Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951)
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, though the program began with live telecasts of dramas and then changed to videotaped productions before finally changing to filmed ones. The series has received eighty Emmy Awards, twenty-four Christopher Awards, eleven Peabody Awards, nine Golden Globes, and four Humanitas Prizes. Once a common practice in American television, it is the last remaining television program such that the title includes the name of the sponsor. Unlike other long-running TV series still on the air, it differs in that it broadcasts only occasionally and not on a weekly broadcast programming schedule.
- Kenneth Blackwell
- Tennyson Flowers
- Richard Friedenberg
Stars:
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Episode 1 - A Salute to the 25th Anniversary of the Hallmark Hall of Fame
Release Date: 1975-10-20Documents a tribute to Mr. Joyce C. Hall, Chairman, Hallmark Cards, Inc., and to the Hallmark hall of fame on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. Includes clips from eight Emmy award-winning Hallmark hall of fame programs (Little Moon of Alban, The Magnificent Yankee, The Snow Goose, Eagle in a Cage, Teacher, Teacher, Macbeth, Elizabeth the Queen, and A Storm in Summer).
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Episode 2 - Eric
Release Date: 1975-11-10A dramatization of the last years of a young man dying of leukemia.
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Episode 3 - Valley Forge
Release Date: 1975-12-03Adaptation of Maxwell Anderson's stage play about the plight of the Continental Army in the winter of 1776-77.
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Episode 4 - The Rivalry
Release Date: 1975-12-12Adaptation of the stage play by Norman Corwin which dramatizes the 1858 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.
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Episode 5 - Caesar and Cleopatra
Release Date: 1976-02-01Julius Caesar (Alec Guinness) arrives in Egypt and attempts to settle the dispute over who should rule Egypt, Cleopatra (Genevieve Bujold) or her brother Ptolemy (Jolyon Bates), by having them rule jointly but the ambitious Cleopatra has other ideas. This adaptation of the George Bernard Shaw play lacks the lavishness of the better known 1945 film version. But the lack of pageantry allows more attention to Shaw's text without the distraction of spectacle. The director, James Cellan Jones, lets the story unfold simply so that the political maneuvers are at the forefront. Guinness plays Caesar with an air of resignation rather than power and his chemistry with Bujold is good. Bujold makes for a cunning, sexy Cleopatra with her impish, wicked grin. Though much of Shaw's play has been severely edited, it still makes for a satisfying production.
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Episode 6 - Truman at Potsdam
Release Date: 1976-04-08Documentary-style dramatization of the Potsdam Conference, based on the book Meeting at Potsdam by Charles L. Mee, Jr.