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Bert Granet

Bert Granet

Writing

Biography

New York-born television pioneer Bert Granet graduated with a B.A. from Yale University. He began in the film industry in 1934, and, a decade later, was working as writer-producer under contract at RKO (1944-48). He set up his own short-lived production company, Kaladore Corporation, under which banner he released just one feature film (a rather obscure item, entitled The Torch (1950), set in revolutionary Mexico, with an all-Mexican cast -- the single exception being star Paulette Goddard). In the mid-50's, Granet joined Desilu Productions to produce light, unpretentious entertainment like The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (1957) and the weekly anthology series Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1958). Reputedly 'a hard-nosed realist', Granet's success in the medium stemmed from vowing audiences through signing top movie actors and acquiring scripts from well-established and respected writers. One of these turned out to be the genial Rod Serling -- introduced to Granet via a mutual friend, the director Robert Parrish. At considerable cost and having to overcome strong objections by the sponsor's ad agency, McCann-Erickson (who had script approval and hated 'ambiguous endings'), Granet purchased a story from CBS ("The Time Element"). This was aired with great success as an episode of 'Playhouse' and ultimately persuaded CBS to take on The Twilight Zone (1959), the show which -- according to Serling himself -- "no one wanted to buy". The rest is history. Granet later served as producer of 'Twilight Zone' during seasons four and five.

Known For

The Twilight Zone
8.5

An anthology series containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.

The Twilight Zone

1959
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
6.3

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse is an American television anthology series produced by Desilu Productions. The show ran on CBS television between 1958 and 1960. Two of its 48 episodes served as pilots for the 1950s television series The Twilight Zone and The Untouchables.

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

1958
The Great Adventure
10.0

The Great Adventure is a historical anthology series that appeared on CBS for the 1963-1964 television season. The series, narrated each week by Van Heflin, and featuring theme music by Richard Rodgers, presented a weekly one-hour dramatization of the lives of famous Americans and important historical events in American History.

The Great Adventure

1963
The Walter Winchell File
7.5

The Walter Winchell File is the title of a television crime drama series that initially aired from 1957 to 1958, dramatizing cases from the New York City Police Department that were covered in the New York Daily Mirror. The series featured columnist and announcer Walter Winchell, John Larch, George Cisar, Robert Anderson, Robert Brubaker, Dolores Donlon, and Gene Barry, a year before he was cast in the lead of NBC's Bat Masterson. Thirty-nine episodes were produced; the first twenty-six aired on ABC during the 1957-1958 season, and the final thirteen were seen in syndication in 1959. Among the guest stars was the child actor Dennis Holmes, who played 7-year-old Allie Marisch in the 1957 episode "Thou Shalt Not Kill."

The Walter Winchell File

1957
The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour
8.7

The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour is a collection of thirteen one-hour specials airing occasionally from 1957 to 1960, and originally served as part of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. Its original network title was The Ford Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show for the first season, and The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse Presents The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show for the following seasons. It was the successor to the classic comedy, I Love Lucy, and featured the same major cast members. The production schedule avoided the grind of a regular weekly series. Desilu produced the show, which was mostly filmed at their Los Angeles studios with occasional on-location shoots at Lake Arrowhead, Las Vegas and Sun Valley, Idaho. CBS reran the show under the "Lucy-Desi" title during the summers of 1962-1967, after which it went into syndication.

The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour

1957
The RKO Story: Tales From Hollywood
9.0

Ed Asner tells the story of RKO Pictures from the 1920s to the 1960s.

The RKO Story: Tales From Hollywood

1987
Career
6.7

Playwright James Lee adapted his off-Broadway play for the screen in this high-strung adaptation, directed by Joseph Anthony. In this simplistic, backroom show-business-success saga, Anthony Franciosa plays Sam, a struggling young actor who will forsake his family and take any type of menial job in order to become a Broadway star. Dean Martin is on hand as Maury, an aspiring director also trying to claw his way up the ladder of success. When Maury gets his big break, Sam wants a part in his show, but when Maury, who is unwilling to cast Sam in the production, turns down Sam's request, Sam seduces and marries Maury's girlfriend (Shirley MacLaine). In spite of everything, Maury wants his girl back, and Sam agrees to a divorce on the stipulation that Maury cast him as the star in his next show. Once again, Maury reneges and, before Sam can exact his revenge, Uncle Sam comes to the rescue and he is drafted into the army.

Career

1959
Berlin Express
6.2

In post-war Europe, a diverse group of passengers aboard a U.S. Army train to bombed-out Frankfurt becomes involved in a Nazi assassination plot.

Berlin Express

1948
The Locket
6.4

A dark personal secret drives a young woman to use every man she encounters.

The Locket

1946
The Day the Bookies Wept
7.5

A pigeon breeder is hired to train a racehorse that wins only when it drinks beer.

The Day the Bookies Wept

1939
High Flyers
7.5

Two men running a carnival airplane ride are hired to fly to retrieve what they think are photos for a reporter. Actually, they are retrieving diamonds stolen from a noted gem dealer. As it turns out, their plane crashes on the very estate of the dealer. Thinking the duo are police officers, the dealer offers his home for their convalescence from the accident. Meanwhile, the diamonds have been snatched by a kleptomaniac dog and buried on the estate. When the smugglers track down the pair, they try to convince the dealer that they are officials from an institution from which the two have escaped. Before long, the carnival fellows, the crooks, the gem dealer and his family, along with a platoon of cops, are tearing up the grounds to find where the dog has buried the diamonds.

High Flyers

1937
The Intruders
5.0

The James and Younger outlaw gangs ride into town, and it is up to the local marshal, who has lost both his nerve and his gun skills, to stop them.

The Intruders

1970
Obliging Young Lady
6.0

A woman attempts to shelter a young girl from the publicity surrounding her socialite parents' divorce.

Obliging Young Lady

1942
Do You Love Me
4.7

Katharine Hilliard, mousy dean of a stuffy music school, meets and is insulted by swing band leader Barry Clayton on a train. To "show" him she takes a friend's advice, removes her glasses, and puts on a designer gown. Naturally, she becomes gorgeous. Soon, both Barry and crooner Jimmy Hale are after her, and she finds herself in the midst of triangles and misunderstandings.

Do You Love Me

1946
The Affairs of Annabel
5.5

Wonder Pictures has been striking out at the box office lately, causing the seedy PR man to involve main star Annabel in ever outrageous stunts for publicity.

The Affairs of Annabel

1938
The Torch
5.3

The story of a fear-inspiring revolutionary general who develops a passion for the daughter of a wealthy villager. It's hate at first sight so far as the girl is concerned, but this will soon change.

The Torch

1950
Footlight Fever
7.0

Alan Mowbray and Donald MacBride reprise their roles in "Curtain Call" as theatrical producers Donald Avery and Geoffrey 'Jeff' Crandall. This time they try to con a millionairess into funding their latest show by posing as old friends of her lost love.

Footlight Fever

1941
The Marrying Kind
6.7

Florence and Chet Keefer have had a troublesome marriage. Whilst in the middle of a divorce hearing the judge encourages them to remember the good times they have had hoping that the marriage can be saved.

The Marrying Kind

1952
Legion of Terror
7.0

Two newly-appointed postal inspectors, Frank Marshall and 'Slim" Hewitt, set out to track down the sender of a time-bomb to a U. S. Senator and, during their investigation, run across a hooded organization that is terrorizing an American city. They also meet Don Foster, who is loud in his condemnation of the terrorists, and his sister, Nancy, who fears for her brother's life.

Legion of Terror

1936
Career
8.0

Set in a tiny midwestern town, this sentimental drama centers on the rivalry between two life-long acquaintances whose early friendship falls apart when they woo the same woman.

Career

1939