Our journey back through the years of Suspense continues with my favorite episodes from 1944. Lucille Ball is a taxi dancer who hopes to avoid a murderous dance partner in “Dime a Dance” (originally aired on CBS on January 13, 1944), and Charles Ruggles suspects his new housekeeper may be too good to be true in “Suspicion” (originally aired on CBS on February 10, 1944). Orson Welles stars in a rare two-part Suspense science fiction drama “Donovan’s Brain” (originally aired on CBS on May 18 and May 25, 1944), and Vincent Price and Ida Lupino co-star in “Fugue in C Minor,” a Gothic horror drama from the pen of Lucille Fletcher (originally aired on CBS on June 1, 1944). Charles Laughton encounters a strange man who claims to have invented an undetectable method for murder in “The Man Who Knew How” (originally aired on CBS on August 10, 1944), and Gene Kelly enjoys a seemingly supernatural streak of luck…until he doesn’t in “The Man Who Couldn’t Lose” (originally aired on CBS on September 28, 1944).

Join me on a trip back to 1943 and my favorite episodes of Suspense from that year. It was the year production of the show moved from New York to Hollywood, which meant it was easier for film stars to make appearances, and it picked up a sponsor in the form of Roma Wines. We’ll hear Maureen O’Hara as a debutante turned detective in “The White Rose Murders” (originally aired on CBS on July 6, 1943), and Warren William reprise his big screen role as The Lone Wolf - a reformed jewel thief turned sleuth - in “Murder Goes for a Swim” (originally aired on CBS on July 20, 1943). Agnes Moorehead cements her status as the “first lady of Suspense” in the legendary “Sorry, Wrong Number” (originally aired on CBS on August 21, 1943), and Orson Welles plays a hunter who tracks human prey in “The Most Dangerous Game” (originally aired on CBS on September 23, 1943). Finally, Charles Laughton is a patriarch whose family reputation may be sullied by murder in “Wet Saturday” (originally aired on CBS on December 16, 1943), and Peter Lorre finds his foolproof murder scheme had an unexpected complication in “Back for Christmas” (originally aired on CBS on December 23, 1943).

Myron McCormick took home a Tony for his performance as gruff but lovable sailor Luther Billis in the original Broadway production of South Pacific, and before his premature passing at the age of 54 he logged several memorable turns on the stage and screen. We’ll hear him as an archeologist who may have found a lost treasure in “Door of Gold” (originally aired on CBS on February 10, 1957) and as a mental patient who escapes from the hospital with revenge on his mind in “Madman of Manhattan” (originally aired on CBS on March 8, 1959). Plus, he plays detective in “No Time for Murder” from Crime Club (originally aired on Mutual on September 25, 1947).