Damon RunyonFilmography

Occupation:: Actor, Producer, Screen Story, Screenwriter, Book Author, Play Author

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Three Wise Guys

Crew: Screen Story

Actors: Eddie McClintock, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, Judd Nelson, Nick Turturro, Roddy Piper

Synopsis: If Damon Runyon, the author of the story on which The Three Wise Guys was based, were to summarize it, it might sound something like this: One December day around Christmastime I am in the city of Las Vegas talking to Harry the Horse about this and that, when I hear this yarn about a citizen by Read More

2005
Bloodhounds of Broadway

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Julie Hagerty, Randy Quaid, Madonna, Esai Morales, Jennifer Grey, Rutger Hauer, Ethan Phillips, Matt Dillon, Anita Morris

Synopsis: Produced for theatrical released by PBS' American Playhouse, Bloodhounds of Broadway is not exactly a remake of the 1952 film of the same name, though both pictures use the same Damon Runyon stories as inspiration. The scene is Broadway: the time is New Year's Eve, 1928. Madonna plays small town Read More

11/3/89
Little Miss Marker

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Walter Matthau, Julie Andrews, Tony Curtis, Bob Newhart

Synopsis: Screenwriter Walter Bernstein made his directorial debut with Little Miss Marker, a re-make of the Damon Runyon story that has been filmed many times before (most notably as Little Miss Marker with Shirley Temple, Sorrowful Jones starring Bob Hope, and the Tony Curtis vehicle 40 Pounds of Read More

1980
Pocketful of Miracles

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Glenn Ford, Bette Davis, Hope Lange, Arthur O'Connell, Peter Falk

Synopsis: Director Frank Capra's last feature film, Pocketful of Miracles is a Technicolor remake of his 1933 film Lady for a Day. A barely recognizable Bette Davis plays Apple Annie, the besotted, unkempt, rag-clad street vendor who controls the activities of all the beggars on Broadway. Apple Annie is the Read More

1961
Guys and Dolls

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, Vivian Blaine, Robert Keith

Synopsis: This 1955 film began life as two Runyon short stories, the most prominent of which was "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown." This material was fleshed out into a 2-act libretto by Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling, then set to music by Frank Loesser and directed by George S. Kaufman. Opening late in 1950 Read More

1955
Money from Home

Crew: Book Author

Actors: Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Marjie Millar, Richard Haydn

Synopsis: Frightening though the prospect may sound, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis appear in Technicolor and 3-D in the musical comedy Money from Home. Cashing in on the success of Guys and Dolls, the script is based on a Damon Runyon story. Martin plays gambler Honey Talk Nelson, whose "markers" have been Read More

1953
Stop, You're Killing Me

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Broderick Crawford, Claire Trevor, Virginia Gibson, Bill Hayes, Charles Cantor

Synopsis: Previously filmed in 1938 with Edward G. Robinson in the lead, the Damon Runyon-Howard Lindsay stage farce A Slight Case of Murder was musicalized in 1952 as Stop, You're Killing Me. Broderick Crawford stars as Remy Marko, a soft-hearted Prohibition beer baron who turns honest when the 18th Read More

1952
Bloodhounds of Broadway

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Mitzi Gaynor, Scott Brady, Mitzi Green, Marguerite Chapman

Synopsis: Bloodhounds of Broadway was one of many Damon Runyon adaptations filmed in the wake of the 1950 Broadway hit Guys and Dolls. Manhattan bookie Scott Brady skips town to avoid a crime investigation. He meets hillbilly Mitzi Gaynor and vows to get the talented young miss into show business. Thanks to Read More

1952
The Lemon Drop Kid

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Bob Hope, Marilyn Maxwell, Lloyd Nolan, Jane Darwell, Andrea King, Fred Clark

Synopsis: Damon Runyon's Broadway fable The Lemon Drop Kid was filmed twice by Paramount Pictures, but only the 1934 version with Lee Tracy paid more than lip service to the original Runyon story. The second version, filmed in 1951, was completely retooled to accommodate the talents of Bob Hope. Known far Read More

1951
Johnny One-Eye

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Pat O'Brien, Wayne Morris, Dolores Moran, Gayle Reed

Synopsis: Johnny One-Eye was adapted from one of Damon Runyon's lesser-known stories. Pat O'Brien and Wayne Morris star as Martin Martin and Dane Cory respectively, former partners in crime who have long since split up. When a new district attorney puts the heat on, Cory, anxious to save his own hide Read More

1950
Sorrowful Jones

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, William Demarest, Mary Jane Saunders, Bruce Cabot, Thomas Gomez

Synopsis: This second of four film adaptations of Damon Runyon's Little Miss Marker is tailored to the talents of Bob Hope. A shifty Broadway bookie, Sorrowful Jones (Hope) becomes a reluctant foster parent when an anxious gambler leaves behind his little girl Martha Jane (Mary Jane Saunders) as a "marker," Read More

1949
Irish Eyes Are Smiling

Crew: Producer

Actors: Monty Woolley, June Haver, Dick Haymes, Anthony Quinn

Synopsis: This Technicolor musical biopic stars Argentina-born Dick Haymes as Irish-American composer Ernest R. Ball. Climbing to fame with such sentimental songs as "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" (hence the title), Ball romances a lovely showgirl (June Haver), who in turn catches the eye of a charming Read More

1944
It Ain't Hay

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Grace McDonald, Cecil Kellaway, Eugene Pallette

Synopsis: In one of their most genial comedies -- based on a Damon Runyon story -- Bud Abbott and Lou Costello have to help one friend (Cecil Kellaway) replace his beloved carriage horse, and another friend (Leightno Noble) put together a US Army camp show. Through a misunderstanding, they take what they Read More

1943
The Big Street

Crew: Producer, Short Story Author

Actors: Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Agnes Moorehead, Barton MacLane, Eugene Pallette

Synopsis: Lucille Ball delivers the finest dramatic performance of her career in this satisfying adaptation of Damon Runyon's The Big Street. Ball is cast as Gloria, aka "Your Highness," the vain and thoroughly selfish star attraction of gangster Case Ables' (Barton MacLaine) New York nightclub. Henry Fonda Read More

1942
Butch Minds the Baby

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Virginia Bruce, Broderick Crawford, Dick Foran, Porter Hall, Richard Lane

Synopsis: Damon Runyon's short story Butch Minds the Baby is about a certain Broadway citizen by the name of Butch, who is known far and wide to be involved more than somewhat in business of a dishonest nature. Butch is the lookout for a gang of safecrackers, one of whom is forced to bring his squalling Read More

1942
Tight Shoes

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: John Howard, Binnie Barnes, Broderick Crawford, Anne Gwynne, Leo Carrillo

Synopsis: This comedy-drama is adapted from a story by Damon Runyon and centers on a mobster with unusually large feet. The trouble begins when the big-footed crook buys a too-tight pair of shoes from a salesman and decides to use the store as a front for an illegal gambling operation. After buying the Read More

1941
Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Ann Sothern, Walter Brennan, William Gargan, Marsha Hunt

Synopsis: This Damon Runyon yarn features William Gargan and Ann Sothern as Brooklynites Joe and Ethel Turp. The Turps are up in arms when their faithful old mailman (Walter Brennan) is fired. Unable to get satisfaction on a municipal level, Joe and Ethel plead their mailman's case to the President Read More

1939
Straight, Place and Show

Crew: Play Author

Actors: The Ritz Brothers [Al, Jimmy, Harry], Richard Arlen, Ethel Merman, Phyllis Brooks, George Barbier

Synopsis: In this musical comedy, the Ritz Brothers inherit a racehorse but are unable to make money from him because they cannot come up with the $1,000 needed to enter him in the big race. The two get involved with the race anyway when they overhear a group of Russian jockeys conspiring to ruin the race. Read More

1938
A Slight Case of Murder

Crew: Play Author, Screenwriter

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Jane Bryan, Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly, Willard Parker

Synopsis: Slight Case of Murder is a breakneck-paced comedy starring Edward G. Robinson as a tough but good-hearted bootlegger. When Prohibition is repealed, Robinson faces a financial crisis: His beer tastes so awful that no one wants to drink it legally. As an additional headache, Robinson is under Read More

1938
Racing Lady

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Ann Dvorak, Smith Ballew, Harry Carey, Berton Churchill, Frank M. Thomas

Synopsis: Professional horsewoman Ann Dvorak is the Racing Lady in this hit-and-miss romantic comedy. The story begins breaking into a trot when millionaire auto tycoon Steven Wendel (Smith Ballew) (later a movie "singing cowboy") purchases a thoroughbred horse and engages the services of Ruth Martin (Dvorak Read More

1937
Professional Soldier

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Victor McLaglen, Freddie Bartholomew, Gloria Stuart, Michael Whalen

Synopsis: Adventurer-for-hire Victor McLaglen is hired by a political faction in a mythical European kingdom. McLaglen's job is to kidnap the young prince (Freddie Bartholomew) so that his employers can take over the government. The prince enjoys the experience because it releases him from the confines of Read More

1936
The Three Wise Guys

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Robert Young, Betty Furness, Raymond Walburn, Thurston Hall, Bruce Cabot

Synopsis: Based on a Damon Runyon story, Three Wise Guys stars Betty Furness as a Broadway golddigger hired by gangster Bruce Cabot to romance playboy Robert Young, then take the sap for every penny he's got. But when Young marries Furness, he is disinherited. Furness decides she's truly in love with Young Read More

1936
Hold 'em Yale

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Patricia Ellis, Cesar Romero, Larry "Buster" Crabbe, William Frawley, Andy Devine

Synopsis: Based on a story by Damon Runyon, Hold 'Em Yale is also more than a little beholden to O. Henry's Ransom of Red Chief. Spoiled-rotten heiress Clarice Van Cleve (Patricia Ellis) is enticed to New York by fortune-hunter Gigolo Georgie (Cesar Romero), who dumps her in the apartment owned by Read More

1935
Princess O'Hara

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Jean Parker, Chester Morris, Leon Errol, Vince Barnett, Henry Armetta

Synopsis: This obscure Damon Runyon adaptation stars Jean Parker as Princess O'Hara, the spirited granddaughter of Central Park horse-carriage driver King O'Hara (Ralph M. Remley). When King's beloved horse dies, Princess tries to purchase a new nag, and that's how she inadvertently gets her hands on a Read More

1935
No Ransom

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Leila Hyams, Phillips Holmes, Jack LaRue, Robert McWade, Hedda Hopper

Synopsis: In this family comedy, the wealthy executive of a steel company must endure life with a strict, teetotaling wife, a wild daughter, and a deadbeat son. To gain some much needed attention, the lonesome fellow hires a hitman to kill him. Instead, the gunman kidnaps him to frighten the family into Read More

1935
A Very Honorable Guy

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Joe E. Brown, Alice White, Robert H. Barrat, Alan Dinehart, Irene Franklin

Synopsis: A Very Honorable Guy is an interesting if not terribly funny change of pace for comedy star Joe E. Brown. This Damon Runyon adaptation casts Brown as Feet Samuels, a compulsive gambler known for his determination to keep his word at all costs. To pay off his mounting debts, Feet sells his body to Read More

1934
Midnight Alibi

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Richard Barthelmess, Ann Dvorak, Helen Chandler

Synopsis: In this drama, a gambler must hide-out from the mob and ends up in a spinster's apartment. The old woman, is unused to company as she has spent her life in seclusion after a failed romance in her youth. When the crime lord is killed, the gambler, his younger brother, is arrested for the murder. To Read More

1934
The Lemon Drop Kid

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Lee Tracy, Helen Mack, William Frawley, Minna Gombell, Baby Le Roy

Synopsis: Marshall Neilan, a great silent film director on the verge of obscurity, had one last big-studio stand with The Lemon Drop Kid. Lee Tracy plays a racetrack tout who calls himself a "horse medium"--that is, he reads the horse's minds for the gullible bettors. He quits the track for the love of a Read More

1934
Million Dollar Ransom

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Phillips Holmes, Edward Arnold, Mary Carlisle, Andy Devine

Synopsis: In this romance, a bootlegger finds himself unemployed when he is finally released from prison and discovers that Prohibition is over. The impoverished fellow's luck changes when he encounters a wealthy man who is willing to pay the ex-con to kidnap him in the hopes that the abduction will prevent Read More

1934
Little Miss Marker

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Adolphe Menjou, Dorothy Dell, Shirley Temple, Charles Bickford, Lynne Overman

Synopsis: Perhaps the most memorable of all of the movies based on Damon Runyon's story because of the winning presence of Shirley Temple (although it was remade three times), this is the story of a little girl who is left as a marker for a $20.00 bet. Temple's father kills himself and the bookie doesn't Read More

1934
Lady for a Day

Crew: Short Story Author

Actors: Warren William, May Robson, Guy Kibbee, Glenda Farrell, Ned Sparks

Synopsis: May Robson plays Apple Annie, a slatternly Broadway apple peddler. Annie has a curious setup whereby she is able to finagle other street merchants and beggars to pony up part of their weekly earnings to her--yet she never seems to spend any of the money on herself. This is because Annie has a Read More

1933
Madison Square Garden

Actors: Jack Oakie, Marian Nixon, Thomas Meighan, William "Hopalong" Boyd, ZaSu Pitts

Synopsis: A goodly portion of this boxing drama was filmed on location at the real-life Madison Square Garden. Jack Oakie stars as Eddie Burke, a wise-guy pugilist whose talent is unevenly matched by his ego. Despite his character flaws, Eddie knows the meaning of loyalty. When his manager Doc Williams (William Collier Sr Read More

1932
God Is My Witness

Crew: Short Story Author

Synopsis: This very inexpensive independent production represents the first talking-picture adaptation of a Damon Runyon story. Raspy-voiced Bob McKenzie plays a Long Island sharpster who, along with his younger partner (John Arledge), is undergoing a long streak of bad luck. Bypassing the temptation to Read More

1931
Great White Way

Actors: Anita Stewart, T. Roy Barnes, Oscar Shaw, Tom Lewis

Synopsis: If the Hearst newspapers seem to get a lot of attention in this comedy-drama, it only makes sense -- William Randolph Hearst's production company, Cosmopolitan, produced the picture, which blends a fictional story with real-life events. Press agent Jack Murray (T. Roy Barnes) is having trouble Read More

1924