1 9 5 6 – 1 9 6 0 (USA)
133 x 90 minute episodes
Playhouse 90 was the first weekly ninety-minute dramatic television show. It premiered on the CBS network on 4 October 1956 with Rod Serling’s adaptation of Forbidden Area starring Charlton Heston and Tab Hunter.
For the next four years, Playhouse 90 presented TV dramas written by some of television’s best playwrights, acted by some of the best performers in the business, and produced and directed by some of the best creative minds in television
Because some of the star actors weren’t available for the full three-week rehearsal period, Playhouse 90 had a group of small-part actors who would perform those roles during the early blocking rehearsals. This sort-of-repertory company turned up in bit parts during the broadcasts of many episodes.
Performers Included: Susan Oliver, Charles Bronson, James Mason, Trevor Howard, Rita Moreno, Gina Gillespie, Burt Reynolds, James Dunn, Robert Redford, Ricardo Montalban, George C. Scott, Claire Bloom, Patrick Macnee, Angela Lansbury, Richard Boone, Bethel Leslie, Fay Wray, Laraine Day, Margaret O’Brien, Jack Lemmon, William Bendix, Buddy Ebsen, Claude Rains, Eileen Heckart, Piper Laurie, Cliff Robertson, Jackie Gleason, Jack Klugman, Edward G. Robinson, Ray Walston, Roddy McDowall, Boris Karloff, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Dana Wynter, Tab Hunter, Patricia McCormack, Julie Adams, Elizabeth Montgomery, Suzy Parker, Terry Moore, Lee J. Cobb, Joan Bennett, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Shirley Booth, Joan Blondell, Chester Morris, Mickey Rooney, Barbara Hale, Phyllis Kirk, Anne Bancroft, Raymond Burr and Claudette Colbert.
The series, which produced 133 episodes, ended on 18 May 1960.
