Constance Ford

Profile

Constance Ford began her career in television in the 1950s, performing in live television dramas on "Studio One in Hollywood" (1948),"Armstrong Circle Theatre" (1950), "Goodyear Playhouse" (1951), and other acclaimed series, and playing recurring characters in four afternoon serials; "Rose Peabody" in "Search for Tomorrow" (1951), "Lynn Sherwood" in "Woman with a Past" (1954), "Eve Morris" in "The Edge of Night"(1956) and "Ada Davis Downs Hobson" in "Another World" (1964). Ford's assertive style made her a favorite of TV casting directors, and she was often featured in episodes of "Ponds Theater" (1953), "Bat Masterson" (1958), "Rawhide" (1959), "Gunsmoke" (1955), "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1955), "Twilight Zone" (1959), and other series, as tough but sensible career women. Born : 1st-Jul-1923

Movie Credits

A Summer Place

A self-made businessman rekindles a romance with a former flame while their two teenage children begin a romance of their own with drastic consequences for both couples.
Released : 18th-Nov-1959

The Caretakers

This movie chronicles the trials of the mentally ill and their care-givers in an over-crowded ward of a hospital.
Released : 21st-Aug-1963

All Fall Down

Ralph and Annabell Willart are a feuding couple who are constantly bickering over their worthless, good-for-nothing son Berry-Berry. When Berry-Berry begins yet another meaningless love affair, this time with an older woman named Echo O’Brien, he really gets his parents at each others’ throats.
Released : 6th-Apr-1962

Home from the Hill

The wealthiest man in a Texas town decides to teach his teenage son how to hunt to make a man out of him.
Released : 3rd-Mar-1960

The Cabinet of Caligari

A delirious young woman feels trapped in a remote mansion at the mercy of a madman.
Released : 25th-May-1962

The Last Hunt

A buffalo hunter has a falling-out with his partner, who kills for fun.
Released : 30th-Apr-1956

Claudelle Inglish

A young daughter of poor farmers is forced by her mother to ditch her young boyfriend in order to marry an old rich neighbor but the girl rebels by becoming the town's harlot.
Released : 20th-Sep-1961

House of Women

An innocent, pregnant prison inmate (Shirley Knight) becomes the bad warden's (Andrew Duggan) personal favorite.
Released : 11th-Apr-1962

The Iron Sheriff

Frontier peacekeeper Sheriff Galt faces a crisis of conscience in The Iron Sheriff. In the aftermath of a robbery-murder, Galt follows the trail of evidence directly to his own son, Benjie. Sworn to uphold the law at all costs, Galt is grimly determined to see that Benjie will receive a fair trial without any coercion on his part. But the townsfolk have already decided that the sheriff will try to spring the boy, and a lynch-mob mentality slows festers its way through the community. As the trial proceeds, it becomes obvious that Benjie is going to hang for his alleged crime, but there's still one or two surprises in store.
Released : 1st-Apr-1957

Bailout at 43,000

An Air Force major feels a volatile mixture of relief and anger when he is excused from performing a dangerous test in a new aircraft.
Released : 1st-May-1957

Rome Adventure

Prudence resigns from her teaching position after being criticized for giving a student her copy of a romance novel. She sails for Italy, takes a job at a small bookstore in Rome, and meets Don, who has just broken up with his girlfriend. Prudence and Don tour Italy together, and romance naturally follows.
Released : 21st-Apr-1962

99 and 44/100% Dead

Uncle Frank Kelly calls on Harry Crown to help him in a gang war. The war becomes personal when Harry's new girlfriend is kidnapped by Uncle Frank's enemy, Big Eddie.
Released : 29th-Aug-1974

Once Too Often

A soldier has a ten-day leave from his military duties. He’s an easygoing guy who rarely thinks about his sometimes reckless behavior until he tempts fate once too often.
Released : 31st-Dec-1950

Shootout at Big Sag

A man has his eyes set on controlling the Big Sag territory in Montana and hopes to achieve his goal by forcing a newly-arrived family from Texas from their land. Hoping to convince the local saloonkeeper to help him, the man sends his daughter into town with instructions for his potential partner. A storm waylays the daughter during her trip to town and she is forced to stay at the home of her father's intended victims, leading to an interesting turn or two.
Released : 31st-May-1962

The Comedian

Sammy Hogarth, a vaudeville comedian who now has his own TV show, is a ruthless egomaniac who demands instant obedience from his staff and heaps abuse on those in lesser positions than his. His most vituperative behavior, however, is reserved for his weak-willed brother, Lester, whom Sammy has hired as his assistant but whom he really uses as his whipping boy.
Released : 14th-Feb-1957

TV Credits

Gunsmoke

Pearl Bender - 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.
Released : 10th-Sep-1955

Naked City

Rhonda Cameron - Naked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic “semi-documentary” format. In 1997, the episode “Sweet Prince of Delancey Street” was ranked #93 on TV Guide’s “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time”.
Released : 30th-Sep-1958

Perry Mason

Helen Reed - 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.
Released : 21st-Sep-1957

Another World

- Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC for 35 years from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. Set in the fictional town of Bay City, the show in its early years opens with announcer Bill Wolff intoning its epigram, “We do not live in this world alone, but in a thousand other worlds,” which Phillips said represented the difference between “the world of events we live in, and the world of feelings and dreams that we strive for.” Another World focused less on the conventional drama of domestic life as seen in other soap operas, and more on exotic melodrama between families of different classes and philosophies.
Released : 4th-May-1964

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Ellen Grant - A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
Released : 2nd-Oct-1955

The Edge of Night

- The Edge of Night was an American television mystery series/soap opera produced by Procter & Gamble. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984. There were 7,420 episodes, with some 1,800 available for syndication.
Released : 2nd-Apr-1956

Target: The Corruptors!

- Target: The Corruptors! is an American crime drama series starring Stephen McNally which aired on ABC from September 29, 1961 to June 8, 1962. The series was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television.
Released : 29th-Sep-1961

The Philco Television Playhouse

- 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.
Released : 3rd-Oct-1948

Rawhide

Georgia - 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.
Released : 9th-Jan-1959

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

- Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.
Released : 5th-Oct-1951

Thriller

Louise Jenkins - 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.
Released : 13th-Sep-1960

Lux Video Theatre

Marty - Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.
Released : 2nd-Oct-1950

Climax!

Ellen MacKenzie - 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.
Released : 7th-Oct-1954

Matinee Theater

- Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled: When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.
Released : 31st-Oct-1955

Bat Masterson

Gwen Parsons - 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.
Released : 8th-Oct-1958

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

Laura Lovett - 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.
Released : 5th-Oct-1956

Inner Sanctum

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Released : 9th-Jan-1954

Danger

- Danger is an American anthology series which aired on CBS from September 19, 1950 to May 31, 1955.
Released : 26th-Sep-1950

Trackdown

- 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.
Released : 4th-Oct-1957

Surfside 6

- Surfside 6 was an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered on a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison; and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne. Diane McBain co-starred as socialite Daphne Dutton, whose yacht was berthed next to their houseboat. Margarita Sierra also had a supporting role as Cha Cha O'Brien, an entertainer who worked at The Boom Boom Room, a popular Miami Beach hangout at the Fontainebleau Hotel, directly across the street from Surfside 6. Surfside 6 was in fact a real address in Miami Beach, where an unrelated houseboat was moored at the time; it can also be seen in the sweeping aerial establishing shot of the Fontainebleu in 1964's Goldfinger.
Released : 6th-Oct-1960

Studio One

- 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.
Released : 7th-Nov-1948

General Electric Theater

Betty - 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.
Released : 1st-Feb-1953

Hallmark Hall of Fame

- Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, though the program began with live telecasts of dramas and then changed to videotaped productions before finally changing to filmed ones. The series has received eighty Emmy Awards, twenty-four Christopher Awards, eleven Peabody Awards, nine Golden Globes, and four Humanitas Prizes. Once a common practice in American television, it is the last remaining television program such that the title includes the name of the sponsor. Unlike other long-running TV series still on the air, it differs in that it broadcasts only occasionally and not on a weekly broadcast programming schedule.
Released : 24th-Dec-1951

The Twilight Zone

Barbara Polk - A series of unrelated stories containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.
Released : 2nd-Oct-1959

87th Precinct

- 87th Precinct is an American crime drama starring Robert Lansing, Gena Rowlands, and Ron Harper, which aired on NBC on Monday evenings during the 1961–1962 television season.
Released : 25th-Sep-1961

Sam Benedict

- Sam Benedict is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The series was created and executive produced by E. Jack Neuman. Sam Benedict is based on real-life lawyer Jacob W. "Jake" Erlich, who served as technical consultant for the series.
Released : 15th-Sep-1962

Outlaws

- Outlaws is an NBC Western television series, starring Barton MacLane as U.S. marshal Frank Caine, who operated in a lawless section of Oklahoma Territory about Stillwater. The program aired 50 one-hour episodes from September 29, 1960, to May 10, 1962. The first season was shot in black-and-white, the second in color. Co-starring with MacLane in the 1960–1961 season was Don Collier as deputy marshal Will Foreman. In the second season, MacLane left the program, and Collier was promoted to full marshal, with Bruce Yarnell joining the cast as deputy marshal Chalk Breeson. Jock Gaynor appeared in the first season as deputy Heck Martin, the on-screen nephew of Will Foreman. Slim Pickens appeared as "Slim" in the second season. Judy Lewis also appeared the second season as Connie Masters, an employee of the Wells Fargo office in Stillwater. The dog who appeared in Walt Disney's Old Yeller was also cast in The Outlaws. Others who appeared on the program on at least three occasions were Vic Morrow, Cliff Robertson, Pippa Scott, and Harry Townes. In addition, John Anderson, Edgar Buchanan, Jackie Coogan, Bruce Gordon, Robert Harland, Robert Lansing Cloris Leachman, Robert Karnes, Brian Keith, Larry Pennell, Chris Robinson, William Shatner, Ray Walston, Jack Warden, and David Wayne each appeared twice in the series.
Released : 26th-Sep-1960

The 20th Century Fox Hour

- 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.
Released : 5th-Oct-1955

Have Gun, Will Travel

- Have Gun – Will Travel is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons. It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958. The television show is presently shown on the Encore-Western channel. Have Gun – Will Travel was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and produced by Frank Pierson, Don Ingalls, Robert Sparks, and Julian Claman. There were 225 episodes of the TV series, 24 written by Gene Roddenberry. Other contributors included Bruce Geller, Harry Julian Fink, Don Brinkley and Irving Wallace. Andrew McLaglen directed 101 episodes and 19 were directed by series star Richard Boone.
Released : 14th-Sep-1957

Adventures in Paradise

Reba - Adventures in Paradise is an American television series created by James Michener which ran on ABC from 1959 until 1962, starring Gardner McKay as Adam Troy, the captain of the schooner Tiki III, which sailed the South Pacific looking for passengers and adventure. USA Network aired reruns of this series between 1984 and 1988. The plots deal with the romantic and detective stories of Korean War veteran Troy. The supporting cast, varying from season to season, features George Tobias, Guy Stockwell, and Linda Lawson.
Released : 5th-Oct-1959

The Millionaire

Anna Hartley - An anthology series that explored the ways sudden and unexpected wealth changed life for better or for worse. It told the stories of people who were given one million dollars from a benefactor who insisted they never know him, with one exception.
Released : 19th-Jan-1955

The Deputy

- The Deputy is an American western series that aired on NBC from September 1959, to July 1961. The series stars Henry Fonda as Chief Marshal Simon Fry of the Arizona Territory and Allen Case as Deputy Clay McCord, a storekeeper who tried to avoid using a gun.
Released : 12th-Sep-1959

Wanted: Dead or Alive

Sarah Lawton - 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.
Released : 6th-Sep-1958

The Dakotas

- 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.
Released : 7th-Jan-1963

Law of the Plainsman

Jessie Lawrence - 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, MAS*H, also played deputy Lordan in several episodes.
Released : 1st-Oct-1959

Dr. Kildare

Reba Guy - 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.
Released : 27th-Sep-1961

State Trooper

- 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.
Released : 25th-Sep-1956

Cavalcade of America

Mrs. Bannon - Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. Cavalcade of America documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. This was consistent with DuPont's overall conservative philosophy and legacy as an American company dating back to 1802. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation.
Released : 1st-Oct-1952

Suspense

- Suspense is an American television anthology series that ran on CBS Television from 1949 to 1954. It was adapted from the radio program of the same name which ran from 1942 to 1962. Like many early television programs, the show was broadcast live from New York City. It was sponsored by the Auto-Lite corporation, and each episode was introduced by host Rex Marshall, who promoted Auto-Lite spark plugs, car batteries, headlights, and other car parts. Some of the early scripts were adapted from Suspense radio scripts, while others were original for television. 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. Many notable actors appeared on the program, including Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Franchot Tone, Robert Emhardt, Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges, and many more. The program was a live television series, but most episodes were recorded on kinescope. However, only about 90 of the 260 episodes survive today.
Released : 6th-Jan-1949

Lights Out

- Lights Out was an extremely popular American old-time radio program, an early example of a network series devoted mostly to horror and the supernatural, predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum. Versions of Lights Out aired on different networks, at various times, from January 1934 to the summer of 1947 and the series eventually made the transition to television. In 1946, NBC Television brought Lights Out to TV in a series of four specials, broadcast live and produced by Fred Coe, who also contributed three of the scripts. NBC asked Cooper to write the script for the premiere, "First Person Singular", which is told entirely from the point of view of an unseen murderer who kills his obnoxious wife and winds up being executed. Variety gave this first episode a rave review ("undoubtedly one of the best dramatic shows yet seen on a television screen"), but Lights Out did not become a regular NBC-TV series until 1949.
Released : 19th-Jul-1949

Woman With A Past

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Released : 1st-Feb-1954