Bonita Granville

Bonita Granville

Daughter of Bernard 'Bunny' Granville and Rosina Timponi, Bonita Granville was born into an acting family on 2 Febuary 1923, in New York, New York. It's not surprising that she herself became a child actor, first on the stage and, at the age of 9, debuting in movies in Westward Passage (1932). She was regularly cast as a naughty little girl, as in These Three (1936) where she played Mary, an obnoxious girl spreading lies about her teachers. Her performance left an impression on the audience, and she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress award. In 1938-39 came the movies she is now best remembered for -- playing the bright and feisty detective/reporter Nancy Drew in the Nancy Drew series. She also appeared with Mickey Rooney in a few Andy Hardy movies. She never really had a movie breakthrough, and after marrying oil millionaire and later producer Jack Wrather, she retired from acting in the middle of the 1950s, although she went on to produce the Lassie (1954) TV series. After her marriage to oil millionaire Jack Wrather in 1947, she appeared in only three more movies. She became an executive in the Wrather Corp., and first associate producer, then executive producer of the Lassie (1954) TV series. After Wrather's death in 1984, she took over as chairman of the board. She was also involved in many civic and cultural groups, and she was chair of American Film Institute, trustee of John F. Kennedy Center, as well as other well known organizations and charities. Walt Disney personally convinced the Wrathers to build the Disneyland Hotel when Disney could not raise the money to do so -- his credit was all tied up in building the theme park itself. After the phenomenal success of Disneyland, Disney attempted to buy the hotel; but the Wrathers steadfastly refused to sell. Long after Jack and Bonita Wrather's and Walt Disney's deaths, the Disney Company bought the Wrather Corporation. The Disney Company thus acquired the Disneyland Hotel, the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose attractions in Long Beach, California, the rights to The Lone Ranger (1949) TV series, as well as other properties. Bonita Granville Rather died of cancer on 11 October 1988, in Santa Monica, California. She and Wrather had four children (two from Wrather's first marriage).

  • Popularity : 3.237
  • Known For : Acting
  • Birthday : 1923-02-02
  • Place of Birth : New York City, New York, USA
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Bonita Granville Movies

  • 1940
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    The Mortal Storm

    The Mortal Storm

    7.2 1940 HD

    The Roth family leads a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930s. After the Nazis come to power, the family is divided...

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  • 1939
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    Nancy Drew... Reporter

    Nancy Drew... Reporter

    6.2 1939 HD

    While participating in a contest at a local newspaper in which school children are asked to submit a news story, local attorney Carson Drew's...

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  • 1946
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    Suspense

    Suspense

    6.3 1946 HD

    The proprietor of an ice-skating revue promotes a peanut-vendor at the show to a management position based on suggestions he made to improve the act...

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  • 1942
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    Now, Voyager

    Now, Voyager

    7.328 1942 HD

    A woman suffers a nervous breakdown and an oppressive mother before being freed by the love of a man she meets on a cruise.

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  • 1947
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    The Guilty

    The Guilty

    5.3 1947 HD

    Two friends land in hot water when they begin dating twins and one of the women ends up dead.

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  • 1946
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    Love Laughs at Andy Hardy

    Love Laughs at Andy Hardy

    5.3 1946 HD

    Andy Hardy goes to college after serving in the war and finds his sweetheart is engaged to someone else.

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  • 1942
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    The Glass Key

    The Glass Key

    6.6 1942 HD

    A crooked politician finds himself being accused of murder by a gangster from whom he refused help during a re-election campaign.

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  • 1939
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    Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

    Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

    6.7 1939 HD

    Nancy helps two aging spinsters fulfill the byzantine provisions of their father's will, but the murder of their chauffeur complicates matters.

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  • 1938
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    Nancy Drew… Detective

    Nancy Drew… Detective

    6.3 1938 HD

    After a wealthy dowager who has made a substantial donation to her alma mater suddenly disappears, Nancy Drew sets out to solve the mystery.

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  • 1939
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    Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter

    Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter

    6 1939 HD

    When a close friend of the Drew family is accused of murder in a rural community, Nancy, aided by boyfriend Ted, helps her lawyer father expose the...

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  • 1933
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    Little Women

    Little Women

    6.7 1933 HD

    Little Women is a coming-of-age drama tracing the lives of four sisters: Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. During the American Civil War, the girls father is...

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  • 1940
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    Third Finger, Left Hand

    Third Finger, Left Hand

    6.8 1940 HD

    Magazine editor Margot Merrick pretends to be married in order to avoid advances from male colleagues. Unfortunately, things don't go to plan when...

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  • 1936
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    These Three

    These Three

    7.2 1936 HD

    Close friends Martha and Karen build a private boarding school together with the aid of the local doctor Joe. The school takes off and many students...

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  • 1933
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    Cavalcade

    Cavalcade

    5.5 1933 HD

    A cavalcade of English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 is seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot. Amongst...

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  • 1944
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    Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble

    Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble

    5.7 1944 HD

    Andy is going to Wainwright College as did his father. He sees a pretty blonde on the train and he is alternately winked at or slapped every time he...

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  • 1944
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    Youth Runs Wild

    Youth Runs Wild

    4.2 1944 HD

    The teens of a defense-plant town hop on the road to juvenile delinquency while their parents are busy with the war.

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  • 1941
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    H.M. Pulham, Esq.

    H.M. Pulham, Esq.

    6.8 1941 HD

    A middle-aged businessman who has lived a conservative life according to the routine conventions of society, still remembers the beautiful young...

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  • 1942
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    Syncopation

    Syncopation

    6.8 1942 HD

    A young trumpeter rises through the jazz world and finds love.

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  • 1943
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    Hitler's Children

    Hitler's Children

    5.8 1943 HD

    This lurid exposé of the Hitler Youth follows the woes of an American girl declared legally German by the Nazi government.

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  • 1937
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    It's Love I'm After

    It's Love I'm After

    7 1937 HD

    An infatuated debutante renews a Shakespearean actor's running feud with his leading lady.

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  • 1940
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    Forty Little Mothers

    Forty Little Mothers

    6.2 1940 HD

    An out-of-work professor gets a break from an old college buddy to teach at an exclusive girl's school. But events conspire against him: he finds an...

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  • 1956
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    The Lone Ranger

    The Lone Ranger

    6.1 1956 HD

    The territorial governor asks the Lone Ranger to investigate mysterious raids on settlers by Indians who ride with saddles. Wealthy rancher Reese...

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  • 1939
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    Angels Wash Their Faces

    Angels Wash Their Faces

    6.4 1939 HD

    A young man just released from a reformatory moves to a new neighborhood with his sister, intending to start a new life. However, he gets mixed up...

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  • 1938
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    White Banners

    White Banners

    5.8 1938 HD

    A homeless woman named Hannah drifts into the lives of the kindly Ward family, in a small Indiana town in 1919. Hannah makes herself useful as a cook...

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  • 1940
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    Escape

    Escape

    7.4 1940 HD

    An American goes to pre-war Germany to find his mother and discovers her in a concentration camp. With the help of an American-born widowed countess...

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  • 1942
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    Seven Miles from Alcatraz

    Seven Miles from Alcatraz

    4.5 1942 HD

    After Pearl Harbor, convicts at Alcatraz prison live in fear of bomb attacks, driving Champ Larkin and his pal Jimbo to a desperate escape attempt...

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  • 1938
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    Merrily We Live

    Merrily We Live

    7.2 1938 HD

    Society matron Emily Kilbourne has a habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants. Her latest find is a handsome tramp who shows up at her doorstep...

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  • 1941
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    The People Vs. Dr. Kildare

    The People Vs. Dr. Kildare

    7 1941 HD

    An ice skater sues Kildare (Lew Ayres) for malpractice after his roadside first aid leaves her paralyzed.

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  • 1946
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    Breakfast in Hollywood

    Breakfast in Hollywood

    5 1946 HD

    The goings on of a few members of a radio show's audience is the premise for this feature film derived from the popular ABC radio show of the 1940s....

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  • 1937
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    Call It a Day

    Call It a Day

    5 1937 HD

    The various members of the middle-class Hilton family have a series of romantic misadventures during one eventful spring day.

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  • 1936
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    Song of the Saddle

    Song of the Saddle

    7 1936 HD

    Frank Sr. sells his supplies to Hook, but then Hook has the Bannion Boys bushwhack his wagon to get the money back. Frank is murdered, but Junior...

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  • 1941
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    The Wild Man of Borneo

    The Wild Man of Borneo

    6.5 1941 HD

    A medicine show man tries to con people into believing he's a legitimate stage actor.

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  • 1941
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    Screen Snapshots Series 21 No. 1

    Screen Snapshots Series 21 No. 1

    1 1941 HD

    This edition of Screen Snapshots has more of a vaudeville flavor as opposed to Ralph Staub's usual candid-camera at home with the stars offerings....

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  • 1940
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    Those Were the Days!

    Those Were the Days!

    1 1940 HD

    At a family gathering, an elderly man reflects on the follies of his youth during his freshman year at college.

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  • 1938
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    The Beloved Brat

    The Beloved Brat

    6.4 1938 HD

    Roberta Morgan is being raised in a wealthy home where her mother is occupied with her society-club activities and her father is immersed in his...

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  • 1940
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    Gallant Sons

    Gallant Sons

    7.2 1940 HD

    When a teenager's father is accused of murder, the boy and his high-school classmates set out to find the real killer.

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  • 1944
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    Song of the Open Road

    Song of the Open Road

    1 1944 HD

    A beautiful child star tires of life in the spotlight and so disguises herself and sneaks off to join a Civilian Conservation Corps camp to work with...

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  • 1946
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    The Truth About Murder

    The Truth About Murder

    5 1946 HD

    A young attorney (Bonita Granville) is convinced a murder suspect is innocent in the killing of his wife.

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  • 1938
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    Hard to Get

    Hard to Get

    6 1938 HD

    When spoiled young heiress Maggie Richards tries to charge some gasoline at an auto camp run by Bill Davis, he makes her work out her bill by making...

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  • 1932
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    Westward Passage

    Westward Passage

    5.8 1932 HD

    A struggling writer divorces his wife to pursue his career without interference, but they meet in Europe years later after she has remarried.

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  • 1938
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    My Bill

    My Bill

    6.2 1938 HD

    An impoverished widow fights scandal for the sake of her four children.

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  • 1950
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    Guilty of Treason

    Guilty of Treason

    6 1950 HD

    The story of Cardinal Josef Mindzhenty, a Roman Catholic cardinal from Hungary who spoke out against both the Nazi occupation of his country during...

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  • 1934
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    The Life of Vergie Winters

    The Life of Vergie Winters

    5.9 1934 HD

    A small town politician, kept from marrying the love of his life, eventually marries another woman and his career ascends, but he secretly continues...

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  • 1937
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    Maid of Salem

    Maid of Salem

    5.9 1937 HD

    When a young woman named Barbara Clarke has an affair with adventurer Roger Coverman, it causes a scandal in the Puritanical town of Salem,...

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  • 1945
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    The Beautiful Cheat

    The Beautiful Cheat

    1 1945 HD

    The title character, played by Bonita Granville, is the secretary at a boys' reformatory. Sociology professor Noah Beery Jr. shows up to study the...

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  • 1942
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    Soaring Stars

    Soaring Stars

    1 1942 HD

    Two autograph hounds attend an air show at Santa Anita racetrack.

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  • 1936
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    The Plough and the Stars

    The Plough and the Stars

    5.6 1936 HD

    A husband clashes with his wife over his membership to the Irish citizen army during the Easter rebellion.

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  • 1948
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    Strike It Rich

    Strike It Rich

    1 1948 HD

    When not drinking and fighting, three wildcatters in search of a gusher are enthusiastically drilling for black gold. The trouble begins when one of...

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  • 1935
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    Ah, Wilderness!

    Ah, Wilderness!

    6.3 1935 HD

    At the turn of the century, a young man graduates high school and realizes the joys and sorrows of growing up, with some loving help and guidance...

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  • 1937
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    Quality Street

    Quality Street

    5.9 1937 HD

    In the 1810s, an old maid poses as her own niece in order to teach her onetime beau a lesson.

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  • 1945
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    Senorita from the West

    Senorita from the West

    5 1945 HD

    Determined to become a radio singer, a young girl runs away from her family. She hooks up with a man who is actually the real voice of a famous radio...

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  • 1941
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    Down in San Diego

    Down in San Diego

    5.5 1941 HD

    A group of neighborhood teenagers discover some suspicious goings-on near a naval base in San Diego, and suspect that a foreign espionage ring is at...

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  • 1981
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    The Legend of the Lone Ranger

    The Legend of the Lone Ranger

    5.1 1981 HD

    When the young Texas Ranger, John Reid, is the sole survivor of an ambush arranged by the militaristic outlaw leader, Butch Cavendich, he is rescued...

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  • 1933
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    Cradle Song

    Cradle Song

    1 1933 HD

    In a deeply cloistered convent, nun Dorothea Wieck (Mädchen in Uniform) raises a foundling to be Evelyn Venable. But at 17, what if, guided by a...

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  • 1936
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    The Garden of Allah

    The Garden of Allah

    5.717 1936 HD

    The star-crossed desert romance of a cloistered woman and a renegade monk.

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  • 1932
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    Silver Dollar

    Silver Dollar

    5.7 1932 HD

    A farmer strikes it rich out West, then leaves his wife for a young beauty.

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  • 1959
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    The Velvet Alley

    The Velvet Alley

    1 1959 HD

    Ernie Pandish has tried to be a writer for years and has never made much money out of it. But now he seems likely to hit the big-time.

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  • 1938
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    Breakdowns of 1938

    Breakdowns of 1938

    5 1938 HD

    Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1938.

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  • 1982
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    Hollywood’s Children

    Hollywood’s Children

    1 1982 HD

    A documentary about child actors, since the beginning of motion pictures (narrated by Roddy McDowell).

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  • 1978
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    The Magic of Lassie

    The Magic of Lassie

    5.4 1978 HD

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  • 1972
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    Lassie: Peace Is Our Profession

    Lassie: Peace Is Our Profession

    3 1972 HD

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  • 1969
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    Lassie: The Adventures of Neeka

    Lassie: The Adventures of Neeka

    6 1969 HD

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  • 1948
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    Studio One

    Studio One

    4.727 1948 HD

    An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One,...

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  • 1954
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    Lassie

    Lassie

    6.133 1954 HD

    Lassie is the pet of Jeff Miller, an 11-year-old farm boy. The two become best friends and enjoy family adventures in the American countryside,...

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  • 1950
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    Lux Video Theatre

    Lux Video Theatre

    6 1950 HD

    Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original...

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  • 1951
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    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

    7 1951 HD

    Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was...

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  • 1954
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    Climax!

    Climax!

    3 1954 HD

    Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary...

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  • 1950
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    Lux Video Theatre

    Lux Video Theatre

    6 1950 HD

    Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original...

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  • 1971
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    V.I.P. Schaukel

    V.I.P. Schaukel

    6 1971 HD

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  • 1961
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    The Mike Douglas Show

    The Mike Douglas Show

    5.1 1961 HD

    The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much...

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  • 1954
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    Climax!

    Climax!

    3 1954 HD

    Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary...

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  • 1970
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    Climax!

    Climax!

    6.133 1970 HD

    Lassie is the pet of Jeff Miller, an 11-year-old farm boy. The two become best friends and enjoy family adventures in the American countryside,...

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