Television: The First Fifty Years

120 minutes

1/1/1999

Overview

Trace the history of television and its impact on American culture with clips, newsreels, and exclusive interviews from television greats like Walter Cronkite, Carol Burnett, and Jay Leno.

Cast List

Walter Cronkite
as Self
Carol Burnett
as Self (archive footage)
Jay Leno
as Self
Phyllis McGuire
as Self
Doc Severinsen
as Self
Dick Van Patten
as Self
Ed McMahon
as Self (archive footage)
Alan Young
as Self / Wilbur Post (archive footage)
Dick Powell
as Self (archive footage)
Sheree North
as Self
Patrick Macnee
as Self / John Steed (archive footage)
Ron Howard
as Self / Opie Taylor / Ritchie Cunningham (archive footage)
Frank Gorshin
as The Riddler (archive footage)
Dwight D. Eisenhower
as Self (archive footage)
Sid Caesar
as Self (archive footage)
Ringo Starr
as Self – The Beatles (archive footage)
John Lennon
as Self – The Beatles (archive footage)
George Harrison
as Self – The Beatles (archive footage)
Paul McCartney
as Self – The Beatles (archive footage)
Linda Ellerbee
as Self
Eddie Albert
as Self / Oliver Douglas (archive footage)
David Hasselhoff
as Self / Mitch Buchanon (archive footage)
Ethel Merman
as Self (archive footage)
Betsy Palmer
as Self
Desi Arnaz
as Ricky Ricardo (archive footage)
Lucille Ball
as Self / Lucy Ricardo (archive footage)
Imogene Coca
as Self (archive footage)
Bob Hope
as Self (archive footage)
Nancy Marchand
as Self (archive footage)
Edward R. Murrow
as Self (archive footage)
Victoria Principal
as Self / Pamela Ewing (archive footage)
David Nelson
as Self (archive footage)
Tony Randall
as Self (archive footage)
Gene Siskel
as Self
Roger Ebert
as Self
Ray Walston
as Self
Adam West
as Self / Batman (archive footage)
Burt Ward
as Self / Robin (archive footage)
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
as Stuart Bailey (archive footage)
George Burns
as Self (archive footage)
Richard Nixon
as Self (archive footage)
David McCallum
as Illya Kuryakin (archive footage)
Kay Kyser
as Self (archive footage)
Linda Gray
as Self / Sue Ellen Ewing (archive footage)
Dick Elliott
as Bartender (archive footage)
Buddy Ebsen
as Jed Clampett (archive footage)
Jerry Mathers
as Theodore 'Beaver' Cleaver (archive footage)
Diana Douglas
as Elly May Clampett (archive footage)
Sammy Davis Jr.
as Self (archive footage)
Jed Allan
as Self
Tom Arnold
as Self
Billy Barty
as Self
Milton Berle
as Self
William Boyd
as Hopalong Cassidy (archive footage)
William Demarest
as Charlie O'Casey (archive footage)
Bing Crosby
as Self (archive footage)
Joyce Brothers
as Self
Wally Cox
as Robinson J. Peepers (archive footage)
John Wayne
as Self (archive footage)
Bob Crosby
as Self (archive footage)
Charlton Heston
as Self
Arte Johnson
as Self / Wolfgang (archive footage)
Allan Lane
as Mister Ed (archive audio)
Dick Martin
as Self (archive footage)
Barry Morse
as Lt. Philip Gerard (archive footage)
Hugh O'Brian
as Self (archive footage)
Donna Reed
as Donna Stone (archive footage)
George Reeves
as Superman (archive footage)
Red Skelton
as Buffalo Bob Smith / Howdy Doody (archive footage)
Vivian Vance
as Ethel Mertz (archive footage)
Henry Winkler
as Self