Darren McGavin
Birthday: Born in 1922-05-07 in Spokane, Washington, U.S.
Deathday: 2006-02-25
Darren McGavin (born William Lyle Richardson; May 7, 1922 – February 25, 2006) was an American actor best known for playing the title role in the television horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and his portrayal of the grumpy father given to bursts of profanity in the film A Christmas Story. He appeared as the tough-talking, funny detective in the 1950s television series Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. From 1959-1961, McGavin starred in the NBC western series Riverboat, first with Burt Reynolds and then with Noah Beery, Jr. Description above from the Wikipedia article Darren McGavin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
TV Credits
Murder, She Wrote
Character: Martin Tremaine
An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases....
Magnum, P.I.
Character:
A private investigator who works when he wants, lives in a beachfront estate in Hawaii, drives a posh Ferrari, runs up an unlimited tab at a swank bar, and charms attractive women in peril - that's the lifestyle of Thomas Magnum, aka Magnum, P.I....
Tales from the Darkside
Character: Van Conway
Tales from the Darkside is an anthology horror TV series created by George A. Romero, each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot twist. The series' episodes spanned the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, and some episodes featured elements of black comedy or more lighthearted themes....
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Character:
Agents Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin work for a secret intelligence service working under the auspices of the U.N. Their immediate superior is Mr. Waverly. Together they operate out of a secret base beneath the streets of New York City, and accesses through several cover business such as Del Floria's Tailor Shop and the Masque Club. This secret intelligence service is called U.N.C.L.E. United Network Command for Law and Enforcement....
The Love Boat
Character: Lawrence Evans
Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins....
Night Stalker
Character:
Carl Kolchak and his partner Perri investigate the mysterious death of Kolchak's wife and the paranormal phenomena plaguing their city....
Touched by an Angel
Character: George Zarko
Monica, an angel, is tasked with bringing guidance and messages from God to various people who are at a crossroads in their lives....
Gargoyles
Character:
In Scotland, 994 A.D. Goliath and his clan of gargoyles defend a medieval castle. In present day, David Xanatos buys the castle and moves it to New York City. When the castle is attacked the gargoyles are awakened from a 1000 year curse....
Route 66
Character:
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America in a Chevrolet Corvette sports car. The show ran weekly on Fridays on CBS from October 7, 1960 to March 20, 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for the first two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod was shown traveling on his own. Tod met Lincoln Case, played by Glenn Corbett, late in the third season, and traveled with h...
Tales of the Unexpected
Character: Sheriff Milt Singleton
A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars....
Highway to Heaven
Character:
A probationary angel is sent back to Earth to team up with an ex-cop and help people....
Murphy Brown
Character: Bill Brown
Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen) is a recovering alcoholic who returns to the fictional newsmagazine FYI for the first time following a stay at the Betty Ford Clinic residential treatment center. Over 40 and single, she is sharp tongued and hard as nails. In her profession, she is considered one of the boys, having shattered many glass ceilings encountered during her career. Dominating the FYI news magazine, she is portrayed as one of America's hardest-hitting (though not the warmest or more sympat...
The Martian Chronicles
Character: Sam Parkhill
The Martian Chronicles deals with the exploration of Mars and the inhabitants there....
Grace Under Fire
Character:
Grace Kelly is a tough woman with kids to raise. A recently divorced recovering alcoholic, Grace struggles with the pressures of being a single mother supporting three children. Grace doesn't always handle situations with, well, grace, but she does get results....
The Commish
Character:
Tony Scali is a former Brooklyn cop now the Police Commissioner of a small upstate city. But for Scali, this is no desk job. He's a tough yet compassionate boss, a loving husband and father, and a hands-on law enforcer with an unorthodox style of bending the rules. From parenthood to politics, from sex crimes to murder cases, one man takes it day-to-day with offbeat humor and street- smart skill....
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
Character:
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer is the title used for two syndicated television series that followed the adventures of fictional private detective Mike Hammer. The gritty, crime fighting detective—created by American crime author Mickey Spillane—has also inspired several feature films and made-for-TV movies....
Gunsmoke
Character: Will Helmick
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....
The X-Files
Character: Agent Arthur Dales
The exploits of FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully who investigate X-Files: marginalized, unsolved cases involving paranormal phenomena. Mulder believes in the existence of aliens and the paranormal while Scully, a skeptic, is assigned to make scientific analyses of Mulder's discoveries that debunk Mulder's work and thus return him to mainstream cases....
Studio One
Character: Will Sorrell
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....
The Evil Touch
Character:
The Evil Touch is an Australian-produced television series, originally broadcast in Australia in 1973. It was an anthology series where each episode had a self-contained story and a new set of characters. Each episode feature a new cast of guest actors, although several guest stars appeared in more than one episode, playing different characters. Each story is a thriller or horror story of some variety, ranging from tales of the occult and the supernatural, science fiction horror stories, to more...
Millennium
Character: Henry Black
A retired FBI serial-profiler joins the mysterious Millennium Group, a team of underground ex-law enforcement experts dedicated to fighting against the ever-growing forces of evil and darkness in the world....
Mission: Impossible
Character: J. Richard Taggart
Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force. In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the th...
Sisters
Character:
Sisters is an Emmy Award-winning television drama. It follows the lives and loves of four close, but very different, sisters of the Reed family living in Winnetka, Illinois....
The Islanders
Character: Phil
The Islanders is an American adventure television series which aired on ABC from 1960 to 1961, starring William Reynolds, James Philbrook, and Diane Brewster. At the beginning of the series, Sandy Wade and Zack Malloy, co-owners of a Grumman Goose amphibious aircraft, start their one-plane airline in the Moluccas or Spice Islands of the southeastern Pacific Ocean. Throughout the series they experience a variety of adventures where seemingly harmless charter flights put them into danger. They ar...
Monsters
Character:
Monsters is a syndicated horror anthology series which originally ran from 1988 to 1991 and reran on the Sci-Fi Channel during the 1990s. As of 2011, Monsters airs on NBC Universal's horror/suspense-themed cable channel Chiller in sporadic weekday marathons. In a similar vein to Tales from the Darkside, Monsters shared the same producer, and in some ways succeeded the show. It differed in some respects nonetheless. While Tales sometimes dabbled in stories of science fiction and fantasy, this se...
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Character: Carl Kolchak
Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974–1975 season. It featured a fictional Chicago newspaper reporter who investigated mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly those that law enforcement authorities would not follow up. These often involved the supernatural or even science fiction, including fantastic creatures....
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Character: Red Hillman
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries....
Felony Squad
Character:
Twenty-year veteran Detective Sergeant Sam Stone is paired with rookie Briggs in a large Western metropolis....
Rawhide
Character: Jed Hadley
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....
Cimarron Strip
Character:
Cimarron Strip is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from September 1967 to March 1968. Starring Stuart Whitman as Marshal Jim Crown, the series was produced by the creators of Gunsmoke. Reruns of the original show were aired in the summer of 1971. Cimarron Strip was one of only three 90-minute weekly Western series that aired during the 1960s, and the only 90-minute series of any kind to be centered primarily around one lead character. Cimarron Strip was set in the Oklahom...
Police Story
Character:
Police Story is an anthology television crime drama. The show was the brainchild of author and former policeman Joseph Wambaugh and represented a major step forward in the realistic depiction of police work and violence on network TV. Although it was an anthology, there were certain things that all episodes had in common; for instance, the main character in each episode was a police officer. The setting was always Los Angeles and the characters always worked for some branch of the LAPD. Notwith...
The Virginian
Character: Mark Troxel
The Shiloh Ranch in Wyoming Territory of the 1890s is owned in sequence by Judge Henry Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Colonel Alan MacKenzie. It is the setting for a variety of stories, many more based on character and relationships than the usual western....
The Alcoa Hour
Character:
The Alcoa Hour is an American anthology television series that was aired live on NBC from 1955 to 1957. The series was sponsored by Alcoa....
The Defenders
Character: Howard Potter
The Defenders is an American courtroom drama series . It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed as father-and-son defense attorneys who specialized in legally complex cases, with defendants such as neo-Nazis, conscientious objectors, civil rights demonstrators, a schoolteacher fired for being an atheist, an author accused of pornography, and a physician charged in a mercy killing....
The Hitchhiker
Character: Old Man
A young hitchhiker introduces characters who are about to experience a frightening and sometimes supernatural incident of some kind in this moody anthology series....
Climax!
Character: Walter
Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color. Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live....
Bracken's World
Character:
Behind the scenes at the fictitious Century Studios in Hollywood, headed by the (initially) unseen John Bracken....
The Philco Television Playhouse
Character: Bill Starbuck
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....
Civil Wars
Character:
Civil Wars is an American legal drama that aired on ABC from November 1991 to March 1993. The series was produced by Steven Bochco, known for his work on NYPD Blue, L.A. Law and Hill Street Blues. After a brief syndicated run on the FX Network in the mid 90s, the series has not aired since....
The Rogues
Character: Amos Champion
The Rogues is an American television series that appeared on NBC from September 13, 1964, to April 18, 1965, starring David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Gig Young as a related trio of former conmen who could, for the right price, be persuaded to trick a very wealthy and heinously unscrupulous mark. Although it won the 1964 Golden Globe award for Best Television Series, the show was cancelled after one season consisting of thirty episodes....
Ben Casey
Character:
Ben Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph Ransohoff was a medical consultant for the show and may have influenced the personality of the title character....
Riverboat
Character: Captain Grey Holden
Riverboat is a 44-episode western television series starring Darren McGavin and Burt Reynolds broadcast on the NBC television network from September 13, 1959 until January 2, 1961. It was produced by Revue Studios....
Stagecoach West
Character:
Stagecoach West is an American Western drama television series which ran for thirty-eight episodes on the ABC network from October 4, 1960, until June 27, 1961. Characters Luke Perry and Simon Kane operate the Timberland Stage Line from fictitious Outpost, Missouri to San Francisco, California. Simon's 15-year-old son, David "Davey" Kane, joins the two as they face stagecoach robbers, murderers, inclement weather, and human interest stories. Perry and Kane, who are both deputy U.S. marshals, had...
Suspense
Character: Ted Larson
An anthology series adapted from the radio program of the same name. Like the radio program, many scripts were adaptations of literary classics by well-known authors. Classic authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, and Charles Dickens all had stories adapted for the series, while contemporary authors such as Roald Dahl and Gore Vidal also contributed....
Robert Montgomery Presents
Character: Joe Gillis
Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950 until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example, Robert Montgomery Presents Your Lucky Strike Theater, ....The Johnson's Wax Program, and so on....
Tales of Tomorrow
Character:
Tales of Tomorrow is an American anthology science fiction series that was performed and broadcast live on ABC from 1951 to 1953. The series covered such stories as Frankenstein, starring Lon Chaney, Jr., 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea starring Thomas Mitchell as Captain Nemo, and many others featuring such performers as Boris Karloff, Brian Keith, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Bruce Cabot, Franchot Tone, Gene Lockhart, Walter Abel, Leslie Nielsen, and Paul Newman. The series had many similarities to ...
The Bold Ones: The Lawyers
Character:
The Bold Ones: The Lawyers is an American legal drama that aired for four season on NBC from December 1968 through February 1972....
Custer
Character:
Custer, also known as The Legend of Custer, is a 17-episode military-western television series which ran on ABC from September 6 to December 27, 1967, with Wayne Maunder in the starring role of then Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. During the American Civil War, Custer had risen to the rank of major general, the youngest in the Union Army. He was demoted after the war during force reductions to the rank of Captain, but was reinstated in 1866 as a Lieutenant Colonel in command of the S...
Dr. Kildare
Character: Prof. Felix Holman
The story of a young intern in a large metropolitan hospital trying to learn his profession, deal with the problems of his patients, and win the respect of the senior doctor in his specialty, internal medicine....
The Defenders
Character: Marty Wisnovsky
The Defenders is an American courtroom drama series . It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed as father-and-son defense attorneys who specialized in legally complex cases, with defendants such as neo-Nazis, conscientious objectors, civil rights demonstrators, a schoolteacher fired for being an atheist, an author accused of pornography, and a physician charged in a mercy killing....
Small & Frye
Character:
Small & Frye is an American television sitcom about a pair of private detectives, one of whom has the involuntary power to shrink to a small size. Produced by Walt Disney Productions, this series was broadcast on CBS in 1983, but only lasted for six episodes....
The Outsider
Character: David Ross
The Outsider was the story of David Ross, a go-it-alone private investigator who's always where the action is. Darren McGavin played Ross, a man living in an off-beat, always-dangerous world. The series aired for one season on NBC and was a precursor of sorts to The Rockford Files in that it featured a loner private detective who had previously done time in prison for a crime he didn't commit and who never quite fit into a rapidly changing environment....
The Mike Douglas Show
Character: Self
The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia....
The Virginian
Character: Sam Evans
The Shiloh Ranch in Wyoming Territory of the 1890s is owned in sequence by Judge Henry Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Colonel Alan MacKenzie. It is the setting for a variety of stories, many more based on character and relationships than the usual western....
Gunsmoke
Character: Lon Gorman
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....
Gunsmoke
Character: Joe Bascome
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....
Crime Photographer
Character: Casey #2
"The Morning Express" photographer hangs out at New York's Blue Note Cafe and tells bartender Ethelbert of his various exploits and adventures. Ann is an "Express" reporter and Casey's girlfriend....
Ike
Character: Gen. George S. Patton
Made-for-TV biography of General Dwight D. Eisenhower....
Around the World in 80 Days
Character: Benjamin Mudge
The plot centres around Phileas Fogg making a £20,000 wager with three members of the Reform Club that he can circumnavigate the world in 80 days. He takes with him his newly employed French valet Passepartout, and is pursued by Detective Wilbur Fix who mistakenly thinks Fogg robbed the Bank of England and is using the wager as a cover to escape capture....
The Name of the Game
Character: Jesse Gil McCray
The Name of the Game is an American television series starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s. The show had an extremely large budget for a television series....
The Name of the Game
Character: Sam Hardy
The Name of the Game is an American television series starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s. The show had an extremely large budget for a television series....
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Character: Lyle Endicott
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries....
Studio One
Character: Johnny Quigg
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....
Studio One
Character: Tom Kendall
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....
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Character: McClain
Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law is an American legal drama, jointly created by David Victor and former law professor Jerry McNeely, that starred actor Arthur Hill. The series was broadcast on ABC from 1971 to 1974. A two-hour pilot movie had aired as a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week entry prior to the series run....
The Wonderful World of Disney
Character: John Jay Forrest
Walt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, m...
Death Valley Days
Character: Zacharias Gurney
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945 and continued from 1952 to 1970 as a syndicated television series, with reruns continuing through August 1, 1975. The series was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Borax Company and hosted by Stanley Andrews, Ronald Reagan, Robert Taylor, and Dale Robertson. With the ...
Burke's Law
Character: Conrad Hill
Burke's Law, a revival of the 1960s cop television series of the same name, aired on CBS from 1994 to 1995. The series centers on Amos Burke, a senior Los Angeles police officer and millionaire, and his son, Peter, who is a detective under his command....
Fallen Angels
Character: Old Man
A neo-noir anthology television series, set in somber Los Angeles right after World War II and before the election of American President John F. Kennedy. The episodes, although filmed in color, mimicked what had been done by Hollywood filmmakers during the film noir era of the 1940s and 1950s in terms of tone, look, and story content....
Suspense
Character:
An anthology series adapted from the radio program of the same name. Like the radio program, many scripts were adaptations of literary classics by well-known authors. Classic authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, and Charles Dickens all had stories adapted for the series, while contemporary authors such as Roald Dahl and Gore Vidal also contributed....
What's My Line?
Character: Self - Mystery Guest
Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions....
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
Character: Self
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts is a NBC television special show hosted by entertainer Dean Martin from 1974 to 1984. For a series of 54 specials and shows, Martin would periodically "roast" a celebrity. These roasts were patterned after the roasts held at the New York Friars' Club in New York City. The format would have the celebrity guest seated at a banquet table, and one by one the guest of honor was affectionately chided or insulted about his career by his fellow celebrity friends. In 197...
The Wonderful World of Disney
Character: Timothy Donovan
Walt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, m...
Crime Photographer
Character: Casey
"The Morning Express" photographer hangs out at New York's Blue Note Cafe and tells bartender Ethelbert of his various exploits and adventures. Ann is an "Express" reporter and Casey's girlfriend....
The Match Game
Character: Self
In this panel game show, contestants try to match answers given by six celebrities to humorous and often risque fill-in-the-blank questions....
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Character: Sheridan Westcott
A continuation of the anthology series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”, hosted by the master of suspense and featuring thrillers and mysteries....
The Name of the Game
Character: Eddie Gannon
The Name of the Game is an American television series starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s. The show had an extremely large budget for a television series....
Mannix
Character: Mark
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....
Love, American Style
Character: Corbett
An anthology comedy series featuring a line up of different celebrity guest stars appearing in anywhere from one, two, three, and four short stories or vignettes within an hour about versions of love and romance....
Omnibus
Character:
Omnibus is an American, commercially sponsored, educational television series....
Movie Credits
The Man with the Golden Arm
Character: Louie
When illegal card dealer and recovering heroin addict Frankie Machine gets out of prison, he decides to straighten up. Armed with nothing but an old drum set, Frankie tries to get honest work as a drummer. But when his former employer and his old drug dealer re-enter his life, Frankie finds it hard to stay clean and eventually finds himself succumbing to his old habits....
Raw Deal
Character: Chief Harry Shannon
Mark Kaminsky is kicked out of the FBI for his rough treatment of a suspect. He winds up as the sheriff of a small town in North Carolina. FBI Chief Harry Shannon, whose son has been killed by a mobster named Patrovina, enlists Kaminsky in a personal vendetta with a promise of reinstatement into the FBI if Patrovina is taken down. To accomplish this, he must go undercover and join Patrovina's gang....
A Christmas Story
Character: The Old Man
The comic mishaps and adventures of a young boy named Ralph, trying to convince his parents, teachers, and Santa that a Red Ryder B.B. gun really is the perfect Christmas gift for the 1940s....
Pros & Cons
Character: Mr. Stanford
Framed for crimes they didn't commit, two small-timers are headed up the river without a paddle. Now, the only thing that can bail them out is a case of mistaken identity. It's the hysterical prison comedy that's so funny, it's criminal!...
Billy Madison
Character: Brian Madison
Billy Madison is the 27 year-old son of Bryan Madison, a very rich man who has made his living in the hotel industry. Billy stands to inherit his father's empire, but only if he can make it through all 12 grades, 2 weeks per grade, to prove that he has what it takes to run the family business....
No Deposit, No Return
Character: Duke
Two rich children devise a way to escape their grandfather and visit their mother. Unfortunately for two hapless safe crackers, they become part of the plan....
By Dawn's Early Light
Character: Condor
A nuclear warhead launched by Soviet insurgents protesting the waning Cold War destroys the Ukrainian city of Donetsk. The destruction sets off a race between American and Soviet politicians to prevent a nuclear holocaust. While the U.S. president feverishly works to keep the military and political machine from going into overdrive, various subordinates panic. When the president is believed to be killed in a helicopter crash, zealous advisers take over....
The Natural
Character: Gus Sands
An unknown middle-aged batter named Roy Hobbs with a mysterious past appears out of nowhere to take a losing 1930s baseball team to the top of the league....
Happy Hell Night
Character: Henry Collins
25 years ago at Winfield College, psycho-priest Zachary Malius murdered seven frat boys and was put away in the local asylum. Now, however, the same fraternity stages a prank from which Malius is inadvertently set free and returns to the house to repeat his crime......
From the Hip
Character: Craig Duncan
Apprentice lawyer Robin Weathers turns a civil suit into a headline grabbing charade. He must reexamine his scruples after his shenanigans win him a promotion in his firm, and he must now defend a college professor who is appearantly guilty of murder....
Airport '77
Character: Stan Buchek
Flight 23 has crashed in the Bermuda Triangle after a hijacking gone wrong. Now the surviving passengers must brave panic, slow leaks, oxygen depletion, and more while attempting a daring plan, all while 200 feet underwater....
The Night Strangler
Character: Carl Kolchak
After being run out of Las Vegas, reporter Carl Kolchak heads for Seattle and another reporting job with the local paper. It's not long before he is on the trail of another string of bizarre murders. It seems that every 21 years, for the past century, a killer kills a certain number of people, drains them of their blood and then disappears into the night. Kolchak is on his trail, but can he stop him?...
Turk 182!
Character: Det. Kowalski
After New York City firefighter Terry Lynch is unable to receive any compensation for an injury incurred during the off-duty rescue of a young girl, he grows suicidal. Furious, his brother Jimmy attempts to have Mayor Tyler intervene, but the corrupt politician instead denounces Terry as a drunk. Determined to get justice, Jimmy begins a graffiti campaign of embarrassing slogans mocking the mayor, which soon captivates the city....
Dead Heat
Character: Dr. Ernest McNab
Detective Roger Mortis is killed in action while investigating a string of mysterious robberies: until he's brought back from the dead with a chemical company's secret re-animation technology. Now he has twelve hours to solve the case of his own death before he dies: And stays dead....
Hot Lead & Cold Feet
Character: Mayor Ragsdale
Twin brothers -- one rough and tough, the other a city-bred milquetoast -- compete for their father's fortune....
Captain America
Character: General Fleming
During World War II, a brave, patriotic American Soldier undergoes experiments to become a new supersoldier, "Captain America". Racing to Germany to sabotage the rockets of Nazi baddie "Red Skull", Captain America winds up frozen until the 1990s. He reawakens to find that the Red Skull has changed identities and is now planning to kidnap the President of the United States....
The Night Stalker
Character: Carl Kolchak
Wisecracking reporter Carl Kolchak investigates a string of murders in Las Vegas and suspects the culprit is a vampire. His editor thinks he's crazy and the police think he's a nuisance, so Kolchak takes matters into his own hands....
The Case Against Brooklyn
Character: Pete Harris
A rookie cop takes on criminals who have the local government in their pocket....
The Delicate Delinquent
Character: Mike Damon
Sidney Pythias is a bumbling janitor picked up by cop Mike Damon as a teenage gang member worth saving from delinquency. With Damon's help, Sidney works his way through the Police Academy to become a cop too....
The Challenge
Character: Jacob Gallery
All-out war between the United States and an Asian country is averted when the two sides agree to settle their differences by each choosing a single soldier as champion and having the two men fight to the death on an isolated island....
The Six Million Dollar Man
Character: Oliver Spencer
Colonel Steve Austin, astronaut and test pilot, is badly injured when he crashes while testing an experimental aircraft. A covert government agency (OSI) is willing to pay for special prosthetics to replace the eye, arm and both legs he lost in the crash. Highly advanced technology (bionics) built into them will make him faster, stronger and more resilient than normal. In return they want him to become a covert agent for the OSI. It will cost $6,000,000 to rebuild Steve Austin....
Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas
Character: Mr. Parker (archive footage)
Christmas abounds with traditions, from neighborhood carolers to lovingly decorated trees, but from where did all these rituals emerge? This enlightening program looks at the origins of the Western world's most popular Christmas traditions -- from the significance of December 25th and its relationship to winter solstice to the enchanting legend of Santa Claus and Prince Albert's 1841 unveiling of the Christmas tree....
Summertime
Character: Eddie Yaeger
Middle-aged Ohio secretary Jane Hudson has never found love and has nearly resigned herself to spending the rest of her life alone. But before she does, she uses her savings to finance a summer in romantic Venice, where she finally meets the man of her dreams, the elegant Renato Di Rossi....
The Baron and the Kid
Character: Jack Beamer
Johnny Cash heads the cast in this sentimental drama, which follows a famed pool hustler (Cash) whose reunion with his long-lost son (Greg Webb) sets the stage for a series of adventures as they join forces to open a pool hall. Based on a hit song written by Cash, the film also stars Richard Roundtree, Tracy Pollan, June Carter Cash and Darren McGavin. The Cash family patriarch performs on the soundtrack....
Hangar 18
Character: Harry Forbes
During a Space Shuttle mission a satellite rams a unidentified flying object. The UFO afterwards performs an emergency landing in the deserts of Arizona. However the White House denies its existence because of the near presidential elections. The UFO is brought to the secret Hangar 18 and the accident is blamed on the incompetence of the astronauts Bancroff and Price. But the two fight against this and try to hunt down the UFO....
Something Evil
Character: Paul Worden
A young couple moves into a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania. What they don't know is that there is an unseen presence in the house, and that it wants to take possession of the wife....
Blood and Concrete
Character: Hank Dick
A dimwitted thug encounters a strung-out, suicidal young woman and an unlikely relationship develops as they work together to make a break for new horizons....
Tribes
Character: Drake
A Marine Corps drill instructor who is disgusted by the fact that the Corps now accepts draftees finds himself pitted against a hippie who has been drafted but refuses to accept the military's way of doing things....
Mission Mars
Character: Col. Mike Blaiswick
Three American astronauts who land on Mars discover the body of a frozen Russian cosmonaut and a mysterious talking orb....
She Wouldn't Say Yes
Character: The Kid - Soldier in Hospital
Susan Lane is a gifted psychiatrist, grounded in self-control. Before returning by train to her practice in Chicago, she spends time back East with war veterans, building their self-esteem, but frowning on the impulsive, as represented by a favorite comic strip called "The Nixie." She bumps into Michael Kent, an officer and the comic strip's author. He likes her instantly and she dislikes him. He's headed to the Pacific, sees her on the train, gets off in Chicago, and with her father's help, pur...
Perfect Harmony
Character: Mr. Hobbs
During the 1950s, a private school in the south undergoes racial tension as it experiences desegregation. Can a love of music help ease the pain?...
Bullet for a Badman
Character: Sam Ward
Former Texas Rangers Sam Ward and Logan Keliher become enemies when Sam turns bank robber and Logan marries Sam's ex-wife....
My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn
Character: Dr. Gerrit Koets
The life and wanton times of Errol Flynn...
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
Character: Capt. Russ Peters
A dramatization of the American general and his court martial for publically complaining about High Command's dismissal and neglect of the aerial fighting forces....
Child in the Night
Character: Os Winfield
Traumatized after seeing his father brutally murdered by a hook wielding assailant, young Luke is tasked to help unmask the killer....
Hay que matar a B.
Character: Pal Kovak
In a fictitious South American country there's lots of political tension, the labor-unions have all their members on strike. The public demands the return of politician B. from exile. However private trucker Pal can't afford to strike, so he's beaten up and his truck burned. In the headlines he's described as strike-breaker. This is only part of an intrigue which shall get him to murder B....
Mrs. Pollifax — Spy
Character: Farrell
Mrs. Emily Pollifax of New Jersey goes to the CIA to volunteer for spy duty, being in her own opinion, expendable now that the children are grown and she's widowed. And being just what the department needed (someone who looks and acts completely unlike a spy), she's assigned to simple courier duty to pick up a book in Mexico City. But when the pickup doesn't go as planned, Mrs. Pollifax finds herself handcuffed to a handsome stranger on a plane bound for an Albanian prison. And it's up to her to...
Derby
Character: Lester Corbett
Katie once left her parent's horse ranch behind her. Now, when her father is sick Katie has to return to the farm. She meets Cass, now a grown man whom she had a crush on as a kid....
The Diamond Trap
Character: Chief Walter Vadney
When streetwise Manhattan police detectives Rawlings (Howard Hesseman) and Brendan Thomas (Ed Marinaro) discover a major diamond heist is about to go down at a renowned gallery, they enlist one of their suspects, gallery employee Tara Holden (Brooke Shields). But an attempt to foil the robbery explodes with deadly consequences for Tara. Committed to break the case, Rawlings relentlessly pursues the clues through a twisted maze of deceit and danger that takes him to England, where he and Scotland...
Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole
Character: Dr. Lou Grazzo
Maggie Cole is a research scientist who, after the sudden death of her husband, takes a position as an on-call doctor in an inner-city clinic. There, she must fight a battle on two fronts: against the medical conditions endangering her patients and against sexism toward a female doctor....
A Perfect Stranger
Character: John Henry Phillips
A television movie based on "A Perfect Stranger," Danielle Steel's novel about an attorney who falls in love with the young wife of a wealthy man who is dying....
The Death of Me Yet
Character: Joe Chalk
The editor of a small-town newspaper has his past unexpectedly catch up with him: he finds out that a Soviet agent who knew him when he was a spy has been sent to the U.S. to kill him....
The Rookies
Character: Sgt. Eddie Ryker
Three new officers in a large metropolitan police department adjust to their new jobs and way of life. This is another TV-pilot that was first aired as an ABC Movie of the Week before becoming a TV-series....
Firebird 2015 A.D.
Character: Red
In one of many unpopular and unsupported policy decisions, the US government of the near future outlaws vehicle petrol in an effort to curb the overuse of limited natural resources - except, of course, for official purposes. There are many renegades who oppose the authorities, and will stop at nothing to allow themselves the freedom of burning around the countryside....
Inherit the Wind
Character: E.K. Hornbeck
Based on a real-life case in 1925, two great lawyers argue the case for and against a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution....
The American Clock
Character: Older Arthur Huntington
Moe, Rose and Lee Baumler are members of an upper class family who find the world completely changed when they lose everything in the stock market crash of 1929. Lee, a college-age young man, who now faces no possibility of entering college, decides to go on the road to see what is happening to the rest of the country....
Mysteries of the Ancient World
Character:
A CBS primetime docudrama special, hosted by Darren McGavin, discussing ancient mysteries surrounding the Pyramids of Eqypt, Nostradamus, the Bermuda Triangle and the Shroud of Turin....
Zero to Sixty
Character: Michael Nolan
A divorced man hooks up with a street-smart 16-year-old who makes her living by repossessing cars from their owners....
The Challengers
Character: Jim McCabe
Racers compete in the Grand Prix....
The Great Sioux Massacre
Character: Captain Frederick William Benton
Colonel Custer, an outspoken believer in fair treatment for the Indians, is ousted from his post and forced into retirement. Fueled by ambition when a Senator Blaine convinces him to run for President, Custer decides to upstage General Terry at Little Big Horn....
43: The Richard Petty Story
Character: Lee Petty
The story of how Petty Enterprises started and how Richard Petty became "The King" as told from his father Lee's point of view....
Boomerang, Dog of Many Talents
Character: Barney B. Duncan
Conman Barney continually sells his dog, who then runs back to his owner....
The Outsider
Character: David Ross
Darren McGavin is David Ross, a private investigator playing a game of follow the money. A simple case of embezzling turns bad quickly when bodies start dropping and the savvy P.I. is the primary suspect in an attractive woman's death. This NBC TV movie served as a pilot for the later series....
A Word to the Wives...
Character: George Peters
The story of two women and how they trick a husband into renovating a kitchen....
The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made
Character: Red (archive footage)
There are some movies that are so bad they're good. And there are some movies that are so bad- that they're just bad......
Berlin Affair
Character: Paul Killian
Spy suspense drama set in 1960's Berlin. Intrigue and double-cross lead Killian on a twisting path through love and loss....
Ike
Character: Gen. George S. Patton
Eisenhower the military man is the focus of this mini-series, his relationships with the other wartime leaders, and, very discreetly, his personal relationship with his driver, Kay Summersby....
Witchcraft: The Doll in Brambles
Character: Fred
Madame Tirelou is a witch who will not allow her daughter Marie to marry her one true love Louis. The witch puts a curse on Louis should he ever set eyes on Marie again. Louis enlists the help of his old friend Fred to break the witch's spell so the young lovers may finally marry. However, Madame Tirelou proves more powerful than non-believer Fred bargained for. This is actually the Un-Aired Pilot of what was planned to be a weekly television show to run in a 30 minute spot....
Mastergate
Character: Folsom Bunting
A "play on words" about a fictional political scandal concerning covert arms deals and double-dealing government operatives, satirizing the Watergate hearings of 1972-1973....
Donovan's Kid
Character: Timothy Donovan
Timothy Donovan, a con-man, returns to San Francisco to see his wife and daughter. Realizing his family is under the control of his wife's domineering uncle, Timothy Donovan teams up with a fellow con-man to free them....
Waikiki
Character: Capt. McGuire
A couple of private eyes, a laid-back Californian and a streetwise New Yorker, team up to track down a killer in Hawaii known as "The Cane Field Murderer" in this unsuccessful pilot to a detective series....
Beau James
Character: Charley Hand
The story of Jimmy Walker who became mayor of New York in the '20s....
Anatomy of a Crime
Character: David Ross
Private detective David Ross has two apparently unconnected cases to investigate in the same day. In the first he is hired by a millionaire who paid a large ransom for his kidnapped daughter twelve years before, but she was never seen again. Now a woman has come forward who claims the young girl she raised is the millionaire's missing daughter. Later, Ross is contacted by a retired burlesque dancer who's about to publish her memoirs and possibly reveal the secrets of some important people, but s...
Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker
Character: actor (archive footage) (uncredited)
This documentary, hosted by actor Burgess Meredith, explores the life and career of movie director Otto Preminger, whose body of work includes such memorable films as Anatomy of a Murder, Exodus, Laura, Forever Amber, Advise and Consent, In Harm's Way, The Moon Is Blue, The Man with the Golden Arm, and many other movies made from the '30s through the '70s. Interviews with actors Frank Sinatra, Vincent Price, James Stewart, Michael Caine, and others who worked with the flamboyant and sometimes co...
Banyon
Character: Lieutenant Pete Cordova
Miles C. Banyon is a private investigator in 1930s Los Angeles. In this TV movie—which served as the pilot episode for the short-lived TV show—Banyon's new client, a young woman, is found dead in his office...shot with his own gun....
A Song to Remember
Character: Student (uncredited)
Prof. Joseph Elsner guides his protégé Frydryk Chopin through his formative years to early adulthood in Poland. The professor takes him to Paris, where he eventually comes under the wing and influence of novelist George Sand and rises to prominence in the music world, to the exclusion of his old friends and patriotic feelings towards Poland....
Brinks: The Great Robbery
Character: James McNally
In this telling of the infamous 1950 robbery, James McNally is portrayed as the one gang member who maintains his silence in the face of extreme police pressure. When he is sent up to prison and sees the other gang members letting him take all the heat, he still doesn't come clean to the cops. He feels a loyalty to his best friend, who was also in on the crime. But what will his best friend choose to do?...
Crackle of Death
Character: Carl Kolchak
The first of two Kolchak: The Night Stalker compilation TV films. It combines two episodes of the Kolchak TV series, Firefall (about the ghost of an arsonist that tries to take over a renowned conductor's body as his doppelgänger) and The Energy Eater (about a Native American bear-spirit haunting a newly built hospital) and adds new narration by Darren McGavin....
Mooch Goes to Hollywood
Character: Darren McGavin (uncredited)
A dog tries to become a canine star with the help of Zsa Zsa Gabor....
Kojak: It's Always Something
Character: Wainwright
After discovering the connection between a corrupt city commissioner and Colombian killers, Kojak is framed for the murder of a call girl and is prosecuted by former police detective Crocker, now an assistant D.A....
Disneyland '59
Character: Self
Walt Disney and Art Linkletter co-host a live celebration of Disneyland's 1959 expansion that consisted of the debuts of Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Disneyland-Alweg Monorail, and the Submarine Voyage, a project so massive that it was called "The Second Opening of Disneyland". Highlights include a mammoth, star-studded parade and the official launching of the Disneyland submarines by U.S. Navy officers. Among the guests are then-Vice-President Richard Nixon and family, Clint Eastwood, and Meredith ...
Law and Order
Character: Deputy Chief Brian O'Malley
Story follows three generations of a family in the New York City Police Department....
Sam Cade
Character:
Sam Cade was the first feature-length "movie" put together from episodes of Cade's County, the early '70s series starring Glenn Ford as a modern-day sheriff in Madrid County, CA. In the first half, directed by Marvin Chomsky, Cade finds himself targeted for assassination when he's scheduled to testify in the trial of a mob kingpin -- what he doesn't know is that the assassin is one of his oldest friends (Darren McGavin), who is romancing another old friend (Loretta Swit) with a troubled past and...
Love for Rent
Character: Coach John Martin
Two small-town sisters go to Hollywood and find themselves seduced by the glamor of the big time and big money as high-priced professional escorts....
African Gold
Character: Mike Gregory
The sky lights up and the desert comes alive on this desperate search for hidden millions....
The Users
Character: Henry Waller
A beautiful girl from a small town with dreams of making it in Hollywood marries an actor whose career is fading, then schemes to get him back into the big time - and her with him....
Queen for a Day
Character: Dan
Adapted from the TV and radio series of the same name, the producer of said show reads letters from three woman providing the framing story for this melodrama anthology film. The tales focus on parenting and family struggles....
Demon and the Mummy
Character: Carl Kolchak
The second of two Kolchak: The Night Stalker compilation TV films. It combines two episodes of the Kolchak TV series, Demon In Lace (about a succubus who murders young men to maintain her immortality) and Legacy of Terror (about an Aztec cult that seeks to resurrect their god by murdering physically perfect people) and adds new narration by Darren McGavin....
The Return of Marcus Welby, M.D.
Character: Dr. David Jennings
Marcus Welby is back, and he has a few problems. First he is trying to bridge the gap between an old friend of his who gave up practicing medicine in favor of being the hospital administrator, and his son who is now a doctor and who is currently treating and romancing a woman who has kidney problems. And one of his patients an expectant mother is in an accident along with her husband and her husband dies. She blames Mark and is refusing to bond with her new baby. And the hospital that he has bee...