
Lisa Montell
Actor · 1933 – 2023 · Warsaw, Poland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lisa Janti is known as Lisa Montell as a Hollywood actress of the 1950-60s, and then shifted her career to one of advocacy and service to various disadvantaged groups and to her adopted religion, the Bahá'í Faith. Lisa Janti, known as Lisa Montell as a Hollywood actress of the 1950-60s, was born Irena Ludmila Vladimirovna Augustynowic of Russian-Polish ancestry, and her family fled to Poland before World War II. On arrival in New York they changed their last name to Montwill so she grew up Irene Montwill. They lived in New York and Janti attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. After becoming involved in English-speaking theatre she was noticed by Hollywood producer Dick Welding who offered her a part in Daughter of the Sun God, filmed in Peru c. 1953 with actor William Holmes. Shortly afterwards her father died and the family chose to follow the opportunity Hollywood was giving her with her career. Her first role may have been in 1954 in the TV series The Public Defender, based on the film of the same name. On television she was on the Cheyenne show episode "Border Showdown" (Showdown in Paso Also) of 1955 and the 1956 Jane Wyman's Fireside Theater episode "A Time to live" and the Sugarfoot show episode "Guns for Big Bear" in 1958. In 1962 she was in Combat! episode "A Day in June". Janti was known as the "Starlet of many faces" probably portraying more diverse ethnic roles though she was Polish including Polynesian, Native American, Mexican, Burmese, French, Italian, Spanish, east Indian and Persian – roles with dubious cultural and sexist stereotypes. Among the productions Janti was cast in are She Gods of Shark Reef, Ten Thousand Bedrooms, Pearl of the South Pacific, Jump Into Hell, The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold, and World Without End.
Series24
TV7.3WesternAction & AdventureHave Gun – Will Travel is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons. It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958. The television show is presently shown on the Encore-Western channel. Have Gun – Will Travel was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and produced by Frank Pierson, Don Ingalls, Robert Sparks, and Julian Claman. There were 225 episodes of the TV series, 24 written by Gene Roddenberry. Other contributors included Bruce Geller, Harry Julian Fink, Don Brinkley and Irving Wallace. Andrew McLaglen directed 101 episodes and 19 were directed by series star Richard Boone.
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957 · 44 votes
TV7.0ComedyWesternThe Maverick boys - Bret, Bart, Beau and Brent - are a clan of well-dressed dandies, gamblers who'd much rather make their money playing cards than messing up their fine clothing with actual work. Sly and clever, none of the Mavericks are much for acts of derring do, but they can be courageous when the situation calls for it. Most often, however, they live by their wits and considerable charm.
Maverick
1957 · 43 votes
TV5.3DramaMatinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled: When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.
Matinee Theater
1955 · 7 votes
TV6.2WesternDramaCheyenne Bodie was a big man, a former army scout who went west after the American Civil War and drifted from job to job, here a cowboy, there a lawman, and always a larger-than-life hero. CHEYENNE is an American western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season. It was also the first series to be made by a major Hollywood film studio which did not derive from its established film properties, and the first of a long chain of Warner Brothers original series produced by William T. Orr.
Cheyenne
1955 · 26 votes
TV7.9War & PoliticsDramaCombat! is an American television program that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers fighting the Germans in France during World War II. The program starred Rick Jason as platoon leader Second Lieutenant Gil Hanley and Vic Morrow as Sergeant "Chip" Saunders.
Combat!
1962 · 120 votes
TV5.7MysteryDramaAlcoa Presents: One Step Beyond is an American anthology series created by Merwin Gerard. The original series ran for three seasons on ABC from January 1959 to July 1961.
One Step Beyond
1959 · 15 votes
TV6.4WesternDramaBat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black-and-white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961. The series was produced by Ziv Television Productions, the company responsible for such hit series as Sea Hunt and Highway Patrol.
Bat Masterson
1958 · 16 votes
TV7.2CrimeDramaStu Bailey and Jeff Spencer are the wisecracking, womanizing private-detective heroes of this Warner Brothers drama. They work out of an office located at 77 Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, California, right next door to a snazzy restaurant where Kookie works as a valet. The finger-snapping, slang-talking Kookie occasionally helps Stu and Jeff with their cases, and eventually becomes a full-fledged member of the detective agency. Rex Randolph and J.R. Hale also join the firm, and Suzanne is their leggy secretary.
77 Sunset Strip
1958 · 26 votes
TV6.3DramaSurfside 6 was an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered on a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison; and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne. Diane McBain co-starred as socialite Daphne Dutton, whose yacht was berthed next to their houseboat. Margarita Sierra also had a supporting role as Cha Cha O'Brien, an entertainer who worked at The Boom Boom Room, a popular Miami Beach hangout at the Fontainebleau Hotel, directly across the street from Surfside 6. Surfside 6 was in fact a real address in Miami Beach, where an unrelated houseboat was moored at the time; it can also be seen in the sweeping aerial establishing shot of the Fontainebleu in 1964's Goldfinger.
Surfside 6
1960 · 3 votes
TV5.1WesternSugarfoot is an American western television series that aired on ABC from 1957 to 1961. The series stars Will Hutchins as Tom Brewster, an Easterner who comes to the Oklahoma Territory to become a lawyer. Jack Elam is cast in occasional episodes as sidekick Toothy Thompson. Brewster was a correspondence-school student whose apparent lack of cowboy skills earned him the nickname "Sugarfoot", a designation even below that of a tenderfoot.
Sugarfoot
1957 · 8 votes
TV7.2WesternDramaJim Hardie helps Wells Fargo agents battle the bad guys.
Tales of Wells Fargo
1957 · 16 votes
TV5.8DramaAn anthology series that explored the ways sudden and unexpected wealth changed life for better or for worse. It told the stories of people who were given one million dollars from a benefactor who insisted they never know him, with one exception.
The Millionaire
1955 · 4 votes
TV6.3DramaWestinghouse Desilu Playhouse is an American television anthology series produced by Desilu Productions. The show ran on CBS television between 1958 and 1960. Two of its 48 episodes served as pilots for the 1950s television series The Twilight Zone and The Untouchables.
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1958 · 6 votes
TV6.2DramaThe Public Defender is a half-hour 69-episode television dramatic series starring Reed Hadley as Bart Matthews, an attorney for the indigent. The series aired on CBS from March 11, 1954 to June 23, 1955, a season and a half.
Public Defender
1954 · 4 votes
TV5.3WesternThe Adventures of Jim Bowie is an American Western television series that aired on ABC from 1956 to 1958. Its setting was the 1830s-era Louisiana Territory. The series was an adaptation of the book Tempered Blade, by Monte Barrett. The series stars Scott Forbes as the real-life adventurer Jim Bowie. The series initially portrayed Jim Bowie as something of an outdoors-man, riding his horse through the wilderness near his home in Opelousas, where he would stumble across someone needing his assistance. He was aided by the Bowie Knife, his ever-present weapon. He designed it in the first episode, The Birth of the Blade.
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
1956 · 6 votes
TV4.7WesternComedyThe Gene Autry Show is an American western/cowboy television series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23, 1950 until August 7, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley's Doublemint chewing gum.
The Gene Autry Show
1950 · 6 votes
- TV6.7DramaComedy
Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.
Lux Video Theatre
1950 · 7 votes
TV4.6DramaCavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. Cavalcade of America documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. This was consistent with DuPont's overall conservative philosophy and legacy as an American company dating back to 1802. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation.
Cavalcade of America
1952 · 5 votes
TV6.8MysteryDramaMickey Spillane's Mike Hammer is the title used for two syndicated television series that followed the adventures of fictional private detective Mike Hammer. The gritty, crime fighting detective—created by American crime author Mickey Spillane—has also inspired several feature films and made-for-TV movies.
Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
1958 · 6 votes
- TV6.5Western
Broken Arrow is a Western series which ran on ABC-TV in prime time from 1956 through 1958 on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Repeat episodes were shown by ABC on Sunday afternoons during the 1959–60 season. Selected repeats were then shown once again in prime time during the summer of 1960.
Broken Arrow
1956 · 6 votes
TV7.9Action & AdventureAnimationWalt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, most recently on ABC and Disney+. The show is the second longest showing prime-time program on American television, behind its rival, Hallmark Hall of Fame. However, Hallmark Hall of Fame was a weekly program only during its first five seasons, while Disney remained a weekly program for more than forty years.
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954 · 36 votes
TV9.0DramaWire Service is an American drama series that aired on ABC as part of its 1956-57 season lineup.
Wire Service
1956 · 1 votes
TV7.5ComedyThe Ann Sothern Show is an American sitcom starring Ann Sothern that aired on CBS for 93 episodes. The series began on October 6, 1958, and ended on September 25, 1961. The Ann Sothern Show was Sothern's second sitcom for CBS. Her first series, Private Secretary, ended in 1957 after a contract dispute occurred between Sothern and Secretary's producer Jack Chertok. Several of Private Secretary's cast members appeared in the show.
The Ann Sothern Show
1958 · 2 votes
TV7.0CrimeDramaJohnny Midnight is an American crime drama that aired for one season in syndicated from January to December 1960. The series stars Edmond O'Brien as the title character.
Johnny Midnight
1960 · 1 votes
Movies17
Movie6.4RomanceWealthy American, Jervis Pendleton has a chance encounter at a French orphanage with a cheerful 18-year-old resident, and anonymously pays for her education at a New England college. She writes letters to her mysterious benefactor regularly, but he never writes back. Several years later, he visits her at school, while still concealing his identity, and—despite their large age difference—they soon fall in love.
Daddy Long Legs
1955 · 97 votes
Movie5.7Science FictionAdventureFour astronauts returning from man's first mission to Mars enter a time warp and crash on a 26th-century Earth devastated by atomic war. At first unaware where they are, but finding the atmosphere safe to breathe, they start exploring and find themselves in a divided future where disfigured mutants living like cavemen inhabit the surface, while the normals live comfortably below the surface but are dying as a race from lack of natural water, air and sunlight.
World Without End
1956 · 61 votes
Movie6.6ActionAdventureThree Indians were brutally murdered by a gang of hooded outlaws. Each one possessed a silver medallion, which were sections cut off from a large silver plaque which served as a treasure map to a secret location where a large amount of gold is reputedly stashed. Two more medallions are unaccounted for, and the The Lone Ranger and his friend Tonto must use all their resources to intercept the gang, prevent further carnage and save the owners of the medallions.
The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold
1958 · 18 votes
Movie5.6ComedyRomanceIn this musical-comedy, Dean Martin plays an American hotel mogul who becomes smitten with a young Italian woman (Anna Maria Alberghetti) when buying a hotel in Rome. To marry this gal, he has to get her three older sisters married off.
Ten Thousand Bedrooms
1957 · 8 votes
Movie6.2AdventureTwo beachcombers with a yacht join woman-with-a-past Rita on a quest for black pearls on a secret island. Arrived, they find another white man has made himself high priest; but George, the latter's handome son, is fair game for Rita, who lands in the guise of a missionary! The inevitable conflict over the pearls brings violence and corruption to the quiet island.
Pearl of the South Pacific
1955 · 14 votes
Movie3.2AdventureRomanceTwo brothers, one wanted for murder, are shipwrecked on an island inhabited by nubile young women who have amassed a valuable cache of pearls.
She Gods of Shark Reef
1958 · 25 votes
Movie6.2AdventureA fugitive in British Burma hides on a tea plantation, thanks to a mutual attraction with owner Gwen Moore.
Escape to Burma
1955 · 10 votes
Movie6.0WesternLed by an incompetent Lieutenant, a troop of soldiers is on the Tomahawk Trail in Apache territory. When he lets the Indians steal their horses and gets slightly wounded in a skirmish, Sergeant McCoy takes over command. McCoy successfully gets them to the fort only to find all the soldiers have been murdered by the Apaches. He prepares the troops for an attack knowing if they survive the Lieutenant plans to have him court marshaled.
Tomahawk Trail
1957 · 11 votes
Movie7.0WesternWherever this man went--there was trouble. Death stalked him at every turn. Elfego Baca is "The man who couldn't be killed!"
The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca
1958 · 2 votes
Movie4.4DramaGangster Zac Cotton and his two henchmen, Mitch and Sonny, try to get a boat to get off a tropical island after a botched robbery heist.
Naked Paradise
1957 · 5 votes
Movie6.2WesternA judge in a murder trial, believing the defendant is innocent, sets out to find the real killer.
The Long Rope
1961 · 5 votes
Movie7.3DramaRomanceA French ballerina falls in love with an American paratrooper on a two day pass in London near the end of World War II.
Gaby
1956 · 3 votes
Movie5.4CrimeAn ex-con is inspired to go undercover and "finger" the mob after finding out his sister is hooked on illegal drugs.
Finger Man
1955 · 16 votes
Movie4.2DramaWarArriving in IndoChina by parachute, Captain Guy Bertrand and his comrades make a courageous stand against the Communist forces. Jump into Hell is one of the first films to deal with the ongoing conflict in Vietnam or, as it was still known in 1955, French IndoChina.
Jump Into Hell
1955 · 6 votes
Movie9.0WesternWhen Aaron Baring signs on as wagon master for a group of settlers headed to Montana's Powder River Valley, his dictatorial style soon creates problems. When the settlers reach their destination, Baring unwisely declares war on the local Indians. When savvy frontier scout Jim Henry tries to promote cooperation between the natives and the newly arrived settlers, Baring responds by having Williams whipped.
The Wild Dakotas
1956 · 1 votes
Movie6.5WesternA Mexican outlaw begins a one-man war against corrupt California Rangers who are harassing Hispanic locals during the California Gold Rush.
The Firebrand
1962 · 2 votes
Movie4.3AdventureThis adventure chronicles the exploits of an author/explorer on a trip to Peru to hunt for the missing uncle of his pretty young companion. Her archaeologist uncle disappeared while searching for a lost Incan city that he found upon an ancient map. Together the writer and the girl launch an expedition to search for this legendary city. They are guided by another Yankee archaeologist. It is he who swiped the map from the woman's uncle. With their help, he hopes to find the city so he and his gang of thieves can loot it. Along the way they encounter many dangers including, snakes, crocodiles, jaguars, and quicksand. The writer and the niece get their first and warn the Incas living their. The Indians neatly dispatch the evil archaeologist and his band.
Daughter of the Sun God
1962 · 3 votes