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 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.
Blind SpotBlind Spot · 1947
Blind Spot
★ 5.31947
MovieMysteryCrime
A struggling writer becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation when his publisher is found dead in a manner mirroring one of the writer's proposed mystery storylines.
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.
The Big HouseThe Big House · 1930
The Big House
★ 6.61930
MovieCrimeDrama
Convicted of manslaughter for a drunken driving accident, Kent Marlowe is sent to prison, where he meets vicious incarcerated figures who are planning an escape from the brutal conditions.
Moonlight MurderMoonlight Murder · 1936
Moonlight Murder
★ 4.81936
MovieMysteryComedy
An escaped lunatic, a mysterious swami, and various lovers all have designs on a famous opera singer.
Five Came BackFive Came Back · 1939
Five Came Back
★ 6.31939
MovieAdventureDrama
Twelve people are aboard Coast Airline's flagship the Silver Queen enroute to South America when the airplane encounters a storm and is blown off course. Crashing into jungles known to be inhabited by head hunters, pilots Bill and Joe race against time to fix the engines and attempt a take off. The situation brings out the best and worst in the stranded dozen as they create a makeshift runway and prepare to escape before the natives attack. But damage to the plane and low fuel reserves means that only 5 people can be carried to safety.
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.
Boston Blackie Booked on SuspicionBoston Blackie Booked on Suspicion · 1945
Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion
★ 5.81945
MovieCrimeMystery
Blackie is implicated in a murder when he accidently sells a phony Charles Dickens first edition at an auction.

Filmography

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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

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
★ 5.81967
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.