William GarganFilmography

The Rawhide Years

Actors: Tony Curtis, Colleen Miller, Arthur Kennedy

Synopsis: In this western, an adventurous gambler goes on the lam when he is falsely accused of a riverboat killing. He hides out for three years before returning to prove his innocence, and to find the girl he loves. Unfortunately, the girl is involved with a gambler, the ringleader of the gang responsible Read More

Miracle in the Rain

Actors: Jane Wyman, Van Johnson, Eileen Heckart, Fred Clark, Peggie Castle

Synopsis: The fate that brings lovers together can easily tear them apart as can be seen in this sentimental tragedy that centers on an ordinary-looking secretary's (Jane Wyman) lonely life. Other than working and spending some free time with a spinster (Eileen Heckart), who is her best friend, the woman Read More

Man on the Ledge

Synopsis: Man on the Ledge is a 60-minute TV remake of the 1951 theatrical film Fourteen Hours. Cameron Mitchell (playing the role originated in the film by Richard Basehart) stars as a disconsolate young man who steps out onto a skyscraper ledge, intending to jump to his death. The many people who try to Read More

Martin Kane, Private Eye: Season 02

Actors: William Gargan

Dynamite

Actors: William Gargan, Virginia Welles, Richard Crane, Irving Bacon, Mary Newton

Synopsis: Dynamite is a 1949 effort from the Pine-Thomas production mill. William Gargan and Richard Crane star as Gunner and Johnny, troubleshooters for dynamite contractor Hard Rock Mason Frank Ferguson. Though forced to work as a team on the job, Gunner and Johnny fall out when romance enters the picture Read More

Martin Kane, Private Eye: Season 01

Actors: William Gargan

The Argyle Secrets

Actors: William Gargan, Marjorie Lord, Ralph Byrd, Jack Reitzen, John Banner

Synopsis: Only faintly related to the old stage play The Argyle Case, The Argyle Secrets is based on a half-hour radio program originally heard on CBS' Suspense. In the immediate postwar years, several above-suspicion Americans attempt to hide their past collaborations with the Nazis. Reporter William Gargan Read More

Waterfront at Midnight

Actors: William Gargan, Mary Beth Hughes, Richard Travis, Richard Crane, Cheryl Walker

Synopsis: The Pine-Thomas action/adventure assembly line put together another winner with Waterfront at Midnight. Hoping to put the cuffs on criminal mastermind Socks Barstow (Richard Travis), detective Mike Hanrohan (William Gargan) is stymied by the fact that his younger brother Denny (Richard Crane) has Read More

Hot Cargo

Actors: William Gargan, Jean Rogers, Phillip Reed, Larry Young, Harry Cording

Synopsis: In this drama two wandering WW II vets visit the family of a former buddy who had been killed in action. Finding the family nearly destitute and their trucking business on the brink of ruin, the friends decide to stay and help them fight the rival companies behind the mayhem. Unfortunately, the Read More

Behind Green Lights

Actors: Carole Landis, William Gargan, Richard Crane, Mary Anderson, John Ireland

Synopsis: In this police drama, a busy precinct is thrown into chaos when the murdered corpse of a local detective is found in an abandoned car. Now the press is demanding to learn details. Meanwhile, an ambitious officer finds himself sorely tempted to use dishonest means to advance his political career. Read More

Swell Guy

Actors: Sonny Tufts, Ann Blyth, Ruth Warrick, William Gargan, Thomas Gomez, John Litel, Millard Mitchell

Synopsis: One of many films of the late 1940s examining the impact of WWII on post-war domestic life in the U.S., The Swell Guy is the story of an unprincipled war correspondent, Jim Duncan (Sonny Tufts). Jim has returned to his hometown following the war and tries to milk his wartime status and pose as a Read More

Strange Impersonation

Synopsis: Nora Goodrich (Brenda Marshall) is a dedicated research scientist who is very close to a breakthrough in her field of anesthetics. She allows herself to be used as the subject of an experiment, and becomes the victim of sabotage by her jealous assistant (Hillary Brooke), who is her rival for the Read More

Night Editor

Actors: William Gargan, Janis Carter, Jeff Donnell, Coulter Irwin, Charles D. Brown

Synopsis: Inspired by the radio program of the same name, Night Editor features Charles D. Brown as the editor of the New York Star. In flashback, the editor tells the tale of police lieutenant William Gargan, who forsakes his happy home life for the love of no-good society dame Janis Carter. Both Gargan Read More

Murder in the Music Hall

Actors: Vera Ralston, William Marshall, Helen Walker, Nancy Kelly, William Gargan

Synopsis: Most of this Republic B-plus mystery yarn is set in a penthouse, next door to a music hall where a strange song-and-dance extravaganza is being staged. This production incorporates several ice-skating sequences--a good excuse as any for the presence of leading lady Vera Hruba Ralston, Republic's Read More

Rendezvous 24

Actors: William Gargan, Pat O'Moore, David Leonard, Maria Palmer, John Bleifer

Synopsis: Two secret agents must somehow prevent a group of post WW II Nazis hiding in the Hartz mountains from successfully making an atomic bomb as they plan to use the weapon on large Allied cities to help the Germans again rise to power. The two good agents find themselves entangled with beautiful Read More

Till the End of Time

Actors: Dorothy McGuire, Guy Madison, Robert Mitchum, Bill Williams, Tom Tully

Synopsis: Sometimes dismissed as a derivation of Samuel Goldwyn's The Best Years of Our Lives, RKO Radio's superb Till the End of Time was actually based on Niven Busch's novel They Dream of Home, and was completed and released several months before the Goldwyn film. The story concentrates on three Read More

Song of the Sarong

Actors: Nancy Kelly, William Gargan, Eddie Quillan, Fuzzy Knight, George Dolenz

Synopsis: In this tuneful comedy adventure, a free-spirited fellow with a keen eye for easy money is assigned to sail to a remote island and grab a great fortune in pearls which happen to be guarded by some very fearsome natives who are ruled by a sensuous dancing woman. Later the guards capture the Read More

Follow That Woman

Actors: William Gargan, Nancy Kelly, Regis Toomey, Don Costello

Synopsis: Follow That Woman is a tad more light-hearted than most Pine-Thomas adventure efforts. William Gargan plays private eye Sam Boone, who is about to be inducted into the Army. Before donning uniform, Boone attempts to solve a murder, but Uncle Sam is a little faster than he is. Still on the Read More

One Exciting Night

Actors: William Gargan, Ann Savage, Leo Gorcey, Don Beddoe

Synopsis: In this drama, two competing reporters get involved in a mystery when they find a gangster's corpse in a wax museum. As no one has reported the death, the two rivals begin racing to get the scoop. Unfortunately the uncooperative corpse keeps disappearing. Also looking for the body is the killer Read More

The Bells of St. Mary's

Actors: Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman, Henry Travers, Ruth Donnelly, William Gargan, Rhys Williams

Synopsis: In this follow-up to director Leo McCarey's Going My Way (1944), Bing Crosby repeats his Oscar-winning characterization of happy-go-lucky priest Father O'Malley. The good father is sent to help out financially strapped St. Mary's Academy, a parochial school presided over by lovely nun Sister Read More

She Gets Her Man

Synopsis: Joan Davis, the daughter of a famed woman detective, has inherited none of her mother's deductive prowess. Nonetheless, Joan teams with patrolman Leon Errol to solve a series of blowgun murders. The two erstwhile Sherlocks track down the alleged murder weapon to a theatre, where it is being used Read More

Midnight Manhunt

Synopsis: William C. Thomas' Midnight Manhunt begins with the shooting death of a master criminal who expires in a wax museum. Reporter Sue Gallagher (Ann Savage) is first on the scene, but she is soon in competition with her boyfriend, fellow reporter Pete Willis (William Gargan). The killer traps Sue in Read More

The Canterville Ghost

Actors: Charles Laughton, Robert Young, Margaret O'Brien, William Gargan, Peter Lawford, Una O'Connor, Reginald Owen

Synopsis: The whimsical Oscar Wilde fantasy yarn The Canterville Ghost is updated to WW2 in this economical but attractively produced MGM filmization. Charles Laughton plays Sir Simon de Canterville, a feckless 17th century British aristocrat who, after proving himself a coward on the field of honor, is Read More

You Can't Do without Love

Synopsis: In this musical comedy, an aspiring singer is desperate to audition before a producer. She finally gets an opportunity during a benefit concert. Mayhem ensues, when crooks kidnap the producer. The ransom is a rare Rembrandt. The plucky singer, not only saves the producer, she also wows the Read More

No Place for a Lady

Actors: William Gargan, Margaret Lindsay, Phyllis Brooks, Dick Purcell, Jerome Cowan

Synopsis: William Gargan and Margaret Lindsay, stars of Columbia's "Ellery Queen" series, were reunited for the like-minded comedy/mystery No Place for a Lady. Gargan plays private eye Jess Arno, while Lindsay is Jess' ever-faithful, long-suffering fiancee June Terry. The plot gets under way when a valuable Read More

Swing Fever

Actors: Marilyn Maxwell, William Gargan, Lena Horne, Nat Pendleton

Synopsis: In most of his movie vehicles, bandleader Kay Kyser played a bandleader named Kay Kyser. In Swing Fever, however, Kyser is cast as aspiring songwriter Lowell Blackford. Though he isn't too successful at peddling his songs, Blackford does have one unique talent: The ability to hypnotize boxer Read More

Harrigan's Kid

Actors: Frank Craven, William Gargan, J. Carrol Naish, Jay Ward

Synopsis: The world of horse racing provides the framework for this drama. The story centers around a young aspiring jockey who becomes the student of a corrupt ex-jock, who not only teaches him how to race, he teaches him the subtleties of cheating. The student ends up teaching the teacher a thing or two Read More

The Mayor of 44th Street

Actors: George Murphy, Anne Shirley, William Gargan, Richard Barthelmess, Joan Merrill

Synopsis: In this drama, an ex-vaudevillian dancer opens up a dance band agency and help street kids at the same time by hiring them to help out. Unfortunately, the local gang of hood's leader resists his attempts. More trouble ensues when the dancer helps a convict gain parole by hiring him. It later turns Read More

Destination Unknown

Actors: William Gargan, Irene Hervey, Sam Levene, Turhan Bey, Keye Luke

Synopsis: No relation to the 1933 film of the same name, the 1942 Universal programmer Destination Unknown stars William Gargan as a pilot for General Chennault's Flying Tigers. As such, Gargan is on hand to witness Japanese skullduggery in China, long before Pearl Harbor. When a cache of jewels, intended Read More

Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen

Actors: William Gargan, Margaret Lindsay, Charles Grapewin, Gale Sondergaard, Gilbert Roland

Synopsis: Columbia's Ellery Queen series called it quits with the timely 1942 entry Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen. The eponymous enemy agents are on the lookout for a cache of precious diamonds, which are being smuggled from Holland to the United States by way of Egypt. The gems are hidden in a mummy case Read More

Miss Annie Rooney

Actors: Shirley Temple, William Gargan, Guy Kibbee, Dickie Moore, Peggy Ryan

Synopsis: 14-year-old Shirley Temple receives her first on-screen kiss in this innocuous romantic comedy. Temple is cast as the titular Annie Rooney, the starry-eyed, idealistic daughter of erstwhile --and impoverished--inventor Tim Rooney (William Gargan). Annie is swept off her feet by intellectual Read More

A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen

Synopsis: This entry in the detective series follows Queen as he investigates the case of a woman's missing husband, a banker. As he searches, he must cope with several murders and a burlesque queen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Bombay Clipper

Actors: William Gargan, Irene Hervey, Charles Lang, Maria Montez, Lloyd Corrigan

Synopsis: A "B" picture with "A" aspirations, Bombay Clipper mostly takes place on a flight from India to San Francisco. Someone has absconded with $4,000,000 worth of diamonds, and that someone may very well be a passenger on the Bombay Clipper. International news correspondent Jim (William Gargan) hopes Read More

A Close Call for Ellery Queen

Actors: William Gargan, Margaret Lindsay, Charles Grapewin, Ralph Morgan, Kay Linaker

Synopsis: William Gargan takes over from Ralph Bellamy as the title character in Columbia's A Close Call for Ellery Queen. Unlike Bellamy, who played the role of Ellery Queen for laughs, Gargan adopts a more sober approach, much to the overall benefit of the film. The story takes place at the lavish country Read More

Who Done It?

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Patric Knowles, William Gargan, Louise Allbritton

Synopsis: With only a minimal romantic subplot and no music whatsoever, Who Done It? is pure, undiluted Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, and a good mystery on its own to boot. Bud and Lou star as Chick Larkin and Mervyn Milgrim, a pair of soda jerks who aspire to become radio detective-show writers (their Read More

Keep 'em Flying

Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Martha Raye, Carol Bruce, Dick Foran, William Gargan

Synopsis: Having joined the army in Buck Privates and the navy in In the Navy, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello signed up with Air Force in Keep 'Em Flying. Abbott and Costello play Blackie and Heathcliff, carnival workers who are fired from their jobs along with their pal, reckless stunt pilot Jinx Roberts (Dick Foran Read More

I Wake Up Screaming

Actors: Betty Grable, Victor Mature, Carole Landis, Laird Cregar, William Gargan, Elisha Cook, Jr.

Synopsis: Well-known New York sports promoter Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature) is the prime suspect in the murder of Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis), a successful model and would-be actress. Questioned relentlessly by the police, and particularly by hulking detective squad commander Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar) Read More

Flying Cadets

Actors: William Gargan, Edmund Lowe, Frankie Thomas

Synopsis: Flying Cadets is basically a vehicle for William Gargan and Edmund Lowe, doing a Flagg-and-Quirt act as a pair of eternally bickering ex-WWI pilots. The "official" plot is carried along by Frank Albertson as Bob Ames, a young airplane fancier who hopes to create a school for aspiring aviators. He Read More

Sealed Lips

Actors: William Gargan, June Clyde, John Litel, Anne Nagel, Mary Gordon

Synopsis: There's something very odd about Romano (John Litel), a notorious gangster serving time in the federal pen. For one thing, Romano doesn't sound much like himself. For another, he always seems to be hiding something. Detective Lee (William Gargan) suspects that something's amiss, and he's right Read More

Cheers for Miss Bishop

Actors: Martha Scott, William Gargan, Edmund Gwenn, Sterling Holloway, Sidney Blackmer

Synopsis: Something of a distaff Mr. Chips, schoolteacher Ella Bishop (Martha Scott) devotes her life to her work, ageing 50 years (from 19 to 69) in the course of the film. At a testimonial dinner on the occasion of her retirement, Miss Bishop's former students wonder why their beloved teacher never Read More

Stardust

Actors: Linda Darnell, John Payne, Roland Young, Charlotte Greenwood, William Gargan

Synopsis: 17-year-old Linda Darnell received her first big break in the appropriately titled 20th Century-Fox production Star Dust. Discovered by talent scout Thomas Brooke (Roland Young), teenager Carolyn Sayre (Darnell) is brought to Hollywood, where she is turned down for a contract because she is Read More

They Knew What They Wanted

Actors: Carole Lombard, Charles Laughton, William Gargan, Harry Carey, Frank Fay

Synopsis: Like its predecessors, this third cinema version of Sidney Hoiward's Pulitzer Prize-winning play They Knew What They Wanted suffers from Hollywood censorship. Still, this story of the grim consequence of a misbegotten mail-order marriage has much to offer. Carole Lombard is superb as the waitress Read More

Isle of Destiny

Actors: William Gargan, Wallace Ford, June Lang, Gilbert Roland, Etienne Girardot

Synopsis: Originally slated for released through Grand National Pictures, Isle of Destiny was redirected to RKO Radio when Grand National folded in late 1939. June Lang stars as Virginia Allerton, a famous aviatrix who crashlands in a remote South Sea Island (a la Amelia Erhardt!) and is promptly kidnapped Read More

Turnabout

Actors: Adolphe Menjou, Carole Landis, John Hubbard, William Gargan, Veree Teasdale

Synopsis: One of several "naughty" screwball comedies based on the works of Thorne Smith (of Topper fame), Hal Roach's Turnabout stars Carole Landis and John Hubbard as unhappily married couple Sally and Tim Willows. Bored with her humdrum existence, Sally spends most of her time figuring out ways of Read More

Sporting Blood

Actors: Robert Young, Maureen O'Sullivan, William Gargan, Lynne Carver

Synopsis: Directed in 1940 by S. Sylva Simon, Sporting Blood stars Robert Young as racing stable owner Myles Vanders. Shortly after traveling back to his ramshackle family estate in Virginia, he stirs up a long-term family rivalry with Davis Lockwood (Lewis Stone), who runs a neighboring stable. Vanders Read More

Double Alibi

Actors: Wayne Morris, Margaret Lindsay, William Gargan, Roscoe Karns, Robert Emmett Keane

Synopsis: Throughout most of the running time of Universal's Double Alibi, it looks as though ostensible hero Stephen Wayne (Wayne Morris) really is guilty of three murders. Even so, girl reporter Sue Carey (Margaret Lindsay) falls in love with Wayne, despite the fact that she also thinks he's guilty. This Read More

Within the Law

Actors: Ruth Hussey, Tom Neal, Paul Kelly, William Gargan, Paul Cavanagh

Synopsis: In this crime drama, a thieving employee sticks her stolen goods into the locker of a co-worker and causes all sorts of trouble. The stolen items are found in the locker of a store clerk who ends up imprisoned. The store owner's son knows that she is innocent, but he says nothing. The enraged Read More

Three Sons

Actors: Edward Ellis, William Gargan, Kent Taylor, J. Edward Bromberg, Katherine Alexander

Synopsis: In this drama, a department store owner is deeply saddened to learn that none of his grown sons are interested in taking over the business he has worked so hard to build. To coerce them, he even tries giving them shares of company stock. In the end, only the youngest son shows any interest at all. Read More

Broadway Serenade

Actors: Jeanette MacDonald, Lew Ayres, Ian Hunter, Frank Morgan, Wally Vernon

Synopsis: Jeanette MacDonald and Lew Ayres make strange bedfellows in the overproduced MGM musical Broadway Serenade. She plays aspiring singer Mary Hale, and he plays her husband, struggling songwriter James Geoffrey Seymour. The couple's vaudeville act breaks up when Mary is hired for a big-time Broadway Read More

Women in the Wind

Actors: Kay Francis, William Gargan, Victor Jory, "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom, Eddie Foy, Jr.

Synopsis: Kay Francis was anxious to complete her Warner Bros. contract when she agreed to appear in this lower-berth drama. Francis plays a financially strapped aviatrix who enters an air race to pay for her brother's operation. Friendly mechanic William Gargan offers to lend Francis his plane, but Read More

The Housekeeper's Daughter

Actors: Joan Bennett, Adolphe Menjou, John Hubbard, William Gargan, George E. Stone

Synopsis: In this comedy, a gangster's moll gets tired of the mob scene and returns to her mother's house. Her mom is a wealthy family's housekeeper. One of the rich children dreams of being a reporter; he is eager to get his first big scoop. He gets his chance when he stumbles upon a series of clues to a Read More

The House of Fear

Actors: William Gargan, Irene Hervey, Dorothy Arnold, Alan Dinehart, Harvey Stephens

Synopsis: A remake of Paul Leni's The Last Warning (1929), this "Crime Club" series entry once again presents the spectacle of an actor murdered in mid-performance and in front of a sellout crowd. This time the unfortunate thespian is John Wofford (Don Douglas), whose body subsequently disappears. To solve Read More

Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President

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

The Adventures of Jane Arden

Actors: William Gargan, Rosella Towne, James Stephenson, Benny Rubin

Synopsis: This minor but entertaining screen version of the Monte Barrett-Russell E. Ross comic strip The Adventures of Jane Arden stars Warner contractee Rosella Towne as the title character. Dapper villain Dr. Vanders (James Stephenson) has been using beautiful, gullible young women as pawns in a clever Read More

The Crowd Roars

Actors: Robert Taylor, Edward Arnold, Frank Morgan, Maureen O'Sullivan, William Gargan

Synopsis: Not a remake of the 1932 James Cagney vehicle of the same name, The Crowd Roars is set in the sweat-stained world of professional boxing. Handy with his fists, young Tommy McCoy (Robert Taylor) is virtually pushed into the ring by his alcoholic father Brian (Frank Morgan). During his climb to the Read More

The Crime of Dr. Hallet

Synopsis: This medical melodrama, set in the moist Sumatran jungles, centers around bacteria research. To find a cure for red fever, a dreaded disease, a young doctor with a healthy Park Avenue clientele, leaves his practice and ventures into the jungle. The native doctors do not welcome his to Sumatra as Read More

The Devil's Party

Actors: Victor McLaglen, William Gargan, Paul Kelly, Beatrice Roberts, Frank Jenks

Synopsis: This melodrama chronicles the enduring friendship between four boys in New York's Hell's Kitchen. As boys, the made a pact that they would meet annually to renew their friendship. Trouble ensues when one of the boys accidently sets fire to a building. Another boy took the blame. He went to reform Read More

Personal Secretary

Actors: William Gargan, Joy Hodges, Andy Devine, Ruth Donnelly, Samuel S. Hinds

Synopsis: The rivalry between two columnists provides the basis of this drama. The most powerful of the two (patterned after columnist Walter Winchell) is notorious for presenting the most sensational murder trial suspects on his radio broadcasts and in his print columns; the arrogant fellow never hesitates Read More

Some Blondes Are Dangerous

Actors: Noah Beery, Jr., William Gargan, Dorothea Kent, Nan Grey, Roland Drew

Synopsis: Some Blondes are Dangerous is a remake of 1931's The Iron Man, using the same W. R. Burnett novel as its source. Noah Beery Jr. stars as Bud "Iron Man" Mason, a talented but rather dimwitted prizefighter. Against the advice of his crusty old manager George Regan (William Gargan), Mason dumps his Read More

She Asked for It

Actors: William Gargan, Orien Heyward, Vivienne Osborne, Richard Carle, Roland Drew

Synopsis: This "Thin Man" derivation stars William Gargan and Orien Heyward as Dwight and Penelope Stanford. A mystery writer, Dwight enjoys impersonating his fictional hero and solving mysteries on his own. Much to the discomfort of the cops, Dwight insists upon tackling the baffling murder of old man Read More

Reported Missing

Actors: William Gargan, Jean Rogers, Dick Purcell, Hobart Cavanaugh, Michael Fitzmaurice

Synopsis: In this thriller, an ex-pilot develops a useful new navigating device and decides to test it out. Unfortunately the test-run plane crashes as do all the other flights that use the device. Interestingly, all the crashes are followed by robberies of the dead passengers. The inventor pursues the Read More

Breezing Home

Actors: William Gargan, Binnie Barnes, Wendy Barrie, Raymond Walburn, Alma Kruger

Synopsis: Framed by the fast-paced world of horse racing, this romance centers upon the wealthy young owner of a racing stable who falls in love with a beautiful singer who has just been given Galaxy, a promising young horse, by one of her beaus. Galaxy is accompanied by a trainer, who is also in love with Read More

You Only Live Once

Actors: Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda, Barton MacLane, Jean Dixon, William Gargan

Synopsis: Archetypal depression-era stars Henry Fonda and Sylvia Sidney are felicitously teamed in Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once. Fonda plays an ex-convict who can't get a break on the "outside". He marries Sidney, who like her husband is one of life's losers. Framed on a murder rap, Fonda is forced to Read More

Wings over Honolulu

Actors: Wendy Barrie, Ray Milland, William Gargan, Kent Taylor

Synopsis: In this wartime drama, a young woman nearly comes unhinged when her husband, a Navy pilot, is transferred to Pearl Harbor on their wedding day. She goes with him. Once in Hawaii she is surprised to see her ex-boyfriend sailing about in an expensive yacht. Her husband becomes totally engrossed in Read More

Behind the Mike

Actors: William Gargan, Judith Barrett, Don Wilson, Sterling Holloway

Synopsis: Rivalry surfaces between radio producers as they fight for control of programs and sponsors in this lively comedy that features Jack Benny's radio announcer, Don Wilson. One of the producers has trouble because he tends to tell the sponsors exactly what he thinks, no holds barred. Fortunately Wilson Read More

Fury and the Woman

Actors: William Gargan, Molly Lamont, James McGrath, Reginald Hincks

Synopsis: In this romance, a new man comes to a logging camp and learns of a conspiracy with a competitor. Unbeknownst to the other lumber jacks, the new hand is actually the owner's son in disguise. He soon falls in love with the camp's lovely manager, his father's business partner. It is not an easy love Read More

You're a Sweetheart

Actors: Alice Faye, George Murphy, Ken Murray, Charles Winninger, Andy Devine

Synopsis: In this musical, the only one singer/dancer Alice Faye, made for Universal, a Broadway producer is in a quandary when he discovers that the opening of his newest big production coincides with that of a major charity event. He despairs that the show will close after opening night until an ingenious Read More

Flying Hostess

Actors: William Gargan, Judith Barrett, William Hall, Astrid Allwyn, Ella Logan

Synopsis: Flying Hostess stars Judith Allen as the title character, rookie airline stewardess Helen Brooks. William Gargan co-stars as Hal Cunningham, the tough-but-likeable man in charge of the stewardess training program. Helen proves she's stayed awake during classes when a pilot is knocked out by a Read More

Blackmailer

Actors: William Gargan, Florence Rice, H.B. Warner, Nana Bryant, George McKay

Synopsis: Amateur detective Peter Cornish (William Gargan) and dimwitted police inspector Killian (Paul Hurst) combine forces to track down a blackmailer. Cornish's interest in the case is more than professional: among those being blackmailed is pretty heiress Joan Rankin (Florence Rice). The case takes on Read More

Navy Born

Actors: William Gargan, Claire Dodd, Douglas Fowley, George Irving, Dorothy Tree

Synopsis: A naval officer gets more than he bargained for when he adopts a recently orphaned young boy, the son of his late best friends. Despite the resistance of the lad's surviving relatives, who worry that growing in the Navy will be hard on the boy, the officer loves and takes good care of the boy. At Read More

Alibi for Murder

Actors: William Gargan, Marguerite Churchill, Gene Morgan, John Gallaudet, Romaine Callender

Synopsis: Winchellesque radio commentator Perry Travis (William Gargan) fancies himself a brilliant amateur detective; the cops wish he'd just stick to his microphone and let them do the detecting. This proves impossible when a famed scientist is murdered in Perry's studio, right in the middle of an Read More

The Sky Parade

Actors: Jimmie Allen, William Gargan, Katherine de Mille, Kent Taylor, Grant Withers

Synopsis: In this airborne adventure, three pals from WW I team up to run a commercial airline. They have also been working on a new design for a plane and unbeknownst to them, enemy agents are watching them. Later a good-guy is assigned to stop the spies. During the exciting climax, the hero accomplishes Read More

Blackmailer

The Milky Way

Actors: Harold Lloyd, Adolphe Menjou, Veree Teasdale, Helen Mack, William Gargan

Synopsis: One of the funniest, most sharply paced comedies of the 1930s, and perhaps the best of all of Harold Lloyd's talkies, The Milky Way was based on the Broadway play by Lynn Root and Harry Clork. Lloyd plays Burleigh Sullivan, a mild-mannered milkman who intercedes one night when his sister Mae (Helen Mack Read More

Man Hunt

Actors: Marguerite Churchill, Ricardo Cortez, Maude Eburne, Don Barclay, William Gargan

Synopsis: The all-purpose title Man Hunt was trotted out for this 1936 Warner Bros. "B". Aging country newspaper editor Chic Sale is laughed off by the rest of his community for his tall tales. When an escaped Public Enemy (Ricardo Cortez) shows up in the vicinity, Sale decides to prove his worth by Read More

Black Fury

Actors: Paul Muni, Karen Morley, William Gargan, Barton MacLane, John Qualen

Synopsis: Like many 1930s Warner Bros. films, Black Fury drew its inspiration from the headlines. The story is adapted from a true-life incident from 1929, wherein a striking Pennsylvania coal miner was beaten to death by three company detectives; this served as the focus for Henry R. Irving's stage play Read More

A Night at the Ritz

Actors: William Gargan, Patricia Ellis, Allen Jenkins, Dorothy Tree, Erik Rhodes

Synopsis: There's nary a serious moment in the loopy Warner Bros. programmer A Night at the Ritz. William Gargan stars as Duke Regan, a hot-shot hotel publicity agent. Fired from several jobs, Duke is given one last chance by the Ritz-Carlton. Improvising quickly, he promotes his future brother-in-law Read More

Broadway Gondolier

Actors: Dick Powell, Joan Blondell, Adolphe Menjou, Louise Fazenda, William Gargan

Synopsis: A tuneful taxi driver secretly works to achieve his dream of becoming a radio singer in this musical comedy. One day he gives a radio station secretary a lift. She prattles on about a sponsor's new contest. The sponsor, a prominent cheese company, is looking for a singing gondolier to participate Read More

Bright Lights

Actors: Joe E. Brown, Ann Dvorak, Patricia Ellis, William Gargan, Joseph Cawthorn

Synopsis: Joe E. Brown's extensive circus and burlesque training serve him well in this familiar but likeable yarn. Brown and Ann Dvorak stars as small-time vaudevillians Joe and Fay Wilson, presently employed by a seedy burlesque troupe. Also on tour with the Wilsons is society girl Peggy (Patricia Ellis) Read More

Don't Bet on Blondes

Actors: Warren William, Claire Dodd, Guy Kibbee, William Gargan, Vince Barnett

Synopsis: High-rolling gambler "Odds" Owen (Warren William) establishes an American insurance agency created along the lines of Lloyd's of London. Owen insures Kentucky colonel Jefferson Davis Youngblood (Guy Kibbee) against the possibility that Youngblood's actress daughter Marilyn (Claire Dodd) might get Read More

The Traveling Saleslady

Actors: Joan Blondell, Glenda Farrell, William Gargan, Hugh Herbert, Grant Mitchell

Synopsis: In this comedy, a toothpaste magnate's mischievous daughter, tired of her father's traditional ways of conducting business, joins forces with her father's rival and a crazy inventor. Together they create "Cocktail Toothpaste." The new concoction tastes like whiskey in the morning, a martini at Read More

Things Are Looking Up

Synopsis: In this British comedy, a proper teacher at a private girl's school secretly elopes with a wrestler. To conceal the wedding, she has her twin sister, a trick rider for the circus, take her place in school. The circus performer turns out to be a natural teacher and before her sister comes back, is Read More

Four Frightened People

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Herbert Marshall, Mary Boland, William Gargan, Leo Carrillo

Synopsis: Cecil B. DeMille's least characteristic sound feature, Four Frightened People is a character study about a quartet of castaways whose fates are permanently altered by spectacular circumstances. Four coastal steamer passengers jump ship when a deadly bubonic plague breaks out. They steal a Read More

The Lineup

Actors: William Gargan, Marian Nixon, Paul Hurst, John Miljan, Harold Huber

Synopsis: William Gargan plays his first movie detective (but definitely not his last) in Columbia's The Lineup. The hero, a gumshoe named Bob (Gargan), is on the trail of a gang of fur smugglers. Deducing that a posh nightclub serves as the front for the villain's activities, he arrests everybody in the Read More

British Agent

Actors: Leslie Howard, Kay Francis, William Gargan, Phillip Reed, Irving Pichel

Synopsis: British Agent starred the Hungarian/British actor Leslie Howard in the title role, was directed by full-fledged Hungarian Michael Curtiz, and costarred American leading lady Kay Francis as a Russian spy. Based on the memoirs of R. H. Bruce Lockhart, who had been the unofficial British emissary to Read More

Strictly Dynamite

Actors: Jimmy Durante, Lupe Velez, Norman Foster, William Gargan, Marian Nixon

Synopsis: Six writers were involved in the RKO Radio musical comedy Strictly Dynamite; ironically, the plot concerns a radio comedian who's running out of material. Jimmy Durante stars as Maxie Slaight, an airwaves mirthmaker who hires young Nick Montgomery (Norman Foster) as his new gag man. Before he Read More

Aggie Appleby

Actors: Charles Farrell, Wynne Gibson, William Gargan, ZaSu Pitts, Betty Furness

Synopsis: When her tough boyfriend Red Branahan (William Gargan) is sent to jail, Aggie Appleby (Wynne Gibson) meets mild-mannered Adoniram Schlump (Charles Farrell), and decides to turn him into a real man. She teaches him how to talk tough, changes his name to Red Branahan, and gets him a construction job Read More

Headline Shooter

Actors: William Gargan, Frances Dee, Ralph Bellamy, Jack LaRue, Gregory Ratoff

Synopsis: Headline Shooter is a brisk comedy/melodrama about a newsreel photographer (William Gargan). He prefers to risk his neck to get "swell" pictures, while his reporter girl friend (Frances Dee), though no less fearless, would prefer that he give up his dangerous profession. Ralph Bellamy (as always!) Read More

Emergency Call

Actors: Wynne Gibson, William Gargan, Betty Furness, Reginald Mason

Synopsis: In this drama, a young surgeon and his driver must combat the racketeers who have taken over the hospital where he works. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Lucky Devils

Actors: William "Hopalong" Boyd, William Gargan, Bruce Cabot, William Bakewell, Creighton Chaney, Dorothy Wilson

Synopsis: Though the story isn't much, this actioner does offer a neat behind-the-scenes look at the travails of Hollywood stuntmen as it chronicles the romance between a stunt man and an extra. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Night Flight

Actors: John Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Robert Montgomery

Synopsis: This suspense drama was based on a novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Riviere (John Barrymore), who operates an air delivery service, is fanatical in his dedication to service, putting prompt delivery before the safety of his men or his fleet after receiving a contract to help transport the mail. Read More

The Story of Temple Drake

Actors: Miriam Hopkins, Jack LaRue, William Gargan, William Collier, Jr., Irving Pichel

Synopsis: William Faulkner's bestseller Sanctuary was so taboo in some circles that Hollywood couldn't even use the title when making the first film version. Thus, Paramount's adaptation of Sanctuary went out as The Story of Temple Drake, fooling no one who could read. Miriam Hopkins plays the title role Read More

Sweepings

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Alan Dinehart, Eric Linden, William Gargan, Gloria Stuart

Synopsis: Lionel Barrymore plays a Marshall Field-like Chicago businessman who emerges from the wreckage of the 1871 fire to build a department-store empire. Barrymore is aided by his Jewish manager Gregory Ratoff, who despite his business acumen is never made a full partner. The store magnate's four Read More

Rain

Actors: Joan Crawford, Walter Huston, William Gargan, Guy Kibbee, Walter Catlett

Synopsis: The pleasures of the flesh confront the discipline of the Lord's teachings in this screen adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's story Miss Sadie Thompson. Sadie Thompson (Joan Crawford) is a sassy streetwalker who lands in Pago Pago in the South Pacific after an epidemic grounds the ship on which Read More

The Misleading Lady

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Edmund Lowe, Stuart Erwin, Robert Strange, George Meeker

Synopsis: Claudette Colbert plays a dizzy socialite who wants to become an actress. She buys her way into an audition for the part of a seductive vamp in an upcoming film. To prove she's worthy of the role, Colbert comes on strong to unsuspecting bachelor Edmund Lowe. He falls like a ton of bricks, but Read More

The Sport Parade

Actors: Joel McCrea, William Gargan, Marian Marsh, Walter Catlett

Synopsis: Running just under an hour, Sport Parade stars Joel McCrea as a sportwriter who accidently becomes a champion wrestler. In this capacity, he becomes involved with crooked promoters (just as though pro wrestling was a legitimate sport!). Since the main crook is played by comic actor Walter Catlett Read More

The Animal Kingdom

Actors: Ann Harding, Leslie Howard, Myrna Loy, William Gargan, Neil Hamilton

Synopsis: The first film version of Philip Barry's Broadway play The Animal Kingdom stars Ann Harding, Leslie Howard and Myrna Loy. Howard plays a wealthy publisher who decides to marry the socially prominent Loy, leaving his mistress Harding in the lurch. In comically convoluted fashion, Loy behaves like a Read More

Follow the Leader

Actors: Ed Wynn, Ginger Rogers, Stanley Smith, Lou Holtz, Lida Kane

Synopsis: Lensed at Paramount's Astoria studios, Follow the Leader is the film version of the 1927 Broadway musical Midnight Mary, with Ed Wynn making his talkie debut in his original stage role. The story has something to do with bombastic Broadway singer Helen King (Ethel Merman in her first feature-film Read More

Lucky Boy

Actors: George Jessel, Rosa Rosanova, William Strauss, Margaret Quimby, Gwen Lee

Synopsis: In this drama, with a story that closely parallels the 1927 feature The Jazz Singer, a Jewish son disregards his father's hope that he too will become a jeweler in favor of a show business career. His devoted mother supports him all the way as he goes to California where he is a hit at an amateur Read More

Star Dust

Synopsis: Lily Becker (Hope Hampton) is the musically talented daughter whose mother forces her into a marriage to the son of a wealthy man. Mistreated by the callous husband, she flees to New York to make it in the music business. She gives birth to a child and attempts suicide when she nearly starves to Read More