Climax!

Climax! (later known as Climax Mystery Theater) is an American television anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color, using the massive TK-40A color cameras pioneered and manufactured by RCA, and used primarily by CBS's rival network, NBC (the broadcasting division of RCA). Many of the episodes were performed and broadcast live, but, although the series was transmitted in color, only black-and-white kinescope copies of some episodes survive to the present day. The series finished at #22 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1955–1956 season and #26 for 1956–1957.

Production
In February 1955, Martin Manulis became the producer, replacing Bretaigne Windust. The trade publication Variety reported that the change in producers would be accompanied by a change in format. It said, "The sponsor, Chrysler, has been discontent with the restrictive suspense-horror formula," and that future episodes would be "designed to accent adventure and emotional climaxes rather than stark melodrama".

Notable episodes
In 1954, the Climax! episode "Casino Royale" featured secret agent James Bond in a television adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel Casino Royale. It starred Barry Nelson as American secret agent "Jimmy Bond" and Peter Lorre as the villain Le Chiffre. It was the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel, made before Eon Productions acquired the Bond film rights. Eon would later obtain the rights to Casino Royale in the late 1990s. This adaptation is available on DVD as a bonus feature on the MGM DVD release of the 1967 film adaptation of the novel.

The only other episode of Climax! available on DVD is Gore Vidal's adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, retitled on Climax! as "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde". It stars Michael Rennie, Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Lowell Gilmore. It is available in the DVD box set Classic Sci-Fi TV—150 Episodes from Mill Creek Entertainment.

In an earlier episode of Climax!, an adaptation of Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye, actor Tristram Coffin, playing a dead body, arose in-shot and walked offstage. The event was widely covered in the media of the day, later becoming an urban legend that was attributed to Peter Lorre and the aforementioned adaptation of Casino Royale.

In addition, a small number of episodes from the series can be found on YouTube.

Guest stars


(In alphabetical order)


 * Julie Adams
 * Anna Maria Alberghetti
 * Eddie Albert
 * Don Ameche
 * Edward Arnold
 * Mary Astor
 * Anne Bancroft
 * Ethel Barrymore
 * Ralph Bellamy
 * Joan Bennett
 * Jack Benny
 * Ward Bond
 * Richard Boone
 * Lloyd Bridges
 * Terry Burnham
 * Raymond Burr
 * Rory Calhoun
 * Art Carney
 * John Carradine
 * Jack Carson
 * John Cassavetes
 * Lon Chaney Jr
 * Linda Christian
 * Steve Cochran
 * Claudette Colbert
 * Wendell Corey
 * Hume Cronyn
 * Mary Costa
 * Linda Darnell
 * Jane Darwell
 * Laraine Day
 * Brandon deWilde
 * Paul Douglas
 * Tom Drake
 * Joanne Dru
 * James Dunn
 * Geraldine Fitzgerald
 * Nina Foch
 * John Forsythe
 * Anne Francis
 * Betty Furness
 * Eva Gabor
 * Zsa Zsa Gabor
 * Farley Granger
 * Bonita Granville
 * Coleen Gray
 * Peter Graves
 * Jean Hagen
 * Sir Cedric Hardwicke
 * Charlton Heston
 * Paul Henreid
 * Celeste Holm
 * Jeffrey Hunter
 * Kim Hunter
 * Tab Hunter
 * Ruth Hussey
 * Vivi Janiss
 * Louis Jourdan
 * Katy Jurado
 * Boris Karloff
 * Phyllis Kirk
 * Jack Klugman
 * Angela Lansbury
 * Peter Lawford
 * Cloris Leachman
 * June Lockhart
 * Marjorie Lord
 * Peter Lorre
 * Barton MacLane
 * Walter Matthau
 * Raymond Massey
 * Lee Marvin
 * Mercedes McCambridge
 * Dorothy McGuire
 * Steve McQueen
 * Patricia Medina
 * Vera Miles
 * Sal Mineo
 * Thomas Mitchell
 * Robert Mitchum
 * Elizabeth Montgomery
 * Agnes Moorehead
 * Rita Moreno
 * Barry Nelson
 * Edmond O'Brien
 * Margaret O'Brien
 * Pat O'Brien
 * Dennis O'Keefe
 * Susan Oliver
 * Maureen O'Sullivan
 * Dick Powell
 * Robert Preston
 * Vincent Price
 * Dale Robertson
 * Edward G. Robinson
 * Cesar Romero
 * Ann Rutherford
 * Sylvia Sidney
 * William Shatner
 * Red Skelton
 * Dean Stockwell
 * Elaine Stritch
 * Yma Sumac
 * Joan Tetzel
 * Franchot Tone
 * Claire Trevor
 * Lana Turner
 * Eli Wallach
 * Ethel Waters
 * John Wayne
 * James Whitmore
 * Shelley Winters
 * Joanne Woodward
 * Teresa Wright