April 15, 1917 Hans Conried was born

On this day in 1917, Hans Conried was born.

May 5: Happy Birthday, Tyrone Power

Could Tyrone Power have been anything other than an actor? The branches of his family tree included Laurence Olivier and Tyrone Guthrie, who instituted the Stratford Festival, while his great-grandfather, Tyrone Power (1795-1841) was an actor, as was his father Tyrone Power, Sr. Thus, the man known for his parts in The Black Swan, The Mark of Zorro, and Blood and Sand couldn't have been better suited for a life on stage and in front of the camera.

Today's birthday boy made many solid appearances on some of the biggest radio shows, such as Lux Radio Theatre, The Cavalcade of America, and The Gulf Screen Guild Theatre. On Jan. 7, 1940, he starred alongside Humphrey Bogart in an adaptation of Robert Sherwood's "The Petrified Forest." Power's radio travels also allowed him to work with Gale Gordon, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Hans Conried. So take a moment and remember the times you heard Mr. Power on the radio, on this, the day of his 1914 birth.

March 27: Happy Birthday, Richard Denning

If he were alive today, actor Richard Denning would be a 101! He was born on this day in 1914. In that year, the first airline flight cruised from St. Petersburg to Tampa; Ford Motor Co. began paying $5 for a 9-hour day; Charlie Chaplin played The Little Tramp, and George Washington Carver began experimenting with peanuts.

Radio was a technology rather than a broadcast medium, and silent films were sweeping the nation.

After he'd toiled for years in many small film roles, Denning became a movie star and then dived headlong into the shimmering pool of radio. He starred alongside Lucille Ball in My Favorite Husband from 1948-'51. This program allowed Denning to work with, in addition to Ball, character actors such as Hans Conried and Gale Gordon.

After that, he got "married" to Barbara Britton, starring as a husband in a much different spouse program, Mr. and Mrs. North. He became the third Jerry North on the long-running series, stepping into the lineage of Joseph Curtin and Carl Eastman.

We commemorate the birth of a popular actor and bigtime contributor to oldtime radio. Here's to Richard Denning.

December 4: Happy Birthday, Cornell Woolrich

Today's entry is a birthday commemoration: on this day in 1903, author Cornell Woolrich came into the world. Woolrich's crime fiction was utterly adaptable, a favorite target for radio producers. His works You'll Never See Me Again and The Black Curtain were adapted by the radio classic Suspense.

In fact, each of these was presented more than once. The first time The Black Curtain rolled on Suspense, the cast included Cary Grant and Hans Conried. Other stars of Woolrich adaptations include Joseph Cotten, Robert Young, and William Spier.

Woolrich led a lonely, stark life. He lived with his mother in Harlem until her death, after which he drifted from hotel room to hotel room. To make matters worse, he suffered an infection that led to one of his legs being amputated. This life of suffering infused Woolrich's work--his characters, too suffered.

Not a cheery story, perhaps, but fans of chilling tales have enjoyed hours of radio based on the work of this fine writer.