Chester Morris

Acting

Chester Morris

Born February 16, 1901 · New York City, New York, USA

Died September 11, 1970 · aged 69

Chester Morris (born John Chester Brooks Morris; February 16, 1901 – September 11, 1970) was an American stage, film, television, and radio actor. He had some prestigious film roles early in his career, and was nominated for an Academy Award. Chester Morris is best remembered today for portraying Boston Blackie, a criminal-turned-detective, in the modestly budgeted Boston Blackie film series of th…

Known For

The Show of ShowsThe Show of Shows · 1929
The Show of Shows
6.61929
MovieMusic
Now hear this. The studio that gave the cinema its voice offered 1929 audiences a chance to see and hear multiple silent-screen favorites for the first time in a gaudy, grandiose music-comedy-novelty revue that also included Talkie stars, Broadway luminaries and of course, Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay hosts a jamboree that, among its 70+ stars, features bicyclers, boxing champ Georges Carpentier, chorines in terpsichore kickery, sister acts, Myrna Loy in two-strip Technicolor as an exotic Far East beauty, John Barrymore in a Shakespearean soliloquy (adding an on-screen voice to his legendary profile for the first time) and Winnie Lightner famously warbling the joys of Singing in the Bathtub. Watch, rinse, repeat!
Second ChoiceSecond Choice · 1930
Second Choice
8.01930
MovieDramaRomance
Vallery Grove is in love with Don Warren but her mother opposes the match because he is poor and has no social standing. Don decides to terminate his engagement to Vallery after attending a party where he meets a spoiled rich girl who is interested in him.
Blondie JohnsonBlondie Johnson · 1933
Blondie Johnson
5.91933
MovieCrimeDrama
A Depression-downtrodden waif uses her brains instead of her body to rise from tyro con artist to crime boss.
The Great White HopeThe Great White Hope · 1970
The Great White Hope
6.31970
MovieDrama
A black champion boxer and his white female companion struggle to survive while the white boxing establishment looks for ways to knock him down.
Canal ZoneCanal Zone · 1942
Canal Zone
6.01942
MovieActionAdventure
A cocky pilot at a Panama Canal bomber station clashes with his trainer over recklessness and a woman. After causing a fatal crash while hungover, he seeks redemption when his rivals crash in the jungle.
Red-Headed WomanRed-Headed Woman · 1932
Red-Headed Woman
6.61932
MovieComedyRomance
Lil works for the Legendre Company and causes Bill to divorce Irene and marry her. She has an affair with businessman Gaerste and uses him to force society to pay attention to her.
Three GodfathersThree Godfathers · 1936
Three Godfathers
6.91936
MovieActionDrama
In a town called New Jerusalem, three bandits hold up a bank. After a gun battle with the townspeople, the three robbers retreat into the scorching Arizona desert. There, they happen upon an ill woman stranded with her child. As the mother dies, she begs the men to take care of her infant. The fugitives want to save the baby -- but to do so, they'll have to travel back to New Jerusalem, where they are wanted men. Remade as 3 Godfathers (1949).
Society DoctorSociety Doctor · 1935
Society Doctor
7.31935
MovieDrama
Two surgeons in love with a nurse end their rivalry in the operating room.

Filmography

Sort
The Show of ShowsThe Show of Shows · 1929
The Show of Shows
6.61929
MovieMusic
Now hear this. The studio that gave the cinema its voice offered 1929 audiences a chance to see and hear multiple silent-screen favorites for the first time in a gaudy, grandiose music-comedy-novelty revue that also included Talkie stars, Broadway luminaries and of course, Rin-Tin-Tin. Frank Fay hosts a jamboree that, among its 70+ stars, features bicyclers, boxing champ Georges Carpentier, chorines in terpsichore kickery, sister acts, Myrna Loy in two-strip Technicolor as an exotic Far East beauty, John Barrymore in a Shakespearean soliloquy (adding an on-screen voice to his legendary profile for the first time) and Winnie Lightner famously warbling the joys of Singing in the Bathtub. Watch, rinse, repeat!

Performer in $20 Bet Sketch and 'Bicycle Built for Two' Numbers

Infernal MachineInfernal Machine · 1933
Infernal Machine
7.01933
MovieComedy
This pre-Code comedy-thriller centers on Robert Holden, a broke and discouraged veteran, who meets fellow American Elinor Green at a cafe in Paris. After their first encounter, Holden's attempt to return Green's thought-to-be stolen purse ends up rendering him a stowaway on board a ship bound for America. Also aboard is a collection of characters, including Green's banker fiancé, a famed scientist, and an opera singer. Romance begins to blossom between Holden and Green, just as a radiogram claims that an “infernal machine,” or bomb, is aboard the ship. Quickly each passenger accuses the others of planting the bomb until eventually Holden, jealous of Green's attention to her undeserving fiancé, falsely admits to being the culprit. In his role as assumed perpetrator, Holden tests the group further.

Robert Holden

Alias Boston BlackieAlias Boston Blackie · 1942
Alias Boston Blackie
5.71942
MovieMystery
It is the Christmas Holidays and reformed thief, Boston Blackie goes to Castle Theater to pick up players who will perform for prisoners that are still in prison. He takes a girl with him who has a brother already in prison. She has visited the prison twice in the month, so is not suppose to visit again. However when the group is completed the girl is included as well as Inspector Farrady. One of the clowns in the show is kidnapped and replaced by a con who wants to get even with two ex-partners. Boston Blackie figures out that a con has replaced one of his clowns but is unable to stop him. Blackie's clothes are stolen and a murder is committed. Of course, the Inspector immediately suspects Blackie of being involved. Now it is Blackie's job to find the killer, exonerate himself and help the girl free her brother.

Boston Blackie

Lights OutLights Out · 1949
Lights Out
6.01949
SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyCrime
Lights Out was an extremely popular American old-time radio program, an early example of a network series devoted mostly to horror and the supernatural, predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum. Versions of Lights Out aired on different networks, at various times, from January 1934 to the summer of 1947 and the series eventually made the transition to television. In 1946, NBC Television brought Lights Out to TV in a series of four specials, broadcast live and produced by Fred Coe, who also contributed three of the scripts. NBC asked Cooper to write the script for the premiere, "First Person Singular", which is told entirely from the point of view of an unseen murderer who kills his obnoxious wife and winds up being executed. Variety gave this first episode a rave review ("undoubtedly one of the best dramatic shows yet seen on a television screen"), but Lights Out did not become a regular NBC-TV series until 1949.
Cimarron StripCimarron Strip · 1967
Cimarron Strip
5.71967
SeriesWestern
Cimarron Strip is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from September 1967 to March 1968. Starring Stuart Whitman as Marshal Jim Crown, the series was produced by the creators of Gunsmoke. Reruns of the original show were aired in the summer of 1971. Cimarron Strip was one of only three 90-minute weekly Western series that aired during the 1960s, and the only 90-minute series of any kind to be centered primarily around one lead character. Cimarron Strip was set in the Oklahoma Panhandle, which comprises, east to west, Beaver, Texas, and Cimarron counties in Oklahoma. The show is set in 1888, just as the continuous frontier of the West, which once ran from the Canadian to the Mexican border, was closing. In less than five years there would no longer be that "continuous frontier," only pockets of undeveloped land. This was the late "Wild West" that Marshall Jim Crown was called to defend.