Judi Meredith Movies
Judi Meredith was not much more than a tabloid celebrity in the late '50s and early '60s; her onscreen career was improbable enough to almost qualify as a minor miracle. Born Judith Clare Boutin in Portland, OR, she was an athletic child and became a figure skater. She turned professional and became a star performer with the Ice Follies in her teens. Her career was cut short, though, by an accident in which her back was broken. Her doctors told her that she would never skate again, but she resumed her career after a period of recovery until she broke her kneecap, which finally did end her professional skating. She turned to acting in her late teens and was performing in stock when she was spotted by George Burns, who liked her outgoing personality and healthy, athletic look. He cast her in a recurring role late in the run of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, playing Bonnie Sue McAfee in 1957.From there it was on to Studio One in "The Left-Handed Welcome" and a boisterous guest performance in the John Payne Western series The Restless Gun; she also played herself in the short-lived series The George Burns Show (1958). Meredith began appearing in movies that year, in pictures such as the Western drama Wild Heritage and teen romance Summer Love. She quickly began moving into actor and celebrity circles, and at one time was linked romantically to Bobby Darin and Frank Sinatra. Meredith's biggest theatrical film role was as Princess Elaine in the fantasy-adventure film Jack the Giant Killer (1962). Her career arc was confined largely to television; however, Meredith's work included a string of appearances on the show Ben Casey, and she delivered a truly poignant performance in "Errant Knight," an episode of Bonanza featuring Dan Blocker and John Doucette. She was in her element as the whip-wielding Calamity Jane, working opposite Wild Bill Hickock (Robert Culp) in the made-for-TV film The Raiders (1963). She also had a role in William Castle's The Night Walker (1964), but two years later, she closed out the major part of her career in Curtis Harrington's Planet of Blood, made at American International Pictures. She was largely absent from the screen until 1971's Western comedy Something Big, and was last seen on television in an episode of Emergency two years later. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1973
British paramedic Jason Channing (Jamie Ross) shows up for a tour of duty with Station 51 to observe American lifesaving techniques. With Roy (Kevin Tighe) and John (Randolph Mantooth) as his guides, the visitor participates in the rescue of an unconscious cop trapped in a burning elevator and a man entangled in industrial machinery. Meanwhile, Dr. Brackett (Robert Fuller) tangles with the insensitive manager of a comatose rock diva who is literally being worked to death. Featured in the supporting cast is Stanley Kamel, who three decades later appeared recurringly as the psychiatrist in the cable-TV detective series Monk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
- PG
In this western, an outlaw anxiously awaits the arrival of his betrothed, who is under the false impression that her fiancé is worth a fortune. Unfortunately, the fellow has earned nothing during his stint in the West. Desperate to keep her, he begins plotting the theft of a Mexican bandit's loot. But before he can, he will need a Gatling gun. He knows a man who has one, but the gun owner refuses to part with it unless the outlaw agrees to find him a woman. The outlaw then kidnaps a likely candidate from a stage coach. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize that the woman is a colonel's wife. Later as he is hauling his heavy gun, he runs into the colonel who is looking for his missing wife. A shoot out ensues and things look bleak for the outlaw until the colonel's wife intervenes and suggests to her husband that since he is about to retire, he ought to allow the fellow to take the chance and try to pull off the heist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1969
Ed (Don Galloway) and fellow police officer Ray Leonard (Linden Chiles) are suspected of killing a dope peddler in cold blood. Even worse, Ray was driving the dead man's "business" car while moonlighting as a cabbie, suggesting that he himself was involved in drug-running. Though suspended from the force, Ed mounts his own investigation to clear himself and prove his colleague's innocence beyond all doubt. Featured in the cast are two craggy-faced gangster movie veterans, John Marley and Eduardo Ciannelli). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1967
Both Linda Roberts (Judi Meredith) and Amos Crenshaw (Frank Overton) have sworn vengeance against Joe Cartwright. Linda thinks that Joe killed her brother, while Amos' son was shot by Joe in self-defense. The tension reaches the boiling point when Linda hires a man to assassinate Joe, then changes her mind-only to realize that she doesn't know the true identity of the killer. Cowritten by Bonanza star Michael Landon and Joy Dexter, "The Wormwood Cup" (a title explained in the context of the episode) first aired on April 23, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1966
Shot on a miniscule $50,000 budget, and including footage from a 1959 Russian film that was later purchased by Roger Corman, this science fiction feature finds a tiny planet slowly dying. With the inhabitants in danger of perishing, some kind-hearted astronauts bring a green-blooded female alien back to Earth. The extraterrestrial shows her gratitude by going wild for human blood in the fashion of a blood-sucking vampire. John Saxon, Basil Rathbone and Dennis Hopper are some of the actors sentenced by their vindictive agents to appear in this 1966 film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Saxon, Basil Rathbone, (more)
- 1965
In this horror film, set in San Francisco during the Victorian age, a criminologist is often out-guessed by his little valet and a sensitive mandrake plant. He finds himself involved in a hellish situation when a disfigured wizard conjures up a demon to help him transfer his soul in to the perfect body of his popular twin brother. The criminologist stops the wizard in the nick of time. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Nielsen, Gilbert Green, (more)
- 1964
Irene Trent (Barbara Stanwyck) was married to the inventor Howard (Hayden Roarke) before the blind electronics genius blows himself up following an argument between the couple. Irene leaves after the arguments only to learn of her husband's demise later. When Irene has reoccurring dreams of a faceless lover, she confides in her friend and attorney Barry Moreland (Robert Taylor) of her vision. She also tells him that Howard had accused her of marital infidelity and had her trailed by a private detective. William Castle directed the suspenseful thriller written by Psycho author Robert Bloch. Taylor and Stanwyck appear in their first film together in 27 years. The two were married from 1939 to 1951 and appeared in two films before their marriage. Their mutual respect as friends and performers is evident in The Night Walker. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, (more)
- 1963
A French art collector named Pireaux (Patric Knowles) is anxious to meet a reclusive English sculptor named Spencer (James Griffith). Paladin (Richard Boone) is called upon to escort Pireaux to Spencer's hideaway, somewhere in the far wilderness. Complicating matters is the presence of Pireaux's childlike daughter Gina (Judi Meredith), who of course ends up a pivotal figure in this Gene Roddenberry-scripted episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
In this western, an ex-officer for the confederate Army becomes a Texas cattle rancher. He and his fellow ranchers are dismayed when they learn that the coming railroad intends on bypassing their ranches. The rancher then leaves his land to begin fighting the railroad. Meanwhile the railroad executives have hired Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Calamity Jane to defend their decision against the rancher and his guerrilla gang. When the marauders are finally surrounded by the Army and it looks as if they will die, the three western legends suddenly ride in to save them. They then all band together to convince the railroad that the Texas ranchers desperately need their services. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Nathan Juran, director of The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, tries to make the magic happen again on a much more attenuated budget in Jack the Giant Killer. Torin Thatcher, another Sinbad alumnus, plays a wicked wizard who kidnaps toothsome-princess Judi Meredith. Kerwin Mathews, still another veteran of Sinbad, plays Jack, who rescues Meredith and promises to escort her to safety. Stop-motion animator Jim Danforth creates several fire-breathing perils along the same lines as Ray Harryhausen's special effects in Sinbad; happily, Danforth emulates the Harryhausen style without stooping to imitation. Prominent among the supporting actors is Don Beddoe as an impish genie. In the recently reissued prints of Jack the Giant Killer, most of the original voices have been dubbed over, and incongruous musical numbers added. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kerwin Mathews, Judi Meredith, (more)
- 1962
Hoss Cartwright agrees to meet and provide transportation for Lotty (Judi Meredith), the mail-order bride of his temporarily incapacitated friend Walter Prescott (John Doucette). Hoss' gallantry backfires when Lotty falls in love with him--whereupon the disgruntled Prescott hires a bounty hunter to kill the hapless Mr. Cartwright. The supporting cast includes Phil Chambers (Dick Thompson), Tyler McVey (Townsman), Roy Engel (Doctor), Tina Menard (Francesca), George Robotham (Frank) and Gil Perkins (Whitey). Originally seen on November 18, 1962, "Knight Errant" was written by Joseph Hoffman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, (more)
- 1962
Paying back an old favor, Paladin comes to the assistance of a sheriff named Reagan (played by Bing Russell, the father of film star Kurt Russell). Several years earlier, Reagan had wed Monica (Judi Meredith), the onetime girlfriend of imprisoned outlaw Ben Turner (Larry Ward). Now Turner has been released from jail, determined to reclaim Monica--and to kill Reagan or anyone else who stands in his way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Juvenile delinquency invades the Wild West in this episode, wherein three young punks named Sim (Richard Rust), Bunk (Martin West) and Burt (Ralph Reed) gleefully terrorize a small town. The local sheriff (Stephen Roberts) refuses to intervene, and Paladin (Richard Boone) wants to find out why. Meanwhile, the three hooligans attempt to goad Paladin into a gunfight, but he is reluctant to kill anyone so young and relies upon barbed insults to keep the trio at bay--a strategy that obvious will not work forever! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Summer Love is a sequel to 1957's Rock Pretty Baby, with John Saxon repeating his role as aspiring musician Jim Daley. When his band is hired to perform at a summer resort, Jim falls in love with two girls: sweet Joan Wright (Judy Meredith) and not-so-sweet Erica Landis (Jill St. John). Meanwhile, Jim's buddy Mike (John Wilder) woos the band's pert vocalist Alice (Molly Bee). Also returning from Rock Pretty Baby are Edward C. Platt and Fay Wray as Jim's bewildered parents, Shelley Fabares as the appropriately yclept Twinkie Daley, and the inimitable Rod McKuen as funky band member Ox Bentley. Oh, and Troy Donahue also shows up, just in case there was any doubt as to when this film was made. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Saxon, Molly Bee, (more)
- 1958
Will Rogers Jr. follows in the cinematic footsteps of his famous father in the evenly-paced western Wild Heritage. Rogers is cast as a frontier judge, given to his own special, down-to-earth brand of jurisprudence. In truth, however, Will Jr's role is a subordinate one; most of the film's running time concerns two families heading westward by covered wagon. When rustlers attack, it is the sons of the respective families who emerge as the heroes. One of the "good guys" is portrayed by Rod McKuen, long before he became Poet Laureate of the flower-child generation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Rogers, Jr., Maureen O'Sullivan, (more)
- 1958
In this curious blend of Western and detective melodrama, Jock Mahoney plays a frontier gumshoe named Hogan. When an old prospector is murdered, Hogan takes on the assignment of finding the four heirs to the prospector's fortune. Briefly sidetracked by a romance with Mary Kingman (played by Kim Hunter in a rare Western appearance), Hogan not only finds the heirs but also the killers -- and in at least one case, heir and killer are one and the same. Money, Women and Guns was produced by Howie Horwitz, who, like screenwriter Montgomery Pittman, would go on to even bigger things in the TV industry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jock Mahoney, Kim Hunter, (more)
