Mary Beth Hughes

Acting

Mary Beth Hughes

Born — Died

1919-11-13 — 1995-08-27

Place of birth

Alton, Illinois, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

73 titles

Mary Beth Hughes (November 13, 1919) – August 27, 1995) was an American film, television, and stage actress best known for her roles in B movies.

Known for

Matinee Theater poster
5.3

Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled: When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.

Matinee Theater

1955

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

Dragnet poster
6.5

Follows the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show takes its name from the police term "dragnet", meaning a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects.

Dragnet

1951

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

Rawhide poster
7.3

The tale of trail boss Gil Favor and his trusty foreman Rowdy Yates as they drives cattle across the old west. Along the way they meet up with adventure and drama.

Rawhide

1959

Wanted: Dead or Alive poster
7.1

Wanted: Dead or Alive is an American Western television series starring Steve McQueen as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons from 1958–61. The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown, a 1957–59 western series starring Robert Culp. Both series were produced by Four Star Television in association with CBS Television. The series launched McQueen into becoming the first television star to cross over into comparable status on the big screen.

Wanted: Dead or Alive

1958

Film credits

1950s · 9 titles

Young Man with a Horn poster
6.4

Taken in by the musical world as a young orphan, Rick Martin grows up with a desire to play pure jazz instead of the commercial gigs he lands, whilst also coping with the problems caused by his tempestuous marriage to an aloof heiress.

Young Man with a Horn

1950

Highway Dragnet poster
5.7

Ex-Marine Jim Henry, on the lam from a murder charge, hitches a ride with a glamour-magazine photographer, who is journeying cross-country with her principal model. Tensions rise, however, when the women realize their traveling companion may be a killer.

Highway Dragnet

1954

Las Vegas Shakedown poster
5.8

A teacher writing a book about gambling meets a hotel/casino owner threatened by a gangster.

Las Vegas Shakedown

1955

Close to My Heart poster
6.6

A journalist's wife insists on adopting an abandoned child.

Close to My Heart

1951

Gun Battle at Monterey poster
5.2

An outlaw saved by a Mexican girl hunts the holdup partner who shot him in the back.

Gun Battle at Monterey

1957

Dig That Uranium poster
4.2

The boys buy a uranium mine out west, but when they get there they find that it's pretty much worthless. However, the local badmen are distrustful of these new strangers, and when they mistakenly get the impression that the mine is loaded with uranium, they hatch a scheme to get rid of the boys and take over the mine.

Dig That Uranium

1955

Holiday Rhythm poster
7.5

A young executive is trying to convince an airline to sponsor a travel show on television, but he's not getting anywhere. When he tells his fiancé that he may have to postpone their honeymoon, she goes off on him, and as he backs away from her he hits his head on a fire extinguisher and knocks himself out. While unconscious he dreams his own version of the show he's trying so hard to sell.

Holiday Rhythm

1950

Loophole poster
6.9

Bank teller Mike Donovan (Barry Sullivan) takes the first step on the road to Perdition when he fails to report a $49,000 shortage. Accused of theft, Donovan is fired from his job. He is then prevented from finding other employment by Javert-like insurance investigator Gus Slavin (Charles McGraw). Despite many setbacks, Donovan attempts to clear his muddied name.

Loophole

1954

No Time at All poster
8.0

An airliner flying nonstop at night from Miami to New York fails to check in, then disappears from radar. We see how its disappearance affects people on the ground.

No Time at All

1958

1940s · 39 titles

The Ox-Bow Incident poster
7.7

A posse discovers a trio of men they suspect of murder and cow theft and are split between handing them over to the law or lynching them on the spot.

The Ox-Bow Incident

1943

The Great Flamarion poster
6.1

A beautiful but unscrupulous female performer manipulates all the men in her life in order to achieve her aims.

The Great Flamarion

1945

Free, Blonde and 21 poster
7.3

Stories of women who live in an all-women hotel. One (Bari) works hard and marries a millionaire; another (Hughes) cheats and goes to jail.

Free, Blonde and 21

1940

Men on Her Mind poster
6.5

A famous singer reflects on her life, including her journey from being an orphan to her fame as a singer, as she tries to decide which of her three suitors she will choose.

Men on Her Mind

1944

Sleepers West poster
6.4

Private eye Mike Shayne encounters a large amount of trouble while attempting to guard a murder witness.

Sleepers West

1941

The Night Before the Divorce poster
5.6

Marital comedy with a dash of murder.

The Night Before the Divorce

1942

Orchestra Wives poster
6.5

Connie Ward is in seventh heaven when Gene Morrison's band rolls into town. She is swept off her feet by trumpeter Bill Abbot. After marrying him, she joins the band's tour and learns about life as an orchestra wife, weathering the catty attacks of the other band wives.

Orchestra Wives

1942

Dressed to Kill poster
6.3

A detective's wedding is postponed when gunshots are heard nearby.

Dressed to Kill

1941

The Great Profile poster
6.8

An alcoholic film star attempts a comeback. Director Walter Lang's 1940 comedy stars John Barrymore, Mary Beth Hughes, Anne Baxter, John Payne, Lionel Atwill and Edward Brophy.

The Great Profile

1940

Joe Palooka in Winner Take All poster
7.5

Joe is scheduled for the big fight as usual. This one has more fight sequences than plot.

Joe Palooka in Winner Take All

1948

I Accuse My Parents poster
2.9

Ignored by his alcoholic parents, Jimmy Wilson starts hanging around with some shady characters. After falling in love with a lounge singer, Jimmy tries to impress her by doing jobs for her shady boss. After one of these jobs goes bad, Jimmy ends up on the run. Eventually, he must confront the truth, his past, and his parents. The judge cites parental neglect in the case of a teenager (John Miljan) charged with murder.

I Accuse My Parents

1944

Over My Dead Body poster
8.0

Berle plays a mystery writer who forever writes himself into corners and is never able to finish a story. While visiting his wife (Mary Beth Hughes) at the office where she works, Berle overhears several men discussing the suicide of a coworker. Struck with a brilliant notion, Berle decides to confess to the murder of the dead man, certain that he'll be able to wriggle out of the situation and thereby have plenty of material for a story.

Over My Dead Body

1942

Take It Big poster
9.0

Jack Haley plays Jack North, the nether end of a vaudeville horse act who inherits a western ranch. When he heads to the Great Outdoors to take possession, Jack winds up at the wrong place: a swanky dude ranch. He immediately begins running things, at it's quite a while before his error is discovered. By the time he shows up at his own ranch, he's up to his ears in unpaid debts-which naturally requires a fund-raising musical show as a bail-out. Harriet Hilliard handles the romantic portion of the proceedings, occasionally dueting with her real-life husband, bandleader Ozzie Nelson.

Take It Big

1944

Last of the Wild Horses poster
3.2

A cowboy must clear himself of a murder he did not commit.

Last of the Wild Horses

1948

Riders in the Sky poster
6.4

When asked about the Ghost Riders song he sings, Gene Autry tells this legend: Gene is about to resign as an investigator for the county attorney and go into the cattle business with his pal Chuckawalla Jones but decides instead to help Anne Lawson clear her father, rancher Ralph Lawson, of a false murder charge. He looks for the three witnesses who can testify that Lawson shot only in self defense in killing a gambler, but the witnesses are terrorized by another gambler, town boss Rock McCleary, who shoots witness Pop Roberts Morgan. Fatally wounded, Pop gives Gene the information needed to clear Lawson, then dies crying the "Ghost Riders" are coming for him. Gene then heads for a showdown with McCleary.

Riders in the Sky

1949

The Devil's Henchmen poster
7.5

Insurance agent Jesse Arno is posing as a sailor while on the trail of a gang of waterfront thieves, supposedly headed by Tip Banning. Arno is aware that a gang member has been murdered by Rhino, Banning's simple-minded right-hand man, but says nothing when he is questioned by the police, who are unaware of his real profession. Banning, knowing that Jesse knew who the killer was, admits him into the gang.

The Devil's Henchmen

1949

Inner Sanctum poster
5.0

A killer hides out in a small-town boarding house.

Inner Sanctum

1948

Caged Fury poster
6.0

Big cats are killing people... after being trained by a twisted lion tamer.

Caged Fury

1948

Ride on Vaquero poster
5.2

The Cisco Kid is captured while keeping a rendezvous with cantina dancer Dolores but is released by his captor, the commander of a U.S. Army regiment, to help break up a kidnap ring. On his way to Las Tables with his pal, Gordito, he makes a stop at the Martinez Rancho, where they learn that his friend Carlos has been kidnapped, from his wife Marquerita. At the Crystal Palace Saloon, Cisco runs into an old girlfriend, Sally, who he once jilted for a tight-rope walker, but she doesn't betray him when the sheriff and an army officer enter searching for Cisco.

Ride on Vaquero

1941

Design for Scandal poster
5.1

A newsman (Walter Pidgeon) falls in love on Cape Cod with the judge (Rosalind Russell) his angry boss (Edward Arnold) expects him to discredit.

Design for Scandal

1941

El Paso poster
6.0

Ex-confederate officer Clay Fletcher jumps at the chance to reunite with his once lady-friend, Susan Jeffers, when his father, Judge Fletcher, sends him on an errand to El Paso, Texas to get the signature of Susan's father, Judge Jeffers, on a legal document. Once there he finds the judge has become a drunk and a laughing stock, doing the bidding of local magnate Bert Donner and his running dog, Sheriff La Farge. Just as Clay starts straightening out the town's problems, events occur which force him to abandon the legal system and instead adopt the murderous tactics of a vigilante.

El Paso

1949

The Cowboy and the Blonde poster
7.0

A western rodeo rider is cast in a starring role in a new Hollywood film, but his temperamental and spoiled leading lady proves difficult to tame.

The Cowboy and the Blonde

1941

Melody Parade poster
8.0

The owner and staff of a Hollywood nightclub struggle to keep their establishment from closing.

Melody Parade

1943

Charlie Chan in Rio poster
6.5

In Rio de Janiero to arrest a nightclub singer on suspicion of a murder in Hawaii, Charlie Chan becomes involved with the Rio police in solving the singer's own murder.

Charlie Chan in Rio

1941

Lucky Cisco Kid poster
6.0

Cisco and Gordito arrive to find there is an outlaw operating in the area who is assumed to be the Cisco Kid. When a reward is offered for his capture and a large shipment of money goes out, Cisco is on hand. Seeing the gang rob the stage he goes after them only to be wounded. The gang leader leaves Cisco's handkerchief at the scene and now he is wanted for the murder he tried to break up.

Lucky Cisco Kid

1940

Rockin' in the Rockies poster
5.8

Rancher Rusty Williams is away at agricultural college and leaves his spread in the hands of his older cousin Shorty. Shorty wants to do more than run a ranch, however -- he wants to prospect for gold, but he has no money. He recruits a pair of partners in the guise of two runaway vagrants and a pair of backers in two stranded singers. But then Rusty shows up, and his four somewhat bumbling hired hands manage to compound Larry and Curly's deep ineptitude, and Rusty wants them all out of his hair.

Rockin' in the Rockies

1945

Rimfire poster
5.2

An undercover Army captain links missing gold and murder to a gambler's ghost.

Rimfire

1949

The Return of Wildfire poster
8.0

In this above-average western, a villainous land grabber attempts to force horse ranchers to sell their ranches so he can become king of the horse market. One stubborn rancher refuses to relent and his killed. His two surviving sisters then continue the fight. They are soon assisted by a passing drifter who ends up falling for one of them. In the end a gunfight between the good and bad guys ensues.

The Return of Wildfire

1948

Blue, White and Perfect poster
6.5

In order to win back his girlfriend, Mike Shayne promises to give up his detective practice and get a job as riveter in an aircraft plant. He quickly finds himself investigating the theft of industrial diamonds from the plant's safe and, utilizing a variety of false identities, traces them first to a dress factory and later to a Hawaii-bound ocean liner. Escaping several attempts on his life, he is able to uncover a Nazi smuggling ring, but the location of the missing diamonds continues to elude him.

Blue, White and Perfect

1942

The Lady Confesses poster
4.5

An estranged wife shows up after a nearly 7 years of disappearance -- thought to be dead, to prevent her husband from marrying his new love until someone kills her.

The Lady Confesses

1945

Grand Canyon poster
10.0

A film company is shooting a western on location when the star breaks his leg. A local mule herder, who had never acted before, is "shanghaied" into taking over the role. Complications ensue.

Grand Canyon

1949

Good Morning, Judge poster
10.0

A songwriter is sued for libel, and when he gets to court he discovers that his girlfriend is the plaintiff's attorney.

Good Morning, Judge

1943

Timber Queen poster
6.0

Russ Evans, A WWII veteran army pilot, decides to check up on the widow of an old war buddy of his, Elaine Graham. The logging company she inherited is doing poorly, but Elaine gets an order in for a huge shipment of lumber. Russ and his friend Squirrel volunteer to help her cut the timber for the shipment, along with her friends Smacksie Golden and his girlfriend Lil Boggs, who are not used to doing physical labor. Russ pilots the plane to deliver the lumber before the company falls to a slimy businessman.

Timber Queen

1944

Follow the Band poster
9.0

A farmer from Vermont travels to New York and becomes a successful singer in a nightclub.

Follow the Band

1943

Four Sons poster
7.0

Four Sons is a 1940 film directed by Archie Mayo. It stars Don Ameche and Eugenie Leontovich. It is a remake of the 1928 film of the same name.

Four Sons

1940

Waterfront at Midnight poster
7.0

Hoping to put the cuffs on criminal mastermind Socks Barstow, detective Mike Hanrohan is stymied by the fact that his younger brother Denny has joined Barstow's gang. Things get worse after a bloody shootout, in which Mike apparently guns down his own brother.

Waterfront at Midnight

1948

Never a Dull Moment poster
7.0

Nightclub gangsters hire a vaudeville act called the Three Funny Bunnies (Ritz Brothers).

Never a Dull Moment

1943

Star Dust poster
5.7

When Hollywood film studios reject her because she's too young, an Arkansas woman sets out to build a career as an actress on her own.

Star Dust

1940

Square Dance Jubilee poster
5.0

Two talent scouts for a New York-based country music TV show called "Square Dance Jubilee" are sent out West to get authentic western singing acts. They find what they're looking for, but also get mixed up in cattle rustling and murder.

Square Dance Jubilee

1949

1930s · 9 titles

The Women poster
7.2

A happily married woman lets her catty friends talk her into divorce when her husband strays.

The Women

1939

Within the Law poster
6.5

Shopgirl Mary Turner, sentenced to prison for someone else's theft, is released and takes revenge upon those who wronged her in powerful but lawful ways.

Within the Law

1939

These Glamour Girls poster
5.9

A drunken college student invites a dance hostess to the big college dance and then forgets he asked her. When she shows up at school, he tries to get rid of her, but she won't leave. Instead, she stays and shows up both him and his classmates' snooty dates.

These Glamour Girls

1939

Bridal Suite poster
5.4

A carefree playboy with an aversion to marriage falls for a lass he meets in the French Alps.

Bridal Suite

1939

The Kid From Texas poster
7.0

A loud-mouthed Texas cowpuncher tries his hand at polo finding himself at odds with high society and trying to save a floundering Wild West show.

The Kid From Texas

1939

Fast and Furious poster
5.2

Joel & Garda Sloan, a husband and wife detective team, who also sell rare books in New York, take a vacation to Seaside City. At Seaside, Joel's pal, Mike Stevens is managing and preparing for their beauty pageant. Joel is made one of the judges plus he has invested $5,000 in it, to Garda's dismay. Eric Bartell, promoter, arrives to dupe Stevens. When Ed Connors, New York racketeer arrives, Bartell is mysteriously murdered. Joel and Garda set out to investigate the murder.

Fast and Furious

1939

Broadway Serenade poster
6.6

A married singer, pianist/composer team are struggling to hit it big in New York. Finally, they audition before a Broadway producer, but the producer only wants the singer, leaving the husband without a job and feeling a failure.

Broadway Serenade

1939

Dancing Co-Ed poster
6.5

After discovering his star dancer is expecting and can't perform, film producer H.W. Workman and his publicist concoct a scheme to stage a college dance contest to find a new star.

Dancing Co-Ed

1939

The Covered Trailer poster
7.0

The Higgins family prepares for a long-awaited cruise to Rio, but while father Joe bids farewell to his co-workers at the bank, mother Lil unwittingly sabotages their plans by telling insurance representative Wells that Joe is only forty-four, not forty-five, and is therefore ineligible to collect the annuity insurance that was to pay for the cruise.

The Covered Trailer

1939

Series credits

Matinee Theater poster
5.3

Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled: When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.

Matinee Theater

1955

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

Dragnet poster
6.5

Follows the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show takes its name from the police term "dragnet", meaning a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects.

Dragnet

1951

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

Rawhide poster
7.3

The tale of trail boss Gil Favor and his trusty foreman Rowdy Yates as they drives cattle across the old west. Along the way they meet up with adventure and drama.

Rawhide

1959

Rawhide poster
7.3

The tale of trail boss Gil Favor and his trusty foreman Rowdy Yates as they drives cattle across the old west. Along the way they meet up with adventure and drama.

Rawhide

1959

Wanted: Dead or Alive poster
7.1

Wanted: Dead or Alive is an American Western television series starring Steve McQueen as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons from 1958–61. The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown, a 1957–59 western series starring Robert Culp. Both series were produced by Four Star Television in association with CBS Television. The series launched McQueen into becoming the first television star to cross over into comparable status on the big screen.

Wanted: Dead or Alive

1958

December Bride poster
6.2

December Bride is an American sitcom that aired on the CBS television network from 1954 to 1959, adapted from the original CBS radio network series that aired from June 1952 through September 1953.

December Bride

1954

The Abbott and Costello Show poster
7.2

Bud and Lou are unemployed actors living in Mr. Fields’ boarding house. Lou’s girlfriend Hillary lives across the hall. Many situations arise leading to slapstick and puns.

The Abbott and Costello Show

1952

The Thin Man poster
7.6

Nick Charles was a private detective who married the wealthy Nora and decided to settle down and leave the good life. Unfortunately for the couple, Nick's past frequently caught up with him and got the couple involved in mystery after mystery. The series was based on the popular MGM series of movies of the 1930's starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk starred as the televison versions of Nick and Nora which ran on NBC for two seasons from 1957-59.

The Thin Man

1957

Racket Squad poster
6.5

Racket Squad is an American TV crime drama series starring Reed Hadley as Captain John Braddock, a fictional detective working for the San Francisco, California Police Department. The show aired in syndication for a season before being picked up by CBS for three seasons. The series was filmed at Hal Roach Studios in Culver City, California, and was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris, hence there was a pack of the sponsor's brand on Braddock's desk at the beginning and end of the episode, as well as occasional scenes of him or other characters "lighting up".

Racket Squad

1951

Public Defender poster
6.2

The Public Defender is a half-hour 69-episode television dramatic series starring Reed Hadley as Bart Matthews, an attorney for the indigent. The series aired on CBS from March 11, 1954 to June 23, 1955, a season and a half.

Public Defender

1954

The Hollywood Palace poster
5.0

The Hollywood Palace is an hour-long American television variety show that was broadcast weekly on ABC from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970. Originally titled The Saturday Night Hollywood Palace, it began as a mid-season replacement for The Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show which had lasted only three months. It was staged in Hollywood at the former Hollywood Playhouse on Vine Street, which was renamed The Hollywood Palace during the show's duration and is today known as Avalon Hollywood. A little-known starlet named Raquel Welch was cast during the first season as the "Billboard Girl", who placed the names of the acts on a placard.

The Hollywood Palace

1964