
Acting
Kirby Grant
Born — Died
1911-11-24 — 1985-10-30
Place of birth
Butte, Montana, USA
Known for
Acting
Credits
54 titles
Known for
5.4An 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
4.6Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. Cavalcade of America documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. This was consistent with DuPont's overall conservative philosophy and legacy as an American company dating back to 1802. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation.
Cavalcade of America
1952
5.8Two bumbling plumbers are hired by a socialite to fix a leak. A case of mistaken identity gets the pair an invitation to a fancy party and an entree into high society. As expected, things don't go too smoothly.
In Society
1944
5.8Sky King is an American radio and television adventure series. The title character is Arizona rancher and aircraft pilot Schuyler "Sky" King. The series was likely based on a true-life personality of the 1930s, Jack Cones, the "Flying Constable" of Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County, California, although this claim is unverified. Although the series had strong western elements, King mostly captured criminals and spies, and found lost hikers with the use of his plane, the Songbird. Though the planes used changed during the course of the series, the later model was not given a number, but was still known as the Songbird. King and his niece, Penny, lived on the Flying Crown Ranch, near the town of Grover, Arizona. Penny and Clipper were also pilots, though still relatively inexperienced and looking to their uncle for guidance and mentoring. Penny was an accomplished air racer and rated multi-engine pilot, whom Sky trusted to fly the Songbird. In the third TV episode, Penny refers to Clipper as "my brother", so they are siblings. The musical score was largely the work of Herschel Burke Gilbert.
Sky King
1952
6.1Al Stewart and Wilbert are magicians doing a stage act when they run into Wilbert's cousin, Dorothy McCoy. They find out that Wilbert's grandfather, Squeeze-box McCoy, had treasure hidden in the hills of Kentucky, which they go to find.
Comin' Round the Mountain
1951
7.0Indian Agent Kip Lewis arrives in Gun Town where Buckskin Sawyer is having her payroll shipments robbed by Indians. Kip and his men are ready the next time and learn the robbers are white men dressed as Indians. Kip finds Davy Sawyer's case at the scene and confronts him. When Davy accuses Talbot whom he lent it to, Talbot shoots him. But Davy names Talbot before he dies and Kip goes after him.
Gun Town
1946
Film credits
1950s · 12 titles
6.1Al Stewart and Wilbert are magicians doing a stage act when they run into Wilbert's cousin, Dorothy McCoy. They find out that Wilbert's grandfather, Squeeze-box McCoy, had treasure hidden in the hills of Kentucky, which they go to find.
Comin' Round the Mountain
1951
6.0Canadian Mounties Corporal Rod Webb and Constable Mike Kelly, along with Rod's dog Chinook, are sent to the Blackfoot Crossing country to find a killer.
Fangs of the Arctic
1953
5.0In this Yukon adventure, a gold mining community is rocked by a murder. A Mountie investigates and encounters a female gambler. Action ensues, but justice prevails.
Yukon Gold
1952
7.3A brother and sister are running a phony gold mine scam in the Klondike, which leads to murder. A Canadian Mountie sets out to bring them to justice.
Call of the Klondike
1950
5.5In this north-western set in the Yukon, a Mountie must investigate the violent deaths of three mail carriers.
Yukon Vengeance
1954
7.5The third installment in low-budget producer Lindsley Parson's "Chinook" series, Snow Dog was ostensibly based on pulp writer James Oliver Curwood's 1915 short-story "The Tentacles of the North," which was also the working title. Kirby Grant again played Rod McDonald of the Canadian Royal Mounted, and once again the vehicle was stolen by his canine sidekick, the white malamute Chinook. This time, Rod and Chinook are tracking a mysterious white wolf, thought to have killed several of the local traders.
Snow Dog
1950
6.5Wilderness adventure starring Kirby Grant and Chinook.
Northwest Territory
1951
5.3In this North Woods adventure, the Mounties investigate a series of payroll robberies and discover that it is an inside job.
Yukon Manhunt
1951
7.0Northern Patrol was the last entry in Monogram/Allied Artists' off-and-on "Northwest Mountie" series. Taking time off from his Sky King shooting schedule, Kirby Grant stars as mounted policeman Rod Webb, while second billing is bestowed upon Webb's faithful dog Chinook. In this one, Webb tries to prove that the suicide of a young trapper was actually murder. The film offers a dash of novelty value in having the principal baddie turn out to be a beautiful woman (Marion Carr). Scripted by actor Warren Douglas, Northern Patrol was directed by Rex Bailey, the former assistant to the series' original helmsman, Frank McDonald.
Northern Patrol
1953
5.0Columbia's final release for 1950 was the Gene Autry western Indian Territory. Set during the Reconstruction Era, the story finds Autry working as an undercover agent for the U.S. cavalry. His mission: to neutralize a former Austrian army officer named Curt Raidler (Phil Van Zandt), who is leading a group of renegade Indians on a series of destructive raids.
Indian Territory
1950
NRThe Editor’s Notebook is a salute from one titan of Chicago media to another. A sponsored film produced by Wilding Picture Productions on behalf of the Chicago Daily News, The Editor’s Notebook mixes documentary footage, staged recreations, and interviews with the newspaper’s staff to illuminate and explain the work of the Daily News and the importance of a free press in American democracy. As both Wilding and the Daily News are long defunct, The Editor’s Notebook also provides an entertaining and accessible look at media companies whose legacies have no present-day corporate guardian or benefactor.
The Editor’s Notebook
1950
4.0A bandleader, desperate to get his band's instruments out of hock, promises the pawnshop clerk--an aspiring songwriter--that he'll let the band's female singer do the clerk's songs at a local club if he will let the band "borrow" their instruments at night. The clerk's girlfriend, however, thinks that the band singer is after more than her boyfriend's songs.
Rhythm Inn
1951
1940s · 34 titles
5.8Two bumbling plumbers are hired by a socialite to fix a leak. A case of mistaken identity gets the pair an invitation to a fancy party and an entree into high society. As expected, things don't go too smoothly.
In Society
1944
7.0Indian Agent Kip Lewis arrives in Gun Town where Buckskin Sawyer is having her payroll shipments robbed by Indians. Kip and his men are ready the next time and learn the robbers are white men dressed as Indians. Kip finds Davy Sawyer's case at the scene and confronts him. When Davy accuses Talbot whom he lent it to, Talbot shoots him. But Davy names Talbot before he dies and Kip goes after him.
Gun Town
1946
5.7A documentary/drama about the training of bombardiers during WWII. Major Chick Davis proves to the U.S. Army the superiority of high altitude precision bombing, and establishes a school for bombardiers. Training is followed in semi-documentary style, with personal dramas in subplots. The climax is a spectacular sequence.
Bombardier
1943
4.5A young millionaire gets hiccups whenever he kisses a pretty woman.
Millionaire Playboy
1940
6.5A plain-Jane math professor (Joan Davis) at a small midwestern college is talked into journeying to New York on behalf of a colleague who has written a steamy bestseller under an assumed name. When she arrives she gets a bump on the head which brings on a form of amnesia and she begins to believe she is the author of the book. Hijinks and adventures follow.
She Wrote the Book
1946
8.0The president of a settlement-house group puts on a benefit variety show.
Babes on Swing Street
1944
NRAs the elderly man visiting his wife's grave remembers how a renewed faith in Christianity help a shady businessman, a juvenile delinquent a young couple and a shiftless man find the way to righteousness.
The Power of God
1942
4.8Soon after a young woman breaks off her engagement to a doctor, the doctor is found murdered. Suspicion falls on his ex-fiancé and a pilot with a checkered past.
Blonde Alibi
1946
6.8A young girl goes to work as a live-in caretaker for a spooky old woman. She doesn't know that every night, the woman drains some blood from her to feed her strange plant.
The Spider Woman Strikes Back
1946
6.1Two zanies get mixed up with a Southern colonel, his beautiful daughters, a nightclub and a haunted mansion.
Ghost Catchers
1944
7.0In this musical, a talented aspiring costume designer leaves her small town to seek her fortune in the Big Apple. The girl, who is also a singer, soon begins establishing herself in the fashion industry, but when a rival accuses her of stealing a pattern, her career is nearly destroyed. Fortunately, a handsome, romantic hero is around to help her clear her name. Songs include: "Come Along My Heart", "That does It", "Swing Low Sweet Lariat" and "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?".
Easy to Look At
1945
4.5The daughter of a formerly wealthy man tries to get a job singing on a radio show, but gets involved in a feud and murder.
I'll Remember April
1945
5.3Marine lieutenants Dan and Jim fight bandits in the South American jungle, while competing for the attention of beautiful Joan Grant.
The Marines Fly High
1940
7.0Eddy Arnold, singing star of the Ace Lucky radio program gets involved when Ace's equipment for a television program is destroyed by a fire. Aces accepts the sponsorship of social-climber Lucille Upperworth, who tries to revamp the western/hillbilly music format to classical music.
Feudin' Rhythm
1949
7.0Brown fights a swindler and his pal, Hatton, finds a way to help a robbery victim buy back his property.
The Stranger From Pecos
1943
6.8Two singing guides take visitors on a promotional tour of Warner Bros.' studios, with stops at the many musical numbers of films featuring top Warner talent.
Hollywood Wonderland
1947
9.0In this western, the hero fights the bad guys by impersonating the son of a rancher. The outlaws have been making the good landowners pay fake taxes. Not only does the good guy succeed in catching the bad guys, he also catches himself the postmistress.
Code of the Lawless
1945
5.0Newlyweds Dennis and Carmelita have several obstacles to deal with in their new marriage: Carmelita's fiery Latin temper, a meddling aunt and a conniving ex-fiancee who's determined to break up their marriage.
Mexican Spitfire
1940
8.0Musical comedy directed by Edward F. Cline
Penthouse Rhythm
1945
5.5Set on the Mexican border in 1850, Bad Men of the Border was the first of seven Universal Westerns starring handsome Kirby Grant, a former singer from Montana who had earlier acted under the name Robert Stanton. The series, Universal's last attempt at competing with Republic Pictures' many streamlined B-Westerns, also featured the bucolic Fuzzy Knight as Grant's sidekick. Grant and Knight are undercover U.S. marshals tracking down a gang of counterfeiters. To their surprise, they are soon assisted by a beautiful Mexican dancehall performer, Dolores Mendoza (Armida), who proves to be an undercover agent as well, in her case for the Mexican rurales headed by Captain Garcia (Francis McDonald).
Bad Men of the Border
1945
5.8Protecting himself in an attack by rustlers, Rancher Steve Holden believes he has killed one of the attackers, young Bud Mathews, who in reality has warned Holden of the rustlers' approach. Unaware that Mathews was actually killed by rustler boss Cass Barton, Holden heads out to Mathews' home town where he plans to tell the boy's family of his death but instead uncovers a plan by a local businessman to force Mathews' father out of his ranch.
Bullet Code
1940
6.5A young man with a love of horses, Scott Jordan, lives on the family ranch with his uncle Bill. When he buys a wild stallion from his cousin, Scott names the horse Midnight and does his best to tame him. But when the sheriff suspects the stallion was stolen and his cousin's plan to get rid of the horse ends with a man being trampled, Scott must prove Midnight acted in self-defense before his uncle destroys him.
Black Midnight
1949
7.0A cowboy sets out to break up a gang of rustlers.
Rustler's Round-up
1946
Lt. Scott Reynolds is co-pilot on a B-17 bomber. When his ship is forced to ditch at sea, only Reynolds survives. The nine other crew members died as a result of insufficient training in ditching procedure. Sent back to the States and promoted, Captain Reynolds takes command of a new B-17 and indoctrinates his crew carefully in the proper methods of preparation for ditching and for survival at sea thereafter.
Ditch and Live
1944
5.4U.S. Marshals "Nevada" Jack McKenzie and "Sandy" Hopkins go undercover to bust a gang of stagecoach robbers in this vintage Western serial. Nevada infiltrates the gang, while Sandy works as a cobbler in town, keeping an ear open for local gossip as they try to flush out the inside man tipping off the crooks.
Law Men
1944
7.5When the local Banker jumps the Blaine's claim, they have men rob the bank to retrieve their money. When the men try to double-cross the Blains, a gunfight erupts and Jim Blaine gets away with the money. Mountie Bob McDonald gets Jim Blaine to return the money. Bob thinks the Banker was really behind the robbery and now uses the money to try and lure him into a trap.
Trail of the Yukon
1949
6.6Mr. Dithers invites the Bumsteads on a South American cruise. Somehow Dagwood winds up as the female drummer in the ship's band, while Penny Singleton gets to show off her Broadway background in some lively musical numbers.
Blondie Goes Latin
1941
6.4In turn-of-the-century San Francisco, an ambitious vaudevillian takes his quartet from a honky tonk to the big time, while spurning the love of his troupe's star singer for a selfish heiress.
Hello, Frisco, Hello
1943
6.5An usher at a radio station studio pretends to be an executive at the station in order to help a pretty girl become a singer.
Hi, Good Lookin'!
1944
7.0A cowboy investigating his brother's murder finds himself going up against a banker who holds the deed to the cowboy's family ranch.
Trail to Vengeance
1945
7.0In order to help neighboring Indians irrigate their farms, the Hotshots plan to put on a fair for tourists. But first they need $2000 for an advertising campaign, and the only way they can get it is to borrow it from a wealthy local woman, who has made it clear that she won't give them the money until Hezzie marries her.
Singin' Spurs
1948
6.5After four fur trappers are slain and their furs stolen, Corporal Rod Webb of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police sets out for their village. En route, he and his German Shepherd, Chinook, encounter another trapper, Henri, unconscious on the trail, and the furs he was delivering to the factor, McTavish, stolen. Chinook trails the would-be-killer and bites a piece of cloth from his coat before he escapes. Webb leaves Henri with Greta while he investigates, aided by an Indian servant and the, wife of the superintendent of the trading company that employs McTavish.
The Wolf Hunters
1949
9.0Government agents Ted Everett and Tumbleweed are sent to Spearville, Texas, where the law agencies have failed to stop a series of bank robberies. Arriving incognito, they become involved with the gang, and end up being accused of murdering banker Bartlet Mellon. They escape a lynch mob and return with evidence that Mellon has faked his death, hoping to gain the insurance, and is also leading the gang under another name.
Lawless Breed
1946
10.0A pair of Wells Fargo agents becomes involved in the hunt for a gang of stagecoach robbers.
Gunman's Code
1946
1930s · 4 titles
5.2The Cattlemen's Association has called in the Mesquiteers to find cattle rustlers. They get Tex Riley to pose as Stony so Stony can arrive posing as a wanted outlaw. This gets Stony into the gang of rustlers and he alerts Tucson and Lullaby as to the next raid. But Hartley is on hand and unknown to anyone is the rustler's boss and he joins the posse with a plan that will do away with the Mesquiteers.
Red River Range
1938
7.3An heiress takes a job as a department store clerk.
There Goes My Heart
1938
5.4Opera student Annette Monard meets composer Jonathan Street, and in a buoyant, alcohol-fueled evening, the couple marries. Sincerely falling in love, Jonathan encourages the talented Annette to sing — yet when his own attempt at an opera fails, Jonathan lashes out at Annette's success. Despite her husband's jealousy, Annette embarks on a successful career that allows her to secretly fund Jonathan's opera, bringing their marriage to a crisis.
I Dream Too Much
1935
4.5A shop owner tries to interest his heirs in the family business.
Three Sons
1939
Series credits
5.4An 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
4.6Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. Cavalcade of America documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. This was consistent with DuPont's overall conservative philosophy and legacy as an American company dating back to 1802. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation.
Cavalcade of America
1952
5.8Sky King is an American radio and television adventure series. The title character is Arizona rancher and aircraft pilot Schuyler "Sky" King. The series was likely based on a true-life personality of the 1930s, Jack Cones, the "Flying Constable" of Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County, California, although this claim is unverified. Although the series had strong western elements, King mostly captured criminals and spies, and found lost hikers with the use of his plane, the Songbird. Though the planes used changed during the course of the series, the later model was not given a number, but was still known as the Songbird. King and his niece, Penny, lived on the Flying Crown Ranch, near the town of Grover, Arizona. Penny and Clipper were also pilots, though still relatively inexperienced and looking to their uncle for guidance and mentoring. Penny was an accomplished air racer and rated multi-engine pilot, whom Sky trusted to fly the Songbird. In the third TV episode, Penny refers to Clipper as "my brother", so they are siblings. The musical score was largely the work of Herschel Burke Gilbert.
Sky King
1952
5.8Sky King is an American radio and television adventure series. The title character is Arizona rancher and aircraft pilot Schuyler "Sky" King. The series was likely based on a true-life personality of the 1930s, Jack Cones, the "Flying Constable" of Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County, California, although this claim is unverified. Although the series had strong western elements, King mostly captured criminals and spies, and found lost hikers with the use of his plane, the Songbird. Though the planes used changed during the course of the series, the later model was not given a number, but was still known as the Songbird. King and his niece, Penny, lived on the Flying Crown Ranch, near the town of Grover, Arizona. Penny and Clipper were also pilots, though still relatively inexperienced and looking to their uncle for guidance and mentoring. Penny was an accomplished air racer and rated multi-engine pilot, whom Sky trusted to fly the Songbird. In the third TV episode, Penny refers to Clipper as "my brother", so they are siblings. The musical score was largely the work of Herschel Burke Gilbert.
Sky King
1952
