Our celebration of "Noirvember" continues with the cast of The Maltese Falcon - the classic adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's celebrated novel. Peter Lorre plays a husband with a plot to dispose of his wife and her lover in "Till Death Do Us Part" (originally aired on CBS on December 15, 1942). Mary Astor is on the other side of the equation, as she plans to kill her husband and his girlfriend before they bump her off in "In Fear and Trembling" (originally aired on February 16, 1943). Humphrey Bogart stars in an adaptation of James M. Cain's gangland drama "Love's Lovely Counterfeit" (originally aired on CBS on March 8, 1945). And Sydney Greenstreet portrays John Dickson Carr's master sleuth Dr. Gideon Fell in the surviving half of "The Hangman Won't Wait" (originally aired on CBS on February 9, 1943)...and since only fifteen minutes of Mr. Greenstreet just won't do, we'll also hear him as Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe in "The Case of the Careworn Cuff" (originally aired on NBC on October 27, 1950). Then, all four stars recreate their film roles for The Screen Guild Theatre (originally aired on CBS on September 20, 1943).

Beginning with this episode, Stars on Suspense goes to the movies and shines a spotlight on the cast of a Hollywood classic. Up first is Laura, the 1944 Oscar-nominated mystery that the American Film Institute hailed as one of the ten best of all time. We'll hear three of its stars in "radio's outstanding theatre of thrills" - Dana Andrews in "Two Birds With One Stone" (originally aired on CBS on May 17, 1945), Clifton Webb in "The Burning Court" (originally aired on CBS on June 14, 1945), and Vincent Price in "The Name of the Beast" (originally aired on CBS on April 11, 1946), and . Plus, we'll hear a radio recreation of the film featuring Andrews, Webb, and Gene Tierney from The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theatre (originally aired on CBS on August 20, 1945).

1947 marked the end of an era on Suspense as Roma Wines ("that's R-O-M-A") ended its sponsorship of the program. But before it parted ways with "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," it brought another big line-up of stars to the microphone, and this week we'll hear my favorite episodes from the year. Van Heflin stars as an executive who resorts to less than ethical methods to climb the corporate ladder in "Three Blind Mice" (originally aired on CBS on January 30, 1947). Howard da Silva plays a dogged cop out to prove Jack Webb is guilty of murder in Cornell Woolrich's "You Take Ballistics" (originally aired on CBS on March 13, 1947). Kirk Douglas stars in two shows - first as a man who finds murder a more efficient method of divorce in "Community Property" (originally aired on CBS on April 10, 1947) and then as an author who discovers a lost work of Edgar Allan Poe and passes it off as his own in "The Story of Markham's Death" (originally aired on CBS on October 2, 1947). Finally, Ozzie and Harriet star as a married couple who take steps to accelerate the collection of their inheritance from an ailing uncle in "Too Little to Live On" (originally aired on CBS on December 26, 1947).

In this bonus show, I'm sharing my favorite Suspense shows starring Robert Young. Before he made rounds as kindly old Marcus Welby or showed how Father Knows Best, Young made several memorable appearances on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." First, he's tormented by dreams of one of history's most infamous duels in "A Friend to Alexander" (originally aired on CBS on August 3, 1943). Next, he's an arson investigator who finds a firebug close to home in "The Night Reveals" (originally aired on CBS on December 9, 1943). Finally, he's on a frantic search for his missing wife in "You'll Never See Me Again" (originally aired on CBS on September 5, 1946).

Whitfield Connor broke out on the Broadway stage in the 1940s, and he returned to the theatre in the 1960s as a manager and producer. In between, he made two starring turns on Suspense. First, he's an editor who finds a perfect murder plot in a manuscript in "Sequel to Murder" (originally aired on CBS on June 22, 1954). Then he's a prosecutor investigating a death that could be a heart attack or murder in "The Thimble" (originally aired on CBS on November 22, 1959). Plus, we'll hear him face off with Jack Webb in "The Big Try" from Dragnet (originally aired on NBC on September 29, 1953). 

Lucille Fletcher penned some of the best old time radio thrillers of all time - stories that can still keep listeners on the edge of their seats over eighty years later. She wrote "Sorry, Wrong Number," "The Hitch-hiker," and many more episodes that rank among the best of Suspense. We'll hear Mildred Natwick starring in a tale of a boarding house with a ghostly new tenant in "The Furnished Floor" (originally aired on CBS on September 13, 1945). Then, a woman is convinced her mother's killer has escaped prison and is out to kill her next in "The Night Man" (originally aired on CBS on October 23, 1960). Plus, we'll hear some of her non-Suspense shows: "Carmilla," an adaptation of a pre-Dracula vampire tale from The Columbia Workshop (originally aired on CBS on July 28, 1940), and "Bela Boczniak's Bad Dreams," a story of a man haunted by nightmares in his waking life from The Clock (originally aired on ABC on April 25, 1948).

It's our annual (belated) birthday tribute to the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. This year, it's a double feature of Hitchcock pictures recreated for radio. Joseph Cotten stars in adaptations of Foreign Correspondent and Shadow of a Doubt from Academy Award (originally aired on CBS on July 24 and September 11, 1946).

For the 350th episode of Stars of Suspense, we'll hear a recreation of the film noir classic Crossfire for "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" with its original stars Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, and Robert Ryan. A man is murdered, and a homicide detective and an Army sergeant conduct parallel investigations to figure out whodunnit. This sixty-minute adaptation originally aired on CBS on April 5, 1948.

The "First Lady of Suspense" is back, and she becomes the inaugural member of our "ten-timer's club." We'll hear her as an artist haunted by the same gruesome image in "Death and Miss Turner" (originally aired on CBS on May 19, 1957). Then she's a woman plagued by a sinister unseen force in an adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" (originally aired on CBS on June 30, 1957).  And finally, she selects the wrong recipient for a chain letter - with deadly results - in "The Chain" (originally aired on CBS on March 9, 1958).

NOTE: Due to some technical issues, this episode meant for July 28th isn't being uploaded until today. Sorry for the delay!

In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite Suspense shows starring Academy Award-winner Charles Laughton. One of the most frequent guests on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills," Laughton made ten visits to the program and his appearances rank among some of the series' best. First, he co-stars with his wife Elsa Lanchester in an adaptation of Agatha Christie's "The ABC Murders" (originally aired on CBS on May 18, 1943). Next, in "Wet Saturday," he's a wealthy patriarch whose weekend is ruined when his daughter bashes her ex-lover's head in (originally aired on CBS on December 16, 1943). Laughton meets a man who may have invented a way to get away with murder in "The Man Who Knew How" (originally aired on CBS on August 10, 1944) and he plays one of history's most notorious killers in "Neil Cream, Doctor of Poison" (originally aired on CBS on September 17, 1951).

In this special bonus show, we salute the late, great Tony Bennett with one of the legendary crooner's old time radio appearances. In this May 9, 1954 episode of Guest Star, Bennett promotes savings bonds and sings "Cheek to Cheek" and Hank Williams' "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight."

Stage star, screen actor, and train imitator - no, really - Reginald Gardiner was an in-demand comedy star in the 1940s. He appeared alongside Charlie Chaplin and Barbara Stanwyck, and he memorably impersonated train engines for a royal audience at Buckingham Palace. We'll hear him in a murder mystery on an ocean liner with Olivia de Havilland in "Voyage Through Darkness" (originally aired on CBS on September 7, 1944). Then, he's haunted by music and plagued by deadly delusions of grandeur in "The Merry Widower" (originally aired on CBS on October 12, 1944). Plus, Gardiner plays a debonair detective in the audition recording for the comedy-mystery The Gentleman.

Veteran radio actor and superb character actor John Dehner returns to the podcast to star in a pair of thrillers. First, he's a doctor who arrogantly believes he cannot be murdered and devises an experiment to put his theories to the ultimate test in "The Last Letter of Dr. Bronson" (originally aired on CBS on November 4, 1954). Then, Dehner is plagued by recurring dreams of Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, and their infamous duel in "A Friend to Alexander" (originally aired on CBS on August 15, 1956). Finally, we'll hear Dehner as Paladin in the radio version of the hit TV western Have Gun - Will Travel. He plays the cultured gunfighter in "A Matter of Ethics" (originally aired on CBS on February 1, 1959).

I had too many favorite 1946 Suspense shows for one episode! In this bonus installment, I'm sharing five more of my most-loved "tales well calculated" from '46. Brian Donlevy stars as Duncan Maclain, the blind detective created by Baynard Kendrick in an adaptation of Kendrick's mystery "Out of Control" (originally aired on CBS on March 28, 1946). Agnes Moorehead - the first lady of Suspense - stars in "Post Mortem," a story from Cornell Woolrich about a dead husband and a lottery ticket (originally aired on CBS on April 4, 1946). An all-star cast of Hollywood radio players presents the story of a comatose man who's got a date with the undertaker in "Dead Ernest" (originally aired on CBS on August 8, 1946). Lloyd Nolan and Vincent Price head to the woods but only one of them is coming home in "Hunting Trip" (orginally aired on CBS on September 12, 1946). And Joseph Cotten is plagued by the image of a dead body that only he can see in "The Thing in the Window" (originally aired on CBS on December 19, 1946).

In this bonus episode, we're celebrating the return of one of the greatest heroes of the movies with a film that inspired his creation. Charlton Heston - who unfortunately never made it to Suspense - recreates his role as rogue adventurer Harry Steele (a direct inspiration for the character of Indiana Jones) in Secret of the Incas on The Lux Radio Theatre (originally aired on NBC on December 14, 1954). 

George Murphy went from singing and dancing in movie musicals to the floor of the US Senate. Murphy retired from Hollywood in 1952 and was elected to a single term as one of California's senators in 1964. We'll hear two of his pre-politics performances from Suspense; first, he's a hit and run driver with an uncooperative eyewitness in "Death on Highway 99" (originally aired on CBS on October 4, 1945). Then, Murphy is a lumberjack who may be marked for death in the remote woods in "The Death of Me" (originally aired on CBS on May 26, 1952).

John Hodiak battles fire and ice in his final appearances on Suspense. First, he's battling the wind, the cold, and a rival climber in order to stay alive to reach the top of an unclimbed peak in "The Mountain" (originally aired on CBS on March 16, 1953). Then he's an oil driller fighting the flames that threaten to consume his well and his livelihood in "Hellfire" (originally aired on CBS on September 28, 1953).

Some of the era's best comedians left the jokes at home when they stepped up to the Suspense microphone. In this bonus episode, we'll hear these funny men and women play effectively against type in five radio thrillers. First, Danny Kaye schemes to bump off a rival and steal his girl in "The Too-Perfect Alibi" (originally aired on CBS on January 13, 1949).  Then, Fibber McGee and Molly take a car trip with an uninvited passenger in "Backseat Driver" (originally aired on CBS on February 3, 1949) and Bob Hope tries to talk his way out of a date with a killer in "Death Has a Shadow" (originally aired on CBS on May 5, 1949). Finally, Milton Berle tries method acting as a way to beat a murder rap in "Rave Notice" (originally aired on CBS on October 12, 1950) and Eve Arden is a jilted woman with murder on her mind in "The Well-Dressed Corpse" (originally aired on CBS on January 18, 1951).

For years on Suspense, Cathy Lewis delivered strong supporting performances alongside stars like Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Kirk Douglas. But in the late 1950s, she stepped into the spotlight and began to star in "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." We'll hear her in "A Statement of Fact" (AFRS rebroadcast from November 23, 1958) and "Everything Will Be Different" (AFRS rebroadcast from August 9, 1959). Plus, she co-stars with Marie Wilson in the comedy My Friend Irma (originally aired on CBS on February 2, 1948).

Ray Noble composed beloved standards like "The Very Thought of You," and he led great jazz bands in his native England and in the United States. He also had a successful career on radio as a musical director and as a comedic foil for Charlie McCarthy. We'll hear him as a gentleman adventurer in "The Star of Thessaly" (AFRS rebroadcast from November 24, 1957) and as half of a murderous newlywed couple in "Just One Happy Little Family" (AFRS rebroadcast from April 6, 1958).  Plus we'll hear him lead the band and woo Lucille Ball on The Charlie McCarthy Show (originally aired on NBC on January 11, 1948).

Self-described "Joe Average" Dane Clark plays criminals both amateur and professional in his final appearances on Suspense. First, he's an actor who tries to play a murderer in real life in "Spoils for Victor" (AFRS rebroadcast from May 23, 1946). Then, Clark kills his doppleganger in an armed robbery in "Till the Day I Die" (originally aired on CBS on September 19, 1946). Plus we'll hear him as a private eye in Crime and Peter Chambers (originally aired on NBC on April 6, 1954).

Miriam Hopkins jumped from the Broadway stage to the silver screen with well-received performances in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Trouble in Paradise. But her film roles began to decline in the 1940s, and she embraced the new medium of television. We'll hear her as a woman who incurs the wrath of a demented housemate in "The Rose Garden" (originally aired on CBS on October 5, 1950). Plus, she co-stars with William Powell in a Campbell Playhouse production of "It Happened One Night" (originally aired on CBS on January 28, 1940).

Silver-haired star Jeff Chandler takes his final bow on Suspense in "A Good Neighbor" (originally aired on CBS on March 31, 1957). Chandler stars as a thief who's trying to lay low after a heist, but a nosy neighbor may discover his secret. Plus we'll hear Chandler in his two signature radio roles. First he's the bashful biology teacher Mr. Boynton in Our Miss Brooks (originally aired on CBS on February 20, 1949), and then as private eye Michael Shayne he solves "The Case of the Model Murder."

In this month's bonus spotlight episode, I'm sharing my favorite Suspense shows starring Gregory Peck. The star of To Kill a Mockingbird, Gentleman's Agreement, and Roman Holiday plays a variety of characters - some good, some bad, but all starring in tales well calculated to keep you in Suspense. First, he's a man plotting to murder his wife so he can run away with a beautiful young woman in "The Lonely Road" (originally aired on CBS on March 21, 1946), and then he's a hitch-hiker who thumbs a ride with a demented killer in "Hitch-Hike Poker" (originally aired on CBS on September 16, 1948). Peck plays a man who may have a murderous alternate personality in "Murder Through the Looking Glass" (originally aired on CBS on March 17, 1949), and finally he's out for revenge on a hit and run driver in "Nightmare" (originally aired on CBS on September 1, 1949).

Not-so perfect alibis, a missing wife, and some supernatural horrors are on deck with my favorite Suspense episodes from 1946. Joseph Cotten commits an impulsive murder and has to reverse engineer an alibi in "Crime Without Passion" (originally aired on CBS on May 2, 1946), and J. Carrol Naish hopes he can disappear into the crowd after killing his wife in "Commuter's Ticket" (originally aired on CBS on August 1, 1946). Robert Young searches for his wife when she leaves after a fight - and disappears - in "You'll Never See Me Again" (originally aired on September 2, 1946). Brian Donlevy is a psychiatrist whose new patient is a human lie detector in "Lazarus Walks" (originally aired on CBS on October 31, 1946), and Robert Taylor stars in what may be the scariest Suspense story ever - "The House in Cypress Canyon" (originally aired on CBS on December 5, 1946).

Raymond Burr was a year into his iconic run as Perry Mason on television when he starred in his final episodes of Suspense. He's hunting for a pirate's loot in "The Treasure Chest of Don Jose" (AFRS rebroadcast from October 12, 1958); then he tries to survive the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum" (AFRS rebroadcast from June 7, 1959). We'll also hear Burr in the first episode of his western cavalry drama Fort Laramie (originally aired on CBS on January 22, 1956).

Eighty years ago this week - on May 25, 1943 - listeners first heard "Sorry, Wrong Number" on Suspense. The terrifying tale from Lucille Fletcher starred Agnes Moorehead as a woman who overhears a murder plot over crossed phone lines. It would be performed on Suspense seven more times over the next seventeen years - each time starring Ms. Moorehead - and it was adapted by Ms. Fletcher for a big screen adaptation starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster. We'll hear two of the productions of this classic radio drama from November 18, 1948 and October 20, 1957.

Though her screen career never quite took off, Ellen Drew turned in memorable performances in movies like Christmas in July, Johnny O'Clock, and Isle of the Dead. We'll hear her co-starring with Agnes Moorehead in "Uncle Henry's Rosebush" (originally aired on CBS on June 29, 1943). Then, she stars in an adaptation of Charles Dickens' terrifying tale "The Signalman" (originally aired on CBS on February 15, 1959).

Edward Arnold put his frame and booming voice to good use as heavies in classic films. He was a go-to bad guy for Frank Capra in pictures like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Meet John Doe, where he played colorfully corrupt characters. We'll hear him as a long-suffering employee who's finally had enough of his abusive boss in "Account Payable" (originally aired on CBS on October 13, 1949). Then, he stars in a tale from the life of one of America's commanders-in-chief in Mr. President (originally aired on ABC on November 7, 1948).

Actress and activist Marsha Hunt returns to Suspense in a pair of radio thrillers. First, she's a racecar driver's wife on a collision course with death in "The Last Kilometer" (originally aired on CBS on June 22, 1958). Then, she's convinced a murderer has escaped from prison with revenge on his mind in "The Night Man," a tale of terror from Lucille Fletcher (AFRS rebroadcast from July 26, 1959). Finally, we'll hear Ms. Hunt in "Birthday Present," a story from the syndicated series The Unexpected.

Click here for Marsha Hunt's previous appearances on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills."

For this month's bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite Suspense shows starring Oscar-nominee Richard Widmark. First, he's an innocent man on the run in his bare feet in "Too Hot to Live" (originally aired on CBS on October 26, 1950). Next, Widmark plays a pitchman who has to make his biggest sale yet in order to stay alive in "Tell You Why I Shouldn't Die" (originally aired on CBS on April 30, 1951). Then, Widmark stars in the bloody true story of a Texas feud - a tale set to song - in "The Hunting of Bob Lee" (originally aired on CBS on October 29, 1951). Finally, he's a demented radio writer who plans to record a killing in "A Murderous Revision" (originally aired on CBS on December 3, 1951).

Master mystery writer John Dickson Carr was a key figure in the first year of Suspense. The creator of Dr. Gideon Fell and godfather of locked room puzzles penned nearly two dozen episodes of "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" between 1942 and 1943. We'll hear two of those thrillers - "The Devil in the Summer House" (originally aired on CBS on November 3, 1942) and "Will You Make a Bet with Death?" (originally aired on CBS on November 10, 1942). Plus, we'll hear "The Bride Vanishes," written by Carr for his own anthology series Cabin B-13 (originally aired on CBS on December 12, 1948).

John Lund returns to the podcast in a pair of radio thrillers. First, he's an ordinary man drawn into a dangerous adventure during Mardi Gras in "The Man Who Stole the Bible" (originally aired on CBS on November 25, 1956). Then, Lund narrates a Pacific wartime drama as soldiers prepare to hit the beachhead in "Tarawa was Tough" (AFRS rebroadcast from May 12, 1957). And as a bonus, we'll hear Lund as Johnny Dollar - America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator - in "The Kay Bellamy Matter" (originally aired on CBS on January 30, 1953).

Gene Lockhart wore many hats in his career: Oscar-nominee, stage star, acting teacher at Julliard, and songwriter. He played everyone from Bob Cratchit to villains to the judge trying to decide Kris Kringle's fate in Miracle on 34th Street. We'll hear him as an office worker who kills a workplace rival in "Statement of Employee Henry Wilson" (originally aired on CBS on November 2, 1943). Then, Lockhart stars in an adaptation of Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" from Family Theatre (originally aired on Mutual on April 22, 1953).

For his final appearance on the podcast, Cornel Wilde stars as C. Auguste Dupin - the master detective created by Edgar Allan Poe - in "The Mystery of Marie Roget" (originally aired on CBS on December 14, 1953). Inspired by a real-life unsolved murder case, it finds Dupin investigating the killing of a beautiful young woman in Paris. Then, Wilde dons the famous mask and cape in a Hollywood Star Time adaptation of The Mark of Zorro (originally aired on CBS on February 17, 1946).

It's a mix of two-handers, adaptations, comedy, mystery, and horror with my favorite Suspense shows from 1945! Joseph Cotten is hunted by J. Carrol Naish in "The Most Dangerous Game" (originally aired on CBS on February 1, 1945), and William Bendix hunts for a missing necklace in "Pearls are a Nuisance" (originally aired on CBS on April 19, 1945). John Payne is a small town police chief in hot water in "Two Sharp Knives" (originally aired on CBS on June 7, 1945), and J. Carrol Naish is a blind cobbler with an ear for murder in "Footfalls" (originally aired on CBS on July 12, 1945). A customer from hell may run Joseph Kearns out of business in "Short Order" (originally aired on CBS on August 16, 1945), and a monster from hell may destroy the world - and Ronald Colman - in "The Dunwich Horror" (originally aired on CBS on November 1, 1945).

The Cheshire Cat, Kaa the snake, and Winnie the Pooh. Sterling Holloway voiced them all and became a Disney legend for his years of work bringing beloved characters to life with his instantly recognizable voice. He lent that voice to one episode of Suspense as a mild-mannered cruise passenger who stumbles into an exotic adventure in "The Second Class Passenger" (AFRS rebroadcast from January 20, 1957). Plus, we'll hear him narrate the tale of a very special piece of currency in "The Story of Danny Dollar Bill" from Family Theater (originally aired on Mutual on November 7, 1951).

For this month's bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite episodes of Suspense starring Oscar-winner Claire Trevor. First, she's trapped in her home with a madman in "The Plan" (originally aired on CBS on May 16, 1946). Then, she's a dancer trying to solve her boyfriend's murder and find a priceless diamond he was hiding in "The Blue Hour" (originally aired on CBS on September 25, 1947). Finally, she cooks up an explosive revenge plan on her cheating husband in "The Light Switch" (originally aired on CBS on May 12, 1949).

Hitchockian heavy and Third Man hero Joseph Cotten returns for more "tales well calculated to keep you in Suspense!" We'll hear him first as a corrupt prosecutor who plans a murder to keep his dirty dealings a secret in "A Watery Grave" (originally aired on CBS on March 10, 1952). Then, he stars as the titular murderer as the ballad of "Tom Dooley" comes to life on radio (originally aired on CBS on March 30, 1953).

After achieving stardom in her native Australia, Ann Richards traveled to Hollywood. Unfortunately, studios never quite figured out what to do with her, and she retired after making just 12 movies in the States. But during her short stint in Hollywood, she co-starred with the likes of Brian Donlevy, Burt Lancaster, and Barbara Stanwyck. We'll hear her as a young woman who conspires to stay in high society by any means necessary in Marie Belloc Lowndes' "The Story of Ivy" (originally aired on CBS on June 21, 1945). Plus, she co-stars in a Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of "Disputed Passage" (originally aired on CBS on March 5, 1945).

Lee Bowman enjoyed a brief run of success on the big screen during World War II, but when film roles dried up he turned to television and eventually to a second career as a corporate and political media consultant. We'll hear him as a man who comes home from his bachelor party to discover a murder mystery in "Five Canaries in the Room" (originally aired on CBS on June 8, 1943). Then, Bowman plays a man saved from death only to wind up framed for murder in "Sell Me Your Life" (originally aired on CBS on February 15, 1945).

Academy Award-nominated actress Joan Lorring returns in two more Suspense thrillers from the early 1960s. First, it's "The Luck of the Tiger Eye," a tale of greed and graverobbing set in a mansion on a dark and stormy night (originally aired on CBS on December 3, 1961). Then, a pair of newlyweds might be parted by death sooner than anticipated in "Please Believe Me" (originally aired on CBS on January 28, 1962). Plus, we'll hear Joan Lorring as a woman who discovers a dead body in a taxi in "The Corpse Nobody Loved" from Inner Sanctum Mysteries (AFRS rebroadcast from September 21, 1952).

For this month's bonus show, I'm sharing my three favorite Suspense episodes starring Shane himself - Alan Ladd. First, he's an ex-con framed for murder in "The Defense Rests" (originally aired on CBS on March 9, 1944). Then, Ladd plays a detective facing his toughest case yet - his wife is accused of killing a man - in "Motive for Murder" (originally aired on CBS on March 16, 1950). Finally, he's in cowboy country for the western revenge drama "A Killing in Abeline" (originally aired on CBS on December 14, 1950).

Herbert Marshall returns to the podcast with two more old time radio thrillers. The star of Foreign Correspondent and The Man Called X is running for his life after he takes a shot at Hitler in "Rogue Male," an adaptation of Geoffrey Household's 1939 novel (originally aired on CBS on December 31, 1951). Then, he's the celebrated explorer Robert Scott in the harrowing tale of his doomed expedition to the South Pole in "The Diary of Captain Scott" (originally aired on CBS on April 21, 1952).

Sonny Tufts was the Hollywood discovery of 1943 and seemed primed for a huge career. Unfortunately, a battle with alcohol and some tawdry headlines soon overshadowed his screen performances. His dubious reputation in his later years also led to a rumor surrounding his one and only visit to Suspense. We'll hear him as a ham radio operator investigating something suspicious on the other end of the line in "Cat and Mouse" (originally aired on CBS on March 30, 1944). And we'll hear him visit Duffy's Tavern, where Ms. Duffy has her eye on Sonny as a date for a Valentine's Day dance (originally aired on NBC on February 2, 1945). 

Click here to learn more about the legend of Sonny Tufts on Suspense!

Macdonald Carey starred on television for nearly 30 years in Days of Our Lives, and his voice still introduces each episode of the long-running soap opera. But before he was a daytime TV star, he played a detective in love in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt and was one of Hollywood's B-movie kings. We'll hear him as a reporter searching for "The Missing Person" (originally aired on CBS on May 12, 1952). Plus, Carey stars as a New Orleans bar owner and boat captain in the drama series Jason and the Golden Fleece (originally aired on NBC on January 11, 1953).

Our journey back through the years of Suspense continues with my favorite episodes from 1944. Lucille Ball is a taxi dancer who hopes to avoid a murderous dance partner in "Dime a Dance" (originally aired on CBS on January 13, 1944), and Charles Ruggles suspects his new housekeeper may be too good to be true in "Suspicion" (originally aired on CBS on February 10, 1944). Orson Welles stars in a rare two-part Suspense science fiction drama "Donovan's Brain" (originally aired on CBS on May 18 and May 25, 1944), and Vincent Price and Ida Lupino co-star in "Fugue in C Minor," a Gothic horror drama from the pen of Lucille Fletcher (originally aired on CBS on June 1, 1944). Charles Laughton encounters a strange man who claims to have invented an undetectable method for murder in "The Man Who Knew How" (originally aired on CBS on August 10, 1944), and Gene Kelly enjoys a seemingly supernatural streak of luck…until he doesn't in "The Man Who Couldn't Lose" (originally aired on CBS on September 28, 1944).

At the height of his career, Francis X. Bushman received over one thousand fan letters a week and was hailed as the "king of the movies." Bushman was a screen idol of the silent film era and he starred in hundreds of films in the earliest years of Hollywood. We'll hear him narrate a tale of romance and murder from classic Tinseltown in "The City That Was" (an AFRS rebroadcast from November 17, 1957). Plus, we'll hear him as Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe in the radio mystery "The Shakespeare Folio" (originally aired on Mutual on November 30, 1945).

In this bonus episode, I'm sharing my favorite Suspense shows starring the great Edward G. Robinson. Best known for his tough guy turns in movies like Little Caesar and Key Largo, Robinson played against type to great effect on "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." We'll hear him as a man accused of his imaginary wife's murder in "My Wife, Geraldine" (originally aired on CBS on March 1, 1945). Then he plays both himself and a very starstruck fan in "The Man Who Wanted to Be Edward G. Robinson" (originally aired on CBS on September 30, 1948). Finally, Robinson is a man coerced into an insurance fraud in "You Can't Die Twice" (originally aired on CBS on March 31, 1949).

Before Humphrey Bogart played tortured writer Dix Steele on the big screen in In a Lonely Place, Robert Montgomery played the man with a deadly secret in an adaptation of the novel on Suspense. The actor and director of Lady in the Lake and Ride the Pink Horse is star, producer, and host of this sixty-minute version of Dorothy B. Hughes' novel (originally aired on CBS on March 6, 1948).