Howard DuffFilmography

Settle the Score

Synopsis: In this suspenseful drama, a Chicago policewoman remains haunted by the memory of the man who raped her two decades before and decides to return to her hometown to find him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Magnum, P.I.: Resolutions, Part 2

Synopsis: In the concluding half of Magnum, P.I.'s final episode, Magnum (Tom Selleck) wrestles with the prospect of returning to active Naval service even as he lays a trap for the man who assaulted his former girlfriend Linda (Patrice Martinez). He also receives word that his daughter Lily, presumed Read More

Magnum, P.I.: Resolutions, Part 1

Synopsis: Magnum, P.I. wraps up its eight-year run with a two-part final episode (originally telecast in a single two-hour timeslot). In Part One, Magnum returns to his home town for a family reunion, where his paternal grandfather (Howard Duff) offers to reinstate him as a Naval officer. But before Magnum Read More

No Way Out

Actors: Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young, Will Patton, Howard Duff

Synopsis: No Way Out is told in flashback as Naval officer Tom Farrell (Kevin Costner) is grilled by his superiors regarding a recent "unpleasantness." While at a Washington party, Tom meets Susan Atwel (Sean Young), and they're soon sharing a steamy love scene in the back of a limo (marvelously parodied in Read More

Monster in the Closet

Actors: Donald Grant, Denise Du Barry, Claude Akins, Howard Duff, Henry Gibson, Donald Moffat, Kevin Peter Hall

Synopsis: A humorous and skilful parody of the cliches and plot contrivances of 50's horror films, this monster movie is set in California, where closets can be large and quite important. The monster (Kevin Peter Hall) is straight out of Alien, if not quite as gruesome. It hides out in closets and wait for Read More

Roses Are for the Rich

Synopsis: In this drama, the daughter of an Appalachian miner is determined to get revenge against the cruel mine owner who destroyed her family with his greed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Love on the Run

Synopsis: In this made-for-TV drama, an attorney aids her wrongly-convicted client in his escape from prison, then joins him on the lam. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Murder, She Wrote: Deadly Lady

Synopsis: In the first hour-long episode of Murder She Wrote (the debut episode had run two hours), mystery writer Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) is back in her home town of Cabot Cove, Maine, where she makes the acquaintance of a seedy-looking gentleman named Ralph (Howard Duff), who has shown up in Read More

This Girl for Hire

Synopsis: In this detective drama set in Hollywood, a private investigator uses logic to solve the murder of a famous mystery writer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch

Synopsis: In this Civil-war era western set in a Missouri mining town, respectable women and floozies join forces to keep renegade Union soldiers from destroying their community. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

East of Eden

Actors: Timothy Bottoms, Jane Seymour, Lloyd Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, Samuel Bottoms, Karen Allen, Anne Baxter

Synopsis: The 1955 film version of John Steinbeck's East of Eden will always be popular because of the presence in the cast of James Dean. Even so, the film covered only a small portion of the original novel. For those Steinbeck completists who prefer a more thorough treatment, we submit for your approval Read More

Double Negative

Actors: Michael Sarrazin, Susan Clark, Anthony Perkins, Howard Duff, Kate Reid

Synopsis: An exceedingly complex plot with a few gaps in logic characterizes this uneven thriller by George Bloomfield. Photographer Michael (Michael Sarrazin) is now in a mental institution because after he got back from a dangerous assignment in the Middle East he found his wife raped and murdered. His Read More

Flamingo Road

Actors: John Beck, Howard Duff, Cristina Raines

Synopsis: Ever anxious to enter the "nighttime serial" market engendered by Dallas, NBC commissioned Flamingo Road, a casual remake of the 1949 Joan Crawford film of the same name. The TV-movie pilot, which aired in May of 1980, introduces the dramatiis personae. Howard Duff plays the corrupt political boss Read More

Valentine Magic on Love Island

Synopsis: The made-for-TV Valentine Magic on Love Island was accurately dismissed by one reviewer as a "bubble headed brew of I Dream of Jeannie and a Club Med Vacation." Janis Paige stars as Madge, a benign sorceress who runs a lavish tropical resort with the help of her nephew Jimmy (Christopher Knight) Read More

The Dream Merchants

Actors: Vincent Gardenia, Robert Goulet, Mark Harmon

Synopsis: Old-time Hollywood director Vincent Sherman brings a glossy studio-bound look to The Dream Merchants, a two-part, four-hour adaptation of Harold Robbins' novel. The story follows the career of a pioneer filmmaker (Mark Harmon), who comes to Hollywood in the early 20th century with a pocketful of Read More

Oh, God! Book II

Actors: George Burns, Suzanne Pleshette, David Birney, Louanne, John Louie

Synopsis: In this mild sequel to the 1977 appearance of George Burns as God, the Heavenly Father shows up again, this time to talk to Tracy (Louanne), a young girl whose earthly father (David Birney) is in the advertising business. God's intention is to promote himself among the children first. Tracy comes Read More

Young Maverick [TV Series]

Actors: Charles Frank, Susan Blanchard, Howard Duff

Synopsis: This light-hearted western was a spinoff of the 1957-1962 series Maverick, and recounted the adventures of legendary gambler/troublemaker Brett Maverick's young Harvard-educated cousin, Ben Maverick. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Kramer vs. Kramer

Actors: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Justin Henry, Jane Alexander, Howard Duff, JoBeth Williams

Synopsis: Robert Benton's Oscar-winning adaptation of Avery Corman's bestseller takes on contemporary problems of divorce and shifting gender roles, as a jilted husband learns how to be a nurturing father. Manhattan housewife Joanna Kramer (Meryl Streep) walks out on her workaholic ad man husband Ted (Dustin Hoffman Read More

Battered

Actors: Karen Grassle, LeVar Burton, Mike Farrell, Chip Fields, Joan Blondell

Synopsis: Battered concentrates upon three female victims of spousal abuse. Chip Fields is the new wife of struggling young Levar Burton. Joan Blondell is the alcoholic middle-aged spouse of the equally bibilous Howard Duff. And Karen Grassle (who cowrote the screenplay) is married to Ivy leaguer Mike Farrell Read More

A Wedding

Actors: Carol Burnett, Paul Dooley, Mia Farrow, Lillian Gish, Amy Stryker, Howard Duff, Geraldine Chaplin, Dennis Christopher

Synopsis: Robert Altman's over-frenetic satire on American marriage rituals and hypocrisy concerns the upper-crust marriage between Dino Corelli (Desi Arnaz Jr.) and Muffin Brenner (Amy Stryker). As the film begins, a senile bishop forgets the lines to the wedding ceremony and Nettie Sloan (the groom's Read More

Ski Lift to Death

Actors: Suzy Chaffee, Clu Gulager, Veronica Hamel, Don Johnson, Deborah Raffin

Synopsis: The most surprising aspect of the made-for-TV Ski Lift to Death is that it wasn't produced by Irwin Allen. Two ski-lift gondolas derail, hanging perilously close to destruction. Among the passengers are a former gangster and the hit man assigned to kill him. Also on board are a pair of champion Read More

A Woman Accused

Actors: Chad Everett, Barbara Hershey, Howard Duff, Anthony Zerbe, Diana Scarwid

Synopsis: In the Glitter Palace was the first made-for-TV movie in which lesbianism was a crucial plot factor. Chad Everett stars as a defense lawyer and erstwhile detective, whose gay client is Barbara Hershey. She is on trial for murdering her slimy blackmailer (played by that master of sliminess, Anthony Zerbe Read More

The Late Show

Actors: Art Carney, Lily Tomlin, Bill Macy, Eugene Roche, Joanna Cassidy

Synopsis: Even though he barely makes enough money to cover his expenses and finds divorce cases (his bread and butter) unsavory, aging detective Ira Wells (Art Carney) is determined to stay active and to retain some amount of self-respect. When his partner Harry Regan (Howard Duff) is killed while on Read More

The Rockford Files: There's One in Every Port

Synopsis: Jim (James Garner) is summoned to the bedside of his old friend Eddie Marks (Howard Duff), who claims to be dying and desperate need of money for his medical treatment. Eddie begs Jim to get him access to high-stakes poker game presided over by Blast Gillette (George Memmoli) in order to acquire Read More

The Streets of San Francisco: Dead or Alive

Synopsis: With this episode, Richard Hatch "officially" becomes a series regular in the role of Dan Robbins, the brash new partner of veteran SFPD homicide detective Mike Stone (Karl Malden). The case at hand involves Larry Dobbs (Howard Duff), the wealthy father of a girl who has been raped and murdered. Read More

Tight as a Drum

Synopsis: This mystery is set at a military school where a young cadet goes on a terrifying rampage after he learns that his father, a crime lord, has been killed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Shaft: Hit and Run

Synopsis: In this theatrically released episode from the TV series based on the popular feature film, Shaft, the tough New York detective must use all of his experience to solve the case and bring the crooks to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Snatched

Synopsis: In this made-for-television crime drama a trio of kidnapped wives struggle with their ordeal. Real trouble begins when one of their wealthy husbands refuses to pay the ransom and one of the wives goes into insulin shock. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

$ (Dollars)

Actors: Warren Beatty, Goldie Hawn, Gert Fröbe, Robert Webber, Scott Brady

Synopsis: Originally billed as merely $, Dollars stars top box office draws Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn. Beatty plays a security whiz, employed in Hamburg, Germany. He devises a clever method of robbing the secret bank vaults of notorious criminals, reasoning that the crooks will never turn to the cops. Read More

In Search of America

Actors: Vera Miles, Carl Betz, Jeff Bridges, Ruth McDevitt, Renne Jarrett

Synopsis: The producers of In Search of America never declared outright that the made-for-TV film was intended as a series pilot, but there sure are plenty of loose plot ends. Carl Betz and Vera Miles play the parents of shaggy-haired college dropout Jeff Bridges. At the boy's suggestion, Betz and Miles Read More

A Little Game

Synopsis: 13-year-old Robert Mueller (Mark Gruner) is obsessed with guns and has a morbid fascination with death. He is also deeply resentful over the fact that his widowed mother Elaine (Diane Baker) has married Paul Hamilton (Ed Nelson). Despite all this, Elaine could never believe that her darling boy Read More

Murder One

Actors: Diane Baker, Howard Duff, Robert Conrad

Synopsis: Murder One was the pilot film for the Jack Webb-produced TV series The D.A. Howard Duff plays the title role, with Robert Conrad his able-bodied deputy. The indictment they must prepare for the Grand Jury is that of nurse Diane Baker. Several of Baker's husbands and relatives have met untimely Read More

Panic in the City

Actors: Howard Duff, Linda Cristal, Stephen McNally, Nehemiah Persoff

Synopsis: A murder investigation uncovers a plot that could destroy the world as we know it in this thriller. When a scientist doing research on nuclear weapons is murdered during a hospital stay, federal investigator Dave Pomeroy (Howard Duff) is called in to find out who killed him and why. With the help Read More

Deadly August

Combat!: Missing in Action

Synopsis: Hanley (Rick Jason) is ordered to take three of his men on a mission into German territory to rescue Hoby Jabko (Howard Duff), a commander of the 465th Bombing Wing. Forced to parachute out of his crippled plane, the wounded Jabko is being hidden in a French farmhouse by the Resistance. Though Read More

Boys' Night Out

Actors: Kim Novak, James Garner, Tony Randall, Howard Duff, Janet Blair

Synopsis: In this squeaky clean sex comedy (the sort that could only have been made in the early 1960s), Kathy (Kim Novak) is a sociology student preparing her doctoral thesis, "Adolescent Sexual Fantasies in the Adult Suburban Male." She poses as a call girl to gain perspective on the sexual attitudes and Read More

War Gods of Babylon

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: The Tender Poisoner

Actors: Howard Duff, Dan Dailey, Jan Sterling, Bettye Ackerman

Synopsis: Corporate executive Peter Harding (Howard Duff) makes it his mission in life to save his friend Philip Bartel (Dan Dailey) from financial ruin. Not content with this, Harding hopes to save the philandering Bartel's soul as well. Aware that Bartel is cheating on his wife, Beatrice (Jan Sterling) Read More

The Twilight Zone: A World of Difference

Actors: Howard Duff, Frank Maxwell, Eileen Ryan, David White, Gail Kobe

Synopsis: While sitting in his office and discussing business matters with his secretary, Arthur Curtis (Howard Duff) is suddenly interrupted by a shout of "Cut!" Looking up from his desk, Arthur finds that the wall of his office has disappeared, and in its place is a movie camera crew and director (Robert Cornthwaithe Read More

Bonanza: Enter Mark Twain

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Howard Duff

Synopsis: Howard Duff guest-stars as Sam Clemens, who in the days before his fame and fortune as "Mark Twain" could be found working as a reporter on the Virginia City Enterprise. The Cartwrights come to Clemens' assistance when the young journalist endeavors to expose an illegal collusion between Judge Read More

Sierra Stranger

Actors: Howard Duff, Gloria McGhee, Dick Foran, John Hoyt, Barton MacLane

Synopsis: Shortly before committing himself to the TV sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve, Howard Duff starred in the dust-caked western Sierra Stranger. After rescuing Sonny Grover (Ed Kemmer) from a brutal beating, well-meaning Jess Collins (Duff) discovers that Sonny is the town no-good. The far-from-grateful Read More

While the City Sleeps

Actors: Dana Andrews, Ida Lupino, Sally Forrest, Rhonda Fleming, Thomas Mitchell, George Sanders, Vincent Price

Synopsis: When media mogul Amos Kyne (Robert Warwick) dies, his business, which includes a major newspaper, a television station, and a wire news service, is turned over to his sole heir, his foppish, ne'er do well son (Vincent Price). The younger Kyne has no knowledge of how to run the company his father Read More

The Broken Star

Actors: Howard Duff, Lita Baron, Henry Calvin, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: Director Lesley Selander, a western specialist with humble ambitions whose work has fostered a minor cult, was the man behind the megaphone in Broken Star. Bill Williams stars as a deputy sheriff who encounters stiff resistance when he investigates the murder of a Mexican. Only dance hall girl Lita Baron Read More

Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado

Actors: Howard Duff, Victor Jory, Maggie Mahoney, Angela Stevens, David Orrick

Synopsis: Blackjack Ketchum, the real-life gunslinger who'd previously been a peripheral character in several westerns, is herein afforded his own feature-length "vehicle". Howard Duff plays the title role, who at the beginning of the film is doing his best to live down his reputation. This proves Read More

Flame of the Islands

Actors: Yvonne De Carlo, Howard Duff, Zachary Scott, Kurt Kasznar, Barbara O'Neil

Synopsis: Yvonne de Carlo is at her most smokily exotic in the Republic "special" Flame of the Islands. Filmed on location in the Bahamas, the story focuses on Rosalind Dee (Ms. DeCarlo), a cabaret singer who aspires to enter High Society. To this end, she comes into possession of a great deal of money Read More

Women's Prison

Actors: Ida Lupino, Jan Sterling, Cleo Moore, Audrey Totter, Phyllis Thaxter

Synopsis: With the exception of the vastly superior Caged, Columbia's Women's Prison was the quintessential "babes behind bars" drama of the 1950s. Ida Lupino (who else?) stars as Amelia VanZant, the sadistic supervisor of the titular prison. Unable to establish any sort of relationship with a man, Amelia Read More

The Yellow Mountain

Actors: Lex Barker, Mala Powers, Howard Duff, William Demarest, John McIntire

Synopsis: Lex Barker trades his Tarzan loincloth for buckskins in the Universal western Yellow Mountain. Barker stars as gold prospector Andy Martin, who has a serious falling out with his partner Pete Menlo (Howard Duff) over the affections of pretty Nevada Wray (Mala Powers). But Andy and Pete patch up Read More

Private Hell 36

Actors: Ida Lupino, Steve Cochran, Howard Duff, Dean Jagger, Dorothy Malone

Synopsis: Private Hell 36 was one of the last feature-length efforts by Filmmakers, a company created by producer Collier Young and his then-wife Ida Lupino. Young and Lupino also wrote the script for this grim crime melodrama, wherein two detectives Cal Bruner (Steve Cochran) and Jack Farnham (Howard Duff Lupino Read More

Tanganyika

Actors: Van Heflin, Ruth Roman, Howard Duff, Jeff Morrow, Noreen Corcoran, Gregory Marshall

Synopsis: Despite its title, Tanganyika was largely filmed in the wilds of Universal City. Set in 1900, the film stars Van Heflin as safari guide John Gale, hired to launch a manhunt for the murderous Abel McCracken (Jeff Morrow). Deep in the territory controlled by the Nukumbi tribe, McCracken has been Read More

Jennifer

Synopsis: In this drama, a young woman is hired to take care of an eerie old mansion. There she finds herself entangled with an enigmatic murderer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Spaceways

Actors: Howard Duff, Eva Bartok, Alan Wheatley, Philip Leaver, Michael Medwin

Synopsis: Adapted from the popular British radio serial of the same name, Spaceways is a dual-market science fiction effort, co-financed by England's Hammer Films and America's Lippert Studios. American rocket scientist Stephen Mitchell (Howard Duff) works day and night to realize his goal of sending the Read More

Roar of the Crowd

Actors: Howard Duff, Helene Stanley, Dave Willock, Louise Arthur, Minor Watson

Synopsis: Attractively filmed in Cinecolor, Roar of the Crowd is a better-than-average actioner from Allied Artists. Howard Duff plays Johnny Tracy, scion of a racecar-driving family. Johnny wants a crack at the Indianapolis 500 above all else, but his girl friend Marcy Parker (Helene Stanley) wants him to Read More

Models, Inc.

Actors: Howard Duff, Coleen Gray, John Howard, Marjorie Reynolds, Louis Jean Heydt

Synopsis: The direction of Reginald LeBorg and the cinematography of Stanley Cortez go a long way to dissipate the essential tawdriness of Models, Inc. Colleen Gray stars as seductive Rusty Farraday, who maneuvers model-agency owner John Stafford (John Howard) into marriage. Once the matrimonial knot has Read More

Steel Town

Actors: Ann Sheridan, John Lund, Howard Duff, William Harrigan, James Best, Eileen Crowe

Synopsis: Steel Town top-bills Ann Sheridan, but the bulk of the story is carried by John Lund. Cast as Steve Kostane, the nephew of a steel-plant proprietor, Lund must prove his value to by learning the business from the ground up as a steelworker. It isn't easy: throughout the film, Kostane is weighed Read More

The Lady from Texas

Actors: Howard Duff, Mona Freeman, Josephine Hull, Gene Lockhart, Craig Stevens

Synopsis: Mona Freeman plays Bonnie Lee, who is--surprise!--not the Lady from Texas in this well-constructed Universal western. A lowly kitchen helper at a large ranch, Bonnie seeks the aid of self-styled do-gooder Dan Mason (Howard Duff). It seems that Bonnie's elderly friend Miss Birdie (Josephine Hull) Read More

Spy Hunt

Actors: Howard Duff, Märta Torén, Phillip Friend, Robert Douglas, Philip Dorn

Synopsis: Roger Quain (Howard Duff) arrives in Europe to look after the welfare of two zoo-bound black panthers. Catherine Ulven (Marta Toren), a secret agent for an unnamed country, decides to smuggle a valuable piece of film to America by hiding it in the collar of one of the big cats. If it were this Read More

Shakedown

Actors: Howard Duff, Brian Donlevy, Peggy Dow, Lawrence Tierney, Bruce Bennett

Synopsis: Two-bit photographer Howard Duff wins a big newspaper assignment by romancing his lady boss (Peggy Dow). Duff is sent to take a picture of criminal Brian Donlevy, who doesn't like to be captured on celluloid. Donlevy takes a liking to Duff and asks him to frame one of the crook's less cooperative Read More

Red Canyon

Actors: Ann Blyth, Howard Duff, George Brent, Edgar Buchanan, John McIntire

Synopsis: Red Canyon was one of several medium-budget, Technicolor westerns turned out by Universal-International between 1949 and 1959. Howard Duff plays wandering cowpoke Lin Sloane, who spends most of the film trying to capture a fabled wild stallion. While thus occupied, he finds time to romance Lucy Read More

Johnny Stool Pigeon

Actors: Howard Duff, Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea, John McIntire

Synopsis: In Johnny Stool Pigeon, the title character's name is really Johnny Evans (Dan Duryea). Evans is an imprisoned crook whose wife died as a result of a vicious narcotics ring. Federal agent Howard Duff works out a deal with Evans, who agrees to help the agent infiltrate the gang. After making Read More

Woman in Hiding

Actors: Ida Lupino, Howard Duff, Stephen McNally, John Litel, Taylor Holmes

Synopsis: So far as the rest of the world is concerned, Deborah Chandler Clark (Ida Lupino) is dead, killed in a freak auto accident. But Deborah is alive, if not too well. Having discovered a horrible truth about her new husband (Stephen McNally), Deborah had intended to commit suicide. Now she is the Read More

Calamity Jane and Sam Bass

Actors: Yvonne De Carlo, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Willard Parker, Norman Lloyd

Synopsis: For various reasons, the 1949 western Calamity Jane and Sam Bass has a rather poor reputation amongst film buffs. Many observers feel that stars Yvonne de Carlo and Howard Duff merely go through the motions, while others complain that the usually dependable Universal-International production Read More

Illegal Entry

Actors: Howard Duff, Märta Torén, George Brent, Gar Moore, Tom Tully

Synopsis: Long before he became producer/director of The Tonight Show, Fred DeCordova helmed the Universal meller Illegal Entry. Howard Duff, who later worked with DeCordova on the TV series Mr. Adams and Eve, stars as Bert Powers, an undercover agent for the U.S. Department of Immigration. While attempting Read More

Naked City

Actors: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor, Ted de Corsia

Synopsis: Young model Jean Dexter is knocked unconscious and drowned in her own bathtub in her Manhattan apartment, and a lot of jewelry that she supposedly owned is missing. The Naked City is actually about six days in the life of New York City that coincide with the murder and the subsequent investigation Read More

All My Sons

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Burt Lancaster, Mady Christians, Howard Duff, Louisa Horton, Frank Conroy

Synopsis: Based on the play by Arthur Miller, All My Sons is a drama of man's duty to man that retains a potent impact. Edward G. Robinson plays a manufacturer of parts for World War II airplanes who lives a full, satisfied life in a small town. But his idyll is shattered by the arrival of the fiancée of Read More

Brute Force

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford, Yvonne De Carlo, Ann Blyth

Synopsis: Burt Lancaster had one of his first starring roles in this hard-hitting prison drama. Capt. Munsey (Hume Cronyn) is a cruel, corrupt prison guard who has his own less-than-ethical ways of dealing with inmates, enough so that Joe Collins (Lancaster) -- the toughest inmate in the cell block -- has Read More