Roy Roberts Movies
Tall, silver-maned character actor Roy Roberts began his film career as a 20th Century-Fox contractee in 1943. Nearly always cast in roles of well-tailored authority, Roberts was most effective when conveying smug villainy. As a hotel desk clerk in Gentleman's Agreement (1947), he suavely but smarmily refused to allow Jews to check into his establishment; nineteen years later, Roberts was back behind the desk and up to his old tricks, patronizingly barring a black couple from signing the register in Hotel (1966). As the forties drew to a close, Roberts figured into two of the key film noirs of the era; he was the carnival owner who opined that down-at-heels Tyrone Power had sunk so low because "he reached too high" at the end of Nightmare Alley (1947), while in 1948's He Walked By Night, Roberts enjoyed one of his few sympathetic roles as a psycho-hunting plainclothesman. And in the 3-D classic House of Wax, Roberts played the crooked business partner of Vincent Price, whose impulsive decision to burn down Price's wax museum has horrible consequences. With the role of bombastic Captain Huxley on the popular Gale Storm TV series Oh, Susanna (1956-1960), Gordon inaugurated his dignified-foil period. He later played long-suffering executive types on The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and The Lucy Show. Roy Roberts last appeared on screen as the mayor in Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1963
Every Christmas, the Hooterville Cannonball goes on a caroling tour throughout the community. All this may come to a screeching halt this year, thanks to the machinations of Scroogelike railroad troubleshooter Homer Bedloe (Charles Lane), who has cracked down on unauthorized stopovers. This episode was rebroadcast on December 19, 1964, suggesting that it was intended for annual Yuletide showings--which probably would have happened had not Petticoat Junction switched from black and white to color in 1965 (and at the same time replacing two of the actresses playing the Bradley girls!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
The first episode of Petticoat Junction (NOT the pilot film, since no pilot was ever made!) finds C & F.W Railroad president Norman Curtis (Roy Roberts) dispatching his vice-president Homer Bedloe (Charles Lane) to the tiny community of Hooterville, there to find out why one of the railroad's branch lines doesn't connect with the Main Line. Upon arrival, Bedloe shows up at the Shady Rest, a little hotel run by widow Kate Bradley (Bea Benadaret) with the help of her lazy Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) and her three toothsome daughters Billie Jo (Jeannine Riley), Bobbie Jo (Pat Woodell) and Betty Jo (Linda Kaye). After encountering numerous frustrations at the Shady Rest--beginning with an ornate elevator that had never worked!--Bedloe is shocked to find that the C&FW is represented by the Hooterville Cannonball, an 1890s-vintage steam engine than runs whenever its engineers feel like it. The outraged Bedloe vows to fire the engineers and put the Cannonball out of business--but crafty Kate isn't about to let that happen! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
In the conclusion of a two-part story, railroad president Norman Curtis (Roy Roberts) has decided--for now--not to scrap the Hooterville Cannonball. This would be good news but for the fact that, in his eagerness to run the engine himself, Curtis accidentally breaks the throttle. With the Cannonball out of commission, how will the locals be able to attend the annual jamboree held at Kate Bradley's (Bea Benadaret) Shady Rest Hotel? This episode boasts the talents of two of Hollywood's finest character actors, Douglass Dumbrille and Addison Richards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
In the first episode of a two-part story, C&F.W. railroad president Norman Curtis (Roy Roberts) hopes to succeed where his vice-president Homer Bedloe (Charles Lane) by putting the Hooterville Cannonball out of business. As part of this plan, Curtis shows up at the Shady Rest Hotel under an assumed name. Unfortunately for Curtis--but fortunately for us--the crusty railroad executive succumbs to the rustic charms of Hooterville, not to mention the three attractive daughters of hotel owner Kate (Bea Benadaret). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
Nabbed by Andy for an outstanding traffic citation, powerful newspaper mogul J. Howard Jackson (Roy Roberts) vows to get even by having Andy removed from office. Barney unwittingly helps Jackson by providing "evidence" against Andy to girl reporter Jean Boswell (Ruta Lee). When Andy's case is brought to court, it is the shamefaced Barney who saves the day. Written by Jack Elinson and Charles Stewart, "Andy on Trial" originally aired on April 23, 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruta Lee
- 1962
The U.S. State Department hires Paladin (Richard Boone) to prevent an invasion and hostile takeover of Canada. Fomenting the invasion plans is flamboyant Irish activist Gavin O'Shea (Robert Gist), who is travelling around the West Coast enlisting impressionable Irish-Americans in his "rebel" army. Paladin's only hope for stopping the insurrection is to stop O'Shea--a man who has already left a sizeable trail of battered bodies in his wake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
George Cukor directed this sanitized version of Irving Wallace's tawdry best-seller concerning a survey of the sexual habits of American women. Psychologist George C. Chapman (Andrew Duggan) arrives in a Los Angeles suburb with his assistant Paul Radford (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) in tow. They are looking for volunteers for their sex survey, and four women raise their hands: Sarah Garnell (Shelley Winters) is a middle-aged woman who is having an affair with young theater director Fred Linden (Ray Danton); Teresa Harnish (Glynis Johns) is a happily married woman who becomes attracted to brawny football player Ed Kraski (Ty Hardin); Naomi Shields (Claire Bloom) is an alcoholic nymphomaniac who takes up with an unsavory jazz musician; and Kathleen Barclay (Jane Fonda) is a young widow who thinks she is frigid -- that is, until Radford makes her his personal project. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Shelley Winters, (more)
- 1962
On behalf of his father Ben Cartwright, Hoss delivers a large sum of money to the town of Dutchman Flats. Upon his arrival, however, Hoss is arrested by Sheriff Stedman (Denver Pyle) on a charge of bank robbery. Stedman knows that Hoss is innocent, but he's anxious to prove his worth to the townspeople. Stedman's plan goes horribly awry when the angry citizens form a lynch mob. Also in the cast are Olive Sturgess as Mary Ann, Roy Roberts as Fillmore, Terry Becker as Shukie, Kelly Thordsen as Larson, John Harmon as McCray, Rayford Barnes as Austin, and Lane Bradford as Tibbs. Written by Preston Wood and Elliot Arnold, "A Hot Day for a Hanging" first aired on October 14, 1962. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, (more)
- 1962
Marty Ingels guest stars as Sol Pomeroy, the irrepressible army buddy of TV writer Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke). Though Rob is still fond of Sol, he doesn't cotton to the notion of Sol dropping in on the Petrie household (with strangers in tow!) on the same night that Rob and Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) are entertaining Henry Beaumont (Roy Roberts), the sponsor of "The Alan Brady Show." Sure enough, Sol sets the occasion on its ear with his uninhibited silliness -- but does this mean that the staid, conservative Mr. Beaumont will decide to peddle his products elsewhere? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marty Ingels, Roy Roberts, (more)
- 1962
In one of the series' funniest episodes, Rob (Dick Van Dyke) invites hypnotist Glen Jameson (Charles Aidman) to a party at his house. Jameson's specialty is using post-hypnotic suggestions to get his subjects to behave in a silly or surprising manner, and in this vein, he puts Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam) under a spell, telling Buddy that he will turn into a thick-tongued, falling-down drunk whenever he hears the sound of the bell. As it turns out, Buddy cannot be hypnotized -- which is more than can be said for poor Rob, who becomes spellbound while eavesdropping on Jameson, and who of course spends the rest of the episode alternating between "drunk" and "sober" with astonishing swiftness! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Aidman, Richard Deacon, (more)
- 1962
This sci-fi melodrama about housing construction in the murky deep sea is as clear as the muddied water itself. Enterprising individuals have decided that if humans are going to blow themselves sky-high at some point in the future then it might be a good idea to have an escape hatch down at the bottom of the ocean. And so a series of underwater living units are carefully created and tested until it seems like they are ready for residents to move in. What no one considers is that the sea floor and the sea itself may not be as stable as they first seem. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Lundigan, Julie Adams, (more)
- 1961
Summoned to a small California mountain community by his client Iris McKay (Enid James), detective Paul Drake (William Hopper) is prompty arrested for the crime of being clean-shaven; it seems that it is "Pioneer Week", and every male in town is required to wear a false beard! Once this matter is cleared up, Paul gets down to business, attempting to locate nearly $34,000 that had been embezzled from the local bank by its former president Fred Swan (Russ Conway), who has returned to town after being released from prison. Paul ultimately finds the money--and also Swan's dead body. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) arrives on the scene to defend poor Iris on a murder charge. Watch for a pre-Batman Adam West in the supporting cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
When a storm at sea threatens to sink the freighter "Janeel Trader", first officer Jerry Griffin orders a million dollars' worth of cargo to be dumped overboard, taking full responsibility for what he regards as a life-saving act. But when returns to shore, Jerry must face charges brought by a maritime court. The only man who can clear Griffin is Captain Bancroft (Robert Armstrong); unfortunately, Bancroft is murdered and Griffin is accused of the crime. This turns out to be a real "out-of-town" assignment for Griffin's civilian attorney Perry Mason (Raymond Burr). Wesley Lau makes his first series appearance as Lt. Anderson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1956
John Payne always felt that he delivered his best screen performance in The Boss. Set in the years following WW1, the story concerns a small-town veteran named Matt Brady (John Payne), whose brother, machine politician Tim Brady (Roy Roberts), arranges for Matt to get a cushy government job. When Tim dies, Matt takes over his operation, eventually assuming control of the entire state (which judiciously remains unnamed in the film). Though a successful power broker, Matt is unable to win the woman he loves (Doe Avedon), so he settles for another (Gloria McGhee) whom he treats atrociously. A falling out with his best friend/severest critic Bob Herrick (William Bishop) sets the stage for the ruthless Brady's inevitable downfall. Though all the names were changed to protect the guilty, audiences in 1956 were quick to perceive that the film was a thinly disguised attack on the Pendergast machine of Kansas City, Missouri. Coproduced and cowritten by John Payne, The Boss falters only in its overreliance upon anachronistic newsreel footage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Payne, William Bishop, (more)
- 1956
The King and Four Queens was the first (and last) project from Clark Gable's own production company, GABCO. Gable stars as Western fugitive Dan Kehoe, who hides out in a small ghost town. Here he whiles away his time with the town's only inhabitants: Ma MacDade (Jo Van Fleet), matriarch of the outlaw McDade family, and the four wives (Eleanor Parker, Jean Willes, Barbara Nichols, and Sara Shane) of Mrs. McDade's gunslinging sons. Three of the four McDade boys are dead; the fourth is expected to return at any minute with the loot from a recent stagecoach robbery. Since no one knows which of the McDades is dead, all four wives make a play for the bemused Kehoe; he in turn responds to their advances, hoping to get a share of the gold. The fur really begins to fly when it turns out that one of the wives is a phony who intends to double-cross the other three and ride off into the sunset with Kehoe. When The King and Four Queens proved a box-office disappointment, Clark Gable gave up the notion of producing his own films and returned to freelancing at the major studios. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Gable, Eleanor Parker, (more)
- 1956
Cashing in on the popularity of TV's Davy Crockett and the jukebox favorite "Yellow Rose of Texas", Allied Artists came up with the CinemaScope biopic The First Texan. The title character is Sam Houston, played with rugged assuredness by Joel McCrea. The film begins when Houston leaves Tennessee for Texas, where at first he keeps to himself and avoids politics. As events overwhelm him, however, Houston evolves into the territory's most conspicuous patriot. His efforts to thwart Mexican general Santa Ana's efforts to recapture Texas for Mexico culminate in the battle of the Alamo, which is recreated in brisk, economical fashion. Somewhat perversely, Davy Crockett is reduced to a bit part in The First Texan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Felicia Farr, (more)
- 1956
The breathtakingly beautiful Technicolor cinematography of Irving Glassberg is but one of the many small pleasures of the big-budget western Backlash. Set in post-Civil War Arizona, the film stars Richard Widmark as Jim Slater, who hopes to prove that his down-and-out father (John McIntire) was not involved in a gold robbery. To prove this, Slater has to find the money, which is also the goal of Karyl Orton (Donna Reed), the supposed widow of one of the thieves. Eventually, Slater discovers that his father is every bit as rotten as the law claims he is, though he can take some comfort in the fact that Karyl is now in love with him. As in his earlier Bad Day at Black Rock, Backlash director John Sturges is more concerned with building tension than with overt displays of wanton violence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Widmark, Donna Reed, (more)
- 1956
The White Squaw offers an interesting twist on a standard western plot device. Instead of attempting to force an Indian tribe off their land, the government is trying to reclaim the property of white settler Sigrod Swanson (David Brian) and then give it back to the Indians. The title character, Eelay-O-Wahnee (May Wynn) is a half-breed Sioux, whom Swanson has singled out for persecution. Bob Garth (William Bishop) rushes to the "white squaw"'s defense, sparking a violent climactic clash in which Swanson brings about his own demise. The White Squaw was adapted from a novel by Larabie Sutter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Brian, May Wynn, (more)
- 1956
In this western, a Mexican bandit and an angry rancher team up and take on a crooked saloon keeper. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1955
In this drama, a divinity student endeavors to help the police break up the rackets by impersonating his jailed brother, a gangster. In his disguise, he gets into his brother's gang and cons them into to uniting with other gangs to improve efficiency. He then coerces them into keeping careful records of their various rackets. Trouble ensues when the real gangster brother busts out of jail and threatens to expose his brother. Fortunately, he is accidently killed by one of his own men. The good brother's actions bear fruit when all the racketeers are exposed, rounded-up, and sent to jail. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sean McClory, Joanne Jordan, (more)
- 1955
In this violent, gripping drama, a ruthless criminal kidnaps a little boy and takes him into the Colorado wilderness where, unfortunately, the lad accidentally dies in a terrible fall. This doesn't stop the crook from collecting and hiding a substantial ransom. He is eventually captured and imprisoned. There he hooks up with four other bad apples and together they escape and go looking for the money. These criminals are desperate and will stop at nothing to reach their goal. One of them is a true psychopath and the cops and FBI agents must hurry before more blood is spilled. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Broderick Crawford, Ralph Meeker, (more)
- 1955
The Republic super-production The Last Command is a partial remake of the same studio's Man of Conquest (1939). But whereas the earlier film concerned itself with the exploits of Texas patriot Sam Houston, Last Command concentrates on Houston associate James Bowie, played by Sterling Hayden. When Texas is threatened by the armies of Mexican general Santa Ana (J. Carrol Naish), Bowie at first adopts a policy of peaceful coexistence. When this proves impossible, Bowie joins Davy Crockett (played as an irascible old cuss by Arthur Hunnicut) and the rest of the courageous defenders of the Alamo. The climactic confrontation between the heroes of the Alamo and Santa Ana is long in coming, but well worth the wait. Frank Lloyd's large-scale direction and the vibrant musical score of Max Steiner imbues Last Command with a "major studio" aura not often found in Republic productions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sterling Hayden, Anna Maria Alberghetti, (more)
- 1955
Phil Carey is his usual rough-and-tumble self in the Columbia western programmer Wyoming Renegade. Carey plays Brady Sutton, a former outlaw who wants to go straight. Trouble is, everyone is convinced that Sutton is still a no-good -- everyone, that is, except heroine Nancy Warren (Martha Hyer). When it appears as though Sutton has joined the "Hole in the Wall" gang headed by Butch Cassidy (Gene Evans), it looks like Nancy was wrong and everyone else was right. Ah, but Sutton's motives are honorable, though it takes him half the movie to prove it. William Bishop is fourth-billed as Butch Cassidy's cohort Sundance, while desperado Blackjack Ketchum makes a cameo appearance in the form of bit player A. Guy Teague. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philip Carey, Gene Evans, (more)
- 1954
Filmed on location in Utah, The Outlaw Stallion top-bills Phil Carey and Dorothy Patrick, but the star of the proceedings is young Billy Gray. Living on a ranch with his widowed mother (Patrick), Billy makes friends with the white stallion who leads the herd of wild horses living under the ranch's protection. Villain Roy Roberts intends to flout the law by corralling the stallion's herd, then shipping the horses across the border. To accomplish this, Roberts uses a fierce black stallion to lead the herd astray. After a hoof-to-hoof fight between the "good" and "bad" stallions, Roberts resorts to kidnapping Gray and his mother to bring the white horse out in the open--and that's where hero Carey justifies his presence in the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Philip Carey, Dorothy Patrick, (more)
