The RKO Story: Tales From Hollywood

Season: 1

Episode: 1

Birth of a Titan

Birth of a Titan

Air Date:03/07/1987

Ed Asner tells the story of RKO Pictures through the eyes of the people who worked there from its creation at the start of the talkies in the late 1920s.

Guest Stars

Birth of a Titan

Name: Katharine Hepburn

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Birth of a Titan

Name: Pandro S. Berman

Character: Self

Department: Production

Birth of a Titan

Name: Fay Wray

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Birth of a Titan

Name: Rudy Vallee

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Birth of a Titan

Name: James G. Stewart

Character: Self

Department: Sound

Birth of a Titan

Name: Murray Spivack

Character: Self

Department: Sound

Birth of a Titan

Name: Joseph F. Biroc

Character: Self

Department: Camera

Birth of a Titan

Name: Dorothy Jordan

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Birth of a Titan

Name: Ray Harryhausen

Character: Self

Department: Visual Effects

Birth of a Titan

Name: Linwood G. Dunn

Character: Self

Department: Visual Effects

Birth of a Titan

Name: Edward Eliscu

Character: Self

Department: Writing

Birth of a Titan

Name: Gene Raymond

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Birth of a Titan

Name: Bert Granet

Character: Self

Department: Writing

Birth of a Titan

Name: Katherine Brown

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Episode: 2

Let's Face the Music and Dance

Let's Face the Music and Dance

Air Date:10/07/1987

He examines the musicals made in the mid 1930s with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Includes interviews with both stars, the producer Pando Berman and choreographer Hermes Pan.

Guest Stars

Let's Face the Music and Dance

Name: Fred Astaire

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Let's Face the Music and Dance

Name: Lucille Ball

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Let's Face the Music and Dance

Name: Ginger Rogers

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Let's Face the Music and Dance

Name: Hermes Pan

Character: Self

Department: Crew

Let's Face the Music and Dance

Name: Katherine Brown

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Episode: 3

A Woman's Lot

A Woman's Lot

Air Date:17/07/1987

The story of RKO Pictures, told through the eyes of the people who worked there, traces the films made at RKO for and by women, concentrating on the careers of Ginger Rogers and Katharine Hepburn.

Episode: 4

It's All True

It's All True

Air Date:24/07/1987

Orson Welles spent a hectic few years at RKO, making Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons and the abandoned It's All True.

Episode: 5

Dark Victory

Dark Victory

Air Date:31/07/1987

The 1950s were a time of mounting paranoia, reflected by the studio's ventures into film noir. Robert Mitchum makes his first screen appearance, Val Lewton creates Zombies and Cat People, and the House Un-American Activities Committee stalks its prey.

Guest Stars

Dark Victory

Name: Edward Dmytryk

Character: Self

Department: Directing

Dark Victory

Name: Richard Fleischer

Character: Self

Department: Directing

Dark Victory

Name: Ginger Rogers

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Dark Victory

Name: Robert Wise

Character: Self

Department: Directing

Dark Victory

Name: John Houseman

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Dark Victory

Name: Robert Mitchum

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Dark Victory

Name: William Fadiman

Character: Self

Department: Production

Dark Victory

Name: Jane Greer

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Dark Victory

Name: Bert Granet

Character: Self

Department: Writing

Dark Victory

Name: William Dozier

Character: Self

Department: Production

Dark Victory

Name: Dore Schary

Character: Self

Department: Production

Dark Victory

Name: Kemp Niver

Character: Self

Department: Production

Dark Victory

Name: Paul Jerricho

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Dark Victory

Name: Jean Porter

Character: Self

Department: Acting

Episode: 6

Howard's End

Howard's End

Air Date:07/08/1987

Series concludes as Howard Hughes' purchase of RKO has a devastating effect on the studio.