Like Talkies ended the era of silent films, TV was a serious blow to radio drama. And like silent movie talent, there were many actors more than ready to make the transition to the changing media. Gerald Mohr, with his wonderful voice, suave good looks, and well developed sense of cool, was a natural for the new media.
1949 - 1950 |
It was his rich voice that earned his first job in television, as the narrator of the Lone RangerTV series, for 15 episodes from 1949-1951. His voice work on the series is uncredited. The Lone Ranger: Enter AMC TV- The Lone Ranger, 1949-1957 "Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear…" Narrated by Gerald Mohr |
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1951-1952 |
He appeared with Ann Bancroft in The Golden Mouth episode of The Ford Theatre Hour on Feb 23, 1951, and with Raymond Burr in the Pearls from Paris episode of Stars Over Hollywood, on April 4. George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and My Friend Irma Mohr also had chances to exercise his comic talents, appearing on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on August 14, 1951, and guest starring on My Friend Irma as Brad Jackson during the show's first season in 1952. |
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1953 |
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1954-1955 |
Foreign Intrigue |
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1954-1955 | Letter To Loretta, aka, The Loretta Young Show |
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1956 | Anthology productions, shows that feature a different cast and story every week, provided a lot of work for Mohr in the mid 50's. Climax! (later known as Climax Mystery Theater), featured Mohr as "Quinn" in "The Empty Room Blues", airing may 3, 1956, the story of a woman fearing for the life of her child after she finds out her husband is a pathological liar. In the July 27, 1956 airing of Schlitz Playhouse of the Stars Mohr guest stars in the story of a grieving widow who is confronted by her supposedly dead husband who accuses her of murder. On the Zane Grey Theater , November 23, 1956, Mohr plays "Veringo", the Bad Guy gunning for the local Sheriff. Mohr also made appearances on Crossroads, stories of clergymen of all faiths, and Conflict. |
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1957-1960 | Gerald Mohr made a number of appearances on Red Skelton Show , adding to the comedy sketches by playing "Gerald Mohr Characters." Mohr is a Bank Robber in "Freddie Finds a Fortune" (Jan 28, 1958.) The loot is hidden in the city dump that is Freddie the Freeloader's home. Freddie finds it and thinks that he has died and gone to heaven. Clem Kadiddlehopper tries to find a wife in "Clem and the Merry Widow," (Feb 10, 1959,) and becomes the target of a designing woman and a scam artist named Philip, played by Mary Beth Hughes and Gerald Mohr. "Bolivar and the Roaring Twenties" (23 Feb, 1960) has Bolivar cutting into Scarface's (Mohr) action when his "Bathtub Beer" develops a following. |
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1960 | Mohr returns to the Westerns where he started his TV career, but in stark contrast to The Lone Ranger. In the Feb 28, 1960, episode of Lawman , "The Thimblerigger" a supposed conman running a shell game (played by Mohr) turns up at the Birdcage Saloon, promising to destroy a man. |
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1960 |
On Nov 28, 1960, Mohr again teamed up with Barbara Stanwyck, whom he had worked with earlier in his career in Lady of Burlesque (1943). In the anthology program The Barbara Stanwyck Show's episode "Ironback's Bride" Miss Stanwyck's character is trying to rebuild her life when her husband, Charlie Cahill (Mohr's character,) who has been in jail for 15 years returns to her life. She eventually shoots him in the back! |
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1956-1961 | Clint Walker almost singlehandedly started the 50's TV western craze with Cheyenne . In the Feb 21, 1956 episode, "Rendezvous at Red Rock," Mohr plays a bank robber who saves Cheyenne from a band of vigilantes, not realizing he is a lawman. There is plenty of gun play, robbery, kidnaping and murder, before the Good Guy eventually shoots the Bad Guy, but not until we get the chance to hear Gerald Mohr play the piano and sing three different songs! Mohr also appears as "Elmer Bostrum" in the "The Incident at Dawson Flats" (Jan 9, 1961.) |
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1957-1961 | Gerald Mohr would make seven appearances on the western Maverick , making him one of the show's most frequent male guest-stars.
Travelling across the Arizona desert by stagecoach, Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) and his fellow passengers are ambush by what appear to be Apache Indians, but are in fact Mexican bandits. One of the passengers has a secret that is worth fighting, and perhaps dying for. Johnny Bolero (Mohr) has the great line "Oh, I never lie. Steal yes, but never lie." In "Seeds of Deception" (April 13, 1958), Mohr reprises his portrayal of Doc Holliday in the last few seconds of the broadcast. The show deals with brothers Bret and Bart riding into town and being mistaken for Holliday and Wyatt Earp. "Escape to Tampico" (Oct 26, 1958) was shot on the set of Casablanca, and the story is filled with allusions to the movie. Along with Mohr's resmeblance to Bogie, his character, Steve Corbett, wearing a white dinner jacket, is the owner of Cantina Americana. Bret sails to Tampico to find the murderer of a man in New Orleans. Bret and Steve become close, and Corbett convinces Maverick that he had been framed. Of course he is the real murderer and dies at the of the program. Bart is hired to protect gambleing hall owner Dave Lindell (Mohr) in "You Can't Beat the Percentage"(Oct 4, 1959). The vengeful cowpoke threatening him is killed, and Bart discovers he is now part of a plot that could cost him his own life. Mohr's last appearance on Maverick was in "The Deadly Image" (Mar 12, 1961). Jack Kelly plays a double role in this episode, both as Bart Maverick and the outlaw Rod Claxton. Bart meets Mohr's character, Gus Tellson, just after Tellson and his dead brother are in a gun battle. Bart is arrested by the Army for his resmemblance to the outlaw. Once again Mohr gets his share of witty lines:
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1959-1963 | In the late 50s and early 60's ABC had a series of detective shows on the air that all featured exoctic American locations, catchy theme songs, and attractive young detectives. The series had plots, characters, guest stars, even scripts exchanged between shows. This was relatively easy, because they were not shot in the exotic locale they promoted- they were all shot on the Warner Brothers backlot.
77 Sunset Strip was set in L.A., Hawaiian Eye took place in the recently admitted 50th State, New Orleans had Bourbon Street Beat, and Surfside 6 featured a detective agency based on a houseboat in Miami. Gerald Mohr would guest seven times on three of these shows: 77 Sunset Strip , Feb 6 1959 "Conspiracy of Silence", as Prof. Carlos Traynor Hawaiian Eye , Dec 16, 1959 "Shipment from Kihei", as Bart Harrison Hawaiian Eye, 14 Dec 1960, "The Money Blossom", as Martin Haney 77 Sunset Strip, Dec 22, 1961, "Bullets for Santa", as Artie Henneghan Surfside 6 , Feb 5, 1962, "Surfside Swindle", as Dawson Welles Surfside 6, April 9 1962, "The Money Game", as Hermes Doratis Hawaiian Eye, April 2 1963, "Passport", as Robert Alston |
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1961-1962 |
Mohr brought his humor to the Jack Benny Program |
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1962 |
Appearing with Chuck Connors on The Rifleman Mohr gets to play the western bad guy again. This time he is a land swindler, Willard Prescott, trying to get Lucas McCain (Connors) to sell his land so that Prescott can sell at an incredible profit to the rail road. But land is not something McCain is willing to part with. Prescott takes his henchmen to the ranch to rough up McCain, but finally relents, saying "He doesn't know the meaning of the word 'beg.'" |
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1960-1968 |
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1966 |
Mohr will make an interesting appearance in the science fiction family adventure Lost In Space , airing Dec 7, 1966. Dr. Smith, the shows recurring semi-villian, discovers an alien harp that transports him to a prison planet that strongly resembles hell. He is greeted by this week's guest alien, a very Satan-like Morbus, played by Mohr. |
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1967 |
Mohr's rich baritone voice found plenty of work in voice overs and occasionally in cartoons.He was the voice of Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic in the 1967 animated series The Fantastic Four . Because this one of few Marvel Comics animated by Hanna-Barberra, the series is not property of Disney, and has yet to make it to DVD, although many comic fans praise the'67 version as the best animanated version of FF. [ YouTube Clips] |
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1968 |
Private Entrance was shot in Stockholm, Sweden, for distribution in the US. It is apparently the pilot for a propsed series starring Mohr. Mohr was to play Jeff Landers, an international lawyer based in Europe. In the pilot Landers is lent a box of matches with a mysterious phone number written on it. This leads to a series of mistaken identities, an entertaining chase scene, and a fight between the cops and the bad guys in an exclusive Stockholm hotel. Of course our suave star pass through wiser but basically unscathed. Sadly, Mohr suffered a fatal heart attack and died in Sweden soon after the completion of filming of the one episode of Private Entrance. |
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1969 |
On April 28, 1969, Mohr made his last appearace in a TV western. He guest stars on The Big Valley |
Whether it was a case of type-casting, or just a matter of being glad to have work, Mohr was effective in his many roles as the Bad Guy, and maintained a sense of humor, both on and off screen. In a Dec 11, 1966 newspaper interview he states
"The best heavies, however, are those actors who play the part with a little humor, a little love of life thrown in. You've got to look like you enjoy the job. When you break the hero's arm… smile. When you throw sand in his face… chuckle a little. When you push an old lady down the stairs… wave good-bye as she goes. Audiences are happiest when the can watch a man who loves his work."
Gerald Mohr loved his work, and audiences are unfortunate that it came to an end so soon.
Gerald Mohr's sense of Cool and strong work ethic made him a star in the Golden Age of Radio. These plus his suave good looks made him a natural for the dawn and Golden Age of Television.