Actors Studio is an American TV show which aired for 65 episodes, from September 26, 1948 to October 26 on the fledgling ABC Television Network; then from November 1, 1949 to June 23, 1950 on CBS Television. (It was one of the first series to be picked up by a network after being cancelled by another network). It was hosted by Mark Connelly.
The series showcased short pieces of adapted, classic and original drama, performed and produced live each week. Among some of the known authors were William Saroyan, James Thurber, Ring Lardner, Edgar Allan Poe, Irwin Shaw and Budd Schulberg. Featured actors included Julie Harris, Marlon Brando, Richard Boone, Martin Balsam, Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn. Recurring performers included Kim Hunter, Cloris Leachman, Steven Hill, Jocelyn Brando and Tom Ewell.
In February 1950, the series moved to Friday nights and was expanded to one hour, alternating every other week with broadcasts of Ford Theatre. In March, the name of the show was changed to The Play's the Thing.
The series received a Peabody Award for pioneering in the field of televised drama.
Famous quotes containing the words actors and/or studio:
“The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral,
tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral,
scene individable, or poem unlimited.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Surely it is one of the requisites of a tasteful garb that the expression of effort to please shall be wanting in it; that the mysteries of the toilet shall not be suggested by it; that the steps to its completion shall be knocked away like the sculptor’s ladder from the statue, and the mental force expended upon it be swept away out of sight like the chips on the studio floor.”
—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)