By Movie StarAlfred HitchcockAudrey HepburnAva GardnerBarbara StanwyckBasil RathboneBette DavisBilly WilderBob HopeBoris KarloffBurt LancasterBuster KeatonCarole LombardCary GrantCharlie ChaplinClara BowClark GableClaudette ColbertDana AndrewsDeanna DurbinDebbie ReynoldsDoris DayElizabeth TaylorErnst LubitschErrol FlynnEsther WilliamsFranchot ToneFred AstaireFred MacMurrayGary CooperGene KellyGinger RogersGloria SwansonGrace KellyGreer GarsonGregory PeckGreta GarboHarold LloydHedy LamarrHenry FondaHoward HawksHumphrey BogartIda LupinoIngrid BergmanIrene DunneJack BennyJack LemmonJames CagneyJames StewartJane RussellJean ArthurJean HarlowJeanette MacDonaldJeanne CrainJoan BlondellJoan CrawfordJoan FontaineJohn FordJohn WayneJudy GarlandKatharine HepburnKay FrancisKirk DouglasLana TurnerLauren BacallLillian GishLon ChaneyLoretta YoungLouise BrooksMae WestMarilyn MonroeMarion DaviesMarlene DietrichMary AstorMary PickfordMickey RooneyMiriam HopkinsMyrna LoyNatalie WoodNorma ShearerOlivia de HavillandOrson WellesPaul NewmanPaulette GoddardPreston SturgesRichard WidmarkRita HayworthRobert MitchumRudolph ValentinoShirley TempleSidney PoitierSpencer TracySteve McQueenTeresa WrightTyrone PowerVincent PriceVivien LeighWilliam HoldenWilliam PowellWilliam WylerWoody Allen By HolidayNew Year's DayPresident's DayValentine's DayEasterMother's DayFather's DayMemorial DayJuly 4thLabor DayColumbus DayHalloweenThanksgivingChristmasBlack History MonthWomen's History Month All Blogs4 Star Films (3498)50 Most Influential Disney Animators (58)A Person in the Dark (367)All Good Things (815)Backlots (412)Caf? Muscato (572)Caftan Woman (904)Carole & Co. (3081)Cary Grant Won't Eat You (489)Cinema Crossroads (42)Cinematic Catharsis (924)Cinematically Insane (268)CineMaven's Essays from the Couch (152)Classic Cinema Gold (319)Classic Film & TV Cafe (1281)Classic Film Review (14)Classic Movie Hub Blog (1954)Classic Movie Man (967)Classic Movies (3247)Classic Reel Girl (95)Comet Over Hollywood (1331)Creme de la Creme (32)Criterion Blues (770)Critica Retro (1458)Curtains (58)Durnmoose Movie Musings (1105)Film Reviews and Anything Else I Get Inspired by (27)Finding Franchot: Exploring the Life and Career of Franchot Tone (161)Flickers in Time (2221)GlamAmor (587)Hitchcock Master (140)Hollywood Revue (532)Hometowns to Hollywood (853)How Sweet It Was (86)In The Good Old Days Of Classic Hollywood (154)Lady Eve's Reel Life (733)Le Mot du Cinephiliaque (945)Love Letters to Old Hollywood (150)MacGuffin Movies (362)Movies Silently (1029)Noir and Chick Flicks (1998)Noirish (1273)Once Upon a Screen (420)Outspoken and Freckled (140)Phantom Empires (60)Pop Culture ImagineMDD (103)Serendipitous Anachronisms (82)Shadows and Satin (1001)Silver Scenes - A Blog for Classic Film Lovers (1922)Smum County (115)Stardust and Shadows (120)Studies in Cinema (118)The Baz (162)The Blonde At The Film (330)The Bogie Film Blog (147)The Cinema Dilettante (110)The Giddy Blog (152)The Great Katharine Hepburn (240)The Hitless Wonder Movie Blog (1749)The Jeanette MacDonald Blog (94)The Man on the Flying Trapeze (643)The Old Hollywood Garden (461)The Timothy Carey Experience (1181)The Vintage Cameo (134)The Wonderful World of Cinema (614)Timeless Hollywood (73)True Classics (573)Virtual Virago (1634)Where Danger Lives (136)Wolffianclassicmoviesdigest (640)

There are two kinds of movie star biographies: those featuring startling revelations and those that affectionately portray the lives of their subjects. Herbie J. Pilato's entertaining Elizabeth Montgomery biography Twitch Upon a Star falls into the latter category. Pilato, who has written two p read more

During the early 1970s, Charles Bronson was the biggest star in the world--well, pretty much everywhere except the U.S. However, he quickly attracted the attention of American studios and became a boxoffice attraction stateside with films like Death Wish, St. Ives, and Telefon. Before his unexpected read more

In my house, watching a Hammer movie every Halloween is a tradition. While I love the Universal monster flicks, too, I grew up on Hammer's colorful, lively, gothic fright classics. With special thanks to my Cafe collaborators Toto and Sark, here's my A to Z tribute to the British House of Horror. T read more

Are you among the millions of film buffs first introduced to Universal horror classics such as Bride of Frankenstein by the likes of Zacherley, Ghoulardi, Sir Graves Ghastly, or The Bowman Body? If so, you will certainly enjoy Television Horror Movie Hosts, Elena M. Watson's informative, a read more

Bob Gordon (shown on left). If you watched TV as a kid in the Piedmont Golden Triangle in the 1960s and 1970s, you're probably familiar with Bob Gordon. I'm not even sure if the term "Piedmont Golden Triangle" is used anymore, but back then it was how people commonly referred to the cities of Win read more

One of the more obscure television horror movie hosts, Klara Kackel, appeared on Saturday nights with her Kreepy Kauldron on WHME, Channel 48, in South Bend, Indiana. Klara, a witch who was played by a guy, debuted in the mid-1970s and lasted for a couple of years. She--or rather, he--may have been read more

Dr. Paul Bearer (Dick Bennick) hosted Shock Theatre. My affection for classic horror films can be largely attributed to watching Shock Theatre on Saturday night from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, broadcast on WGHP-TV, Channel 8 in High Point, North Carolina. Shock T read more

Barnabas Collins (with Carolyn Collins in background). The intended audience for House of Dark Shadows was undoubtedly fans of the popular 1966-71 ABC gothic daytime drama. If you watched the TV series dutifully (like me), you will enjoy this faithful big screen adaptation. For other view read more

Welcome to Part 2 of our Classic Horror Movie Super Quiz. Answers will be printed at the end of the week (if they're not answered before then). A scene from the stellar Burn, Witch, Burn (aka Night of the Eagle). 26. What little creature is famous for the following quote and in what movie: read more

So you think you know classic horror films? Welcome to the Cafe's first annual (we hope) Halloween Classic Movie Super Quiz. This 50-question quiz--presented in two parts--will draw upon your knowledge of the horror film genre from the silent era to the early 1980s. If you want to answer a question, read more

The Cafe will join the new Classic TV Blog Association to host a tribute to those memorable TV hosts who brought us late night horror movies. The Classic TV Horror Host Blogathon will run from October 24-31 (concluding, appropriately, on Halloween). It's your opportunity to pay homage to such memora read more

One of the most popular features at the Cafe is our "A to Z" list. This month, we tackle film noir--a daunting task because there so many good ones. For example, for "D", we could have gone with any of the following:  The Dark Corner, Dark City, Detour, Desperate Hours, or Drive a Crooked Road. read more

Following a number of commercial and artistic successes in the 1950s and early 1960s, Alfred Hitchcock's career took a plunge after The Birds (1963). Starting with Marnie (1964), Hitchcock often found himself out of favor with the movie-going public and the critics. An exception was 1 read more

Over the last decade, Internet film sites have displaced reference books as the primary source of classic film information. While I appreciate having access to an expansive virtual library, I always approach its content with some caution. Popular sources, such as the Internet Movie Data Base and Wik read more

Change of seasons creating havoc with your allergies? Sprained an ankle from stepping in a rabbit hole while mowing (been there, done that)? Job stress causing migraines? You need to see a doctor! To assist you in selecting the proper physician, we pick our classic TV favorites from the 1960s thro read more

Alfred Hitchcock saw the original London stage production of Mary Rose in 1920--and would be infatuated with it for years. Written by J.M. Barrie (best known for penning Peter Pan), Mary Rose opens with a soldier arriving at a desolate, decaying house where he enc read more

Shatner and McQueen. A courtroom drama in which the verdict doesn't matter? That's the case with "The Defender," a 1957 two-part television play by Reginald Rose that was originally broadcast on Studio One. Ralph Bellamy and William Shatner play father-and-son attorneys who are appointed to defend read more

One of the most distinctive private eyes of the 1970s has finally made his DVD debut with Warner Archive's release of season 1 of Harry O. The series, which originally aired on ABC in 1974-76, starred David Janssen as Harry Orwell, a medically-retired police detective who moonlights as a private inv read more

Henry Fonda calling his agent after appearing in Tentacles. Kirk Douglas did it. Ditto for Walter Pidgeon. Even John Wayne and Ray Milland got into the act. Yes, we're talking about fighting giant octopuses and squids. So, there's nothing unusual about Henry Fonda, Shelley Winters, and John Huston read more

Frogs. They can be irritating if you're trying to fall asleep on a summer night with the windows open. They can be yucky, too, if you have an aversion to wet, slippery creatures. But scary? I'd be hard-pressed to anoint them with that adjective. So, it's surprising when American read more