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Kraft Suspense Theatre

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Kraft Suspense Theatre
Also known asCrisis
Suspense Theatre
GenreAnthology
Theme music composerJohn Williams
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes60 (all episodes in color)
Production
Executive producerFrank P. Rosenberg
ProducersFrank Telford
Robert Blees
Luther Davis
Joel Rogosin
Thomas Fitzroy
Leon Benson
Arthur H. Nadel
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time48 mins.
Production companiesRoncom Films, Inc.
Universal Television
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseOctober 10, 1963 (1963-10-10) –
July 1, 1965 (1965-07-01)
Kraft Suspense Theatre Press Photos featuring John Forsythe, Noreen Corcoran, Sammee Tong, and Jack Weston

The Kraft Suspense Theatre is an American television anthology series that was produced and broadcast from 1963 to 1965 on NBC. Sponsored by Kraft Foods, it was seen three weeks out of every four and was pre-empted for Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall specials once monthly. Como's production company, Roncom Films, also produced Kraft Suspense Theatre. (The company name, "Roncom Films" came from "RONnie COMo," Perry's son, who was in his early 20s when this series premiered). Writer, editor, critic, and radio playwright Anthony Boucher served as consultant on the series.

Later syndicated under the title Crisis, it was one of the few suspense series then broadcast in color. While most of NBC's shows were in color then, all-color network line-ups did not become the norm until the 1966-67 season. It was also packaged with episodes of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre under the title Universal Star Time.

In Britain, BBC2 screened episodes of this series and Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre under the banner of Impact.

Overview

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Ben Cooper, Richard Crenna, John Forsythe, Ron Foster, Vivi Janiss, Brad Johnson, Jack Kelly, Robert Loggia, Ida Lupino, Martin Milner, Ellen McRae (who later changed her name to "Ellen Burstyn" and appeared as twin sisters in "The Deep End" with Clu Gulager and Aldo Ray), Leslie Nielsen, Larry Pennell, Mickey Rooney, James Whitmore, Jeffrey Hunter, Tippi Hedren, Telly Savalas, and Robert Ryan were among the actors and actresses cast on Kraft Suspense Theatre.

Directors included prominent names in television and later features, examples being Robert Altman, Richard L. Bare, Roy Huggins, Buzz Kulik, David Lowell Rich, Ida Lupino, Sydney Pollack, Elliot Silverstein, Jack Smight, Ralph Senensky, and Paul Wendkos.

Some episodes doubled as pilots for potential series. The episode "Rapture At Two-Forty", in particular, was the pilot for the series Run for Your Life, which premiered on NBC in the fall of 1965 and ran till 1968.

The 1968 theatrical film Sergeant Ryker, starring Lee Marvin, was a two-part made-for-television film that was first broadcast on Kraft Suspense Theatre under the title "The Case Against Paul Ryker". It also served as a pilot for the 1966 series Court Martial, which ABC would broadcast. Other episodes that were later expanded into theatrical films (initially for European release) included "Once Upon a Savage Night", released as Nightmare in Chicago, and "In Darkness, Waiting", which was released as Strategy of Terror.

Episodes

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Pilot: 1963

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Season 1: 1963–64

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  1. The Case Against Paul Ryker: Part 1 (1963-10-10) (starring Lee Marvin, Bradford Dillman, Peter Graves, Vera Miles, and Lloyd Nolan; first half of pilot for Court Martial)
  2. The Case Against Paul Ryker: Part 2 (1963-10-17)
  3. The End of the World, Baby (1963-10-24) (starring Gig Young, Nina Foch, Katherine Crawford, and Peter Lorre)
  4. A Hero for Our Times (1963-10-31) (starring Lloyd Bridges, John Ireland, Geraldine Brooks, and Sandra Church)
  5. Are There Any More Out There Like You? (1963-11-07) (starring Robert Ryan, Katharine Ross, and Adam Roarke)
  6. One Step Down (1963-11-14) (starring Gena Rowlands, Leslie Nielsen, Jack Weston, and Ida Lupino)
  7. The Machine That Played God (1963-12-05) (starring Anne Francis and Gary Merrill)
  8. The Long, Lost Life of Edward Smalley (1963-12-12) (starring James Whitmore and Richard Crenna)
  9. The Hunt (1963-12-19) (starring Mickey Rooney, James Caan, Harry Townes, and Bruce Dern)
  10. The Name of the Game (1963-12-26) (starring Jack Kelly and Pat Hingle)
  11. The Deep End (1964-01-02) (starring Aldo Ray, Clu Gulager, and Tina Louise)
  12. A Truce to Terror (1964-01-09) (starring Steve Forrest and John Gavin)
  13. Who is Jennifer? (1964-01-16) (starring Gloria Swanson, Dan Duryea, David Brian, and Brenda Scott)
  14. Leviathan Five (1964-01-30) (starring Arthur Kennedy, Robert Webber, and Andrew Duggan)
  15. My Enemy, This Town (1964-02-06) (starring Scott Marlowe, Diane McBain, and Philip Carey)
  16. The Action of the Tiger (1964-02-20) (starring Telly Savalas, Ulla Jacobsson, Peter Brown, and Stephen McNally)
  17. Doesn't Anyone Know Who I Am? (1964-02-27) (starring Cornel Wilde, Kathryn Crosby, and Martha Hyer)
  18. The Threatening Eye (1964-03-12) (starring Jack Klugman, Annie Farge, Pat O'Brien, and Phyllis Thaxter)
  19. A Cause of Anger (1964-03-19) (starring Brian Keith, Nancy Malone, and Audrey Totter)
  20. Knight's Gambit (1964-03-26) (starring Eleanor Parker, Roger Smith, and Chester Morris)
  21. Once Upon a Savage Night (1964-04-02) (starring Charles McGraw, Robert Ridgely, Ted Knight, Philip Abbott, and Barbara Turner)
  22. Portrait of an Unknown Man (1964-04-16) (starring Clint Walker, Mala Powers, Robert Duvall, and Jay C. Flippen)
  23. Their Own Executioners (1964-04-23) (starring Dean Stockwell, Lilia Skala, and Herschel Bernardi)
  24. The Sweet Taste of Vengeance (1964-04-30) (starring John Forsythe, Diana Hyland, and Jack Weston)
  25. Charlie, He Couldn't Kill a Fly (1964-05-07) (starring Keenan Wynn, Beverly Garland, and Richard Kiley)
  26. The Watchman (1964-05-14) (starring Jack Warden, Victoria Shaw, and Telly Savalas)
  27. The Robrioz Ring (1964-05-28) (starring Julie Harris and Robert Loggia)
  28. A Cruel and Unusual Night (1964-06-04) (starring Ronald Reagan, Scott Marlowe, and Anne Helm)

Season 2: 1964–65

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John T. Williams's theme music was revised for this season.

  1. The World I Want (1964-10-01) (starring Jo Van Fleet, Albert Dekker, Sal Mineo, and Leonard Nimoy)
  2. Operation Greif (1964-10-08) (starring Robert Goulet and Claude Akins)
  3. A Lion Amongst Men (1964-10-22) (starring James Whitmore and Tommy Sands)
  4. That He Should Weep for Her (1964-11-05) (starring Milton Berle and Carol Lawrence)
  5. The Kamchatka Incident (1964-11-12) (starring John Forsythe, Roger Perry, and Leslie Parrish)
  6. The Jack Is High (1964-11-19) (starring Edd Byrnes, Pat O'Brien, and Henry Jones)
  7. Graffiti (1964-11-26) (starring Richard Angarola, Robert Ellenstein, and Philippe Forquet)
  8. One Tiger to a Hill (1964-12-03) (starring Barry Nelson, James Gregory, Diane McBain, and Peter Brown)
  9. Threepersons (1964-12-10) (starring John Gavin and Ralph Meeker)
  10. The Gun (1964-12-24) (starring Eddie Albert, Dina Merrill, and Peter Lazer)
  11. The Wine-Dark Sea (1964-12-31) (starring Roddy McDowall, Myrna Fahey, and John Larkin)
  12. In Darkness, Waiting: Part 1 (1965-01-14) (starring Val Avery, Jeff Cooper, and Will Corry)
  13. In Darkness, Waiting: Part 2 (1965-01-21)
  14. That Time in Havana (1965-02-11) (starring Steve Forrest, Victor Jory, and Dana Wynter)
  15. Four into Zero (1965-02-18) (starring Jack Kelly, Martha Hyer, and Robert Conrad)
  16. Streetcar, Do You Read Me? (1965-02-25) (starring Martin Milner, Richard Long, and Jack Ging)
  17. The Last Clear Chance (1965-03-11) (starring Bruce Bennett.Leslie Bradley, and Alan Caillou)
  18. Won't It Ever Be Morning? (1965-03-18) (starring John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, and Jack Klugman)
  19. Nobody Will Ever Know (1965-03-25) (starring Tom Tryon)
  20. The Green Felt Jungle (1965-04-01) (starring Leslie Nielsen, MacDonald Carey, and Richard Conte)
  21. Rapture at Two-Forty (1965-04-15) (starring Ben Gazzara, Katherine Crawford, and Michael Rennie; pilot for Run for Your Life)
  22. Jungle of Fear (1965-04-22) (starring Robert Fuller, Robert Loggia, and Ann Blyth)
  23. Kill No More (1965-04-29) (starring Lew Ayres, Robert Webber, Julie Adams, and Leonard Nimoy)
  24. The Long Ravine (1965-05-06) (starring Jack Lord, Andrew Prine, and Broderick Crawford)
  25. The Easter Breach (1965-05-13) (starring Richard Beymer and Katherine Crawford)
  26. The Safe House (1965-05-20) (starring Steven Hill and Francis Lederer)
  27. Twixt the Cup and the Lip (1965-06-03) (starring Ethel Merman and Larry Blyden)
  28. The Trains of Silence (1965-06-10) (starring Jeffrey Hunter, Tippi Hedren, Warren Stevens, and Lloyd Bochner)
  29. Kill Me on July 20 (1965-06-17) (starring Jack Kelly and Kathryn Hays)
  30. The Rise and Fall of Eddie Carew (1965-06-24) (starring Dean Jones and Sheila Wills)
  31. Connery's Hands (1965-07-01) (starring Gary Lockwood, Don Gordon, Sally Kellerman, and Peter Breck)

*pilot for unsold series

Syndication

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Reruns of the series have been shown under the name Suspense Theatre, although many prints of episodes have had the syndicated rerun title Crisis. In the 1990s, Sci-Fi Channel aired the series under the Suspense Theatre and Crisis titles as part of its late-night primetime programming lineup. Retro TV and Antenna TV, the small broadcast networks, ran the series in the early 2010s.

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