Barbara Nichols Movies

This spoof makes fun of a certain famous German shepherd movie star from the 1920s. The mayhem begins when the head honcho of a financially struggling studio turns a lost dog into a legend. The story features a number of old stars making cameo appearances. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Finding that he hasn't much time left to live, a man makes needed changes in his life with the help of an angel in this Disney feature. ~ Kristie Hassen, Rovi

Israeli-born actor Nehemiah Persoff guests in this episode as Angelo Covelli, an immigrant Italian tailor. Signor Covelli has been acting strangely of late, arousing the interest of Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner). The two mobile cops are aware that Angelo's brother was recently murdered--and equally aware that the old man is perfectly willing to become a killer himself to avenge his brother's death and uphold his family's honor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A team of research scientists believe they have discovered a superior intelligence. Jim Tanner (George Hamilton) and his pretty partner Margery Lansing (Susan Pleshette) have discovered the entity through their work on human endurance. The Power is able to control the minds of others, but Jim can't substantiate his suspicions that the force comes from one of the members of the scientific staff. A series of murders has Jim under suspicion by the police, as he tries to uncover the identity of the killer. Yvonne De Carlo, Earl Holliman, and Miss Beverly Hills also star in this sci-fi mystery. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

The satire in Evelyn Waugh's darkly comic novel The Loved One was originally double-edged. The book was not only an attack on the Southern California funeral industry but also a lampoon of Hollywood's "British colony," those clannish, cricket-playing English actors of years gone by who bemoaned the artificiality of Tinseltown while eagerly accepting the demeaning and insignificant movie roles they were offered. The film version of The Loved One, anxious to live up to its ad-campaign promise of containing "something to offend everybody," downplays the British-colony business (save for the presence of the magnificent Robert Morley) and pumps up the "death" gags. Innocent British poet Dennis Barlow (Robert Morse) falls in love with funeral-home cosmetician Aimee Thanatogenos (Anjanette Comer), who in turn is loved by prissy funeral director Mr. Joyboy (Rod Steiger). The latter lives with his obese mother (Ayllene Gibbons), whose eating sequence is far more hilarious (and more tasteless) than many of the film's calculatedly "black" jokes. A huge guest-star cast is headed by Jonathan Winters in a dual role as a funeral home manager and his covetous twin brother, who operates an elaborate pet cemetery. Musician Paul Williams is also on hand as a 13-year-old aeronautics genius who develops a method of sending corpses into "eternal orbit" (a plot device that Waugh neglected to include in his novel). Film historian William K. Everson has commented that The Loved One is one of the best and most underrated comedies of the 1960s. For others, especially those who might feel guilty chuckling at the sight of Anjanette Comer committing suicide with an embalming needle, it's purely a matter of taste...or lack of same. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy classic, Jerry Lewis plays Jerome Littlefield, an orderly in a mental hospital in this slapstick situation comedy that makes full use of Lewis's patented brand of screwball comedy. Dr. Jean Howard (Glenda Farrell) is the exasperated head of the sanitarium who almost becomes a patient after the antics of the frantic employee. Jerome takes on the symptoms of most of his patients and helps Susan Andrews (Susan Oliver) go from a woman considering suicide to an alluring woman of sensual confidence. When talkative patient Alice Pearce relates her maladies to Jerry, he hilariously has psychosomatic symptoms that mirror those of the woman. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

In this romantic comedy, a middle-aged postmistress from a small town goes to a post office convention in New York and promptly falls in love with a man who is engaged to another. His fiancee is a widow with a teenage son. The man really wants a family, but he also really wants the postmistress.Trouble ensues while he makes up his mind. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Having accidentally glimpsed striptease artist Chickadee Laverne (Barbara Nichols) in her skimpy dancing outfit, Jethro is convinced that he has seen the girl in her underwear -- and as such, is obliged to marry her. Alas, Chickadee has dropped out of sight, and a heartbroken Jethro won't be happy unless he finds her again. Sharon Tate makes her first series appearance in the recurring role of bank secretary Janet Trego (Tate had been originally hired by Paul Henning to co-star on Petticoat Junction, but was dropped from that series at the last minute). The conclusion of a two-part story arc, "Chickadee Returns" first aired on November 6, 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This is an interesting biography of the actor known for his gangster roles in films, and though Ray Danton plays the part of George Raft without looking like him in the least, he is still convincing in his mannerisms. Without getting into any in-depth plumbing of the actor's life, the story begins with the young Raft making his way in New York as a dancer and rubbing shoulders with underworld figures. Then he goes to Hollywood where he eventually finds fame in the film Scarface and gets typecast as a gangster. Tiring of this persona but unable to do very much about it, Raft's career starts to decline for quite a awhile before his success in Some Like It Hot. Along the way, his relationships with five different women are pictured in the briefest fashion. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A screwball comedy that turns into political farce, this film was something of a throwback even in 1960. Real-life husband and wife Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh star as David and Ann Wilson. David is a university professor who is kissing one of his students when Ann walks in on them. She demands a divorce. David turns to his old friend, a television writer, Michael Haney (Dean Martin), who cooks up a cover story. They convince Ann that David is working undercover for the FBI, and that the kiss was part of a sting. The gullible Ann believes the story. Later, when she sees David and Michael in a restaurant with two women, she suspects that the women are spies, and passes David his empty gun. This touches off a disturbance that is filmed by TV news crews. Some real Russian spies think that David really is an FBI agent, and the spies grab the Wilsons and Haney, take them to a secret chamber beneath the Empire State Building, and give them truth serum. From there, the film continues to twist and turn in wildly wacky ways. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

The premiere episode of The Untouchables takes place just after the events of the series' two-hour Desilu Playhouse pilot, as Chicago gang boss Al Capone is escorted to Federal prison on a tax-evasion charge. With "Scarface" out of the picture, several Capone lieutenants compete for the honor of occupying their boss' empty chair, including his chief lieutenant Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti (Bruce Gordon) and the brutal-but-businesslike mob bookkeeper Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik (Nehemiah Persoff). Meanwhile, Federal agent Elliot Ness (Robert Stack) invites a new member to his "Untouchables" team: Enrico Rossi (Nick Georgiade), a former assistant barber who has witnessed a brutal ganglang slaughter masterminded by Nitti. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The 1962 theatrical release of The Scarface Mob was created from the first two episodes of the famously popular 1959 TV series, The Untouchables. It stars Robert Stack as the courageous agent whose job is to corral the powerful mobster Al Capone. Nevill Brand plays Capone and Walter Winchell adds flavor as the Dragnet-style narrator. ~ Rovi

Curvaceous blonde actress Barbara Nichols is typecast as a Monroe-like movie star in this episode. Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) enter the rarefied world of Hollywood glamour when the gorgeous star begins receiving anonymous extortion letters, threatening to disfigure her unless she ponies up a huge sum of money. But has the evidence been arranged to lead the detectives down the wrong path? ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi