TCM Schedule for Thursday, August 4, 2022 -- Summer Under The Stars: Ruth Roman

[Staph]

The Star on this summer day is Ruth Roman. From her TCMdb biography:

Although her career never scaled the heights suggested by her early promise, Ruth Roman had a long and fruitful career as a film and TV actress. She was a student at Boston's renowned Bishop Lee Dramatic School and pursued acting from a young age. Her first major break was in the 13-episode adventure serial "Jungle Girl" in 1945. Besides a supporting role in the 1949 boxing-themed film "Champion," for the rest of the 1940s she was limited to a series of small film parts. In 1951, she landed a co-starring role in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense classic "Strangers on a Train." In many ways this was a career peak for Roman whose subsequent roles never quite equaled the stature and significance of the part of Anne Morton. In the latter half of the 1950s, she made the transition to TV and continued working steadily in the medium until her last role--a recurring part on the Angela Lansbury mystery "Murder She Wrote"in 1989. Other recurring TV roles included a stint on the mid-'60s Deep South drama "The Long, Hot Summer" and a turn as Sylvia Lean in the popular nighttime soap "Knots Landing." She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her television work.

Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Always Leave Them Laughing (1949)
1h 56m | Comedy | TV-PG
A vaudeville clown neglects his family while fighting for stardom.
Director: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Milton Berle, Virginia Mayo, Ruth Roman

In the audition scene with Virginia Mayo, Berle imitates an upper-crust type, wearing a monocle and a robe or smoking jacket with an Art Deco-esque print. This unusual-looking garment was used in a movie at least once previously. It was worn by Monty Woolley in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942).


8:00 AM -- The Window (1949)
1h 13m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
A boy who always lies witnesses a murder but can't get anyone but the killer to believe him.
Director: Ted Tetzlaff
Cast: Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Frederic Knudtson

When Howard Hughes bought RKO, this was one of the studio's finished films he declared to be "not worth releasing". As a result, it was shelved for nearly two years. When it was released in 1949, it turned out to be one of RKO's bigger hits, grossing several times what it had cost and earning Bobby Driscoll, who was ten years old when it was filmed, a special Academy Juvenile Award.


9:30 AM -- Barricade (1950)
1h 17m | Western | TV-PG
Two fugitives try to prove the head of a mining camp is a murderer.
Director: Peter Godfrey
Cast: Dane Clark, Raymond Massey, Ruth Roman

Based on Jack London's Sea Wolf, transported from sea to land.


11:00 AM -- Dallas (1950)
1h 34m | Western | TV-PG
A renegade Confederate officer tries to hide his identity while bringing law and order to the West.
Director: Stuart Heisler
Cast: Gary Cooper, Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran

As the new marshal rides into the Robles ranch outside Dallas, there are low mountains in the background. No such mountains exist near Dallas.


12:45 PM -- Lightning Strikes Twice (1951)
1h 31m | Crime | TV-PG
An actress champions the cause of a man whom she believes has been falsely accused of murdering his wife.
Director: King Vidor
Cast: Ruth Roman, Richard Todd, Mercedes Mccambridge

According to contemporary newspaper articles, Virginia Mayo had initially been cast as the female lead in this picture.


2:30 PM -- Mara Maru (1952)
1h 38m | Adventure | TV-PG
A salvage diver is accused of murder while hunting a mysterious treasure.
Director: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Errol Flynn, Ruth Roman, Raymond Burr

According to production notes from the Warner Bros. studio archives, Raymond Burr lost 120 pounds for this role; Ruth Roman had to be hospitalized with an arm injury; Errol Flynn burned his face during the fire sequence.


4:30 PM -- Great Day in the Morning (1956)
1h 32m | Western | TV-PG
The Civil War triggers unrest in Colorado.
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: Virginia Mayo, Robert Stack, Ruth Roman

Based on a novel by Robert Hardy Andrews.


6:30 PM -- Look In Any Window (1961)
1h 27m | Drama | TV-PG
A troubled teen loses his job as a aircraft mechanic and goes on a drinking binge.
Director: William Alland
Cast: Paul Anka, Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol

Jack Cassidy (Gareth Lowell) is the father of future teen idol David Cassidy who is best known for The Partridge Family (1970). George Dolenz (Carlo) is the father of future teen idol Micky Dolenz who is best known for The Monkees (1966).



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS -- RUTH ROMAN



8:00 PM -- Strangers on a Train (1951)
1h 36m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A man's joking suggestion that he and a chance acquaintance trade murders turns deadly.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Burks

In the scene where Ruth Roman and Patricia Hitchcock are watching the tennis match, Ruth gives Patricia a real U.S. ten dollar bill. Showing real U.S. money in movies then was illegal without permission from the U.S. Treasury Department. The Treasury Department later removed the prohibition for Psycho (1960) and later movies.


10:00 PM -- Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951)
1h 30m | Drama | TV-PG
A man who spent his formative years in prison for murder is released and struggles to adjust to the outside world.
Director: Felix Feist
Cast: Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran, Lurene Tuttle

Steve Cochran broke his leg shooting a fight scene with Hugh Sanders during the first week of filming. After a short hospital stay, he wore a cast for two weeks during this production.


11:45 PM -- Down Three Dark Streets (1954)
1h 25m | Crime | TV-PG
An FBI Agent takes on the three unrelated cases of a dead agent to track down his killer.
Director: Arnold Laven
Cast: Broderick Crawford, Ruth Roman, Martha Hyer

This film was released about a year before Broderick Crawford began his most notable TV role, starring as Dan Matthews in Highway Patrol (1955). Two other cast members also would go on to be famous TV cops, although in a less serious vein. Claude Akins (Matty Pavelich in this film) was Sheriff Elroy P. Lobo in B.J. and the Bear (1978) and The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (1979). And Stafford Repp (the boxing manager who IDs Pavelich) was Chief O'Hara in Batman (1966).


1:30 AM -- 5 Steps to Danger (1957)
1h 21m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A couple attempts to keep important secrets from Communist spies.
Director: Henry S. Kesler
Cast: Ruth Roman, Sterling Hayden, Werner Klemperer

Filmed before, but released after Ruth Roman's fateful trip aboard the luxury liner, Andrea Doria. The ship collided with another and sank on July 26, 1956. Miss Roman and her young son were among the survivors.


3:00 AM -- Invitation (1952)
1h 24m | Romance | TV-G
A millionaire tries to buy his dying daughter a husband.
Director: Gottfried Reinhardt
Cast: Van Johnson, Dorothy Mcguire, Ruth Roman

Helen Rose who designed Dorothy McGuire's wedding gown in this film, also designed Grace Kelly's gown for her 1956 wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco The McGuire gown appears to be an earlier version Grace Kelly's wedding dress.


4:30 AM -- Young Man With Ideas (1952)
1h 24m | Comedy | TV-G
A country lawyer moves his family to Los Angeles.
Director: Mitchell Leisen
Cast: Glenn Ford, Ruth Roman, Denise Darcel

According to contemporary articles in the entertainment press, filming began with Russell Nype playing Maxwell Webster. Nype was fired after he disagreed with director Mitchell Leisen on how the character was to be portrayed. Glenn Ford was brought in to replace Nype and two weeks of filming had to be re-shot. This was to be Nype's feature film debut. He returned to Broadway and would not make a feature film until 18 years later with Love Story (1970).