Helen Westcott Filmography

I Love My Wife

Actors: Elliott Gould, Brenda Vaccaro, Angel Tompkins, Dabney Coleman, Leonard Stone

Synopsis: This romantic comedy finds Richard Burrows (Elliot Gould) as a medical student in residence engaged to marry the pregnant Jody (Brenda Vaccaro). When Jody abstains from sex and her mother moves in with the newlyweds, Richard engages in a series of love affairs with the hospital nurses. He meets Read More

The Twilight Zone: You Drive

Actors: Edward Andrews, Helen Westcott, Kevin Hagen, Totty Ames

Synopsis: When businessman Oliver Pope (Edward Andrews) strikes down a young bicyclist with his car, he panics and races home, leaving the boy to die of his injuries. Upon learning of the boy's death, Oliver remains silent, even allowing his business rival Pete Radcliffe (Kevin Hagen) to take the rap for Read More

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: Diagnosis - Danger

Actors: Charles McGraw, Michael Parks, Berkeley Harris, Irene Martin, Marc Cavell

Synopsis: In one of the few "procedural" dramas presented on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, the health officials and police department of Los Angeles race against time to prevent an anthrax epidemic. They must also keep secret the fact that they've found a disease-ridden corpse, lest they throw the city into a Read More

Bonanza: The Colonel

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, John Larkin

Synopsis: "The Colonel" is habitual liar Frank Medford, an old friend of Ben Cartwright. Now a poverty-stricken travelling salesman, Frank is determined to convince everyone that he is as successful as Ben. Thus, Frank tells one of his celebrated whoppers, claming to be a millionaire. It takes the love of a Read More

Studs Lonigan

Actors: Christopher Knight, Frank Gorshin, Helen Westcott, Carolyn Craig, Dick Foran, Venetia Stevenson, Jack Nicholson

Synopsis: Based on author James T. Farrell's trilogy written between 1932 and 1935 and later combined into a one-volume Studs Lonigan book, this less than two-hour film does not quite do justice to the literary whole. Studs (Christopher Knight) is raised on Chicago's infamous South Side, an Irish kid when Read More

Bonanza: The Fear Merchants

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Gene Evans

Synopsis: The ugly consequences of bigotry are examined in this episode of Bonanza. Gene Evans plays Andrew Fulmer, who runs for mayor of Virginia City on a "hate all outsiders" platform. Backed up by hired thugs, Fulmer targets the town's Chinese population for his most violent persecution. The hostility Read More

Day of the Outlaw

Actors: Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, Tina Louise, Alan Marshal, Nehemiah Persoff

Synopsis: Set in an isolated, snow-covered town in the far West, this story has a renegade army officer named Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives) and his henchmen riding into the town threatening their worst to the men and women there. Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) decides to agree to Bruhn's demands for someone Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Haunted Husband

Synopsis: When her purse is stolen, Claire Olger (Patricia Hardy) is forced to hitch a ride from Michael Greeley. Unfortunately, Greeley (John Hubbard) has been drinking--and when he plows his vehicle into a truck, killing the other driver, he runs away, leaving Claire to take the rap. In his efforts to Read More

Monster on the Campus

Actors: Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters, Troy Donahue

Synopsis: In this sci-fi film, a college professor must deal with the cataclysmic consequences that ensue when a transmogrifying dragonfly bites a prehistoric fish from Madagascar. Soon after the bite, the strange fish becomes gigantic and begins passing on its new ability to morph all it comes in contact Read More

The Invisible Avenger

Synopsis: Invisible Avenger is an ultra-cheap melodrama set in New Orleans. The hero, Lamont Cranston (Richard Derr), is a student of mysticism and mind control. At crucial points, Cranston is able to hypnotically "cloud men's minds" so that they cannot see him. If this sounds familiar, it's because Read More

The Last Hurrah

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Dianne Foster, Pat O'Brien, Basil Rathbone, John Carradine

Synopsis: Spencer Tracy stars in John Ford's sentimental adaptation of Edwin O'Connor's novel about the final campaign of a big city mayor, loosely based upon the life of Boston politician James Curley. Tracy is Frank Skeffington, the political boss of an Eastern city dominated by Irish-Americans. Read More

God's Little Acre

Actors: Robert Ryan, Aldo Ray, Tina Louise, Buddy Hackett, Jack Lord

Synopsis: Erskine Caldwell's steamy novel God's Little Acre was given a film adaptation in 1958. A heavily grayed-up Robert Ryan plays Ty Ty Walden, the patriarch of a slovenly backwoods family. As Ty Ty digs around his farm in search of gold (which he has yet to find), his son in law Bill Thompson (Aldo Ray Read More

Hot Blood

Actors: Jane Russell, Cornel Wilde, Luther Adler, Joseph Calleia, Mikhail Rasumny

Synopsis: If Hot Blood is remembered at all today, it is for its ludicrous advertising blurb "Jane Russell shakes her tambourines and drives Cornel Wilde!" Set in the gypsy community of contemporary Los Angeles, the film stars Wilde as aspiring dancer Stephen Torino, who is tricked by his brother Marco Luther Adler Read More

I Killed Wild Bill Hickok

Actors: Helen Westcott, Tom Brown, Virginia Gibson, Denver Pyle

Synopsis: The redoubtable John Carpenter strikes again with the ultra-low-budget I Killed Wild Bill Hickok. Carpenter serves as the film's producer and screenwriter, and also heads the cast, pseudonymously billed as John Forbes. Everybody knows that Wild Bill Hickok (here played by Tom Brown) was shot in Read More

Gun Belt

Actors: George Montgomery, Tab Hunter, Helen Westcott, John Dehner, William Bishop

Synopsis: Technically a "B" western, Gun Belt is a notch or two above the norm. George Montgomery stars as former outlaw Billy Ringo, whose bank-robbing brother Matt (John Dehner) implicates him in a recent holdup. When Matt is killed in a shootout, Matt's son Chip (Tab Hunter) holds Billy responsible. When Read More

Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Boris Karloff, Craig Stevens, Helen Westcott

Synopsis: This was the last in a string of spoofs that found the comedy duo tangling with various classic Universal Studios monsters. In this case, Slim (Bud Abbott) and Tubby (Lou Costello) play American detectives who cross wits with Dr. Henry Jekyll (Boris Karloff) in Edwardian-era London when they Read More

Cow Country

Actors: Edmond O'Brien, Helen Westcott, Bob Lowry, Barton MacLane, Peggie Castle

Synopsis: A "big" western by Allied Artists standards, Cow Country is directed with his usual panache by horse-opera expert Lesley Selander. Adapted from a novel by Curtis Bishop, the film stars Edmond O'Brien as Ben Anthony, an adventurer-for-hire who casts his lot with Texas cattleman Walt Garnet (Robert H. Barrat Read More

The Charge at Feather River

Actors: Guy Madison, Frank Lovejoy, Helen Westcott, Vera Miles, Dick Wesson

Synopsis: With all those flaming arrows being aimed directly at the audience, it is fairly obvious that Charge of Feather River was originally released in 3D. Fresh from his TV success as Wild Bill Hickok, Guy Madison stars as frontiersman Miles Archer (his character name will be amusing to fans of The Maltese Falcon Read More

Battles of Chief Pontiac

Actors: Lex Barker, Helen Westcott, Lon Chaney, Jr., Berry Kroeger, Roy Roberts

Synopsis: Some sources have indicated that Battles of Chief Pontiac was originally intended as the pilot for a TV series. Erstwhile Tarzan Lex Barker stars as 18th-century frontiersman Kent McIntyre, while Lon Chaney Jr. essays the title role of Chief Pontiac. On behalf of the British, McIntyre tries to Read More

Phone Call from a Stranger

Actors: Shelley Winters, Gary Merrill, Michael Rennie, Keenan Wynn, Bette Davis, Evelyn Varden

Synopsis: David Trask (Gary Merrill), the sole survivor of an airplane crash, takes it upon himself to contact the families of the various victims. Though he's already formed preconceived notions of his deceased fellow passengers, he's in for quite a few surprises when he meets the relatives. His first Read More

With a Song in My Heart

Actors: Susan Hayward, Rory Calhoun, David Wayne, Thelma Ritter, Robert Wagner

Synopsis: With a Song in My Heart is the story of popular 1930s songstress Jane Froman, here portrayed by Susan Hayward. We first see Ms. Froman as a humble staff singer at a Cincinnati radio stations, but it doesn't take her long to rise to the uppermost rungs of network radio fame. Jane gratefully marries Read More

Return of the Texan

Actors: Dale Robertson, Joanne Dru, Walter Brennan, Richard Boone, Tom Tully

Synopsis: Dale Robertson stars as Sam Crockett, a widowed rancher trying to make a go of his small spread with his father (Walter Brennan) and his two small sons. Financially strapped, Crockett is forced to go to work for nasty neighboring rancher Rod (Richard Boone). When Rod's sister-in-law Ann (Joanne Dru Read More

Loan Shark

Actors: George Raft, Dorothy Hart, Paul Stewart, Helen Westcott, John Hoyt

Synopsis: Loan Shark was one of several independently-produced films made by George Raft in the early 1950s. Raft plays Joe Gargan, a good guy who pretends to turn bad to trap a gang of usurious loan sharks. In order to convince the crooks that he's on their side, Gargan is forced to call it quits with his Read More

The Secret of Convict Lake

Actors: Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore, Zachary Scott, Ann Dvorak

Synopsis: Glenn Ford plays a convict who breaks out of a 19th century Nevada prison in the company of several less handsome inmates. When they enter a snowbound California village, they find that all the men have left to prospect for silver; only the women remain. The village is known as Convict Lake Read More

Take Care of My Little Girl

Actors: Jeanne Crain, Dale Robertson, Mitzi Gaynor, Jean Peters, Jeffrey Hunter

Synopsis: Take Care of My Little Girl is a genteel "expose" of college-sorority snobbery. Jeanne Crain stars as Liz Erickson a perky coed who is pledged to an old, established sorority. At first amused by such rituals as "rushing" and "Hell week," Liz eventually feels threatened by the tyranny of the Read More

The Gunfighter

Actors: Gregory Peck, Helen Westcott, Cliff Clark, Angela Clarke, Millard Mitchell, Jean Parker, David Clarke, Ellen Corby, Karl Malden

Synopsis: In this classic noir-influenced Western, Gregory Peck stars as an aging gunslinger, sick of killing but haunted by punks wanting to make a name for themselves by slaying a legend. After being warned by his old friend the Sheriff, Peck decides to return East to see his estranged wife and the child Read More

Three Came Home

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Patric Knowles, Sessue Hayakawa, Florence Desmond, Sylvia Andrew

Synopsis: Based on the autobiographical book by Agnes Newton Keith, Three Came Home stars Claudette Colbert as Mrs. Keith. Trapped in Borneo during the Japanese invasion, Mrs. Keith and her British husband (Patric Knowles) are penned up in a prison camp along with several other subjects. Despite the Read More

Whirlpool

Actors: Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, José Ferrer, Charles Bickford, Eduard Franz, Barbara O'Neil

Synopsis: In this compelling and unusual psychological melodrama Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney), a woman tormented by her secret kleptomania seeks help from a unscrupulous hypnotist David Korvo (Jose Ferrer). Although she is married to a successful psychiatrist (Richard Conte), and has no need to steal the Read More

Dancing in the Dark

Actors: William Powell, Mark Stevens, Betsy Drake, Adolphe Menjou, Randy Stuart

Synopsis: This musical comedy stars William Powell as Emery Slade, who was once a major film star but lately isn't getting much work. Arrogantly determined to climb back to the top, Slade convinces studio chief Melville Crossman (Adolphe Menjou) to give him the male lead in the film version of a Broadway Read More

One Last Fling

Actors: Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott, Douglas Kennedy, Ann Doran, Ransom Sherman

Synopsis: Zachary Scott uncharacteristically plays for laughs in Warner Bros.' One Last Fling. Scott plays Larry Pearce, the dullish husband of Olivia Pearce (Alexis Smith). When Larry enters into a perfectly innocent business arrangement with gorgeous Gay Winston (Veda Ann Borg), Olivia misunderstands, as Read More

The Adventures of Don Juan

Actors: Errol Flynn, Viveca Lindfors, Robert Douglas, Raymond Burr, Alan Hale, Romney Brent

Synopsis: Though Errol Flynn was well past his prime (and obviously well lubricated in certain scenes), he rises to the occasion of The Adventures of Don Juan with a spirited, athletic performance. As fabled Spanish swashbuckler/lover Don Juan, Flynn spends the early portions of the film romancing willing Read More

Alaska Patrol

Actors: Richard Travis, Helen Westcott, James Griffith, Emory Parnell, Richard Fraser

Synopsis: Dauntless Navy intelligence officer Richard Travis is dispatched to the Frozen North to smash a spy ring. By a fortuitous circumstance, Travis is the exact lookalike of a recently deceased enemy agent. This plot contrivance is given surface credibility by the film's semi-documentary style. Onetime Read More

The Girl From Jones Beach

Actors: Ronald Reagan, Virginia Mayo, Eddie Bracken, Dona Drake, Henry Travers

Synopsis: Ronald Reagan plays a George Petty-type magazine illustrator who creates a "perfect girl" from a composite of the features of several models. While relaxing at the beach, Reagan meets a lovely young schoolteacher (Virginia Mayo) who is the living image of his imaginary girl. Sensing a terrific Read More

Homicide

Actors: Robert Douglas, Helen Westcott, Robert Alda, Monte Blue, Warren Douglas

Synopsis: British actor Robert Douglas stars in the Warner Bros. crime melodrama Homicide. Douglas plays police lieutenant Michael Landers, whose suspicions are aroused when the only witness to an accidental killing is found dead, an apparent suicide. Though the case is officially closed, Landers Read More

Flaxy Martin

Actors: Virginia Mayo, Zachary Scott, Dorothy Malone, Tom D'Andrea, Helen Westcott

Synopsis: Virginia Mayo is Flaxy Martin in this complicated Warner Bros. melodrama. Flaxy is a bad girl but good company, especially when she's around criminal attorney Walter Colby (Zachary Scott). When Colby begins to have second thoughts about his gangster cohorts, Flaxy arranges a murder frame, forcing Read More

13 Lead Soldiers

Actors: Tom Conway, Maria Palmer, Helen Westcott, John Newland, Terry Kilburn

Synopsis: A minor Bulldog Drummond story featuring Conway in his search for a set of lead toy soldiers. The little fighting men were crafted by the Norman King Harold almost a thousand years before. Conway races against time and two other groups searching for the toy soldiers, because they are the key to Read More

Smart Girls Don't Talk

Actors: Virginia Mayo, Bruce Bennett, Tom D'Andrea, Richard Rober, Helen Westcott

Synopsis: Despite the film's title, socialite Linda Vickers (Virginia Mayo) isn't smart enough to steer clear of the gambling den operated by gangster Marty Fain (Bruce Bennett). Forced to join Fain's operation, Linda gets mixed up with duplicity and murder-not to mention a torrid romance with the gangster Read More

Henry Aldrich for President

Actors: Charles Smith, June Preisser, Mary Anderson, Martha O'Driscoll

Synopsis: Henry Aldrich for President was the second of Paramount's "Henry Aldrich" series to star Jimmy Lydon in the teenaged title role. This time Henry is pitted against an arrogant jock for the presidency of the Centerville High School student council. Henry's chances don't seem bright, especially since Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Actors: James Cagney, Ian Hunter, Grant Mitchell, Olivia de Havilland, Mickey Rooney, Victor Jory, Ross Alexander, Joe E. Brown, Hobart Cavanaugh, Dick Powell

Synopsis: Max Reinhardt's legendary Hollywood Bowl production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream was transferred to the screen by Warner Bros. in 1935. Like most of Shakespeare's comedies, the story contains several seemingly unrelated plotlines, all tied together by a single unifying event, in this Read More

Thunder over Texas

Actors: Marion Shilling, Helen Westcott, Claude Payton, Philo McCullough

Synopsis: The first of five Guinn "Big Boy" Williams Westerns produced by low-budget Beacon Pictures, Thunder Over Texas remains one of the decade's more obscure sagebrush melodramas. Written by Sherle Castle, the film was directed by her soon-to-be husband, legendary cult figure Edgar G. Ulmer, who Read More