Jerry Douglas Movies
Veteran TV actor Jerry Douglas began his career on-screen in the early '60s, appearing on a multitude of shows like Mission: Impossible and Bonanza while supporting his family with a day job as an insurance salesman. He would sustain his career on these singular and often memorable appearances for over two decades before joining the cast of the daytime soap The Young and the Restless in 1985, playing patriarch John Abbott. He would remain with the show until 2008. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide- 1964
There's no room for argument in the matter: the most disliked member of King Company is an obnoxious newcomer named Mason (Eddie Ryder). But the Germans don't know this, and when they take Mason prisoner, they're certain that Saunders (Vic Morrow) will try to rescue him. Even if Saunders cared anything about Mason (which he doesn't), he has been given orders indicating that the man is expendable. But as it turns out, there is one member of the platoon who is willing to put his life on the line to save the redoubtable Mason. This is the final episode of Combat's second season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
This violent, gore-filled, effective horror tale by director Robert Gordon is about a totally wacko private zoo keeper, Michael Conrad (Michael Gough) whose literal worship of the animals he tends -- especially the cat species -- starkly contrasts with his cold-blooded disregard for human life. Conrad has a mute son Carl (Rod Lauren) with a simmering Oedipal hatred, and a wife who should have left him eons ago. Whenever Conrad gets miffed with anyone coming a little too close to his private affairs he simply feeds the hapless victim to the animals. It seems inevitable that if the animals do not get him, then the human species will. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Gough, Jeanne Cooper, (more)
- 1963
This Untouchables episode is the second of two unsold pilot films for the spinoff series The Seekers, starring Barbara Stanwyck as Lt. Agatha "Aggie" Stewart of the Chicago Bureau of Missing Persons. On this occasion, Aggie is determined to identify the "John Doe" whose body was recently fished out of Lake Michigan--especially after an expensive wreath is sent to the dead man's grave in Potter's Field. Tracing the teller's mark on the cash used to buy the flowers, Aggie locates one Claire Simmons (Sheree North), who has quite a story to tell. Meanwhile, Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) and the Untouchables are hot on the trail of a criminal gang led by the Portuguese Brothers--never dreaming that his assignment and Aggie Stewart's search will soon merge into one single case. Edward Asner and Virginia Capers appear respectively as detective Frank Benton and Lt. Stewart's secretary Aggie, repeating their roles from the previous episode "Elegy". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A few days in the life of a murderer go under the microscope in this offbeat and intense low-budget film noir, the first feature from director Allen Baron. Frankie Bono (Baron) is a hired killer from Cleveland who travels to New York City a few days before Christmas on an assignment. Bono, a bitter loner who has few friends and little use for relationships with others, has been brought to the Big Apple to rub out Troiano (Peter Clume), a second-rate mobster. After a less than pleasant encounter with Big Ralph (Larry Tucker), a rotund underground gun dealer, Bono begins casing out Troiano and discovers his target is out of town for a few days, giving him some time to kill. Bono bumps into a childhood friend who thinks he could use a friend and introduces Frankie to Lorrie (Molly McCarthy), but when she invites him to her flat for dinner, the evening doesn't go well and Bono feels more alienated than ever. While keeping tabs on Troiano, Bono runs into Big Ralph again, with consequences that put the hit man and his career in great danger. Blast of Silence features a distinctive and highly dramatic second-person narration read by Lionel Stander (whose name does not appear in the credits); the narration was written by the then-blacklisted Waldo Salt under the name Mel Davenport. Director Allen Baron originally cast Peter Falk as Frankie Bono, but ended up playing the lead after Falk dropped out to take a better paying role in the crime drama Murder Inc. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allen Baron, Molly McCarthy, (more)
