co-stars like Fred MacMurray and Tyrone Power. We'll hear her opposite John Beal in "Deadline at Dawn" - the final hour-long episode ofSuspense (originally aired on CBS on May 15, 1948). Then she reprises her big screen role asThe Old Gold Comedy Theatre presentsBrewster's Millions (originally aired on NBC on March 25, 1945).

In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favoriteSuspense shows starring Gene Kelly. The star ofSingin' in the Rain doesn't sing or dance, but instead he shows off his dramatic chops in three radio thrillers. First, he's stalked on the highway in "Death Went Along For the Ride" (originally aired on CBS on April 27, 1944), and then he's a man whose sudden lucky streak just may help him get away with murder in "The Man Who Couldn't Lose" (originally aired on CBS on September 28, 1944). And finally, he's a deranged man who menaces an old woman who made the mistake of hiring him as a handyman in "To Find Help" (originally aired on CBS on January 6, 1949).

Before he was Rambo's commanding officer, Richard Crenna was a squeaky-voiced teenager on radio inOur Miss Brooks andA Date with Judy. His career began on the air and stretched into the early 2000s, and it included an Emmy win and starring roles on multiple TV shows. We'll hear him in a pair of radio thrillers: first, he's a young crook whose life of crime finally catches up with him in "The Prophecy of Bertha Abbott" (originally aired on CBS on October 16, 1956). Then, he's a man whose past life is about to catch up with him in "Night on Red Mountain" (originally aired on September 15, 1957). Plus, Crenna plays Walter Denton in "Stretch and Walter's Grudge Match" fromOur Miss Brooks (originally aired on CBS on May 1, 1949).

Norman Lloyd began his career on stage with Orson Welles and on screen under the direction of Alfred Hitchcock. He went on to TV stardom in the 1980s onSt. Elsewhere and made his final screen appearance in 2015 at the age of 100. We'll hear Mr. Lloyd as a tyrannical radio producer in "Fury and Sound" (AFRS rebroadcast from July 26, 1945). Plus, he co-stars with Herbert Marshall as a client who finally pushes Marshall's lawyer too far in "My Own Murderer" (originally aired on CBS on May 24, 1945). Finally, Lloyd narrates the true story of survival "Nine Men Against the Arctic" fromThe Cavalcade of America (originally aired on NBC on August 2, 1943).

Herbert Marshall puts his English accent to great use in this pair of radio thrillers - two of the twenty-one appearances he logged on Suspense. First, he's the crown prosecutor out to convict a wily wife killer in "Murder by Jury" (originally aired on CBS on February 22, 1954). Then, he's in a battle of wits against a German saboteur in an open boat in "Flood on the Goodwins" (AFRS rebroadcast from July 14, 1957). Plus, we'll hear Marshall as international man of mystery Ken Thurston in The Man Called X (originally aired on NBC on February 26, 1952).

Possessing one of the all-time great voices of the radio era, Hans Conried was equally effective in comedies and dramas as characters both old and young from all parts of the world. We'll hear him as the king's executioner in "The Groom of the Ladder" (originally aired on CBS on March 13, 1956), a refugee looking for a new life in America in "Freedom This Way" (originally aired on CBS on January 27, 1957), and as a black marketeer trying to stay out of sight of the Nazis in "Crossing Paris" (originally aired on CBS on June 2, 1957). Plus, Conried plays a traveling actor with a deadly past in "Shakespeare" from Gunsmoke (originally aired on CBS on August 23, 1952).

John Lund joins our five-timer's club as he makes his final four appearances onSuspense. First, he's a Marine who may have discovered paradise in the middle of the war in the Pacific in "The Island" (originally aired on CBS on January 12, 1958). Then he's a gambler who bets too much on his own system in "Winner Lose All" (originally aired on CBS on April 27, 1958). A bank robber gone straight is caught on the scene when his old gang stages a hold-up in "For Old Time's Sake" (AFRS rebroadcast from December 14, 1958), and he's a reporter trapped in the middle of a prison riot in "Eyewitness" (AFRS rebroadcast from July 12, 1959). Plus, we'll hear him as Johnny Dollar in "The Walter Patterson Matter" (originally aired on CBS on December 26, 1952).

Though she never found the fame of her sister Margaret, Barbara Whiting had a run in Hollywood as a Fox contract player. We'll hear her in "The Rim of Terror" (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1956) as a woman who picks up a hitchhiking defector and in "One Way Trip," a story from Romance (originally aired on CBS on December 17, 1955). Plus, she reprises her breakout big screen role inJunior Miss on Hollywood Star Time (originally aired on CBS on March 24, 1946).

We've got two stars for the price of one in each of theseSuspense shows! For this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite installments of "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" that featured a pair of big name stars at the microphone. J. Carrol Naish and Joseph Cotten are hunter and hunted in "The Most Dangerous Game" (originally aired on CBS on February 1, 1945) and Hume Cronyn and Keenan Wynn hope a big bet will bail them out of trouble in "Double Entry" (originally aired on CBS on December 20, 1945). Vincent Price joins Lloyd Nolan on a "Hunting Trip" (originally aired on CBS on September 12, 1946) and walks the streets of London with Claude Rains in "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" (originally aired on CBS on December 2, 1948). Finally, Fibber McGee and Molly are joined by an armed and unwelcome passenger in "Backseat Driver" (originally aired on CBS on February 3, 1949), and Phil Harris and Alice Faye try to escape a small town's harsh justice in "Death on My Hands" (originally aired on CBS on May 10, 1951).

Virginia Gregg was one of the radio era's busiest and best performers. The versatile and talented actress could be heard on everything from detective dramas to westerns, often playing multiple characters in the same episode. We'll hear her as a woman held captive by a maniac in "Goodnight, Mrs. Russell" (originally aired on CBS on August 3, 1954) and as half of a murderous pair of newlyweds in "When the Bough Breaks" (originally aired on CBS on December 6, 1955). Plus, we'll hear her in a thriller from the typewriter of the great Arch Oboler - "Come to the Bank With Me" (originally aired on NBC on October 31, 1964).