Robert Arthur

Acting

Robert Arthur

Born — Died

1925-06-18 — 2008-10-01

Place of birth

Aberdeen, Washington, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

48 titles

Robert Arthur (born Robert Paul Arthaud; June 18, 1925 – October 1, 2008) was an American motion picture actor who appeared in dozens of films in the 1940s and 1950s. He appeared in the 1949 war film Twelve O'Clock High as the comic relief–providing Sgt. McIllhenny, in the 1951 Billy Wilder film Ace in the Hole, and in the 1950s television program The Lone Ranger. Arthur was known for playing youthful teenage or young adult roles. In his later years, Arthur became an activist for gay rights on behalf of senior citizens. He died in Aberdeen, Washington in 2008, aged 83.

Known for

Full House poster
7.5

After the death of his wife, Danny enlists his best friend and his brother-in-law to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle.

Full House

1987

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

Four Star Playhouse poster
6.8

Four Star Playhouse is an American television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953. The original premise was that Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, David Niven, and Dick Powell would take turns starring in episodes. However, several other performers took the lead from time to time, including Ronald Colman and Joan Fontaine. Blake Edwards was among the writers and directors who contributed to the series. Edwards created the recurring character of illegal gambling house operator Willie Dante for Dick Powell to play on this series. The character was later revamped and spun off in his own series starring Howard Duff, then-husband of Lupino. The pilot for Meet McGraw, starring Frank Lovejoy, aired here, as did another episode in which Lovejoy recreated his role of Chicago newspaper reporter Randy Stone, from the radio drama Nightbeat.

Four Star Playhouse

1952

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. poster
7.1

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25, 1964, to May 2, 1969. The series was a spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot was aired as the finale of the fourth season of The Andy Griffith Show on May 18, 1964. The show ran for five seasons and a total of 150 episodes. In 2006, CBS Home Entertainment began releasing the series on DVD. The final season was released in November 2008. The series was created by Aaron Ruben, who also produced the show with Sheldon Leonard and Ronald Jacobs. Filmed and set in California, it stars Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle, a naive but good-natured gas-station attendant from the town of Mayberry, North Carolina, who enlists in the United States Marine Corps. Frank Sutton plays Gomer's high-octane, short-fused Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter, and Ronnie Schell plays Gomer's friend Gilbert "Duke" Slater. Allan Melvin played in the recurring role of Gunnery Sergeant Carter's rival, Sergeant Charley Hacker. The series never discussed nor addressed the then-current Vietnam War, instead focusing on the relationship between Gomer and Sergeant Carter. The show retained high ratings throughout its run.

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

1964

Navy Log poster
5.2

Navy Log is an American drama anthology series that initially aired for one season on CBS. It relates the greatest survival war stories in the history of the United States Navy. This series premiered on September 20, 1955, but the following year, it was moved to ABC, where it aired until September 25, 1958. The program aired for a total of three seasons and 102 episodes.

Navy Log

1955

Telephone Time poster
6.5

Telephone Time is an American anthology drama series that aired on CBS in 1956, and on ABC from 1957 to 1958. The series features plays by John Nesbitt who hosted the first season. Frank C. Baxter hosted the 1957 and 1958 seasons. The program was directed by Arthur Hiller.

Telephone Time

1956

Film credits

1990s · 3 titles

1950s · 15 titles

Ace in the Hole poster
7.9

An arrogant reporter exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to revitalize his career.

Ace in the Hole

1951

Belles on Their Toes poster
7.1

The "Cheaper by the Dozen" crew is back, sans Clifton Webb. Lillian is struggling to make ends meet without her husband's income, while Anne, Martha, and even Ernestine find romance.

Belles on Their Toes

1952

Take the High Ground! poster
6.2

Sgt. Thorne Ryan, who once fought bravely in Korea, now serves as a hard-nosed drill instructor to new Army recruits at Fort Bliss, Texas. But is he really the man he is often described as? His fellow instructor, and friend helps him to face the ghosts of his past experiences in Korea. One night in a bar across the border in Juarez, Mexico, Sgt. Ryan meets a lady who begins to turn his life around. Will this be enough to help him deal with the past? Or will he continue to be so hard on his troops?

Take the High Ground!

1953

Hellcats of the Navy poster
4.8

Captain Casey Abbott commands an American submarine in the Pacific during World War II. When a perilous mission to retrieve a new Japanese mine for study goes awry, he's forced to abandon a likable combat diver. Abbott's orders to leave a man behind appear to be justified, but his second-in-command believes he had ulterior motives:

Hellcats of the Navy

1957

September Affair poster
5.8

An industrialist and a pianist meet on a trip and fall in love. Through a quirk of fate, they're reported dead in a crash though they weren't on the plane. This gives them the opportunity to live together free from their previous lives. Unfortunately, this artificial arrangement leads to increasing stress.

September Affair

1950

Young Bess poster
5.8

The mother died under the executioner's axe; the daughter rose to become England's greatest monarch -- the brilliant and cunning Queen Elizabeth I. Jean Simmons portrays young Bess in this rich tapestry of a film that traces the tumultuous, danger-fraught years from Elizabeth's birth to her unexpected ascension to the throne at a mere 25. Charles Laughton reprises his Academy Award®-winning* role as her formidable father Henry VIII. Deborah Kerr plays her last stepmother (and Henry's last of six wives), gentle Catherine Parr. And Simmons' then real-life husband, Stewart Granger, adds heroics as Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour. In a resplendent world of adventure, romance and court intrigue, Young Bess reigns.

Young Bess

1953

Return from the Sea poster
6.0

A hardened career navel officer must come to terms with adapting to civilian life with the help of a waitress that can see through his tough veneer.

Return from the Sea

1954

Air Cadet poster
5.7

A group of cadets have assorted problems at the U.S. Air Force Pilot Training Academy.

Air Cadet

1951

Just for You poster
5.4

Jordan Blake (a widower) is a successful Broadway Producer who has always been to busy for his children, Barbara and Jerry. Girlfriend, Carolina a musical comedy star, urges Jordan to take his kids on a vacation and get to know them before they are all grown up. Is Jordan already too late?

Just for You

1952

The Ring poster
5.1

A young Mexican/American learns about life both inside and out of the ring when he takes up boxing.

The Ring

1952

The Desperados Are in Town poster
8.0

In this western, a young man tries to walk the straight and narrow, but he is impeded by his past. The trouble begins when the young fellow flees his family's Texas dirt farm and becomes an outlaw. He is advised by one of the desperadoes to return home. The boy does, and with hard work, makes the farm successful. Harvest time rolls around. He is just about to celebrate when the outlaws ride up and force him to help them pull a local bank job. He refuses and kills the gang leader and his brother. Meanwhile, the boy's past is revealed to the town banker. Seeing that he truly has gone straight, the banker forgives him. The boy marries and lives with his lovely bride upon his land.

The Desperados Are in Town

1956

Top of the World poster
6.5

A team of Air Force servicemen become stranded after setting up a weather station on an island of ice in Alaska.

Top of the World

1955

The System poster
5.2

A gambling boss is pressured by the law and press when a crusade is started against him after one of his collectors becomes a killer.

The System

1953

Young and Wild poster
4.6

Three juvenile-delinquents launch a reign of terror upon those who witnessed a deadly auto accident in this exploitation drama.

Young and Wild

1958

On the Loose poster
6.6

After years of living in her selfish parents' (Melvyn Douglas and Lynn Bari) egotistical shadows, desperate teenager Jill Bradley (Joan Evans) makes a last-ditch play for attention by attempting suicide. Jill's guilt-ridden father tries at last to help her and to cheer her up but new problems arise.

On the Loose

1951

1940s · 16 titles

Mildred Pierce poster
7.6

A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.

Mildred Pierce

1945

Twelve O'Clock High poster
7.2

In the early days of daylight bombing raids over Germany, General Frank Savage must take command of a 'hard luck' bomber group. Much of the story deals with his struggle to whip his group into a disciplined fighting unit in spite of heavy losses, and withering attacks by German fighters over their targets.

Twelve O'Clock High

1949

Yellow Sky poster
7.0

In 1867, a gang robs a bank and flees into the desert. Out of water, the outlaws encounter a ghost town called Yellow Sky and its only residents, a hostile young woman and her grandfather.

Yellow Sky

1948

Night and Day poster
6.0

When his first stage show fails, songwriter Cole Porter goes off to fight in WWI until, injured, he lands in a hospital. He impresses nurse Linda Lee with his creativity, but their budding romance must wait as Cole heads home. Back in New York, he mounts a series of popular shows, and when his work brings him back to Europe, he eventually marries Linda. But success doesn't spare him from marital complications or bad news about a beloved relative.

Night and Day

1946

Nobody Lives Forever poster
6.4

A con artist falls for the rich widow he's trying to fleece.

Nobody Lives Forever

1946

Nora Prentiss poster
6.3

Quiet, organised Dr. Talbot meets nightclub singer Nora Prentiss when she is slightly hurt in a street accident. Despite her misgivings, they become heavily involved, and Talbot finds himself faced with the choice of leaving Nora or divorcing his wife. When a patient expires in his office, a third option seems to present itself.

Nora Prentiss

1947

Sweetheart of Sigma Chi poster
9.0

A couple of gamblers pressure the local night club owner to rig things so the local college rowing crew will lose their upcoming race.

Sweetheart of Sigma Chi

1946

Mother Wore Tights poster
5.7

In this chronicle of a vaudeville family, Myrtle McKinley (class of 1900) goes to San Francisco to attend business school, but ends up in a chorus line. Soon, star Frank Burt notices her talent, hires her for a "two-act", then marries her. Incidents of the marriage and the growing pains of eldest daughter Miriam are followed, interspersed with nostalgic musical numbers.

Mother Wore Tights

1947

Green Grass of Wyoming poster
6.7

The romance of a rancher's niece and a rival rancher's son parallels that of a stallion and a mare.

Green Grass of Wyoming

1948

You're My Everything poster
4.8

In 1924, stage-struck Boston blueblood Hannah Adams picks up musical star Tim O'Connor and takes him home for dinner. One thing leads to another, and when Tim's show rolls on to Chicago a new Mrs. O'Connor comes along as incompetent chorus girl. Hollywood beckons, and we follow the star careers of the O'Connor family in silents and talkies.

You're My Everything

1949

Too Young to Know poster
7.0

A returning GI searches for the wife who left him and gave away their son.

Too Young to Know

1945

Danger Signal poster
6.0

After robbing and murdering his married lover and then making her death look like suicide, conniving philanderer Ronnie Mason relocates to Los Angeles. Under a new identity and claiming to be a writer, Ronnie finds lodging at the home of Hilda Fenchurch and her mother. He woos Hilda, knowing she has money, but when he discovers that Hilda's sister, Anne, has just inherited $25,000, he switches his attentions to her.

Danger Signal

1945

Mother Is a Freshman poster
9.0

Widow Abby Abbott is having serious money problems and has to dip into the family trust in order to pay for her daughter Susan's college tuition. The catch: Abby must also become a co-ed or she can't touch the money. After passing her entrance exams, Abby goes to college and becomes very popular, especially with a handsome English professor whom Susan has a crush on.

Mother Is a Freshman

1949

Hollywood Wonderland poster
6.8

Two 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

Roughly Speaking poster
6.8

In the 1920s, enterprising Louise Randall is determined to succeed in a man's world. Despite numerous setbacks, she always picks herself back up and moves forward again.

Roughly Speaking

1945

The Devil On Wheels poster
4.6

A teenager is involved in running from the police in his hot rod hits a car in a hit-and-run case where the victims turn out to be his mother and his best friend in another hot rod.

The Devil On Wheels

1947

Series credits

Full House poster
7.5

After the death of his wife, Danny enlists his best friend and his brother-in-law to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle.

Full House

1987

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

Four Star Playhouse poster
6.8

Four Star Playhouse is an American television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953. The original premise was that Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, David Niven, and Dick Powell would take turns starring in episodes. However, several other performers took the lead from time to time, including Ronald Colman and Joan Fontaine. Blake Edwards was among the writers and directors who contributed to the series. Edwards created the recurring character of illegal gambling house operator Willie Dante for Dick Powell to play on this series. The character was later revamped and spun off in his own series starring Howard Duff, then-husband of Lupino. The pilot for Meet McGraw, starring Frank Lovejoy, aired here, as did another episode in which Lovejoy recreated his role of Chicago newspaper reporter Randy Stone, from the radio drama Nightbeat.

Four Star Playhouse

1952

Four Star Playhouse poster
6.8

Four Star Playhouse is an American television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953. The original premise was that Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, David Niven, and Dick Powell would take turns starring in episodes. However, several other performers took the lead from time to time, including Ronald Colman and Joan Fontaine. Blake Edwards was among the writers and directors who contributed to the series. Edwards created the recurring character of illegal gambling house operator Willie Dante for Dick Powell to play on this series. The character was later revamped and spun off in his own series starring Howard Duff, then-husband of Lupino. The pilot for Meet McGraw, starring Frank Lovejoy, aired here, as did another episode in which Lovejoy recreated his role of Chicago newspaper reporter Randy Stone, from the radio drama Nightbeat.

Four Star Playhouse

1952

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. poster
7.1

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. is an American situation comedy that originally aired on CBS from September 25, 1964, to May 2, 1969. The series was a spinoff of The Andy Griffith Show, and the pilot was aired as the finale of the fourth season of The Andy Griffith Show on May 18, 1964. The show ran for five seasons and a total of 150 episodes. In 2006, CBS Home Entertainment began releasing the series on DVD. The final season was released in November 2008. The series was created by Aaron Ruben, who also produced the show with Sheldon Leonard and Ronald Jacobs. Filmed and set in California, it stars Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle, a naive but good-natured gas-station attendant from the town of Mayberry, North Carolina, who enlists in the United States Marine Corps. Frank Sutton plays Gomer's high-octane, short-fused Gunnery Sergeant Vince Carter, and Ronnie Schell plays Gomer's friend Gilbert "Duke" Slater. Allan Melvin played in the recurring role of Gunnery Sergeant Carter's rival, Sergeant Charley Hacker. The series never discussed nor addressed the then-current Vietnam War, instead focusing on the relationship between Gomer and Sergeant Carter. The show retained high ratings throughout its run.

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

1964

Navy Log poster
5.2

Navy Log is an American drama anthology series that initially aired for one season on CBS. It relates the greatest survival war stories in the history of the United States Navy. This series premiered on September 20, 1955, but the following year, it was moved to ABC, where it aired until September 25, 1958. The program aired for a total of three seasons and 102 episodes.

Navy Log

1955

Telephone Time poster
6.5

Telephone Time is an American anthology drama series that aired on CBS in 1956, and on ABC from 1957 to 1958. The series features plays by John Nesbitt who hosted the first season. Frank C. Baxter hosted the 1957 and 1958 seasons. The program was directed by Arthur Hiller.

Telephone Time

1956

Lux Video Theatre poster
6.7

Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.

Lux Video Theatre

1950

Frontier poster
7.5

Frontier is an American Western anthology series that aired on NBC from September 1955, to September 1956. The series de-emphasizes gunplay and focuses on the hazards of the settlement of the American West. It was only the second anthology Western series in television history, having been preceded by Death Valley Days. Frontier aired premiered on September 25, 1955, and ran sporadically in its last five months. Walter Coy narrated the series and starred in occasional episodes, which are dramatizations based on actual events. The program was produced by Worthington Miner.

Frontier

1955

Behind the camera