My title contains a bit of a teaser concerning one of the names in it, but those names are still accurate for the career of Vera June Ralston aka: actress Vera Miles. Yet to be honest, in that one instance, maybe not as my reader might imagine.
This is not a biography, although two of Vera Miles four husbands are of interest to the film aficionado, nor is this a complete list of her films and television appearances. This is, to borrow a title from a forgotten 1959, United Kingdom motion picture, in which Vera Miles co-starred with Van Johnson, a "Web of Evidence", of a career well spent.
Vera June Ralston was born on August 23, 1929, in Boise City, Oklahoma. A former "Miss Kansas", her family had moved to Wichita, Vera had also been the third runner-up to "Miss America". In 1948, she married Bob Miles, the two came to Hollywood in 1950. Bob became a stunt man and Vera wanted to be a motion picture actress. She received her contract, but not by her previous stage name of Vera Ralston, there already was an actress by that name. Who in 1952, married Herbert J. Yates, the founder and owner of "Republic Pictures", so, this Vera Ralston, used her married last name, and became Vera Miles.
One does not start at the top and Vera find herself as the uncredited, "Laughing Sergeant's Date", in her first on-screen role. The movie was 1950's "When Willie Comes Marching Home", and it was directed by a name Vera Miles would become associated with, John Ford, but neither the actress, or director, had any inkling of their futures together.
Four roles later, and Vera Miles found herself co-starring opposite Marshall Thompson, as a college football player and is new girlfriend, in the 1952, comedy drama romance, "The Rose Bowl Story".
Above center, Vera Miles and Marshall Thompson, on his right, James Dobson, and on her left, 14-years old Natalie Wood, in her 21st role. Also in the cast was actor Keith Larsen, in his 6th role, but more on him later.
As it happens, Vera Miles found herself, next, in another uncredited role:
THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS released on June 13, 1953
"The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" is stop-motion-animator Ray Harryhausen's, classic, first solo work.
You can look a thousand times for Vera Miles in the released feature film, and never see her, but she was directly connected to that finished motion picture. After one-year of film making, mainly from Ray Harryhausen, "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms", was ready for release and "Warner Brothers" turned it over to their publicity department.
The following was an advanced release ad, sent to movie theater owners, to get them to book the picture:
In the official trailer, the only time Vera Miles is seen connected to the Ray Harryhausen classic, she comes out of the nuclear blast cloud and delivers the line:
Who Knows What Waits for Us in Natures No Man's Land?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5kqB80-Hmo
THE CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER premiered in Vernon, Texas, on June 30, 1953
For her next feature film, Vera Miles moved to fourth billing as "Jennie McKeever", in one of the first "3-D" motion pictures of the 1950's, "The Charge at Feather River".
http://www.bewaretheblog.com/2015/08/third-dimension-golden-age-of-3-d.html
One has to wonder, did Vera Miles, as one of the two sisters abducted by the Cheyenne, the other is Helen Wescott as "Anne McKeever", speak about her role with Natalie Wood, while making 1956's "The Searchers"?
Miles' character of "Jennie" has become full Cheyenne and the intended bride of "Chief Thunder Hawk".
Above, Guy Madison as "Miles Archer", the leader of the rescue mission, has Vera Miles on his left and Helen Wescott on his right. The ending for Miles is different than for Wood.
During 1954, Vera Miles appeared four times in different television programs, including the episode, "The Wild Intruder", December 6, 1954, on Richard Boone's television series "Medic", and in a forgotten, made for "The Hallmark Hall of Fame" movie, "Immortal Oath". It was during the year that Bob and Vera Miles divorced, they had two daughters, Debra and Kelley.
TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE released February 16, 1955
No, Vera Miles does not play "Jane", her character is "Jill Hardy". The actress had just co-starred with Charles Boyer on televisions "Four Star Playhouse", in the episode, "A Champion Affair", on December 16, 1954
Gordon Scott portrayed "Tarzan". Scott had been working as a lifeguard, at the "Sahara Hotel", in Las Vegas, Nevada, when I first met him as a swimming student. It was there, one day, when he was "discovered" by a talent agent. This movie was Gordon Scott's first on-screen appearance and he would make another five "Tarzan" films. The last, "Tarzan the Magnificent", was released on July 6, 1960, four-months after his divorce from his second wife, and mother of his son Michael, actress Vera Miles. The had been married back on April 14, 1956!
Gordon Scott's friend, Steve Reeves, suggested he come to Italy and make movies there. His first, which is part of the following linked article, was 1961's, "Goliath and the Vampires". My article, "PEPLUM: A Look at the Sword and Sandal Motion Pictures from the 1950's and 1960's", is at:
http://www.bewaretheblog.com/2021/02/peplum-look-at-sword-and-sandal-motion.html
Peter van Eyck portrayed "Dr. Celliers". German born Gotz van Eick, left Germany in 1931 with the rise of Adolph Hitler. He became an American citizen in 1943 and was drafted into the Army as a commissioned officer, and became part of "Ritchie Boys". Military Intelligence officers and interrogators that were trained at "Camp Ritchie", in Washington County, Maryland, to interview selected German Army and Navy POW's.
Van Eyck's first motion picture was the Tim Holt, Bonita Granville, and Kent Smith's, 1943's, "Hitler's Children". Ten-years later, he co-starred with French actor Yves Montand, in the French thriller, "Le salarie de la peur (The Wages of Fear)", the classic about four men hired to transport nitroglycerine through the jungle to a South American oil company.
The actor is probably best known to American audiences for portraying "Lieutenant Colonel Ocker", in producer Darryl F. Zanuck's, 1962, "The Longest Day", Richard Burton's, 1965, "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", and 1969's, "The Bridge at Remagen", starring George Segal, Robert Vaughn, and Ben Gazzara.
Above, Peter van Eyck and Vera Miles.
Jack Elam portrayed "Burger". Elam lost his eye, when a fellow "Boy Scout" stabbed a pencil into it during, what Elam would describe when asked, a disagreement. After graduating from "Santa Monica Junior College" in accounting, Elam was first a bookkeeper for the "Bank of America", and then an auditor for "Standard Oil". Jack Elam entered the Navy during the Second World War, upon his discharge, he became an independent accountant in Hollywood, with Samuel Goldwyn as a client, leading to his acting career.
Two poachers come into the jungle hunting animals for profit, but plan on tricking "Dr. Celliers" and his assistant, "Jill Hardy" into thinking they're actually nature photographers. What the two overlook is "Tarzan", and will not succeed in their plan.
ALFRED HITCHCOCK
Vera Miles has a distinction of sorts, she starred in the teleplay, "Revenge", Episode One, Season One, October 2, 1955, of the television series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", directed by Hitchcock.
In the episode, Vera Miles portrayed "Elsa Spann", and Ralph Meeker portrayed her husband, "Carl Spann". "Elsa" is assaulted by an unknown assailant and her husband drives his incoherent wife around town looking for the person who attacked her.
In true Hitchcockian fashion, at the end of the 23-minute program, he tells his viewing audience:
Well, they were a pathetic couple. We had intended to call this one "Death of a Salesman", but there were protests from certain quarters. Naturally, "Elsa's" husband was caught, indicted, tried, convicted, sentenced and paid his debt to society for taking the law into his own hands. You see, crime does not pay. Not even on television. You must have a sponsor.
Vera Miles next meeting with Hitchcock was the only true-life story the director ever made.
THE WRONG MAN released on December 22, 1956
In the lower right corner of the above poster is a red-box that reads
CHALLENGE!
If you don't believe that this weird and unusual story actually happened, see the records of Queens County Court, N.Y., Apr 21, 1953 indictment #271/53 "The Balestrero Case".
Alfred Hitchcock directed the picture, his latest had been the 1956 remake of his own "The Man Who Knew Too Much", starring James Stewart and Doris Day. Hitch would follow this picture with 1958's "Vertigo", starring James Stewart and Kim Novack.
The screenplay was by two outstanding writers:
The first writer was playwright Maxwell Anderson. Whose plays, "What Price Glory", "Mary of Scotland", "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex", "Key Largo", and "The Bad Seed", had all been turned into classic motion pictures.
The second writer was Angus MacPhail, a major British screenplay writer and had written Alfred Hitchcock, 1945's, "Spellbound".
Henry Fonda portrayed "Christopher Emanuel 'Manny' Balestrero". Fonda had just been seen, miscast as "Pierre Bezukhov", in director King Vidor's, 1956, epic version of Russian author, Leo Tolstoy's, "War and Peace", co-starring with Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer. He would follow this feature, perfectly cast, in director Sidney Lumet's on-screen version of the Reginald Rose's, "12 Angry Men".
Above, Henry Fonda and Vera Miles.
Anthony Quayle portrayed "Frank D. O'Connor". British actor Quayle had just been seen in the true Second World War British naval story, 1956's, "The Battle of the River Plate" aka: "The Pursuit of the Graf Spee" in the United States. Quayle would follow this film with the U.K. picture, 1957's, "Woman in a Dressing Gown".
Above, Henry Fonda and Anthony Quayle.
The screenplay opens with Alfred Hitchcock addressing the audience and telling them that:
Every Word is True!
Hitchcock is followed by the title card:
"Christopher Emanuel 'Manny' Balestrero" is a down on his luck musician that works at New York City's "The Stork Club".
His loving wife "Rose" needs some dental work and "Manny" plans to borrow on his life insurance to pay the costs.
He goes to the insurance company and is mistaken for a man who robbed the office twice before.
"Manny" finds himself being questioned by the police, who strangely keep calling him "Chris", and explain they're looking for a man who robbed the insurance agency and other businesses in the neighborhood.
The police instruct "Manny" to walk in and out of a delicatessen and a liquor store that were previously robbed. He is next told to write the words from the note used by the robber at the insurance agency. When he comes to writing the word "drawer", he makes the same spelling mistake in the note by the robber, "drawer" becomes "draw". After being picked out by one of the employees from the insurance agency in a line-up, "Christopher Emanuel 'Manny' Balestrero", is arrested and charged with armed robbery.
"Rose Balestrero" calls Attorney "Frank O'Connor", who will set out to prove "Manny's" innocence.
Proving "Manny's" innocence should have been easy, at the time of the first robbery, "Manny" and his family were on vacation. At the time of the second robbery, "Manny's" jaw was so swollen that anyone would have notice it.
HOWEVER:
Of the three people who saw "Manny Balestrero" at the vacation hotel, two are dead, and the third can't be located. Then it's discovered that there are no photos of "Manny's" jaw, or someone other than the family to testify to what he looked like at the time.
A juror's remark during the first trial, causes the judge declare a mistrial and schedule a second. This all causes "Rose Balestrero" to go into depression
"Rose's" depression becomes so severe that she is hospitalized.
While awaiting his second trial, "Christopher Emanuel 'Manny' Balestrero" was exonerated!
According to Hitchcock, two police officers arrested a man for robbing a grocery store, and as the three walked past the main detective on "Manny's" case, the detective did a double take over the arrested man's strong resemblance to "The Wrong Man".
"Manny" is shown visiting "Rose" in the hospital to tell her the good news, but she remains depressed. The motion picture ends with a text comment for the audience to read, stating "Rose" recovered two years later. That was a lie, "Rose" never fully recovered from her nervous breakdown, blaming herself for "Manny's" arrest, she passed away in 1982, at the age of 72. "Manny" died in 1998, at the age of 88.
Sometimes, people think that Alfred Hitchcock's career started with 1951's "Strangers on a Train", and ended with the next Vera Miles motion picture. Hitch got his real start with a silent British film in 1927, the following link takes my reader to that classic and one, or two usually overlooked, or forgotten films. Along with his one attempt at the Third-Dimension. My article is entitled, "HITCHCOCK: A Scarf and a Medical Bag, A Conscience, 19th Century Ship Wreckers, and a Roving Body", and it may be read at:
http://www.bewaretheblog.com/2022/01/hitchcock-scarf-and-medical-bag.html
PSYCHO premiered in New York City, on June 16, 1960
I remember, as a 13-years old boy, going to the "Majestic Theater", off 3rd Street in Santa Monica, California, and seeing "Psycho" the first weekend it played in General Release. I also remember the manager coming out to tell the mostly young audience that the movie was actually meant for adult audiences. Although there was no such rating on the picture, and further, that we must not start running around, or playing in the theater during the showing. Personally, I was glued to my seat, wondering, when "Norman's" mother was going to reappear, after the shower scene.
Note the correct billing order on the above original poster for the picture.
Anthony Perkins portrayed "Norman Bates". Perkins had just co-starred with Jane Fonda, in the romantic comedy, 1960's "Tall Story", and followed "Psycho", with a French and American co-production. This was the 1961, romantic drama, "Goodbye Again", with Perkins co-starring with Ingrid Bergman, and Yves Montand.
Vera Miles portrayed "Lila Crane", a role she would repeat in 1983's, "Psycho II", also with Anthony Perkins as "Norman Bates". At the time of making this picture, Vera Miles was predominately appearing on television. Before this film was released, she was seen on the anthology series, "Startime", April 5, 1960, in "Incident at a Corner", with George Peppard. Miles followed the picture with an appearance on the Western show, "Laramie", October 4, 1960, in the episode entitled, "Three Rode West".
John Gavin portrayed "Sam Loomis". Gavin had just been seen in the romantic comedy, 1960's, "A Breath of Scandal", co-starring with Sophia Loren, and Maurice Chevalier. He would follow "Psycho", with the Stanley Kubrick directed, and Kirk Douglas starring, 1960, "Spartacus", portraying "Julius Caesar".
Vera Miles and Janet Leigh first appeared together, in the 1951 musical, "Two Tickets to Broadway". Except Miles had the uncredited role of a "Showgirl", and Leigh was co-starring with Tony Martin.
Janet Leigh portrayed "Marion Crane". Leigh had just appeared in the last film together, with her third husband, Tony Curtis, 1960's, "Who Was That Lady?", the two would divorce in 1962. Leigh would follow "Psycho", co-starring with Mexican comedian Cantinflas, and Dan Dailey, in 1960's "Pepe".
Most viewers still question why Janet Leigh wasn't second billed, because, other than Anthony Perkins, it's her character the entire story revolves around.
However, "Psycho" has a running time of 109-minutes, but Janet Leigh's "Marion Crane" is dead, exactly twenty-minutes into the picture. This leaves 89-minutes in which Vera Miles' "Lila Crane" has become the main character. That both the characters of Anthony Perkins and John Gavin react too.
Even the classic shower scene isn't as long as people remember it. After all the cuts and retakes, the scene only runs approximately three-minutes and that includes using Leigh's body double, Marli Renfro.
I've written two articles about Janet Leigh for your reading pleasure. They are:
"Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh: Their 5-Motion Pictures Together With 2-Interludes". at:
http://www.bewaretheblog.com/2022/03/tony-curtis-and-janet-leigh-their-5.html
I go into more detail about "Psycho", and speak to some other of her Horror films, in my article, "Janet Leigh Going "PSYCHO" Within 'THE FOG", enjoy the screaming at:
http://www.bewaretheblog.com/2019/11/janet-leigh-going-psycho-within-fog.html
In a hotel room in Phoenix, Arizona, "Marion" and "Sam" talk about their need to have money to payoff his debts, so they can get married.
After which, real estate secretary "Marion Crane" returns to work and steals the $40,000 (Today, as of this writing, $394,994.59), and heads for his home in Fairvale, California.
"Marion" stops at a used car dealer and trades her known car for another, but trading in a car in excellent condition, has left the used car dealer with suspicions that something is wrong.
Across the street, a California Highway Patrol officer, also becomes suspicious of why a woman would want to trade a better car for the one she leaves with, but he only follows her for a short time and then drives away.
The night, "Marion" stops on her way to "Sam's" home, at the "Bates Motel", meets "Norman", and while having a shower is murdered apparently by his mother.
"Norman" goes into the main house and seemingly speaks to his mother about the murder. Next, he takes "Marion's" body and clothing, places them in the trunk of her car, and sinks it in the bog next to the motel. (See my Janet Leigh Horror movies, to find out where the car seems to turn up in another of her movies)
"Marion's" sister, "Lila Crane" arrives at "Sam's" house in Fairvale, tells him about the theft and demands to know where he sister is at? He has no knowledge of the theft, or "Marion's" whereabouts, and the two decided to search for her.
At a store, they are approached by "Private Investigator Arbogast", played by Martin Balsam, who was hired by "Marion's" work and the three compare notes.
"Arbogast" leaves, comes across the "Bate's Motel", parks and enters the lobby, and becomes suspicious that "Norman" knows more then he's saying. Looking at the "Guest Registry Book", "Arbogast recognizes "Marion's" handwriting, learns that she spoke to "Norman's" mother, but the son refuses to let the investigator meet her.
"Arbogast" leaves, phones "Lila" and "Sam" at their motel and updates them about the "Bate's Motel". The investigator ads that he'll call back in an hour, after he speaks to the mother of "Norman Bates" in their home on the hill overlooking the motel.
The investigator enters the "Bates" house and finds the first floor empty. He starts up the stairs and a shadowy woman's figure comes out of a dark corner and stabs "Arbogast" multiple times.
Not hearing from "Arbogast", "Sam" visits the motel and sees a figure of a woman in a window of the house, he assumes it's "Norman's" mother, but no one else seems to be around and "Sam" leaves.
"Lila" and "Sam" visit "Deputy Sheriff Al Chambers", played by John McIntire, who tells them that "Norman's" mother died in a murder-suicide ten years ago.
The Deputy Sheriff suggests that the investigator lied to get their information about "Marion". However, convinced that something happened to "Arborgast", "Sam" and "Lila" decide to go to the motel.
While "Sam" distracts "Norman", "Lila" sneaks away and goes to the house. "Norman" becomes suspicious, is able to knock "Sam" out, and starts for the house.
As she is searching upstairs, "Lila" sees "Norman" heading toward the house, goes downstairs and hides. "Norman" enters, but doesn't see her and "Lila" notices the door to the fruit cellar. In the darken fruit cellar, "Lila" finds the mummified body of "Norman's" mother.
As "Lila" screams from fright, "Norman". dressed as his mother, holding a knife, enters and attempts to kill her.
"Sam" appears, grabs "Norman", they struggle, but "Sam" subdues "Norman".
At the police station, a psychiatrist explains to "Lila" and "Sam", that ten years earlier "Norman" killed his mother and her lover. "Norman", unable to bear his guilt for his mother's murder, kept her body, and began talking to it as if she were alive. Over the years, his mind created the alternative personality of his mother, and whenever "Norman" seemed to be falling for a woman, "Mother" comes out and murders the young woman.
JOHN FORD
Think director John Ford and John Wayne, and you have to think of the movies in my article, "John Wayne in John Ford's CAVALRY TRILOGY: 'Fort Apache' 1948, "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon' 1949, and 'Rio Grande' 1950", at:
http://www.bewaretheblog.com/2017/12/john-wayne-in-john-fords-cavalry.html
Six-years after "Rio Grande", John Ford returned to the American Western.
THE SEARCHERS premiered on May 16, 1956 in Chicago, Illinois
John Wayne portrayed "Ethan Edwards". Wayne had just been seen portraying the "pre-Genghis Khan", in producer Howard Hughes', 1956, Mongolian Western, "The Conqueror", co-starring with Susan Hayward, as "His Tartar Woman". John Wayne would follow this picture with director John Ford's biography of "Frank W. 'Spig' Wead", 1957's, "The Wings of Eagles".
Jeffrey Hunter portrayed "Martin Pawley". Hunter's latest release was the crime film-noir, 1956's, "A Kiss Before Dying", co-starring Robert Wagner. He would follow this picture co-starring in the 1956 Western, "The Proud Ones", co-starring with Robert Ryan and Virginia Mayo.
Vera Miles portrayed "Laurie Jorgensen". Miles had just been on the television anthology series, "Strange Stories", in the April 13, 1956 episode, entitled, "Such a Nice Little Girl", co-starring with Marguerite Chapman and Robert Armstrong. Vera Miles followed this picture with 1956's, "23 Paces to Baker Street", co-starring Van Johnson.
Ward Bond portrayed "Reverend Captain Samuel Johnson Clayton". Bond had just been on the television anthology series, "Star Stage", in the January 6, 1956, episode entitled, "The Marshal and the Mob", co-starring with Jeffrey Lynn and Dan Duryea. He would follow this film with the 1956 Western, "The Dakota Incident", co-starring with Linda Darnell, Dale Robertson, and John Lund.
Natalie Wood portrayed "Debbie Edwards -age 15", Wood was eighteen when she made the picture. She had just been seen on the television series "King's Row", in the January 17, 1956. episode entitled, "Carnival", co-starring with Dennis Hopper. She would follow this picture with an appearance, May 22, 1956, in "The Deadly Riddle", on the television anthology series, "Warner Brothers Presents".
As I asked earlier, did Natalie Wood and Vera Miles discuss their similar characters of a young woman kidnapped by Native American's? In Wood's case, Comanche, not, Cheyenne!
Both actresses story lines are similar, two young white women, younger and older sisters, are kidnapped by Native Americans and someone goes out to return them to their families. The difference between "The Searchers" and "The Charge at Feather River", is the former also tells the story of the people waiting the outcome of the search.
In this screenplay, Frank S. Nugent, Ford's, 1948, "Fort Apache", 1948's, "3 Godfathers", 1949's, "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon", 1950's, "Wagon Master", and 1952's "The Quiet Man", waives the story of "Laurie Jorgensen" and "Martin Pawley's" love being tested by the title event of the movie.
Above, Lana Wood, helping set the table for dinner with her mother.
A Comanche raid on the cattle of "Aron's" neighbor, "Lars Jorgensen", takes place and "Captain Clayton" leads "Ethan" and others on a search for the raiders, but they realize the raid was a ploy to draw the men from their families. They return and find "Aron's" home in flames, "Aron", his wife, and son are dead, and the two girls, "Lucy" and "Debbie" have been taken.
"Laurie" and "Martin" are in love with each other and both assume they will be married. "Martin Pawley" is "Lucy" and "Debbie's" adopted brother, but "Ethan" doesn't like him, "Martin's" mother was Comanche.
The three men leave and ride to the entrance of a blind canyon, "Ethan" tells the other two to stay, and enters it. He finds "Lucy" dead and apparently brutally raped, in a rage, "Brad" charges into the Comanche trap and is killed.
Now, "Laurie" starts receiving letters from "Martin" describing what "Ethan" and he have been doing.
"Ethan" is wounded by an arrow, "The Searchers" escape, and "Martin" tends to "Ethan's" wound. However, "Martin" is furious that "Ethan" attempted to kill "Debbie".
At the "Jorgensen's" home, "Laurie", lonely and tired of waiting for "Martin Pawley's" return, is to be wedded to "Charlie", as "Ethan" and "Martin" return. "Laurie" is now torn between "Charlie" and the man she really loves, "Martin". That will be settled in a fist fight between the two over her and her realization she was only marrying the kind "Charlie", because he was there, as her mother knew. The two suitors remain friends and "Charlies" wishes "Laurie" and "Martin" well.
A young cavalry officer arrives with news of the whereabouts of "Scar" and his band. "Captain Clayton", who was to perform the wedding, now leads a group of men with "Ethan" and "Martin", to kill the Comanche,. After positioning themselves, "Martin" is permitted to enter the camp and rescue "Debbie" before the attack and is followed by "Ethan".
In his rescue, "Martin" kills "Scar" but "Debbie" sees the look on "Ethan", who has scalped "Scar", and starts to run with "Ethan", now on horseback, chasing her. "Martin", who fears "Ethan" will shoot her as he promised while his wound was being attended too, chases after both of them.
BUT, in a classic scene, "Ethan" dismounts, walks over to the frightened "Debbie", picks her up, and tells her:
Let's go home, Debbie!
In the end, "Debbie" is reunited with the "Jorgensen's", "Laurie" will marry the man she really loves, and the film ends with another classic scene of John Wayne:
On July 16, 1960, Vera Miles married actor Keith Larsen, who portrayed football player, "Bronc Buttram", in 1952's, "The Rose Bowl Story" with her. The couple would have one son, Erik Larsen.
In 1962, Vera Miles returned to director John Ford.
THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE released on April 22, 1962
James Stewart portrayed "Ransom Stoddard". In 1959, James Stewart starred in the motion picture version of the 1956 best-selling book, "The FBI Story: A Report to the People", written by Don Whitehead. Both the book and the motion picture were approved by J. Edgar Hoover. In the motion picture, Vera Miles portrayed Stewart's wife, "Lucy Ann Hardesty". The approved screenplay told the story of the FBI, from its beginning into the 1950's, through the fictional "Hardesty" family.
Below, James Stewart in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".
John Wayne portrayed "Tom Doniphon". Wayne had just been in director Michael Curtiz's, 1961, "The Comancheros" and would follow this picture with director Howard Hawks', 1962, "Hatari!"
Vera Miles portrayed "Hallie Stoddard". Milles guest starred on the two-part television episode, "Three Blind Mice", of "The Detectives", Part One: March 30, 1962, Part Two: April 6, 1962, the show starred Robert Taylor and Tige Andrews. She would follow this feature with an appearance on the Edmond O'Brien television series, "Sam Benedict", in the episode entitled, "Maddon's Folly", October 27, 1962.
Lee Marvin portrayed "Liberty Valance". Marvin and Miles would appear together, twice more, or perhaps not really. On October 10, 1963, and, October 17, 1963, Miles and Marvin co-starred in a two-part television story, on the new "NBC" anthology series, "Kraft Suspense Theatre". The story, which was the first for the program, was entitled, "The Case Against Paul Ryker". Lee Marvin portrayed the title character, an army sergeant accused of treason during the Korean War, and Vera Miles portrayed his wife, "Ann Ryker".
Released on June 15, 1967, Lee Marvin starred in the major box office hit, "The Dirty Dozen". The producers of the two-part 1963 television program, edited them together. Suddenly, both Marvin and Vera Miles starred in "Sergeant Ryker", from "Universal Pictures", released on February 1, 1968, without making the movie.
Returning to "The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance", Lee Marvin proceeded the release of the picture with an episode of televisions "Bonanza", entitled "The Crucible", on April 8, 1962. He followed this motion picture with an appearance on "The DuPont Show of the Week", entitled "The Richest Man in Bogota", June17, 1962.
Above Lee Marvin with Lee Van Cleef as "Reese". My article on Van Cleef's career, "LEE VAN CLEEF: A Mixture of 'B' and 'Spaghetti' Westerns with a Side of Science Fiction and Just a Taste of Drama", is at:
http://www.bewaretheblog.com/2021/09/lee-van-cleef-mixture-of-b-and.html
Edmond O'Brien portrayed "Dutton Peabody". Besides his television series, "Sam Benedict", Edmond O'Brien had just appeared in Walt Disney's "Moon Pilot", starring Tom Tryon and Brian Keith. The actor followed this film with 1962's, "Birdman of Alcatraz", starring Burt Lancaster.
Andy Devine portrayed "Marshall Link Appleyard". Devine had just been in the episode, "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby", April 13, 1962, on Rod Serling's, "The Twilight Zone", and followed this picture with the 1962, Cinerama epic, all-star, production, of "How the West Was Won", with segments directed by John Ford, which Devine appeared set during the Civil War, Henry Hathaway, and George Marshall.
http://www.bewaretheblog.com/2019/07/andy-devine-hey-wild-bill-wait-for-me.html
http://www.bewaretheblog.com/2015/03/woody-strode-and-michael-pate-one.html
Sometime during the early 20th Century, "Senator Ransom Stoddard", and his wife "Hallie" arrive in the small town of Shinbone, no State given.
"Hallie Stoddard" asks "Link" to take her out to see "Tom's" burnt out ranch house. "Link" knows she wants to see the cactus roses that grow there.
Why is a United States Senator coming to Shinebone for the funeral of an old, recluse, rancher, who died in poverty?
The two men take "Ransom Stoddard" to town and the steakhouse run by "Nora Ericson", played by Jeanette Nolan, and her husband, "Peter Ericson". "Tom's" girlfriend, "Hallie Ericson", now attends to "Stoddard's" injuries.
Above, character actor Strother Martin as "Floyd" with Lee Marvin
"Ranse" is attempting to learn to shoot a pistol by using an old one owned by "Dutton". "Hallie" is concerned and goes to "Tom" for help! He sees an opportunity and "Tom" takes "Ranse"
to his ranch to learn to shoot, but also to show him his plans for "Hallie" and his work expanding the ranch house.
"Ransom Stoddard" now arms himself and goes out after "Liberty Valance".
The killer and the dishwashing lawyer face each other on the main street of Shinebone. At first the drunk "Valance" is still able to disarm the lawyer, but "Ranse" picks up the gun and fires, he is wounded, but "Liberty Valance" has been shot dead!
A flashback within this flashback takes place. The audience sees both "Stoddard" and "Valance" on the street in the distance, but in the shadows is "Tom Doniphon" with a rifle.
At the moment that "Ranse" fired, "Tom" fired and killed "Liberty"! "Tom" now tells "Ranse" to accept the nomination, at least for "Hallie's" sake, and then he quietly walks out of the convention into obscurity.
This is the west, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
As the train pulls out of Shinebone, "Ranse" tells "Hallie" that he thinks it time to retire from politics and she is pleased to hear that.
As the train conductor passes the two, "Ransom Stoddard" thanks him for the many courtesies that the railroad has given them. To which the conductor replies:
Nothing's too good for "THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE!
ROD SERLING, SCIENCE FICTION AND HORROR TELEVISION
John Howard portrayed "Dr. Paul Novak". His previous work included Frank Capra's, 1937, "Lost Horizon", 1940's, "The Philadelphia Story", both 1940's, "The Mad Doctor" and "The Invisible Woman", and the title werewolf of 1942's, "The Undying Monster".
The episode was directed by Jack Arnold, 1953's, "It Came from Outer Space", 1954's "The Creature from the Black Lagoon", and 1957's, "The Incredible Shrinking Man".
If the plot sounds familiar, it is:
A Nobel Prize winning scientist and his two assistants are trying to create a synthetic nutrient to help with what will become a shrinking world food supply as the Earth's population grows. Their nutrient has the unfortunate side effect of making the human body susceptible to deadly viruses. They discover this fact, after testing their nutrient on themselves.
The teleplay was by Robert M. Fresco. Fresco and Arnold took their story to "Universal Pictures" and seven-months later, released the movie "Tarantula".
You're travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, THE TWILIGHT ZONE!
Millicent Barnes, age twenty-five, young woman waiting for a bus on a rainy November night. Not a very imaginative type is Miss Barnes: not given to undue anxiety, or fears, or for that matter even the most temporal flights of fantasy. Like most young career women, she has a generic classification as a, quote, girl with a head on her shoulders, end of quote. All of which is mentioned now because, in just a moment, the head on Miss Barnes' shoulders will be put to a test. Circumstances will assault her sense of reality and a chain of nightmares will put her sanity on a block. Millicent Barnes, who, in one minute, will wonder if she's going mad.While, "Millicent Barnes", played by Vera Miles, is sitting on a bench in the bus station, she has the feeling her doppelganger is trying to take over her life.
The story has only four roles:
Vera Miles portrayed "Kasha Paine". The actress had just co-starred with Brian Keith in Walt Disney's, 1964, "A Tiger Walks", and would follow "The Outer Limits", with an appearance on the anthology series, "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre", Season One, Episode Twenty-six, May 29, 1964, entitled "The Sojourner", with sixth billing as "Beth".
Barbara Rush portrayed "Leonora Edmond". Rush had co-starred with Frank Sinatra in the 1963 motion picture version of playwright, Neil Simon's, "Come Blow Your Horn". She would follow this television program portraying "Marian" in Frank Sinatra and His Rat Pack's, 1964, "Robin and the 7 Hoods".
Above back, Vera Miles, foreground, Barbara Rush.
Sir Cedric Hardwicke portrayed "Colus". The actor had just been on "The Twilight Zone", in the episode, "Uncle Simon", on November 15, 1963. It was written by Rod Serling, and directed by Don Siegel.
David McCallum portrayed "Tone Hobart". McCallum, who had been acting since 1953, was four months away from being discovered, by portraying for the first time, "Illya Kuryakin", on the American television series, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.".
"Kasha", "Leonora", and "Andre", are together in a car driving through the French countryside and come to a small lake. They stop, and "Andre" demands they make and serve him a cocktail in the lake.
As they drive on, for some reason "Leonora" becomes convinced that "Andre" is still alive. "Kasha" stops the car, "Leonora" opens the trunk and sees "Andre's" lifeless body, but suddenly starts running into the surrounding forest saying he blinked.
The main production company was England's "Hammer Films", but both "20th Century Fox Television " and "ABC Television" were involved.
Leon Lissek portrayed the title character of "Andros Matakitas". Australian actor Lissek was just in the British feature film, 1969's, "Where's Jack", and followed this production with the ITV mini-series, "Tottering Towers".
According to IMDb:
As of the passing of Patricia Hitchcock in August 2021, Miles is the last surviving credited cast member from Alfred Hitchcock's horror classic Psycho (1960).
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