Billie Burke

Acting

Billie Burke

Born — Died

1884-08-07 — 1970-05-14

Place of birth

Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

64 titles

Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress. She is primarily known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the musical film The Wizard of Oz. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as Emily Kilbourne in Merrily We Live. Description above from the Wikipedia article Billie Burke,  licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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 Wizard of Oz poster
7.6

Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives. The Wicked Witch of the West is the only thing that could stop them.

The Wizard of Oz

1939

77 Sunset Strip poster
7.2

Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer are the wisecracking, womanizing private-detective heroes of this Warner Brothers drama. They work out of an office located at 77 Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, California, right next door to a snazzy restaurant where Kookie works as a valet. The finger-snapping, slang-talking Kookie occasionally helps Stu and Jeff with their cases, and eventually becomes a full-fledged member of the detective agency. Rex Randolph and J.R. Hale also join the firm, and Suzanne is their leggy secretary.

77 Sunset Strip

1958

Lights Out poster
6.0

Lights Out was an extremely popular American old-time radio program, an early example of a network series devoted mostly to horror and the supernatural, predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum. Versions of Lights Out aired on different networks, at various times, from January 1934 to the summer of 1947 and the series eventually made the transition to television. In 1946, NBC Television brought Lights Out to TV in a series of four specials, broadcast live and produced by Fred Coe, who also contributed three of the scripts. NBC asked Cooper to write the script for the premiere, "First Person Singular", which is told entirely from the point of view of an unseen murderer who kills his obnoxious wife and winds up being executed. Variety gave this first episode a rave review ("undoubtedly one of the best dramatic shows yet seen on a television screen"), but Lights Out did not become a regular NBC-TV series until 1949.

Lights Out

1949

Dinner at Eight poster
6.8

An ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver, contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard and his sultry spouse, Kitty, contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.

Dinner at Eight

1933

Topper poster
6.7

Madcap couple George and Marion Kerby are killed in an automobile accident. They return as ghosts to try and liven up the regimented lifestyle of their friend and bank president, Cosmo Topper. When Topper starts to live it up, it strains relations with his stuffy wife.

Topper

1937

Film credits

1960s · 2 titles

1950s · 5 titles

Father's Little Dividend poster
6.5

Newly married Kay Dunstan announces that she and her husband are having a baby, leaving her father to come to grips with the fact that he will soon be a granddad.

Father's Little Dividend

1951

The Young Philadelphians poster
7.4

Up and coming young lawyer Anthony Lawrence faces several ethical and emotional dilemmas as he climbs the Philadelphia social ladder. His personal and professional skills are tested as he tries to balance the needs of his fiance Joan, the expectations of his colleagues and his own obligation to defend his friend Chester on a murder count.

The Young Philadelphians

1959

Father of the Bride poster
7.0

Proud father Stanley Banks remembers the day his daughter, Kay, got married. Starting when she announces her engagement through to the wedding itself, we learn of all the surprises and disasters along the way.

Father of the Bride

1950

Small Town Girl poster
5.6

Rick Belrow Livingston, in love with Broadway star Lisa, is sentenced to 30 days in jail for speeding through a small town. He persuades the judge's daughter Cindy to let him leave for one night, so that he can visit Lisa on her birthday. After that he goes on the town with Cindy and she falls in love with him. But Dr. Schemmer wants his son to become her husband.

Small Town Girl

1953

The Boy From Indiana poster
9.0

Happy-go-lucky aspiring sportswriter Lon Decker from Indiana who has aspirations of becoming a sportswriter meets the shrewd and larcenous old man, "Mac" Dougal during his wandering. Mac likes to ensure his bets on Quarter-Horse races by doping a horse or two here and there. When Lon finds out Mac intends to fleece wealthy rancher Zelda Bagley he sets out to stop him.

The Boy From Indiana

1950

1940s · 17 titles

In This Our Life poster
6.9

An unhappy, self-centered woman runs off with her sister's husband, wreaking havoc and ruining the lives of those around her.

In This Our Life

1942

Topper Returns poster
6.5

Topper is once again tormented by a fun-loving spirit. This time, it's Gail Richards, accidentally murdered while vacationing at the home of her wealthy friend, Ann Carrington, the intended victim. With Topper's help, Gail sets out to find her killer with the expected zany results.

Topper Returns

1941

The Barkleys of Broadway poster
6.9

Josh and Dinah Barkley are a successful musical-comedy team, known for their stormy but passionate relationship. Dinah feels overshadowed by Josh and limited by the lighthearted musical roles he directs her in. So she decides to stretch her skills by taking a role in a serious drama, directed by another man.

The Barkleys of Broadway

1949

The Captain is a Lady poster
7.5

Because of a bad investment, Captain and Mrs. Peabody are evicted from their home. Mrs. Peabody finds lodging at a retirement home, but as only single women are allowed, the Captain has to make other arrangements. However, after witnessing their tearful goodbye, the home's residents vote to allow the couple to move in together. The Captain is a reluctant lodger, uncomfortable at being surrounded by so much femininity, and bristles when his pals start referring to him as "Old Lady". The time has come for Captain Peabody to reassert his manhood!

The Captain is a Lady

1940

The Man Who Came to Dinner poster
7.0

An acerbic critic wreaks havoc when a hip injury forces him to move in indefinitely with a Midwestern family.

The Man Who Came to Dinner

1941

And One Was Beautiful poster
6.7

A teenager falls hard for an irresponsible playboy.

And One Was Beautiful

1940

And Baby Makes Three poster
5.1

A recently divorced couple see things differently after learning they are going to be parents.

And Baby Makes Three

1949

The Bachelor's Daughters poster
6.5

A department store floor walker is persuaded by four husband-seeking salesgirls to pose as their father in a Long Island mansion which they have rented by pooling resources and pretending to be wealthy themselves.

The Bachelor's Daughters

1946

The Cheaters poster
6.2

An eccentric wealthy family facing bankruptcy schemes to steal an inheritance, but an alcoholic ex-actor they take in for Christmas charity complicates their plan.

The Cheaters

1945

Girl Trouble poster
7.5

A South American in New York rents the apartment of a socialite who pretends to be his maid.

Girl Trouble

1942

They All Kissed the Bride poster
5.9

Margaret Drew runs her trucking company single-mindedly, if not ruthlessly. The only thorn in her side is writer Michael Holmes who is writing a book on some of her tough ways. With no time for men, the effect an attractive stranger has on her at her sister's wedding is unnerving. When it turns out this is the hated writer, she starts seriously to lose her bearings. Surely it can't become Maggie and Mike?

They All Kissed the Bride

1942

Irene poster
6.5

Upholsterer's assistant Irene O'Dare meets wealthy Don Marshall while she is measuring chairs for Mrs. Herman Vincent at her Long Island estate. Charmed by her, Don anonymously purchases Madame Lucy's, an exclusive Manhattan boutique, and instructs newly hired manager Mr. Smith to offer Irene a job as a model. She soon catches the eye of socialite Bob Vincent, whose mother is hosting a ball at the family mansion. To promote Madame Lucy's dress line, Mr. Smith arranges for his models to be invited to the ball.

Irene

1940

You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith poster
3.5

A young woman marries a soldier to fulfill the conditions of a will. However, when she gets ready to divorce him, she realizes that she actually loves him, and determines to find a way to keep him.

You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith

1943

Breakfast in Hollywood poster
6.0

The goings on of a few members of a radio show's audience is the premise for this feature film derived from the popular ABC radio show of the 1940s. This film features Tom Breneman, the radio show's host, as well as Bonita Granville, Beulah Bondi, Zasu Pitts, Billie Burke and Hedda Hopper. Musical performances are provided by Nat King Cole and the King Cole Trio, along with Spike Jones and his City Slickers.

Breakfast in Hollywood

1946

So's Your Uncle poster
6.0

Circumstances arise that result in a man impersonating his uncle. As the "uncle", he finds himself pursued by his girlfriend's aunt, who does not approve of their relationship.

So's Your Uncle

1943

The Wild Man of Borneo poster
6.7

A medicine show man tries to con people into believing he's a legitimate stage actor.

The Wild Man of Borneo

1941

What's Cookin'? poster
7.0

J. P. Courtney wants to update the music on the radio program he sponsors, but his wife, Agatha Courtney, is the final authority and addicted to the classics and won't allow him to replace Professor Bistell and his symphonic orchestra. Conspiring with his daughter Sue and her friends, Marvo the Great, the Andrews Sisters, Anne Payne and bandleader Woody Herman, they devise a sabotage plot that gets rid of Professor Bistell, and a new sound is soon heard on the program.

What's Cookin'?

1942

1930s · 28 titles

The Wizard of Oz poster
7.6

Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives. The Wicked Witch of the West is the only thing that could stop them.

The Wizard of Oz

1939

Dinner at Eight poster
6.8

An ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver, contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard and his sultry spouse, Kitty, contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.

Dinner at Eight

1933

Topper poster
6.7

Madcap couple George and Marion Kerby are killed in an automobile accident. They return as ghosts to try and liven up the regimented lifestyle of their friend and bank president, Cosmo Topper. When Topper starts to live it up, it strains relations with his stuffy wife.

Topper

1937

Becky Sharp poster
5.7

In early 19th century England, ambitious and ruthless orphan Rebecca Sharp advances from the position of governess to the heights of British society. The first feature length film to use three-strip Technicolor.

Becky Sharp

1935

Topper Takes a Trip poster
6.6

Mrs. Topper's friend Mrs. Parkhurst has convinced Mrs Topper to file for a divorce from Cosmo due to the strange circumstances of his trip with ghost Marion Kirby. Marion comes back from heaven's door to help Cosmo again, this time only with dog Mr. Atlas. Due to a strange behavior of Cosmo, the judge refuses to divorce them, so Mrs. Parkhurst takes Mrs. Topper on a trip to France where she tries to arrange the final reasons for the divorce. With help of a gold-digging French baron, Marion takes Cosmo to the same hotel to bring them back together and to get her own final ticket to heaven, but the whole thing turns out to be not too easy.

Topper Takes a Trip

1938

Merrily We Live poster
7.0

Society matron Emily Kilbourne has a habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants. Her latest find is a handsome tramp who shows up at her doorstep and ends up in a chauffeur's uniform. He also catches the eye of Geraldine.

Merrily We Live

1938

Forsaking All Others poster
6.0

A socialite only realises that her friend is in love with her when she falls for the wrong man.

Forsaking All Others

1934

Finishing School poster
6.2

Virginia, who studies at a boarding school for upper-class girls, falls in love with a medical intern who works as a waiter for a living. Both the director of the school and her mother oppose such a relationship.

Finishing School

1934

The Bride Wore Red poster
6.7

A poor singer in a bar masquerades as a rich society woman thanks to a rich benefactor.

The Bride Wore Red

1937

The Young in Heart poster
6.7

A family of confidence tricksters sets their sights on a very rich, very lonely old lady named Miss Fortune.

The Young in Heart

1938

Navy Blue and Gold poster
5.7

Three Navy Cadets become friends, support each other and struggle to survive the rigorous training.

Navy Blue and Gold

1937

A Bill of Divorcement poster
6.4

A World War I veteran returns home after fifteen years in an asylum and finds that everything has changed — his daughter is grown and about to marry.

A Bill of Divorcement

1932

After Office Hours poster
6.5

A managing editor sends a socialite reporter to spy on her boyfriend, mixed up in murder.

After Office Hours

1935

She Couldn't Take It poster
5.3

The wealthy Van Dyke family are constantly in the media for outrageous behavior, much to the frustration of the patriarch, Dan Van Dyke. His self-centered wife has a fondness for foreign imports, including "pet projects" like dancers and such and his spoiled children Tony and Carol have constant run-ins with the law. When Dan himself ends up in the clink for five years for tax evasion, he becomes bunk-mates with ex-bootlegger Joe "Spots" Ricardi. Ricardi lectures him on being such a push-over for an out-of-control family, so a dying Dan makes Ricardi his estate trustee once he is released from prison. Ricardi is then thrust into high society and must do everything he once nagged Dan to do.

She Couldn't Take It

1935

Zenobia poster
5.0

A modest country doctor in the antebellum South has to contend with his daughter's upcoming marriage and an affectionate medicine show elephant.

Zenobia

1939

Christopher Strong poster
5.9

A romance develops between a happily married middle-aged British politician and an adventurous young aviatrix.

Christopher Strong

1933

Remember? poster
6.0

Sky and Linda meet on vacation and become engaged. When Sky introduces Linda to his best friend, Jeff, Linda and Jeff fall in love and marry. But Jeff's work puts a strain on the marriage and a divorce is planned. Sky uses an experimental memory loss drug to make Linda and Jeff forget their rough times (and the fact that they were married) and they fall in love all over again.

Remember?

1939

Only Yesterday poster
7.1

On the back of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, a young businessman is about to commit suicide. With a note to his wife scribbled down and a gun in his hand, he notices an envelope addressed to him on his desk. As he begins to read, we're taken back to World War One and his meeting with a young woman named Mary Lane.

Only Yesterday

1933

Parnell poster
4.6

Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell struggles to free his country from English rule, but his relationship with married Katie O'Shea threatens to ruin all his dreams of freedom.

Parnell

1937

Craig's Wife poster
6.5

Harriet, Walter Craig's wife, is an upper-class woman obsessed with control, material possessions and social status whose behavior makes difficult her relationship with domestic service and family members.

Craig's Wife

1936

Society Doctor poster
7.2

Two surgeons in love with a nurse end their rivalry in the operating room.

Society Doctor

1935

We're Rich Again poster
6.2

A polo-playing grandmother and her broke brood get back in the money with a Wall Street bet.

We're Rich Again

1934

Piccadilly Jim poster
6.8

Jim's father wants to marry Eugenia, but her sister Netta refuses to allow it. When Jim sees Ann at a club, he falls for her even though she is with Lord Priory. He meets her the next day at the riding path, but she quickly loses him. He searches all over for her, not knowing that his father's hopeful fiancée is her Aunt. As his caricature work suffers as he searches, he is fired from his paper. But he makes a comeback with the comics 'Rags to Riches' which is based upon the Pett's. But this upsets the Pett's so much that they go back to New York, and he follows, being careful not to let them know that he is the one who draws the strip that parodies them.

Piccadilly Jim

1936

My American Wife poster
7.5

Ann Sothern essays the title role in My American Wife. The story opens in Smelter City, Arizona, where the richest man in town is grizzled old Indian fighter Lafe Cantillon (Fred Stone). Lafe's social-climbing sister-in-law (Billie Burke) insists that her daughter Mary wed a titled European, Count Ferdinand (Francis Lederer). Much to Lafe's delight, Mary isn't assimilated into Continental high society; instead, she instructs Count Ferdinand in the virtues of good, old-fashioned American democracy. And, of, course, the Count and Lafe become great chums when the "furriner" proves that he can ride a bucking bronco with the best of 'em.

My American Wife

1936

A Feather in Her Hat poster
7.0

After the woman who raised him claims he's not her son, Richard searches for clues about his identity. Urged on by his mentor, Capt. Randolph Courtney, Richard focuses on Julia Trent Anders, a middle-aged actress who just might be his real mother. But soon, Richard begins to fall for Julia's stepdaughter. Amidst the upheaval, Richard schemes to return Julia to the stage -- but he's in for another big surprise.

A Feather in Her Hat

1935

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

Eternally Yours poster
5.9

Anita, engaged to solid Don Barnes, is swept off her feet by magician Arturo. Before you can say presto, she's his wife and stage assistant on a lengthy world tour. But Anita is annoyed by Arturo's constant flirtations, and his death-defying stunts give her nightmares. And forget her plan to retire to a farmhouse. Eventually, she has had enough and disappears.

Eternally Yours

1939

Where Sinners Meet poster
4.4

A pair of lovers are secreting away to Paris for a quick divorce and marriage when they find themselves trapped in a "hotel" where they are forced to get to know each other better and reconsider their plans. They learn a lot about each other, and themselves.

Where Sinners Meet

1934

1920s · 2 titles

Glorifying the American Girl poster
5.6

A young woman, who wants to be in the Follies, is making ends meet by working at a department store's sheet music department, where she sings the latest hits. She is accompanied on piano by her childhood boyfriend, who is in love with her, despite her single-minded interest in her career. When a vaudeville performer asks her to join him as his new partner, she sees it as an opportunity to make her dream come true. Upon arriving in New York City, our heroine finds out that her new partner is only interested in sleeping with her and makes this a condition of making her a star. Soon, however, she is discovered by a representative of Ziegfeld.

Glorifying the American Girl

1929

The Frisky Mrs. Johnson poster
10.0

Belle Johnson, a flirtatious widow in Paris for the carnival season, finds that the marriage of her sister Grace and Frank Morley is headed for trouble. Frank is very absorbed in his business, thus Grace has begun an affair with the handsome Sir Lionel Heathcote. Belle tries to save her sister from eloping with Heathcote by making him promise to drop the affair and return to England. Finding them going ahead with their plans, however, she steps in, at the risk of losing the respect of Jim Morley, Frank's brother, who has just returned from South America to ask Belle to marry him. Discovering Belle at Heathcote's apartment, Frank leads Jim to believe that she has been entirely too frisky, but Grace confesses the truth to her husband, rather than see her sister lose the man she loves. Finally, Belle and Jim go off on their honeymoon. It is a lost film.

The Frisky Mrs. Johnson

1920

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

77 Sunset Strip poster
7.2

Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer are the wisecracking, womanizing private-detective heroes of this Warner Brothers drama. They work out of an office located at 77 Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, California, right next door to a snazzy restaurant where Kookie works as a valet. The finger-snapping, slang-talking Kookie occasionally helps Stu and Jeff with their cases, and eventually becomes a full-fledged member of the detective agency. Rex Randolph and J.R. Hale also join the firm, and Suzanne is their leggy secretary.

77 Sunset Strip

1958

Lights Out poster
6.0

Lights Out was an extremely popular American old-time radio program, an early example of a network series devoted mostly to horror and the supernatural, predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum. Versions of Lights Out aired on different networks, at various times, from January 1934 to the summer of 1947 and the series eventually made the transition to television. In 1946, NBC Television brought Lights Out to TV in a series of four specials, broadcast live and produced by Fred Coe, who also contributed three of the scripts. NBC asked Cooper to write the script for the premiere, "First Person Singular", which is told entirely from the point of view of an unseen murderer who kills his obnoxious wife and winds up being executed. Variety gave this first episode a rave review ("undoubtedly one of the best dramatic shows yet seen on a television screen"), but Lights Out did not become a regular NBC-TV series until 1949.

Lights Out

1949

No artwork available
10.0

Doc Corkle is an American Television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC on Sunday nights for three weeks from October 5 to October 19, 1952. The show's sponsor, Reynolds Metals, was so disappointed with the program that it was canceled and replaced by Mr. Peepers.

Doc Corkle

1952