Compact Video
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| Industry | Television production |
|---|---|
| Fate | Sold to Compact Video as the result of a LBO by MacAndrews & Forbes |
| Successors | Four Star International |
| Founded | 1952 (as Four Star Productions) Incorporated as Four Star Television on Jan. 12, 1959. |
| Defunct | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Beverly Hills, California, a city in Los Angeles |
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Key people
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David Charnay Dick Powell David Niven Ida Lupino Charles Boyer |
Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. The company was founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions, by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Joel McCrea. McCrea left Four Star soon after its founding to continue acting in film, television and radio, before being replaced with Ida Lupino as the fourth star, even though Lupino did not own any stock in the company.
Four Star produced several popular programs from the early days of television, including Four Star Playhouse (their first series), Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, 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 each of its four stars sharing equal billing, it was Powell who played the biggest role in the success of the company's early growth.
Within a few years of Four Star's formation, Powell became President of the company. In 1955, a second company, Four Star Films, Inc., was formed as an affiliate organization to produce shows as The Rifleman, Trackdown, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Richard Diamond, Private Detective and The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor. There were also failed series, like Jeannie Carson's Hey, Jeannie!.
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