Betty Furness

Acting

Betty Furness

Born — Died

1916-01-03 — 1994-04-02

Place of birth

New York City, New York, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

55 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Elizabeth Mary Furness (January 3, 1916 – April 2, 1994) was an American actress, consumer advocate, and current affairs commentator. She began her professional career as a model before being noticed by a talent scout and being signed to a film contract in 1932 by RKO Studios. Her first film role was as the "Thirteenth Woman" in the film Thirteen Women (1932) but her scenes were deleted before the film's release. Over the next few years, she appeared in several RKO films, and became a popular actress. Among her film successes were Magnificent Obsession (1935) and the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film Swing Time (1936). By the end of the decade, she …

Known for

What's My Line? poster
7.1

Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions.

What's My Line?

1950

Climax! poster
3.8

Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color. Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live.

Climax!

1954

Studio One poster
5.4

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions.

Studio One

1948

The Philco Television Playhouse poster
6.6

The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956.

The Philco Television Playhouse

1948

The Colgate Comedy Hour poster
6.9

The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show starred many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Ray Bolger, Gordon MacRae, Ben Blue, Robert Paige, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb and Spike Jones and His City Slickers.

The Colgate Comedy Hour

1950

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse poster
6.3

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse is an American television anthology series produced by Desilu Productions. The show ran on CBS television between 1958 and 1960. Two of its 48 episodes served as pilots for the 1950s television series The Twilight Zone and The Untouchables.

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

1958

Film credits

1950s · 10 titles

The Kill poster
8.0

Jeff and his family just moved into a small, rural community. When two sinister locals tamper with Jeff's water pump, a fight breaks out among the three. Jeff is seen as a fugitive in the eyes of this bloodthirsty community...and there seems to be no way to stop them. Studio One, Season 5, Episode 1.

The Kill

1952

The Defender (Studio One) poster
6.1

The pilot for the television series, "The Defenders." The story of Walter and Kenneth Pearson, a father-and-son legal team. Broadcast as two segments of "Studio One," the story relates how the Pearsons defend a young man accused of killing a woman during a robbery attempt.

The Defender (Studio One)

1957

Studio One: Wuthering Heights poster
9.0

Mistreated foundling Heathcliff and his stepsister Catherine fall in love, but when she marries a wealthy man, he becomes obsessed with getting revenge, even well into the next generation.

Studio One: Wuthering Heights

1950

The Rockingham Tea Set poster
10.0

To keep her former fiancé from leaving her, a neurotic young woman (Louise Allbritton) fakes a riding accident, and feigns paralysis of her lower body. When her graceful nurse (Grace Kelly) discovers her treachery, she resorts to a final and desperate act of revenge.

The Rockingham Tea Set

1950

Twelve Angry Men poster
7.8

Twelve Angry Men is a 1954 teleplay by Reginald Rose for the Studio One anthology television series. Initially staged as a CBS live production on 20 September 1954, the drama was later rewritten for the stage in 1955 under the same title and again for a feature film, 12 Angry Men (1957). The episode garnered three Emmy Awards for writer Rose, director Franklin Schaffner and Robert Cummings as Best Actor.

Twelve Angry Men

1954

A Bolt of Lightning poster
7.0

The story of James Otis who was a part of the American revolution. He contested in court the right of the British to search colonists' homes.

A Bolt of Lightning

1951

Ellis in Freedomland poster
NR

Westinghouse claims its electric appliances "freed women from the drudgery of housework." The first half involves a dream salesman at work; the second half is focused on the "Spring Sales Event," called "Freedomland."

Ellis in Freedomland

1952

The Play of the Nativity of the Child Jesus poster
4.0

The birth of Jesus and the serene Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem.

The Play of the Nativity of the Child Jesus

1952

Pontius Pilate poster
NR

The story, set 15 years after the Crucifixion, of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who is depicted as a victim of circumstances.

Pontius Pilate

1952

Westinghouse Total Electric Home poster
NR

A promotional short from Westinghouse.

Westinghouse Total Electric Home

1959

1930s · 36 titles

Flying Down to Rio poster
6.3

An American bandleader woos a Brazilian beauty who is already engaged to his employer. His friends try to help him, while learning the local dance, The Carioca. The first pairing of Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, and their only pre-Code film.

Flying Down to Rio

1933

Swing Time poster
6.8

Lucky is tricked into missing his own wedding to Margaret and has to make $25,000 so her father will allow him to marry her. He and business partner Pop go to New York where they run into dancing instructor Penny. She and Lucky form a successful dance partnership, but romance is blighted by his old attachment to Margaret and hers for Ricky.

Swing Time

1936

Scarlet River poster
5.6

Unable to find open range near Hollywood, western actor Tom Baxter and his troop head to Judy Blake's ranch to shoot their film.

Scarlet River

1933

Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs poster
4.7

Winners of the Lucky Stars National Dance Contest - one woman from each state of the United States - are welcomed to Palm Springs. Being the desert playground for the movie stars, the women are introduced to the cavalcade of famous faces vacationing in Palm Springs at the time of their visit.

Sunkist Stars at Palm Springs

1936

The President's Mystery poster
5.8

The screenplay for this mystery is based upon a story suggested to Liberty Magazine by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is the tale of a prominent lawyer who shocks his snooty friends, family and colleagues by abruptly abandoning his successful practice and his wife to find true happiness. He soon falls in love with another woman and continues to keep a low profile until he learns that his first wife stands accused of murdering him

The President's Mystery

1936

It Can't Last Forever poster
6.5

Russ Matthews, a theatrical agent who is not above pulling off a hoax or two or more to further the career of his clients (and himself), and a newspaper gossip-columnist, Carol Wilson, get involved with gangsters when one of Larry's radio-program future-predicting cons gets out of hand.

It Can't Last Forever

1937

The Band Plays On poster
8.3

A judge hands four wayward boys to a college football coach who turns them into backfield stars.

The Band Plays On

1934

The Keeper of the Bees poster
6.0

A severely traumatized World War I veteran, believing that he's living on borrowed time, comes upon a peaceful little village and meets an old man called Bee Master and his protégé, Little Scout, who try to convince him that he has more to live for than he thinks he does.

The Keeper of the Bees

1935

Ace of Aces poster
5.9

A sculptor who doesn't want to have any part of World War I is shamed by his girlfriend into joining the fight. He becomes a fighter pilot, and undergoes a complete personality change.

Ace of Aces

1933

The Life of Vergie Winters poster
5.7

A small town politician, kept from marrying the love of his life, eventually marries another woman and his career ascends, but he secretly continues the relationship with his true love.

The Life of Vergie Winters

1934

Magnificent Obsession poster
7.4

A playboy tries to redeem himself after his careless behavior causes a great man's death.

Magnificent Obsession

1935

Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men poster
7.8

Tough Aggie gives a street guy polish and a rich kid gumption.

Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men

1933

Emergency Call poster
6.3

A surgeon and an ambulance driver fight racketeers who take over their hospital.

Emergency Call

1933

Gridiron Flash poster
4.8

A college football team recruits a tough convict.

Gridiron Flash

1934

Lucky Devils poster
6.4

Two Hollywood stuntmen compete for the same pretty extra.

Lucky Devils

1933

Mama Steps Out poster
7.3

A Fort Wayne, Indiana housewife (Alice Brady) drags her husband (Guy Kibbee) and daughter (Betty Furness) to Europe for culture.

Mama Steps Out

1937

Cross Fire poster
6.5

Tom and five older respected business men run the Sierra mine. When Tom leaves for Europe to fight in WW1, everything is OK. When he returns after the war he finds his former assistant not only in control of the mine but the whole town. His former partners have fled becoming outlaws and are now robbing the mine shipments of money they believe is really theirs.

Cross Fire

1933

Beggars in Ermine poster
7.2

John Dawson loses control of his factory when he is crippled in an accident caused by a rival. Destitute, he travels the country organizing the homeless to help him regain control of his steel mill.

Beggars in Ermine

1934

Mister Cinderella poster
7.0

Boston blueblood Aloysius Merriweather loves to play jokes on people and he's come up with a joy-buzzer of a doozy. He'll send barber Joe Jenkins in his place to a dinner party aimed at squeezing a few Merriweather millions. That Cinderella plan soon turns into a pumpkin coach with the wheels fallen off. Circumstances will force shave-and-a-haircut Joe to masquerade as Merriweather for much longer.The comedy comes fast and frantic in Mister Cinderella, from Hal Roach Studios.

Mister Cinderella

1936

All American Chump poster
6.2

A country bumpkin who's a mathematical genius falls into the hands of gangsters.

All American Chump

1936

McFadden´s Flats poster
8.0

Dan McFadden builds an apartment house in a working-class neighborhood on New York's East Side called "McFadden's Flats." At the same time, Dan and his wife Nora send their tomboyish daughter Molly to an expensive girls' school to teach her etiquette. Molly only agrees to go after her sweetheart, Sandy MacTavish, convinces her she should. When Dan is unable to complete the apartments because of a lack of money, Sandy's father Jock, a Scottish barber and Dan's best friend, secretly backs Dan's loan at the bank, even though Jock is known for his penny-pinching ways.

McFadden´s Flats

1935

Here Comes Cookie poster
7.2

A scatterbrained heiress opens her home to a succession of unemployed actors and vaudeville performers, then decides to produce her own show, much to the consternation of her father, her sister and her sister's boyfriend, who is actually after the young girl's money.

Here Comes Cookie

1935

North of Shanghai poster
8.0

In this newspaper drama, a female reporter and a newsreel cameraman are both assigned to cover the Sino-Japanese war. They meet on the boat ride over and decide to team up. They are further assisted by a Chinese cameraman. The three of them manage to expose of spy ring operating out of the Shanghai office of the woman's newspaper.

North of Shanghai

1939

Headline Shooter poster
6.3

A newsreel photographer neglects his love life to get the perfect shot.

Headline Shooter

1933

A Wicked Woman poster
5.0

A woman and her children escape severe poverty and abuse. She successfully betters her family's condition while living with the secret that she killed her abusive husband in order to protect her children from him.

A Wicked Woman

1934

They Wanted to Marry poster
5.8

Newspaper photographer Jim Tyler sneaks into a society girl's wedding, and the bride's sister decides she prefers him to her upper-crust suitors. She even likes his pigeon, who travels everywhere with him.

They Wanted to Marry

1937

Let's Fall in Love poster
8.0

A carnival girl pretends to be Swedish in order to win a movie role.

Let's Fall in Love

1933

Renegades of the West poster
6.0

A cowboy goes undercover to catch the cattle thieves who killed his father.

Renegades of the West

1932

Shadow of Doubt poster
6.7

When a Hollywood producer is murdered, the most likely suspect is a man who is smitten with the victim's fiancee.

Shadow of Doubt

1935

The Good Old Soak poster
9.0

A small town drunk beats a teetotal banker guilty of a shady transaction.

The Good Old Soak

1937

Fair Warning poster
7.3

In California's Death Valley a chemistry whiz-kid helps a sheriff track the man who murdered a wealthy mine owner who had been staying at a fancy winter resort.

Fair Warning

1937

Calm Yourself poster
6.0

A recently-fired advertising executive starts his own company, Confidential Services, to help clients solve their unusual and problematic situations.

Calm Yourself

1935

Midshipman Jack poster
8.0

Director Christy Cabanne's 1933 film dramatizes one year in the lives of four midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Midshipman Jack

1933

The Three Wise Guys poster
9.0

Riding in his private car on Christmas day, railroad tycoon Hatcher prefers work to celebrating, while his son Joe prefers having a good time. In the coach car, Joe sees pretty Clarabelle Brooks and is sincerely concerned when she faints. A doctor, who is also in the car, helps to revive Clarabelle, says that she is suffering from severe hunger and, with fellow passenger Blackie Swanson, passes the hat for her. Later, Clarabelle, who is secretly working with con-men Doc and Blackie, goes to their compartment to discuss plans to set Joe up for a breach of promise suit...

The Three Wise Guys

1936

The Great Jasper poster
8.0

Generational saga about a failed streetcar conductor, who finds success as an Atlantic City fortune teller, and his son.

The Great Jasper

1933

Dangerous Corner poster
6.8

Friends uncover a dark secret when they compare notes about a theft and suicide.

Dangerous Corner

1934

Series credits

What's My Line? poster
7.1

Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions.

What's My Line?

1950

Climax! poster
3.8

Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color. Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live.

Climax!

1954

Climax! poster
3.8

Climax! is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color. Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live.

Climax!

1954

Studio One poster
5.4

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions.

Studio One

1948

Studio One poster
5.4

An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions.

Studio One

1948

The Philco Television Playhouse poster
6.6

The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956.

The Philco Television Playhouse

1948

The Colgate Comedy Hour poster
6.9

The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show starred many notable comedians and entertainers of the era, including Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Fred Allen, Donald O'Connor, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Ray Bolger, Gordon MacRae, Ben Blue, Robert Paige, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Broadway dancer Wayne Lamb and Spike Jones and His City Slickers.

The Colgate Comedy Hour

1950

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse poster
6.3

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse is an American television anthology series produced by Desilu Productions. The show ran on CBS television between 1958 and 1960. Two of its 48 episodes served as pilots for the 1950s television series The Twilight Zone and The Untouchables.

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

1958

Your Show of Shows poster
7.2

Your Show of Shows was a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United States on NBC, from February 25, 1950, until June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Bill Hayes, Judy Johnson, The Hamilton Trio and the soprano Marguerite Piazza. José Ferrer made several guest appearances on the series. The series was telecast from the now-demolished International Theatre at 5 Columbus Circle and the Century Theater, now demolished, in New York. During 2002, Your Show of Shows was ranked #30 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

Your Show of Shows

1950