Summary
- Bob Hope’s “Road to” movies will be featured on August 17 during Turner Classic Movies’ Summer Under the Stars tribute.
- The maestro of the macabre, Vincent Price, will be celebrated on Wednesday, August 23.
- Humphrey Bogart’s To Have and Have Not, The Maltese Falcon, and Key Largo are also scheduled during the TCM primetime lineup.
There’s no place like Summer Under the Stars. For the last 20 years, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has presented its annual tribute dedicated to showcasing a different actor each day in August. At the halfway point of this year’s schedule, legendary performer Bob Hope will keep things moving along on Thursday, August 17 with five of his seven famous “Road to” musical comedies. They will play back-to-back beginning at 11:30 a.m. EDT. Hope starred alongside Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour in the series from 1940 until 1962.
This year eight newcomers made their way into the 31-day lineup, including a mainstay from Universal Pictures’ Golden Age of monster movies, John Carradine. While Carradine made appearances in titles like Bride of Frankenstein, The Mummy’s Ghost and House of Dracula, scary films represented a mere fraction of his eclectic resume. Carradine said in an interview with KMOX-TV way back in 1983, “I made over 400 films — and only 25 of them are horror.”
Speaking of horror, Wednesday, August 23 is dedicated to Vincent Price. Among the films showcasing the maestro of the macabre’s career include one of his two collaborations with William Castle, House on Haunted Hill. The famed B-movie filmmaker — he was known as the King of the Gimmicks — couldn’t afford Price’s salary, so he offered him a percentage of House on Haunted Hill’s profits to star in his movie. The arrangement paid off for Price as the film made $2.5 million.
Related: The Greatest Classic Movies of All Time, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes
The Summer Under the Stars Tradition Continues on TCM
Warner Bros.
Turner Classic Movies’ Summer Under the Stars will honor Carole Lombard on Friday, August 18 followed by a trio of larger-than-life Hollywood heavyweights gracing this year’s schedule. Fred Astaire dances his way into the mix on Saturday, August 19, while Sunday is devoted to some of Barbara Stanwyck’s finest performances, including her portrayal of Phyllis Dietrichson in the mother of all film noirs, Double Indemnity.
When Jimmy Stewart gets his turn to shine in the spotlight on Monday, August 21, his film lineup is curiously missing four of his most well-known contributions to cinema. Two Christmas classics didn’t make the cut: It’s a Wonderful Life and The Shop Around the Corner. And two of his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock (Rear Window and Vertigo) are also MIA. Check out Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin analyzing Stewart and Grace Kelly’s importance to Rear Window in this short segment they recorded for TCM in 2017:
In 2003, Humphrey Bogart was one of the 31 inaugural performers to be honored in the first annual Summer Under the Stars, and he returns for the 20th anniversary of the TCM event on Sunday, August 27. Casablanca isn’t included in this year’s rotation, but the film in which he met his future wife will play at 8 p.m. EDT, To Have and Have Not. The Maltese Falcon and Key Largo are also scheduled during the evening’s primetime lineup.
Fans can find a complete list of actors along with the schedule in its entirety for the 2023 version of Turner Classic Movie’s Summer Under the Stars on TCM’s official website. And check out the promo for this year’s edition below.
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