John Alvin
Biography: John Alvin, born John Alvin Hoffstadt was an American film, stage and television actor. Alvin was signed with Warner Brothers Studios for an exclusive four-year contract during the World War II era, although he was "borrowed" by 20th Century Fox to appear in 1944's Oscar-nominated The Fighting Sullivans. He appeared in more than 25 Warner Brothers films during this time, including Northern Pursuit (which starred Errol Flynn), The Beast with Five Fingers, The Very Thought of You, and Objective, Burma!. His pictures after the contract period included Irma la Douce, Inside Daisy Clover, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, and Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie. However, it was his role in the 1943 film Destination Tokyo, in which he co-starred with John Garfield and Cary Grant, that left the largest impression on Alvin. Years later, in a 2006 interview, Alvin credited Grant with having a major impact on his career path: "I learned more about show business from him than from anyone. He was very attentive and helpful." Alvin later enjoyed a separate television career, which spanned from the 1950s to the 1980s. His television credits included various roles on Leave It to Beaver, All in the Family, Lou Grant, Dragnet, General Hospital, Murder, She Wrote, Starsky and Hutch, The Incredible Hulk and I Spy. Alvin's also appeared in numerous television commercials advertising for such products as Mattel, H&R Block, McDonald's, Porsche and Audi. Alvin's theater repertoire included Send Me No Flowers, The Student Prince, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial and The Cradle Will Rock. He also appeared in a production of Rain, which was directed by Charlie Chaplin. He largely retired from acting in the 1990s; his final film appearance was in 1994's Milk Money. During his retirement, Alvin often showed his movies for audiences at the Conejo Valley Senior Concerns, an organization for senior citizens based in Thousand Oaks, California.
Place of Birth: Not available
Birthday: October 24, 1917
Deathday: February 27, 2009
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Known For
Three Strangers
1946-01-28
Three Strangers
Overview: On the eve of the Chinese New Year, three strangers, Crystal Shackleford, married to a wealthy philanderer; Jerome Artbutny, an outwardly respectable judge; and Johnny West, a seedy sneak thief, make a pact before a small statue of the Chinese goddess of Destiny. The threesome agree to purchase a sweepstakes ticket and share whatever winnings might accrue.
Genres: Thriller Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-01-28
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The Beast with Five Fingers
1947-02-08
The Beast with Five Fingers
Overview: Locals in an Italian village believe evil has taken over the estate of a recently deceased pianist where murder has taken place. The alleged killer: the pianist's severed hand.
Genres: Thriller Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-02-08
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April in Paris
1952-12-24
April in Paris
Overview: A series of misunderstandings leads to a chorus girl traveling to Paris to represent the American theater, where she falls in love with a befuddled bureaucrat.
Genres: Comedy Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-12-24
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Cheyenne
1947-06-06
Cheyenne
Overview: Slick gambler James Wylie is apprehended by the law and given the option to forgo a prison sentence if he poses as a bandit. His mission is to uncover the identity of the Poet, a notorious outlaw who has been holding up bank-owned stagecoaches and leaving verses at the crime scenes to taunt the authorities. James finds time to woo the Poet's lovely wife, Ann, who initially cold-shoulders him. But, as a romance develops, they partner up to find the robber.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-06-06
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Objective, Burma!
1945-02-17
Objective, Burma!
Overview: A group of men parachute into Japanese-occupied Burma with a dangerous and important mission: to locate and blow up a radar station. They accomplish this well enough, but when they try to rendezvous at an old air-strip to be taken back to their base, they find Japanese waiting for them, and they must make a long, difficult walk back through enemy-occupied jungle.
Genres: War Adventure Drama Action
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-02-17
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The Fighting Sullivans
1944-02-03
The Fighting Sullivans
Overview: The lives of a close-knit group of brothers growing up in Iowa during the days of the Great Depression and of World War II and their eventual deaths in action in the Pacific theater are chronicled in this film based on a true story.
Genres: Drama History War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-02-03
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Shadow of a Woman
1946-09-14
Shadow of a Woman
Overview: Brooke's marital life with Eric takes a downturn when she starts suspecting that her husband is starving his son from a prior marriage to death in order to claim his inheritance.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1946-09-14
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Missing Women
1951-02-23
Missing Women
Overview: A woman becomes desperate to find a pair of car thieves after her husband -- while on their honeymoon -- is killed during a robbery.
Genres: Crime Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1951-02-23
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This Side of the Law
1950-06-17
This Side of the Law
Overview: A man - trapped in a cistern - reflects on the dark events that lead to his lonely entrapment. Told in flashback, we witness his chance encounter with a nefarious lawyer who persuades him to impersonate a wealthy man who went missing 7 years ago.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-06-17
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Marnie
1964-07-17
Marnie
Overview: Marnie is a thief, a liar, and a cheat. When her new boss, Mark Rutland, catches on to her routine kleptomania, she finds herself being blackmailed.
Genres: Thriller Mystery Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1964-07-17
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Open Secret
1948-02-14
Open Secret
Overview: A couple discovers that their friend has gone missing. Their investigation leads them to believe that anti-semites are behind the disappearance.
Genres: Crime Mystery Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-02-14
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Northern Pursuit
1943-11-07
Northern Pursuit
Overview: Canadian Mountie Steve Wagner captures a German Luftwaffe officer on a spy mission, who later escapes from the prison camp. To catch the spy ring, the Mounties employ a ruse so that the spies, believing Steve to be sympathetic, enlist him in their plans.
Genres: Adventure War Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-11-07
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The Quest: The Longest Drive
1976-01-01
The Quest: The Longest Drive
Overview: To save an old friend's ranch, the Beaudine brothers round up a gang of misfits to drive a huge herd to market.
Genres: Western TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1976-01-01
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Train to Alcatraz
1948-06-28
Train to Alcatraz
Overview: Criminals aboard a train to the infamous penitentiary plot an escape, and receive outside help in their attempt.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-06-28
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The McConnell Story
1955-09-29
The McConnell Story
Overview: Joe McConnell was sure that he was meant to be a pilot, but was stuck as a restless army private. It seemed that his ambition was blocked at every step.
Genres: Drama War History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1955-09-29
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A Bullet for Joey
1955-04-15
A Bullet for Joey
Overview: Raoul Leduc is a police inspector trailing a spy who plots to kidnap an important American atomic scientist. Joe Victor a gangster who is hired to carry out the abduction, balks when he learns what is at stake and helps Leduc out instead.
Genres: Crime Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1955-04-15
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The Legend of Lizzie Borden
1975-02-10
The Legend of Lizzie Borden
Overview: A dramatization of the famous 1893 Massachusetts trial of the woman accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an ax.
Genres: TV Movie Drama Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1975-02-10
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The Very Thought of You
1944-10-20
The Very Thought of You
Overview: Army sergeants Dave and "Fixit" spend a three-day pass in Pasadena, where they meet Janet and Cora, two young women who work in a parachute factory.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-10-20
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Illegal
1955-10-09
Illegal
Overview: A hugely successful DA goes into private practice after sending a man to the chair -- only to find out later he was innocent. Now the drunken attorney only seems to represent criminals and low lifes.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1955-10-09
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The Unknown Man
1951-11-09
The Unknown Man
Overview: A scrupulously honest lawyer discovers that the client he's gotten off was really guilty.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1951-11-09
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Return to Green Acres
1990-05-18
Return to Green Acres
Overview: Tv movie that reunites most the show's cast members. The Douglases move back to New York. But when Haney tries to get everyone's property so that a developer can build on them, the residents go to New York to get Douglas to help them. But he's a little hesitant.
Genres: Comedy TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-05-18
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Rocky
1948-01-17
Rocky
Overview: Out fishing one day, painter John Hammond and his son Chris come across Bert Hillman, the foreman of a local ranch. He and his ranch hand are searching for a wild dog that killed one of their sheep. They find the animal and kill it, along with one of its puppies, but after they leave Hammond and his son discover another puppy still alive. They take it home and call it Rocky. John believes that a dog descended from sheep-killers will himself become a sheep-killer someday, but e gives his son a chance to raise and train the dog, hoping that he can train the killer instinct from it. Unfortunately, local farmers have reported an epidemic of sheep-killings, and they suspect that Rocky is responsible for them.
Genres: Western Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-01-17
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Carrie
1952-07-17
Carrie
Overview: Carrie's dreams of adventure in the big city are quickly squashed as she discovers all that awaits her there is a bleak life of grueling and poorly paid factory work—that is, until a traveling salesman named Drouet steps into her life and changes her outlook.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-07-17
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San Antonio
1945-12-29
San Antonio
Overview: Rancher Clay Hardin arrives in San Antonio to search for and capture Roy Stuart, notorious leader of a gang of cattle rustlers. The vicious outlaw is indeed in the Texan town, intent on winning the affections of a beautiful chanteuse named Jeanne Starr. When the lovely lady meets and falls in love with the charismatic Hardin, the stakes for both men become higher.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-12-29
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Deep in My Heart
1954-12-09
Deep in My Heart
Overview: Biographic movie about the American composer Sigmund Romberg.
Genres: Music Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1954-12-09
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Dennis the Menace
1987-09-18
Dennis the Menace
Overview: While digging in his front garden, Dennis finds a big bone. To prove it's from a dinosaur, he persuades his father to invite an old buddy of him, Bowen Skyler III, who's a famous 'dinosaur hunter'. Being desperate for publicity, Skyler informs press and television... and starts a paleontologic dig in their front garden.
Genres: Family Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1987-09-18
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Somewhere in Time
1980-10-02
Somewhere in Time
Overview: Young writer Richard Collier is met on the opening night of his first play by an old lady who begs him to "Come back to me". Mystified, he tries to find out about her, and learns that she is a famous stage actress from the early 1900s. Becoming more and more obsessed with her, by self-hypnosis he manages to travel back in time—where he meets her.
Genres: Drama Fantasy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1980-10-02
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Passions
1984-10-01
Passions
Overview: A man with a wife and daughter also has a son with another woman. When he dies this little secret is revealed to the wife. She then sets out to make her and her son suffer by trying to throw them out of the house he bought for them but now it legally belongs to his wife. And at the same time, wanting to ensure her son's future, she sues his estate for her son's education fund. While they are butting heads, they both discover that they were both deceived by him.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1984-10-01
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Sweet, Sweet Rachel
1971-10-01
Sweet, Sweet Rachel
Overview: An ESP expert uses his powers to try to track down a psychic who uses telepathy to commit murder.
Genres: Horror Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1971-10-01
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Stallion Road
1947-04-12
Stallion Road
Overview: A veterinarian and a novelist compete for the heart of a lady rancher.
Genres: Western Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-04-12
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Under Colorado Skies
1947-12-15
Under Colorado Skies
Overview: Monte Hale has been working as a teller in a Texas bank during the summer to earn money for his medical college expenses during the upcoming year. He is about to leave to return to college when the bank is held up by two members of a notorious gang, headed by Marlowe, leaving Monte with the smoking gun of one of the bandits that killed the bank president. To avoid bringing disgrace on the family of his sweetheart, Julia Collins, by revealing that it was her brother Jeff, supposedly working in Denver, who induced him to open the back door of the bank to let the robbers in, Monte allows suspicion to rest on him until he can clear himself.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-12-15
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The Bold Frontiersman
1948-04-15
The Bold Frontiersman
Overview: Rocky Lane and his horse Black Jack must protect the gold which drought bedeviled ranchers have raised to build a dam from bad guy Smiling Jim.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-04-15
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Kentucky Rifle
1956-07-01
Kentucky Rifle
Overview: A man escorts a wagon load of Kentucky rifles through Indian territory and must find a way to get through without losing the rifles to the Indians. Unfortunately the Indians know about it, and give the occupants an ultimatum: either the rifles or their lives.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1956-07-01
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Deep Valley
1947-07-30
Deep Valley
Overview: A shy California farm girl falls head-over-heels in love with Barry Burnett, a fugitive from a chain gang building a road through the wilderness.
Genres: Drama Romance Crime Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-07-30
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Two Guys from Texas
1948-08-27
Two Guys from Texas
Overview: Two vaudevillians on the run from crooks try to pass themselves off as cowboys.
Genres: Comedy Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-08-27
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The Shanghai Chest
1948-07-11
The Shanghai Chest
Overview: Charlie attempts to solve a triple murder in which a dead man's finger prints show up at all three murder sites, and all three victims were connected with the conviction and execution of an evidently innocent man.
Genres: Crime Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-07-11
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The Iron Mistress
1952-11-19
The Iron Mistress
Overview: In this biopic, Jim Bowie goes to New Orleans, where he falls for Judalon and befriends her brother, Narcisse. Soon, Jim is forced to avenge Narcisse's murder, but Judalon takes up with another man. Jim eventually has another romantic interlude with Judalon and is forced to kill one of her suitors in self-defense. Jim leaves town, and falls for the daughter of a Texas politician, but his entanglement with Judalon continues to bedevil him.
Genres: History Drama Action Western Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-11-19
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Milk Money
1994-08-31
Milk Money
Overview: Three young boys pool their money and pay V, a kindhearted prostitute, to strip for them. Afterward, she drives them home to the suburbs -- but then her car breaks down. It's just as well, though, because a mobster named Waltzer is after her, and V realizes the suburbs are the perfect place to hide. But things get a lot more complicated when V falls in love with Tom, a single father who is unaware of her real profession.
Genres: Comedy Romance Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-08-31
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The Breaking Point
1950-10-06
The Breaking Point
Overview: A fisherman with money problems hires out his boat to transport criminals.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-10-06
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Pretty Baby
1950-09-16
Pretty Baby
Overview: A young woman living in Manhattan pretends to be the mother of an infant in order to get a seat on the subway.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-09-16
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The Fountainhead
1949-06-25
The Fountainhead
Overview: An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-06-25
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Bright Leaf
1950-06-16
Bright Leaf
Overview: Two tobacco growers battle for control of the cigarette market.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-06-16
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The Shanghai Story
1954-09-01
The Shanghai Story
Overview: Shanghai, China. The last expatriate Westerners still living in the city are imprisoned in a hotel by the communist authorities in order to find the spy hiding among them.
Genres: Drama Romance Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1954-09-01
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Come Fill the Cup
1951-10-24
Come Fill the Cup
Overview: Alcoholic newspaperman Lew Marsh hits bottom, loses his job and is rehabilitated by Charley Dolan. After six years on the wagon he gets his job back and devotes himself to other recovering alcoholics.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1951-10-24
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Romance on the High Seas
1948-06-25
Romance on the High Seas
Overview: Georgia Garrett is sent by jealous wife Elvira Kent on an ocean cruise to masquerade as herself while she secretly stays home to catch her husband cheating. Meanwhile equally suspicious husband Michael Kent has sent a private eye on the same cruise to catch his wife cheating. Love and confusion ensues along with plenty of musical numbers.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-06-25
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Irma la Douce
1963-06-05
Irma la Douce
Overview: When a naive policeman falls in love with a prostitute, he doesn’t want her seeing other men and creates an alter ego who’s to be her only customer.
Genres: Romance Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1963-06-05
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Destination Tokyo
1943-12-31
Destination Tokyo
Overview: During World War II, Captain Cassidy and his crew of submariners are ordered into Tokyo Bay on a secret mission. They are to gather information in advance of the planned bombing of Tokyo. Along the way, the crew learn about each other as they face the enemy and some of them lose their lives.
Genres: War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-12-31
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Love and Learn
1947-05-02
Love and Learn
Overview: A wealthy socialite bored with her life meets and falls in love with a struggling songwriter on the verge of leaving New York and quitting the music business.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-05-02
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Crackle of Death
1976-03-28
Crackle of Death
Overview: The first of two Kolchak: The Night Stalker compilation TV films. It combines two episodes of the Kolchak TV series, Firefall (about the ghost of an arsonist that tries to take over a renowned conductor's body as his doppelgänger) and The Energy Eater (about a Native American bear-spirit haunting a newly built hospital) and adds new narration by Darren McGavin.
Genres: Horror TV Movie Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1976-03-28
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The Organization
1971-10-20
The Organization
Overview: After a group of young revolutionaries break into a company's corporate headquarters and steal $5,000,000 worth of heroin to keep it off the street, they call on San Francisco Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs for assistance.
Genres: Drama Action Thriller Crime Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1971-10-20
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The Legend of Lylah Clare
1968-08-21
The Legend of Lylah Clare
Overview: A dictatorial film director hires an unknown actress to play the lead role in a planned movie biography of a late, great Hollywood star.
Genres: Drama Crime Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1968-08-21
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Nora Prentiss
1947-02-22
Nora Prentiss
Overview: Quiet, organised Dr Talbot meets nightclub singer Nora Prentiss when she is slightly hurt in a street accident. Despite her misgivings they become heavily involved and Talbot finds he is faced with the choice of leaving Nora or divorcing his wife. When a patient expires in his office, a third option seems to present itself.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-02-22
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