| Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | |
|---|---|
 Hugh O'Brian,Rod Serling, andLloyd Bridges. O'Brian and Bridges appeared in the Serling-penned episode "Exit From a Plane in Flight". | |
| Also known as | Universal Star Time Theatre of the Stars |
| Genre | Anthology |
| Presented by | Bob Hope |
| Composers | Johnny Williams Bernard Herrmann Benny Carter Cyril Mockridge Dizzy Gillespie Quincy Jones Les Brown Johnny Mandel Lalo Schifrin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 107 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Roy Huggins |
| Producers | Richard Berg Jack Laird Richard Lewis |
| Running time | 48 mins. |
| Production companies | Hovue Productions, in association withUniversal Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | October 4, 1963 (1963-10-04) – May 17, 1967 (1967-05-17) |
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre is an Americananthology series, sponsored byChrysler, which ran onNBC from 1963 through 1967. The show was hosted byBob Hope, but it had a variety of formats, including musical, dramatic, and comedy.
The program included such events as an adaptation ofOne Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, starringJason Robards (from the 1962 novel byAleksandr Solzhenitsyn);The Seven Little Foys, starringMickey Rooney,Eddie Foy Jr. and theOsmond Brothers;Think Pretty, a musical starringFred Astaire andBarrie Chase; andGroucho Marx in "Time for Elizabeth", a televised adaptation of a play that Marx and Norman Krasna wrote in 1948.
Generally, each episode ran for an hour, although for some 'special presentations', NBC expanded the broadcast time to 90 minutes.
Hope was paid US$25,000 ($259,873 in 2024 dollars[1]) per week for those episodes he merely introduced, and US$500,000 ($5,197,470 in 2024 dollars[1]) for those in which he starred. Hope's performances consisted of his typical joke- and celebrity-filledblackout sketches. These were usually calledChrysler Presents a Bob Hope Special. Every season, Hope traveled toVietnam forChristmas, to entertain the troops.
Actors who appeared in episodes includedPhyllis Avery,John Cassavetes,Broderick Crawford,Angie Dickinson,Peter Falk,Sean Garrison,Sam Levene,Jack Lord,Carol Lynley,Ida Lupino, George Maharis,Darren McGavin,Dina Merrill,Hugh O'Brian,Suzanne Pleshette,Cliff Robertson,William Shatner,Robert Stack,Robert Wagner,Stuart Whitman,Shelley Winters, andRobert Young.
Notable directors includedSydney Pollack,Stuart Rosenberg,John Cassavetes,Sam Peckinpah,Ida Lupino, andDaniel Petrie.[citation needed]
Several episodes were rerun from 1968 through 1972 under several different titles:NBC Adventure Theatre (1971–1972),NBC Action Playhouse (1971–1972),NBC Comedy Playhouse (1968–1970) andNBC Comedy Theater (1971–1972). The Hope introductions were replaced by other hosts, such asPeter Marshall (who hosted "Action"),Art Fleming ("Adventure" in 1971),Ed McMahon ("Adventure" in 1972),Monty Hall ("Comedy Playhouse" in 1968) andJack Kelly ("Comedy Playhouse" in 1970, and "Comedy Theater").
In syndication, the series was presented asUniversal Star Time andTheatre of the Stars, minus Hope's opening and closing segments.
Several of the dramatic episodes of the series aired in Britain onBBC2 asImpact, which also included episodes ofKraft Suspense Theatre.
The show won a total of sevenPrimetime Emmy Awards and was nominated for six more.[citation needed] Among them were the following:
For her performance in the episode "Two is the Number" (1964),Shelley Winters won for outstanding lead actress in a miniseries or movie.
Simone Signoret won for outstanding lead actress for her performance in "A Small Rebellion" (1966) which also starredSam Levene as theatre owner Noel Greb andGeorge Maharis as playwright Michael Kolinos.[2]
Cliff Robertson won for outstanding lead actor for his performance in "The Game" (1966).
Rod Steiger won for outstanding lead actor for his performance in "A Slow Fade to Black" (1964).
Sydney Pollack was nominated for directing "Something About Lee Wiley" (1963),[citation needed] and won for directing "The Game" (1966).
Rod Serling won for writing the episode, "It's Mental Work" (1964).
Additionally, the show was nominated twice for theDirectors Guild of America Award and twice for theEdgar Allan Poe Award.
