Did a serial killer go unrecognized?

[sdreid]

The Joseph Cotton Show: On Trial only ran for one regular season, the 1956-57.

In 1959, it was briefly revived as a summer replacement.

[sdreid]

He played Dr. Condon just like I pictured him too.

[sdreid]

I don't remember ever seeing Cotton turn in a bad performance even when he was in turkeys like Lady Frankenstein and White Comanche.

[Mayerling]

I always thought highly of Cotton's acting ability (add his performances in THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSOMS, SINCE YOU WENT AWAY, LOVE LETTERS, and PORTRAIT OF JENNIE to the ones mentioned). His Uncle Charlie and Dr. Pritchard are not his only villains: his doctor in HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE is in cahoots with Olivia De Haviland to drive Bette Davis mad.

I think his problem was he was associated with his friend Orson Welles, which worked against him in many quarters of Hollywood. Also he had problems with Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons, when they had power to make or break a career. It certainly didn't help him. But at least his acting power (and frankly his really classy image) kept his career going.

By the way - on YOU TUBE is the LUX RADIO THEATER version of SHADOW OF A DOUBT. Young Charlie is still played by Teresa Wright (as in the movie), but "Uncle Charlie' was not Cotton. It was William Powell, and he is quite malevolently effective too!

Jeff

[sdreid]

I believe the name of On Trial was eventually changed to The Joseph Cotton Show.

[sdreid]

In the hard core true-crime field, Cotton also played purported serial killer Dr. Edward Pritchard in his own TV show On Trial as well as Dr. Condon in The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case.

[sdreid]

I agree Maurice. He was a great actor. I have no idea why he wasn't rewarded in the way he deserved.

[The Grave Maurice]

True. But am I the only one who thinks that Joseph Cotton is a seriously underrated actor? I thought his work in films like Citizen Cane, Shadow of a Doubt, and The Third Man was faultless; yet, he doesn't seem to be as well known as he deserves to be.

[sdreid]

I guess Charlie is about as much like Leonard as Norman Bates is like Gein.

[sdreid]

Nelson could be a good one to look at as an example. He was a businesswoman killer for sure.

According to some accounts, Leonard Nelson was the model for Uncle Charlie in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt.

[sdreid]

And back in London, does anyone know anything about the murder of Dorothy Wallis? She was a 36-year-old spinster who ran an employment agency and was found beaten to death in her business.

She was a spinster in the general sense of the word, that being an older woman who hadn't been married and had no children. By indications she was not a spinster in the traditional sense of the word, being all those plus a virgin, that is synonymous with old maid(en).

[sdreid]

I mean as a pattern. Nelson was hanged in 1928 so he's eliminated.

[sdreid]

Yes, Nelson could be a good one to look at as an example. He was a businesswoman killer for sure. Although not added to his official tally of 22, he is a strong suspect regarding a 1926 triple murder in Newark as well.

Not that this inculpates or exculpates anyone.

[sdreid]

Thanks to the Canadians, we can remove Nelson from the suspect list.

[sdreid]

The Earle Nelson "Gorilla Man" case is interesting too for the number of victims
(mostly boarding house owners) that Nelson killed.

Yes, Nelson could be a good one to look at as an example. He was a businesswoman killer for sure. Although not added to his official tally of 22, he is a strong suspect regarding a 1926 triple murder in Newark as well.