Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
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Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre was an anthology television series which ran on NBC from 1963 through 1967. The show was hosted by Bob Hope, but it had a variety of formats, including musical, dramatic, and comedy.
The program included such events as a showing of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, starring Jason Robards (from the novel by Alexander Solzhenitsyn); The Seven Little Foys, starring Mickey Rooney, Eddie Foy Jr. and the Osmond Brothers; and Think Pretty, a musical starring Fred Astaire and Barrie Chase.
Bob Hope's performances consisted of his typical joke- and celebrity-filled blackout sketches. These were usually called Chrysler Presents a Bob Hope Special. Every season, Hope traveled to Vietnam for Christmas, to entertain the troops.
Celebrities who appeared in dramatic episodes included Ida Lupino, Sam Peckinpah, Peter Falk, Hugh O'Brian, Shelley Winters, Cliff Robertson, John Cassavetes, Jack Lord, William Shatner, Angie Dickinson, Suzanne Pleshette, Robert Stack, Dina Merrill, Darren McGavin, Broderick Crawford and Stuart Whitman.
Several episodes were rerun from 1968 through 1972 under several different titles: NBC Adventure Theatre, NBC Action Playhouse, NBC Comedy Playhouse and NBC Comedy Theater. The Hope introductions were replaced by other hosts.