Today’s birthday celebrant—born in Providence, Rhode Island one hundred and eighteen years ago today—may not possess the cachet of other character actors from Radio’s Golden Age, as his resume didn’t extend beyond a handful of feature films and television shows.  But, Herbert Butterfield had a distinctive voice that is easily recognized by old-time radio fans; […]

John William Cahn, Jr. was born on this date ninety-three years ago today in Lexington, Kentucky.  He’s better known by his stage name, William Conrad.  He remains a favorite among old-time radio fans for his incredible voice, a commanding rumble which would no doubt rattle the roof of any studio he happened to be in […]

The actress fondly remembered by classic television and old-time radio fans for portraying the female half of the sleuthing couple known as Mr. and Mrs. North was born ninety-four years ago on this date in Long Beach, California.  Actress Barbara Britton went by Barbara Maureen Brantingham in the early days, attending Polytechnic High School and […]

Thomas Charles Sanders was born on this date in 1904 to English parents in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Old-time radio fans, of course, know him as Tom Conway, and know that he played two famous detectives on the airwaves.  He was Arthur Conan Doyle’s titular sleuth in The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes from 1946 to […]

This Saturday, August 31, will mark the 72nd anniversary of one of radio’s most popular and successful sitcoms, The Great Gildersleeve—a program that any old time radio fan worth their salt will tell you was spun-off from Fibber McGee & Molly, allowing show regular Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve to put down stakes in a town far […]

Arnleifur Lawrence Thorsteinson was born ninety-seven years ago on this date…in an Icelandic village in Lundar, Manitoba, Canada.  Fortunately for the radio stations and national networks that would eventually hire him as an announcer and actor, he decided to shorten that handle to “Larry Thor.”  Old-time radio fans know his rich, resonant tones well; married […]

Whether you know him as Teddy Bergman (his birth name) or Alan Reed—an identity he adopted to separate his comedic roles from the dramatic ones (as well as downplay his Jewish heritage)—you certainly know his voice as the head of television’s first prime-time animated sitcom: Fred Flintstone of The Flintstones.  The career of this remarkable […]

One hundred and fourteen years ago today, Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone—part of Essex at the time of his birth, now part of London.  The youngest of three children of greengrocer William Hitchcock and his wife Emma Jane, Alfred would grow up to become one of the most successful filmmakers in the […]