Dick Shawn

Acting

Dick Shawn

Born — Died

1923-12-01 — 1987-04-17

Place of birth

Buffalo, New York, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

67 titles

Dick Shawn (December 1, 1923 – April 17, 1987) was an American actor. Way ahead of his time most say, it was extremely difficult indeed to know how to properly tap into this man's eclectic talents. Shawn began inching toward the forefront during the be-bop 50s and early 60s with his odd penchant for playing cool cats. During his mild bid for film stardom, he was top-billed as a hip, laid back genie in the thoroughly dismal satire The Wizard of Baghdad (1960), but seemed to have better luck when taken in smaller doses. He fared quite well opposite another "way-out-there" comedian, Ernie Kovacs, in Wake Me When It's Over (1960) as a hustling soldier out to make a buck in the Far East. Also o…

Known for

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson poster
7.6

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962

The Mike Douglas Show poster
5.8

The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.

The Mike Douglas Show

1961

The Love Boat poster
6.2

Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins.

The Love Boat

1977

The Merv Griffin Show poster
6.8

No synopsis available yet.

The Merv Griffin Show

1962

Magnum, P.I. poster
7.3

A private investigator who works when he wants, lives in a beachfront estate in Hawaii, drives a posh Ferrari, runs up an unlimited tab at a swank bar, and charms attractive women in peril - that's the lifestyle of Thomas Magnum, aka Magnum, P.I.

Magnum, P.I.

1980

The Dick Cavett Show poster
6.8

The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.

The Dick Cavett Show

1968

Film credits

1980s · 16 titles

Angel poster
6.0

Molly Stewart, a teen at the top of her class who survives by working nights as a prostitute on Hollywood Blvd, finds her world beginning to fall apart when a depraved, necrophiliac serial killer begins targeting LA’s streetwalkers.

Angel

1984

Maid to Order poster
5.5

Spoiled Jessie Montgomery, whose wild behavior and spending excesses cause her well-meaning but exasperated millionaire father Charles to wish he never had her, is visited by fairy godmother Stella. In an effort to save Jessie, Stella casts a spell which causes Charles to no longer have a daughter. Jessie, now penniless and without a friend, must take a maid's job to earn a living, and hopefully to learn her lesson.

Maid to Order

1987

Captain EO poster
7.9

Captain EO and his crew journey to a dark, mechanical world to deliver a gift to the tyrannical Supreme Leader, using the power of music and dance to transform her realm from darkness into light.

Captain EO

1986

Water poster
6.1

The British governor of a tiny island nation in the Caribbean Commonwealth finds his idyllic existence thrown into chaos when an American drilling company finds a huge source of natural mineral water there.

Water

1985

Young Warriors poster
3.8

After a young woman is gang raped and murdered in a California college town, her brother takes up arms by night with a gang of like-minded vigilantes from his fraternity, brutally punishing any miscreants they catch in a criminal act.

Young Warriors

1983

Best Chest in the West poster
4.8

What happens when dozens of beautiful California girls compete for the title of “BEST CHEST IN THE WEST”? In this show, anything goes! Dick Shawn hosts this fun-filled show packed with comedy, dancing, music and of course the best chests in the West. Celebrity judges Pat McCormick, Carol Wayne and Avery Schreiber pick winners in the three different categories: Itty-Bitties, Middle-Weights and Hefty Honies. These girls will do just about anything to influence the judges as well as the celebrity filled audience.

Best Chest in the West

1984

Rented Lips poster
3.8

A documentary filmmaker, who has spent the last 15 years making films like "Aluminum: Our Shiny Friend," is finally given the chance to make the documentary on Indian farming he has always wanted to. The catch? He must simultaneously direct a porn film. But as he tries to make the porn film, which he turns into a musical called "Halloween in the Barracks," he must deal with a temperamental actor, a fundamentalist preacher, and other obstacles.

Rented Lips

1988

The Emperor's New Clothes poster
4.8

Two con men take advantage of an emperor's vanity.

The Emperor's New Clothes

1985

The Check is in the Mail... poster
6.2

Meet Richard Jackson - a man fed up with the insanity of "plastic" suburban living. Rallying his befuddled family around him, Richard mounts an outrageously comic assault on credit card craziness, "Yuppie" status symbols and "the system" in general!

The Check is in the Mail...

1986

The Making of Captain EO poster
7.3

Documentary of the making of Michael Jackson's Captain EO film for the Disney theme parks.

The Making of Captain EO

1986

Playboy Video Magazine, Volume 12 poster
4.0

The twelfth and final Playboy Video Magazine released in pysical format features video centerfold Ava Fabian, a comedy roast of Tommy Chong, a look back at classic sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, R-rated Candid Candid Camera skits featuring Allen Funt and Michelle Bauer, the erotic vignette "A Tale of Tail," a profile of model Ellen Stohl and much more.

Playboy Video Magazine, Volume 12

1987

The Tommy Chong Roast poster
5.5

A "tribute" to comedian Tommy Chong, given to him by many of his fellow comedians.

The Tommy Chong Roast

1986

No artwork available
NR

Diana Ross's TV special has her playing dual roles and serves as a glamorous tribute to the history of Black popular music.

Diana Ross: Red Hot Rhythm and Blues

1987

The Perils of P.K poster
9.5

P.K., a former movie star now reduced to working as a stripper in a Las Vegas nightclub, is desperate for a comeback, and thinks she could make one if she could only get a big-name star to appear in a movie with her. She relates all these problems, and many of her fantasies, to her psychiatrist, and also approaches several entertainers working in Las Vegas to try to get them to help make her dream come true.

The Perils of P.K

1986

The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud poster
4.6

Screwball account of the legendary psychologist's life leading up to his ground-breaking theories.

The Secret Diary of Sigmund Freud

1984

Good-bye Cruel World poster
3.3

The story involves newscaster Rodney Pointsetter who is so depressed between his job and his family that he tries to make a film about his life, which he intends to culminate with his own suicide. It is often interrupted with irrelevant comic sketches that an emcee claims that the audience prefers to see.

Good-bye Cruel World

1982

1970s · 8 titles

Love at First Bite poster
6.0

Dracula and Renfield relocate to '70s era New York in search of Cindy Sondheim, the reincarnation of Dracula's one true love, Mina Harker. "Trouble adjusting" is a wild understatement for the Count as he battles Cindy's psychiatrist, Jeffrey Rosenberg, a descendant of Van Helsing, who may be in love with Cindy too.

Love at First Bite

1979

The Year Without a Santa Claus poster
7.1

Feeling forgotten by the children of the world, old St. Nick decides to skip his gift-giving journey and take a vacation. Mrs. Claus and two spunky little elves, Jingle and Jangle, set out to see to where all the season's cheer has disappeared. Aided by a magical snowfall, they reawaken the spirit of Christmas in children's hearts and put Santa back in action.

The Year Without a Santa Claus

1974

Playboy's 25th Anniversary Celebration poster
1.0

A salute to Playboy Magazine on the occasion of its twenty-fifth anniversary, hosted by founding publisher Hugh Hefner and an all-male guest list.

Playboy's 25th Anniversary Celebration

1979

Evil Roy Slade poster
6.3

Orphaned and left in the desert as an infant, Evil Roy Slade grew up alone—save for his teddy bear—and mean. As an adult, he is notorious for being the "meanest villain in the West"—so he's thrown for quite a loop when he falls for sweet schoolteacher Betsy Potter. There's also Nelson L. Stool, a railroad tycoon, who, along with his dimwitted nephew Clifford (Henry Gibson), is trying to get revenge on Evil Roy Slade for robbing him.

Evil Roy Slade

1972

Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man poster
NR

A CBS television special, renowned for its legendary "Yma, Ava....Yma, Uta... Yma, Oona" sequence. Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man (1970) won Anne Bancroft her only Emmy for her portrayal of 14 different woman in 14 musical and comedy sketches. Bancroft's husband Mel Brooks contributed to the script and also appears onscreen.

Annie: The Women in the Life of a Man

1970

Dames at Sea poster
7.0

Dames at Sea is a musical with book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller and music by Jim Wise. The musical is a parody of large, flashy 1930s Busby Berkeley-style movie musicals in which a chorus girl, newly arrived off the bus from the Midwest to New York City, steps into a role on Broadway and becomes a star. It originally played Off-Off-Broadway in 1966 at the Caffe Cino and then played Off-Broadway, starring newcomer Bernadette Peters, beginning in 1968 for a successful run. The television version was broadcast on the Bell System Family Theater on NBC on November 15, 1971. The cast had extra chorus girls and boys, and there were full production numbers, turning into the very thing it was spoofing. Ann Miller was singled out for praise, especially when "she was allowed to tap out her brassy...temperamental star..."

Dames at Sea

1971

Fast Friends poster
9.0

A young divorcee struggles to provide for her young son and make a new life for herself in the backstage jungle of a TV talk show, becoming fast friends with its head writer whose job it is to see that its host, a woman-chasing egomaniac, stays at the top of the ratings.

Fast Friends

1979

No artwork available
9.0

Family secrets are revealed as three generations of a middle-class New York Jewish family come together in this story of good relations and bad relations.

Looking Up

1977

1960s · 9 titles

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World poster
7.0

A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

1963

The Producers poster
7.1

A conniving Broadway producer and his meek accountant plan to profit from charming wealthy old biddies to invest in an overbudget production, and then put on a sure-fire disaster, so nobody will ask for their money back — and what's more disastrous than a tasteless musical celebrating Adolf Hitler.

The Producers

1968

Way... Way Out poster
5.9

A platonically wed American couple run a lunar weather station near an unwed Soviet couple.

Way... Way Out

1966

What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? poster
5.9

A by-the-book Captain is ordered to capture a strategic village in Italy. The Italian soldiers are willing to surrender, if they can have a festival first. The lieutenant convinces the Captain this is the only way. Because of aerial reconnaissance, they must look like they are fighting. To sort this out an intelligence officer is sent in. Meanwhile the festival gets complicated with the Mayors daughter.

What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

1966

Penelope poster
5.5

When Penelope gets married to banker James Elcott, she finds him too preoccupied with work to pay much attention to her, so she robs his bank in disguise. After she confesses to her psychiatrist, Greg Mannix, he offers to return the money for her, as he is secretly in love with her. However, he abandons the money when the police approach. Penelope becomes determined to admit to the crime, but neither James nor the police believe her story.

Penelope

1966

A Very Special Favor poster
5.8

The long-lost father of a frigid, uptight Freudian psychologist contracts a wealthy American playboy who owes him a favor to woo his daughter.

A Very Special Favor

1965

Wake Me When It's Over poster
6.7

The war may be over, but that doesn't keep the hapless Gus Brubaker from being drafted and posted on a forgotten little Japanese Island...and that's just the beginning of this wacky Air Force adventure!

Wake Me When It's Over

1960

The Wizard of Baghdad poster
7.0

A genie turned mortal after his many failures is sent to Baghdad. As his last chance to prove himself he must help a prince and princess fulfill a prophecy.

The Wizard of Baghdad

1961

The Happy Ending poster
6.1

When Fred asked for Mary's hand in marriage, she thought she had the happy ending she only read about in fairy tales. Now it's 16 years later; Fred has had an affair, and Mary drowns her sorrows in pills and booze, a dangerous combination that nearly resulted in her death the year before. As Mary rushes off to the Bahamas for a relaxing escape from her crumbling marriage, she reflects on the past and wonders just where it all went wrong.

The Happy Ending

1969

1950s · 2 titles

Series credits

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson poster
7.6

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962

The Mike Douglas Show poster
5.8

The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.

The Mike Douglas Show

1961

The Mike Douglas Show poster
5.8

The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.

The Mike Douglas Show

1961

The Love Boat poster
6.2

Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins.

The Love Boat

1977

The Love Boat poster
6.2

Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins.

The Love Boat

1977

The Merv Griffin Show poster
6.8

No synopsis available yet.

The Merv Griffin Show

1962

Magnum, P.I. poster
7.3

A private investigator who works when he wants, lives in a beachfront estate in Hawaii, drives a posh Ferrari, runs up an unlimited tab at a swank bar, and charms attractive women in peril - that's the lifestyle of Thomas Magnum, aka Magnum, P.I.

Magnum, P.I.

1980

The Dick Cavett Show poster
6.8

The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.

The Dick Cavett Show

1968

St. Elsewhere poster
5.7

St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series starred Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd and William Daniels as teaching doctors at a lightly-regarded Boston hospital who gave interns a promising future in making critical medical and life decisions.

St. Elsewhere

1982

The Lucy Show poster
7.1

The Lucy Show is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1962–68. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy. A significant change in cast and premise for the 1965–66 season divides the program into two distinct eras; aside from Ball, only Gale Gordon, who joined the program for its second season, remained. For the first three seasons, Vivian Vance was the co-star. The earliest scripts were entitled The Lucille Ball Show, but when this title was declined, producers thought of calling the show This Is Lucy or The New Adventures of Lucy, before deciding on the title The Lucy Show. Ball won consecutive Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the series' final two seasons, 1966–67 and 1967–68.

The Lucy Show

1962

No artwork available
5.9

No synopsis available yet.

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre

1963

The Twilight Zone poster
7.7

This 1980s revival of the classic sci-fi series features a similar style to the original anthology series. Each episode tells a tale (sometimes two or three) rooted in horror or suspense, often with a surprising twist at the end. Episodes usually feature elements of drama and comedy.

The Twilight Zone

1985

Medical Center poster
6.4

Medical Center is a medical drama series which aired on CBS from 1969 to 1976. It was produced by MGM Television.

Medical Center

1969

Tales from the Darkside poster
7.2

Tales from the Darkside is an anthology horror TV series created by George A. Romero, each episode was an individual short story that ended with a plot twist. The series' episodes spanned the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, and some episodes featured elements of black comedy or more lighthearted themes.

Tales from the Darkside

1984

The Ed Sullivan Show poster
6.8

The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Ed Sullivan Show

1948

Laverne & Shirley poster
7.1

Best friends, roommates, and polar opposites, Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney work together at the Shotz Brewery in Milwaukee and keep each other's spirits up at home.

Laverne & Shirley

1976

Amazing Stories poster
7.5

A truly amazing, fantastical, science fiction, funny and odd, and sometimes scary, sad and endearing anthology series presented by Steven Spielberg with guest appearances by many famous actors, actresses, and directors.

Amazing Stories

1985

That Girl poster
6.2

That Girl is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971. It stars Marlo Thomas as the title character Ann Marie, an aspiring actress, who moves from her hometown of Brewster, New York to try to make it big in New York City. Ann has to take a number of offbeat "temp" jobs to support herself in between her various auditions and bit parts. Ted Bessell played her boyfriend Donald Hollinger, a writer for Newsview Magazine; Lew Parker and Rosemary DeCamp played Lew Marie and Helen Marie, her concerned parents. Bernie Kopell, Ruth Buzzi and Reva Rose played Ann and Donald's friends. That Girl was developed by writers Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, who had served as head writers on The Dick Van Dyke Show earlier in the 1960s.

That Girl

1966

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show poster
6.4

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show is an American variety series hosted by Dinah Shore, and broadcast on NBC from October 1956 to June 1963. The series was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors and its theme song, sung by Shore, was "See the U.S.A. in Your Chevrolet", which continued to be used in Chevrolet advertising for several more years after the cancellation of the show.

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show

1956

Faerie Tale Theatre poster
8.1

A live-action children's television anthology series retelling popular fairy tales.

Faerie Tale Theatre

1982

Faerie Tale Theatre poster
8.1

A live-action children's television anthology series retelling popular fairy tales.

Faerie Tale Theatre

1982

The DuPont Show with June Allyson poster
6.8

The DuPont Show with June Allyson is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959 to April 3, 1961 with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961. The series was hosted by actress June Allyson.

The DuPont Show with June Allyson

1959

Madame's Place poster
7.9

Madame's Place is an American sitcom that featured the misadventures of Madame, a puppet in the form of a bawdy old movie star with a naughty sense of humor.

Madame's Place

1982

ABC Stage 67 poster
6.8

ABC Stage 67 is the umbrella title for a series of 26 weekly shows that included dramas, variety shows, documentaries, and original musicals. It premiered on American Broadcasting Company on September 14, 1966 with Murray Schisgal's The Love Song of Barney Kempinksi, directed by Stanley Prager and starring Alan Arkin as a man enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City in his last remaining hours of bachelorhood. Arkin was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance By An Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama and the program was nominated as Outstanding Dramatic Program. Future programs included appearances by Petula Clark, Bobby Darin, Sir Laurence Olivier, Albert Finney, Peter Sellers, David Frost, and Jack Paar. ABC's effort to bring culture to the masses was a noble but unsuccessful experiment. Scheduled first against I Spy on Wednesdays and then The Dean Martin Show on Thursdays, the show consistently received low ratings. Its last production, an adaptation of Jean Cocteau's one-woman play The Human Voice starring Ingrid Bergman, aired on May 4, 1967. "Stage 67" was not actually a part of the primary ABC facilities in Los Angeles. It was produced at the old Monogram Studios backlot that was later sold to KCET.

ABC Stage 67

1966

The Judy Garland Show poster
8.2

The Judy Garland Show is an American musical variety television series that aired on CBS on Sunday nights during the 1963-1964 television season. Despite a sometimes stormy relationship with Judy Garland, CBS had found success with several television specials featuring the star. Garland, who for years had been reluctant to commit to a weekly series, saw the show as her best chance to pull herself out of severe financial difficulties. Production difficulties beset the series almost from the beginning. The series had three different producers in the course of its 26 episodes and went through a number of other key personnel changes. With the change in producers also came changes to the show's format, which started as comedy/variety but switched to an almost purely concert format. While Garland herself was popular with critics, the initial variety format and her co-star, Jerry Van Dyke, were not. The show competed with Bonanza, then the fourth most popular program on television, and consistently performed poorly in the ratings. Although fans rallied in an attempt to save the show, CBS cancelled it after a single season. TV Guide included the series in their 2013 list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon".

The Judy Garland Show

1963

Hail to the Chief poster
7.0

Hail to the Chief is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from April 9, 1985 until May 21, 1985. It centered on the first woman President of the United States, portrayed by Academy Award-winning actress Patty Duke. The series was created by Susan Harris, and was produced by Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions. It featured one of the few recurring gay characters in a 1980s television series.

Hail to the Chief

1985

General Electric Theater poster
6.8

General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.

General Electric Theater

1953

Behind the camera