Four Star Television

Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. Founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Ida Lupino, and Charles Boyer, the company produced many well-known shows of the early days of television, including, Four Star Playhouse (their first series), Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, Stagecoach West, The June Allyson Show (aka The DuPont Show Starring June Allyson), The Dick Powell Show, Burke's Law, The Rogues and The Big Valley. Despite of each four of its stars shared equal billing, it was Powell that played a very important role in the growth of the company and its success in television. Within a few years of Four Star's formation, Powell became President of the company. In 1955 Four Star Films, Inc., was formed as an affiliate organization to produce shows as The Rifleman, Trackdown, Dead or Alive Richard Diamond, Private Detective and The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor. There were also failed series, like Jeannie Carson's Hey, Jeannie! In the late winter of 1958, both Four Star Productions and Four Star Films were merged into a newly-formed Four Star Television, a holding company which became publicly traded on the American Stock Exchange on January 12, 1959.

History

Dick Powell

Dick Powell, a Hollywood veteran for twenty years in 1952, longed to produce and direct. While he did have some opportunities to do so, such as RKO Radio Pictures' The...... ...
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