Thriller (American TV series)

Thriller (also known as Boris Karloff's Thriller and Boris Karloff Presents) is an American anthology television series that aired during the 1960–61 and 1961–62 seasons on NBC. The show featured host Boris Karloff introducing a mix of macabre horror tales and suspense thrillers.

Thriller was created by Hubbell Robinson for MCA's Revue Studios. Though remembered primarily as a series that emphasized gothic horror, under producer Fletcher Markle Thriller was initially a series oriented towards suspense and crime drama, in the manner of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Markle was let go after having completed eight episodes, and replaced by Maxwell Shane. Shane continued in the crime drama mold, though he began to add trappings of gothic horror to a few stories, but he too was replaced after having completed a further nine episodes. The rest of the first season and all of the second was produced by William Frye, who firmly moved Thriller into the format for which it would be most well-remembered, although non-horror crime and mystery stories would still be featured from time to time throughout the show's run.

Among the many writers for the series were Donald S. Sanford, Robert Hardy Andrews, and Robert Bloch, who adapted a number of his own stories, notably "The Weird Tailor". Authors whose works were frequently adapted included August Derleth, Charlotte Armstrong and Cornell Woolrich.

In addition to serving as the host of the series, Karloff also starred in five episodes: "The Prediction", "The Premature Burial", "The Last of the Sommervilles", "Dialogues with Death", and "The Incredible Doctor Markesan".

Other actors included Leslie Nielsen in the show's first episode "The Twisted Image", William Shatner in two episodes, "The Hungry Glass" and "The Grim Reaper", Constance Ford in two episodes, Mary Tyler Moore in two episodes, Henry Daniell in five episodes, and Edward Andrews in three episodes. Child actress Beverly Washburn appeared in "Parasite Mansion"; Joan Tompkins appeared in "The Cheaters" and "Mr. George". Elizabeth Montgomery, Tom Poston, and John Carradine in "Masquerade". Carradine also starred in "The Remarkable Mrs. Hawk", co-starring Bruce Dern and Jo Van Fleet; Ed Nelson starred in four episodes: "The Fatal Impulse", "The Cheaters", "A Good Imagination", and "Dialogues with Death".

Other performers included: Rip Torn, George Grizzard, Natalie Trundy, Bethel Leslie, Patricia Medina, Patricia Barry, Richard Anderson, Richard Chamberlain, Elisha Cook, Conrad Nagel, Larry Pennell, Russell Johnson, Diana Millay, Philip Carey, Kathleen Crowley, Susan Oliver, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., J. Pat O'Malley, Robert Vaughn, Marlo Thomas, John Ireland, Jeanette Nolan, Virginia Gregg, Hazel Scott, Lloyd Bochner, Scott Marlowe, Judson Pratt, Olive Sturgess, Mary Astor, Marion Ross, Hazel Court, MacDonald Carey, Donna Douglas, Natalie Schafer, Phyllis Thaxter, Estelle Winwood, Antoinette Bower, Jane Greer, Dick York, Jocelyn Brando, Richard Carlson, William Windom, George Kennedy, Cloris Leachman, Monte Markham, Nancy Kelly, Patricia Breslin and Edward Binns.

In Danse Macabre, Stephen King's 1981 history and critique of horror fiction, King suggests that Thriller was the best series of its kind up to that point.

Alfred Hitchcock hastened the demise of the series after he came aboard on NBC with his half-hour anthology series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents after moving from CBS in 1960. Hitchcock apparently did not want two similar shows on at the same time.Thriller moved from Tuesdays to Mondays in the second season, which led to its eventual cancellation, but Hitchcock moved his series back to CBS the following season and expanded its format into The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.