Four Star Revue/Four Star Playhouse

1 9 5 2 – 1 9 5 6 (USA)
129 x 30 minute episodes

This early American dramatic anthology series was produced by the Four Star Television company (owned by David Niven, Dick Powell and Charles Boyer) for CBS and presented as half-hour TV plays.

The series starred Boyer, Powell and Niven in rotation with an invited guest star. Although the stars played varied roles in different plays, one character who appeared regularly was a nightclub owner named Willie Dante, played by Dick Powell.

The episodes with Powell as Dante – a former gambler turned owner of the ‘Dante’s Inferno’ nightclub – were also broadcast under the title The Best In Mystery. Episodes related his struggles to overcome the situations that occurred when his past reputation attracted unscrupulous characters. Alan Mowbray and Herb Vigran co-starred as his aides, Jackson and Monte, with Regis Toomey as Lieutenant Waldo of the San Francisco Police Department.

Originally an alternating series, Four Star Revue expanded to a weekly offering in September 1953, presenting quality drama, including ‘Village in the City’ with Niven; ‘Death Makes a Pair’ with Lloyd Corrigan and Jay Novello; ‘The Collar’ with Niven; ‘That Woman’ with Lupino; and `Here Comes the Suit’ with Niven.

Over the four years, the series was on the air, performers included Beverly Garland, Peggie Castle, Dorothy Green, Joanne Woodward, Philip Ahn, Frances Bergen, Joi Lansing, Ginger Hall, Scott Forbes, Joyce Gates, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Tanya Borgh, Phyllis Coates, Arthur Franz, Teresa Wright, Stuart Whitman, Beverly Washburn, Alan Mowbray, Jennifer Raines, Angela Lansbury, Barton MacLane, John Lupton, Joanne Dru, Nigel Bruce, Gerald Mohr, Audrey Totter, Ellen Corby, Marjorie Lord, King Donovan, Paula Raymond, Mae Clarke, Maria Palmer, Amanda Blake, Martha Hyer, Carolyn Jones, Nestor Paiva, Broderick Crawford, Lucille Barkley, Elisabeth Fraser, Ronald Colman, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Lawrence, Hillary Brooke and Marcia Henderson.

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