TCM Schedule for Thurs, July 2, 2026: Charles Laughton / Barbara Bel Geddes

[Auggie]

Barbara Bel Geddes (October 31, 1922 – August 8, 2005) was an American stage and screen actress, artist, and children's author whose career spanned almost five decades.

She received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards. Bel Geddes was best known for her starring role as Miss Ellie Ewing in the television series Dallas, while her notable films included I Remember Mama (1948) and Vertigo (1958).

Bel Geddes came to prominence in the 1946 Broadway production of Deep Are the Roots. The performance garnered her the Clarence Derwent Award, the Theatre World Award and the Donaldson Award (forerunner of the Tony Awards) presented to her by Laurette Taylor, for "Outstanding Achievement in The Theatre".

She began her film career starring with Henry Fonda in The Long Night (1947), a remake of the 1939 French film Le jour se lève. "I went out to California awfully young", she said. "I remember Lillian Hellman and Elia Kazan telling me, 'Don't go, learn your craft.' But I loved films." The following year, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the George Stevens film, I Remember Mama, airing tonight.

Full bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Bel_Geddes





Prime time kicks off with the fine Western, Blood on the Moon (1948). Directed by Robert Wise and photographed by the great Nicholas Musuraca, and starring Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston and Walter Brennan, Blood on the Moon is considered among many film historians to be the first western film noir. Bel Geddes does a wonderful job as the romantic lead. Good western.




DAYTIME: listings EST

6:00 AM Payment Deferred (1932)
A milquetoast kills for money and finds it a hard habit to break.
Dir: Lothar Mendes | Cast: Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan, Dorothy Peterson

7:30 AM The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
The famed English monarch suffers through five of his six disastrous marriages.
Dir: Alexander Korda | Cast: Charles Laughton, Merle Oberon, Wendy Barrie

9:30 AM The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934)
An invalid poetess defies her father's wishes to marry a dashing young poet.
Dir: Sidney Franklin | Cast: Norma Shearer, Fredric March, Charles Laughton

11:30 AM Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Based on the true story of the mutiny of the British ship, Bounty. Oscar for best film.
Dir: Frank Lloyd | Cast: Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone

2:00 PM Stand By for Action (1942)
A Harvard graduate serving on a battleship is faced with the realities of war.
Dir: Robert Z. Leonard | Cast: Robert Taylor, Charles Laughton, Brian Donlevy

4:00 PM This Land Is Mine (1943)
A soft-spoken school teacher tries to prove he's not a Nazi collaborator.
Dir: Jean Renoir | Cast: Charles Laughton, Maureen O'hara, George Sanders

6:00 PM Hobson's Choice (1954)
A cantankerous widower tries to control the lives of his three strong-willed daughters.
Dir: David Lean | Cast: Charles Laughton, John Mills, Brenda de Banzie



PRIME TIME, LATE NIGHT, EARLY MORNING

8:00 PM Blood on the Moon (1948)
A gunslinger hired to drive off a rancher falls in love with the man's daughter.
Dir: Robert Wise | Cast: Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston, Walter Brennan

9:45 PM Vertigo (1958)
A detective falls for the mysterious woman he's been hired to tail.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock | Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes

12:00 AM I Remember Mama (1948)
Norwegian immigrants face the trials of family life in turn-of-the-century San Francisco.
Dir: George Stevens | Cast: Irene Dunne, Barbara Bel Geddes, Oscar Homolka

2:30 AM Summertree (1971)
A look at the Vietnam War, its toll on the soldiers drafted to fight, and the families they leave behind.
Dir: Anthony Newly | Cast: Michael Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jack Warden, Brenda Vaccaro

4:00 AM The Long Night (1947)
A veteran tries to free his former love from a sadistic lover.
Dir: Anatole Litvak | Cast: Henry Fonda, Barbara Bel Geddes, Vincent Price