Basil Rathbone's
Appearances on Television
Page Two

Five Minutes to Live

Svengali and the Blonde

2/2/1955	"The Reluctant Dragon," as narrator (The World of Disney, ABC)
5/23/1955	"Always the Butler," skit on The Eddie Cantor Show (CBS?)
7/30/1955	"Svengali and the Blonde," as Svengali (NBC special, musical), with Carol Channing.
8/12/1955	"The Stones Began to Move," as Dr. Victor Berenson (Science Fiction Theatre, NBC), with Robin Short, Jean Willis, Jonathan Hale, Richard Flato, Carol Thurston, Russ Conway and Helen van Camp. Directed by Lew Landers, produced by Ivan Tors.   Order from Roberts Hard-to-Find Videos.
October, 1955	"Luncheon at Sardi's"
11/24/1955	"CBS Thanksgiving Day Special," co-host with Burl Ives
12/22/1955	"The Selfish Giant," as narrator of the Oscar Wilde tale (Star Tonight, ABC)
1955	"Billy Budd," as Captain Vere, with Patrick Macnee and William Shatner (CBC). Order from Roberts Hard-to-Find Videos. See a clip of William Shatner talking about an incident that happened during this live broadcast: http://youtu.be/Z6zgs98fjY8
1/17/ 1956	"The Sculpture Show" (The Red Skelton Show, CBS), as a British artist
2/1/1956	"Five Minutes to Live," (Kraft TV Theatre, NBC), with Dennis O'Keefe, Gloria Holly, Richard Shepard, Felicia Montealegre and Neil Hamilton
2/22/1956	"Affair in Sumatra" (Screen Director's Playhouse, NBC), with Ralph Bellamy and Rita Gam. Hal Roach directed. Rathbone played Paul Charters. Click here to see a video clip.
12/23/1956	"The Stingiest Man in Town," as Scrooge (The Alcoa Hour, NBC), with Vic Damone, Martyn Greene, Patrice Munsel and Betty Madigan

Click here to see a video clip. Click here to buy the DVD.   Above and right: promotional photos from "The Stingiest Man in Town"	"On TV, I've been a bank robber, a nicely crazy old man and some other things, and now Scrooge."  -- Basil Rathbone, newspaper interview, 1956

Buy the soundtrack CD at Amazon.com: Listen to Basil Rathbone sing tunes from "The Stingiest Man in Town." Click the links to download: "The Humbug Song" (1.97 MB) "One Little Boy" (2.40 MB) "Mankind Should Be My Business" (2.26 MB) "Listen to the Song of the Christmas Spirit" (1.56 MB)
1/11/1957	Person to Person, hosted by Edward R. Murrow (CBS)
2/10/1957	"The Lark," as the chief inquisitor (Hallmark Hall of Fame, NBC) with Julie Harris, Eli Wallach and Boris Karloff Click here to watch "The Lark" or download it from archive.org or order it from Roberts Hard-to-Find Videos.
10/17/1957	Arthur Murray Party (ABC), Basil Rathbone and June Taylor danced a paso doble.
11/20/1957	"Huck Finn," as the Duke (The U.S. Steel Hour, CBS), a musical with Jimmy Boyd, Jack Carson and Florence Henderson
	Rathbone with Florence Henderson and Jack Carson in "Huck Finn" Rathbone with Jimmy Boyd and Jack Carson in "Huck Finn"
12/11/1957	"Heroes Walk on Sand," as General Zomback (Kraft TV Theatre, NBC), with Walter Abel, Ann Harding, Gene Rayburn and Elliott Nugent
2/9/1958	"Hans Brinker of the Silver Skates," as Dr. Boekman (Hallmark Hall of Fame, NBC), with Tab Hunter and Peggy King	The cast of "Aladdin"
2/21/1958	"Aladdin," (Cole Porter musical) as the Emperor (DuPont Theatre, CBS), with Dennis King, Sal Mineo, George Hall & Cyril Ritchard Order from Roberts Hard-to-Find Videos.
April 1958	Make Me Laugh, guest appearance
1958	The Betty White Show (ABC), guest appearance
2/4/1958	The Arlene Francis Show (NBC), episode #1.107, guest appearance
1958	"A Christmas Carol," as Scrooge (Tales of Dickens, British TV series, Tower of London Productions) Frederic March was host.

Rathbone as Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol"

Rathbone in "I, the Leader"

July, 1958	Pantomime Quiz, (ABC)
1959	"I, the Leader" (CBS), as the leader of a gang of jewel thieves. With Richard Jaekel, Lou Perri, Vince Barbi, Tom Barto and Dave Starr. Click here to see a video clip.
1959	The Jack Paar Show (NBC), guest appearance
1/1/1959	Time to Remember, "1896-1902: Turn of the Century" (Season 1, episode 1), as narrator.
4/19/1960	"Super-Cauliflower" (The Red Skelton Show, CBS), as Hugh Rubicoff
12/4/1960	The Christopher Program, guest appearance. Host and founder of "The Christophers": Father Keller Click here to watch a clip from this program.  Order from Roberts Hard-to-Find Videos.
sometime between 1952 and 1960	Masquerade Party. A celebrity appeared in make-up and/or costume before a panel of celebrities who asked yes or no questions in order to guess the celebrity's identity. The original run of the show was from 1952 to 1960; the date of Rathbone's appearance is unknown.
Ouida and Basil before being made-up for Masquerade Party Basil and Ouida on Masquerade Party
1961	"Mystic Prophecies and Nostradamus," as narrator. (Produced and directed by Merle S. Gould)
11/30/1961	"Victoria Regina," as Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (Hallmark Hall of Fame, NBC) with Julie Harris as Queen Victoria. Cast included James Donald, Inga Swenson, Barry Jones, Isabel Jeans, Felix Aylmer and Pamela Brown. (See pictures below)
1963	Warbirds (20th Century Fox) with David Macklin (pilot for unsold series, never broadcast)
2/18/1963	The Merv Griffin Show, guest appearance
4/7/1965	"Who Killed Hamlet?" (episode of Burke's Law, ABC) starring Gene Barry. Rathbone played Milo James.	Rathbone in "Who Killed Hamlet" (Burke's Law)
5/2/1965	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (NBC), Rathbone narrated the adventures of J. Thaddeus Toad in "The Wind in the Willows"
6/10/1965	The Celebrity Game (CBS, hosted by Carl Reiner), guest panelist
12/27/1965	"Perfect Is Too Hard To Be" (part one of two-part episode of Dr. Kildare, NBC), Susan Oliver and Rathbone were guest stars. Rathbone played Frederick Foray, a concert pianist with Parkinson's disease. Click here to see four video clips.
12/28/1965	"Duet for One Hand" (part two of two-part episode of Dr. Kildare, NBC), Susan Oliver and Rathbone were guest stars.
	with Raymond Massey (Dr. Kildare)   with Raymond Massey (Dr. Kildare)
1965-1966	The Sherlock Holmes Theatre, which showed the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes films of the 1940s, was hosted by Rathbone.
6/16/1966	"The Baffling World of ESP," as narrator (ABC documentary special)
8/26/1966	The Pirates of Flounder Bay, (ABC, pilot for unsold series), with William Cort, Bridget Hanley, Jack Soo, Harold Peary, Charles Dierkop, Burt Mustin, Jim Connell, Jim Begg, Peter Bonerz and Keenan Wynn. Rathbone played the Governor in this comedy about bumbling pirate Barnaby Kidd (Cort) and his crew of idiots.
4/26/1967	"Soldier in Love," as the Duke of York (Hallmark Hall of Fame, NBC), with Claire Bloom, Keith Mitchell, Ray Poole, and Jean Simmons Order from Roberts Hard-to-Find Videos.

as Scrooge	getting makeup applied for role of Svengali
getting hair styled for role of Disraeli	Rathbone as Disraeli in "Victoria Regina"
in "Huck Finn"	The Pirates of Flounder Bay

Rathbone also made numerous commercials for cigarettes, liquor, insurance (Prudential), diet food, and more.

Back to Page One

Top of
Page

Site Map

All original content is © Marcia Jessen, 2013