From Film Noir to Comedy: Woman on the Run (1950) to The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966)

I ended my last blog article, about Woman on the Run, with the observation that three of the actors in that film—Ross Elliott, Steven Geray, and Joan Shawlee—had guest appearances or supporting roles in my favorite classic sitcom, The Dick Van Dyke Show. I decided this time to give each of these three actors a shoutout and highlight their appearances on The Dick Van Dyke Show. It’s also my way of celebrating Dick Van Dyke’s recent birthday. He turned ninety-nine years young on December 13, 2024.

Click here to see my article about Woman on the Run.

Ross Elliott

I was a fan of Ross Elliott before I knew his name and before I knew he was the same actor in Woman on the Run and on The Dick Van Dyke Show. I saw him first on The Dick Van Dyke Show. The first couple of times that I saw Woman on the Run, I knew that he looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. It took one or two more viewings of the film before I made the connection.

Here he is, as Frank Johnson in Woman on the Run, the witness to a murder who goes on the run to avoid testifying against a cold-blooded killer.

And here he is as Dr. Philip Nevins, the psychiatrist in “The Brave and the Backache” (season 3, episode 20) on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Rob Petrie (played by Dick Van Dyke) knows Dr. Nevins from his commute to work on the train from New Rochelle, New York, to New York City, but he wants to see Dr. Nevins professionally because of what he thinks are his psychosomatic reactions to his wife Laura’s suggestions that they spend a weekend at Lake Sisseemanunu.

Ross Elliott apparently did such a good job playing a psychiatrist that he came back two seasons later as Dr. Phil Ridley in “Uhny Uftz” (season 5, episode 3). This time, Rob Petrie consults him because he has seen, or thinks he saw, a flying saucer when he was working late one night at his office in New York City.

The portrayal of the psychiatrist is handled with so much humor, as one would expect from a sitcom, and Ross Elliott is wonderful and sympathetic in both roles. Rob Petrie is not psychosomatic and he is not suffering from hallucinations, but viewers don’t know that until the end of both episodes. The warmth and compassion for Rob’s predicaments really come through in both the writing and in Ross Elliott’s portrayals.

Steven Geray

Steven Geray is a familiar face to film noir fans because he had many supporting roles in many films noir. In Woman on the Run, he plays Frank Johnson’s doctor, Dr. Arnold Hohler. It’s a small part, but it’s a memorable one because Geray plays a sympathetic doctor who helps Eleanor Johnson get some prescription medicine to her husband, even though the doctor has been warned by the police about helping a fugitive witness to a murder.

But Steven Geray could play comedy, too. He plays the Petries’ neighbor, Mr. Gerard, in “The Man from My Uncle” (season 5, episode 27). Mr. Gerard’s nephew is a wanted criminal, and federal agents are assigned to track him. They want to use the Petrie home as a base of operations, and their son Richie’s bedroom is the perfect spot to put Mr. Gerard’s house under surveillance. The agents hope that the nephew will pay a visit to his uncle. When Mr. Gerard shows up at the Petries’ front door, worried about what his nephew might do next, he delivers some of the funniest lines in the episode.

Joan Shawlee

Joan Shawlee has only a bit part in Woman on the Run. She goes by her maiden name in the credits: Joan Fulton. The part is so small that her character doesn’t even have a name; the credits describe her as the tipsy blonde in the bar. The bar is Sullivan’s Grotto, where Eleanor Johnson discovers that her husband still loves her and where viewers discover that Danny Legget is falling in love with Eleanor. Joan Shawlee is the one who tells Eleanor Johnson, “It’s no use looking, honey. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.”

Ross Elliott and Steven Geray make brief guest appearances on The Dick Van Dyke Show, but Joan Shawlee had a supporting role as one of two actresses who played Pickles Sorrell, Buddy Sorrell’s wife. She really has a chance to shine in “Divorce” (season 2, episode 28). Her comedic talent is on full display when she and Buddy get Rob enmeshed in an argument that threatens their marriage.

Joan Shawlee is the reason to see this episode. She is hilarious as the wife who still loves her husband and who wants Rob to intervene and prevent Buddy Sorrell from splitting up with her.

Another good reason to see this episode (and the entire Dick Van Dyke Show series) is the writing. Each character has a unique personality, and all are given a chance to show off their talents. Even when I was a kid watching reruns of The Dick Van Dyke Show, I always noticed that the closing credits included a line for “Script Continuity, Marjorie Mullen.” I didn’t know what it meant, but I did notice that the episodes were never disjointed, that the overall series had a reassuring sense of place and time and consistency. The attention to detail really paid off.

Now, as an adult, I can catch some minor inconsistencies, but they never did anything to diminish my love for the series. One example is the difference in the psychiatrist’s name in the two episodes featuring Ross Elliott: Dr. Philip Nevins and Dr. Phil Ridley. Only a fan like me would probably even notice such a detail, but it sticks out in a show as well written as The Dick Van Dyke Show. And in the modern days of binge watching!

But this is a digression, believe me. Both The Dick Van Dyke Show and Woman on the Run are well worth the time. Both are wonderfully written, and both stand up so well to the test of time.

The Dick Van Dyke Show Credits

October 3, 1961, to June 1, 1966, broadcast dates  •  Written by Carl Reiner, Frank Tarloff (as David Adler), John Whedon, Sheldon Keller, Howard Merrill, Martin Ragaway, Bill Persky, Sam Denoff, Garry Marshall, Jerry Belson, Caral Kleinschmitt, Dale McRaven, Rick Mittleman  •  Directed by Sheldon Leonard, John Rich, Jerry Paris, Howard Morris, Alan Rafkin  •  Opening theme song by Earle Hagen  •  Series created by Carl Reiner

Dick Van Dyke as Robert Petrie  •  Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie  •  Rose Marie as Sally Rogers  •  Morey Amsterdam as Buddy Sorrell  •  Ross Elliott as Dr. Philip Nevins and as Dr. Phil Ridley   •  Steven Geray as Mr. Girard  •  Joan Shawlee as Pickles Sorrell

Produced by Calvada Productions  •  Broadcast by CBS

Woman on the Run Credits

November 29, 1950 (New York City), release date  •  Directed by Norman Foster  •  Screenplay by Alan Campbell, Norman Foster, Ross Hunter  •  Based on the short story “Man on the Run” by Sylvia Tate  •  Music by Arthur Lange, Emil Newman  •  Edited by Otto Ludwig  •  Cinematography by Hal Mohr

Ann Sheridan as Eleanor Johnson  •  Dennis O’Keefe as Daniel (“Danny”) Legget  •  Robert Keith as Inspector Martin Ferris  •  John Qualen as Maibus  •  Frank Jenks as Detective Shaw  •  Ross Elliott as Frank Johnson  •  Jane Liddell as the messenger girl  •  Joan Shawlee (credited as Joan Fulton) as the tipsy blonde in the bar  •  J. Farrell MacDonald as the sea captain  •  Steven Geray as Dr. Arnold Hohler  •  Victor Sen Yung as Sam  •  Reiko Sato (credited as Rako Sato) as Suzie  •  Syd Saylor as Sullivan  •  Milton Kibbee as man yelling from the apartment house  •  Tom Dillon (credited as Thomas P. Dillon) as Joe Gordon

Distributed by Universal-International Pictures Company  •  Produced by Fidelity Pictures, Inc.

Woman on the Run (1950)

I have seen Woman on the Run several times now, and it is one of those films that gets better and better with repeat viewings. It has become one of my noir favorites, and for many good reasons. One of the best reasons is its subtle subplot involving a murderer and his growing attachment to the wife of one of his victims.

Spoilers ahead!

Woman on the Run is in the public domain. Click here to watch it for free at the Internet Archive. The DVD and the Blu-ray produced by the Film Noir Foundation, UCLA Film & Television Archive, and Flicker Alley are worth a look, too. Both come with several featurettes and audio commentary by the inimitable film noir expert Eddie Muller, who, as always, provides a ton of information about the film, its stars, and its production.

The film’s opening credits appear over a stylized nighttime shot of San Francisco, with the bridge and the bay in the distance. The narrative starts with a man, Frank Johnson, out at night walking his dog, Rembrandt. (Frank’s wife explains later that Frank chose the name because this was close as they were going to get to owning a Rembrandt.) Frank and Rembrandt climb up stone steps toward the camera, and when they reach the top, Frank stops to light his pipe.

A car stops on the road nearby, and the driver and a passenger argue. The camera placement puts viewers inside the car so they, but not Frank, can hear the conversation and thus know that murder and blackmail are the topics. The driver shoots and kills his passenger, who falls out of the passenger side door. Rembrandt barks, attracting the attention of the shooter. The shooter takes aim at Frank and misses, then drives off. Frank would have been hit by a bullet except that the shooter mistook his shadow for flesh and blood. A neighbor calls out from a second-floor window nearby, wondering if he heard shots. Frank tells him to call the police because there’s been a murder.

When the police arrive, they discover that the dead man is Joe Gordon, who was set to testify against the gangster Smiley Freeman. When Frank hears this news, he is a little upset, but when Inspector Martin Ferris tells him that he would like Frank to identify the shooter, Frank decides he doesn’t want any trouble. A squad car retrieves Frank’s wife Eleanor, but by the time she arrives, her husband has taken a powder, leaving Rembrandt behind.

Eleanor and Frank have had problems in their marriage, something she doesn’t hide from Inspector Ferris when he goes to the Johnsons’ apartment to talk to her and gather clues. He tries to convince her to help him and his officers look for Frank, but Eleanor isn’t interested—until the inspector leaves. She decides then to look for her husband herself.

Newspaper reporters are already on the scene hounding Inspector Ferris for details when he leaves the Johnsons’ apartment. One of the reporters is Danny Legget. He wants the scoop, and he decides that Eleanor is his best lead. He waits for her on the roof of the apartment building because the building is under police surveillance and because he guesses this is how Eleanor will escape. He guesses correctly and is rewarded before too long: Eleanor tries to climb out of a skylight in Frank’s studio and is surprised to find Legget ready to help her. Eleanor isn’t interested in Danny Leggett, his newspaper, or his story, but she cannot seem to get rid of him. That’s because he is the murderer, and he wants to find Frank and get rid of him before Frank can identify him or testify in court.

Eleanor is finally persuaded to accept Danny’s help. Danny says that he wants the story, and he is willing to pay good money to get it. She and Frank can use the money, and so she agrees, not knowing Danny’s real reason for wanting to find Frank. And she and Danny spend a lot of time together trying to find her husband before the police do. The first time that they go to Man Loh’s Oriental Roof Garden, where Eleanor and Frank often shared a meal, Sam, one of the restaurant’s employees, recognizes Eleanor. He slips her a note about a letter being delivered to Hart & Winston’s, a department store where Frank works as a window trimmer.

Eleanor goes to Hart & Winston’s alone and talks to one of Frank’s coworkers, Maibus. Maibus thinks Frank is adventurous, which comes as a surprise to Eleanor. She’s never heard any of the stories that Frank told Maibus. She discovers that Frank has created mannequins that look like her, and they seem to represent her every mood, both good and bad. Frank has sent a letter to Eleanor in care of Maibus, but Maibus has not received it yet. Danny Legget has intercepted it for his own purposes. But Frank is no slouch. He’s written the letter so that only Eleanor can figure out the clues. That means Danny can’t let her go so easily.

Later, when Eleanor and Danny return to Man Loh’s Oriental Roof Garden, Sam suggests that she and Danny talk to Sullivan, who runs a bar (Sullivan’s Grotto) across the street from the back door of the Oriental Roof Garden. At Sullivan’s Grotto, Eleanor learns that Frank still loves her. When she tells this to Danny, he is very disappointed. Eleanor is thrilled to think that her marriage may not be in trouble after all, and she doesn’t notice Danny’s reaction to her news: He isn’t happy that Eleanor is thrilled to hear that she and Frank may not split up after all. But it is the first clue that Danny is becoming attracted to Eleanor.

Eleanor and Danny visit many places in San Francisco, some places more than once. Eleanor tries to find inspiration and insight into the clues Frank has left for her. He wants her, not the police, to find him. He doesn’t want to become involved in their murder investigation because he saw what happened to Joe Gordon. Eleanor has no idea that the killer is helping her find Frank, but viewers do, and that builds even more tension.

According to Eddie Muller’s DVD commentary, Eleanor and Danny’s journey through the city is a chance to see the city as it once was. San Francisco is Muller’s hometown, and he offers lots of insights and his own memories of the city that he and his family knew well. The DVD also contains a featurette by Brian Hollins showing photos and videos of location shots from Woman on the Run and the same locations when the DVD was released. Hollins has a website, “Reel SF,” devoted to classic films shot in San Francisco and their location shots. Click here to visit “Reel SF: San Francisco movie locations from classic films” for comparisons (then and now) of various location shots for Woman on the Run. The list is extensive, both for Woman and the Run and the movies spotlighted at the website. Click on MOVIE LIST at the top right of the site to see the full list of films.

When Eleanor has deciphered Frank’s clues and knows exactly where to find him (on the beach at the amusement park), Danny wants to arrange a meeting with Frank. Eleanor thinks Danny wants to meet away from the prying eyes of the police and other news reporters, but Danny has chosen a spot that is designed to keep any possible witnesses away. Danny shows Eleanor a meeting spot under the roller coaster in the amusement park where Frank is hiding, and their conversation is chilling, thoroughly noir.

• Eleanor Johnson: “I don’t like this place.”

• Danny Legget: “It’s a good spot. I used to come here with a girl when I was a kid.”

• Eleanor: “It’s more frightening than romantic.”

• Danny: “That’s the way love is when you’re young. How life is when you’re older.”

These four lines of dialogue are some of my favorite lines in film noir. They express almost perfectly the lingering mood of the postwar United States and that of film noir generally: a mood of resignation, malaise, foreboding, and cynicism.

Danny stops Eleanor briefly before she leaves him to tell her husband where to find him. He wants to know whether she plans to return to her husband, and she tells him yes, even though she isn’t sure how Frank feels any more. Either way, she will have to accept her husband’s decision.

• Danny Legget: “You think people can turn back, and you’re gonna try. I know better.”

• Eleanor Johnson: “You’re too cynical. It’s your profession.”

• Danny: “It’s too late now to change my profession. Okay. Go ahead and send him here.”

• Eleanor: “I’ll bring him.”

• Danny: [vehemently] “No.”

Eleanor thinks Danny is cynical because of his job as a newspaper reporter, but he is cynical because he is more than that. He is also a murderer and perhaps a hired hit man. Danny is willing to kill Eleanor’s husband Frank because he still doesn’t want a witness to one of his murders to be able to identify him. But he does want to spare Eleanor’s life.

Woman on the Run is a wonderful film and, as I said, it has become one of my noir favorites. Another reason, which has very little to do with noir, is that three of the actors in this film went on to act in guest appearances and supporting roles in one of my very favorite classic comedies: The Dick Van Dyke Show. Ross Elliott plays Frank Johnson in Woman on the Run, and he twice played a psychiatrist on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Steven Geray plays Frank Johnson’s doctor, Dr. Arnold Hohler. Geray played so many roles in film noir, but he could play comedy, too. He’s especially funny as one of Rob and Laura Petrie’s neighbors. Joan Shawlee, who plays a drunk patron in Sullivan’s Grotto, is one of two actresses who played the part of Pickles Sorrell, Buddy’s wife, on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

But obviously you don’t have to be a fan of The Dick Van Dyke Show to enjoy Woman on the Run. And here’s more good news: I didn’t give away everything. You’ll have to see the film to find out if Danny Leggett gets away with murder; if Frank Johnson is still alive at the end of the film; and, if he is, whether he and Eleanor are reunited.

November 29, 1950 (New York City), release date  •  Directed by Norman Foster  •  Screenplay by Alan Campbell, Norman Foster, Ross Hunter  •  Based on the short story “Man on the Run” by Sylvia Tate  •  Music by Arthur Lange, Emil Newman  •  Edited by Otto Ludwig  •  Cinematography by Hal Mohr

Ann Sheridan as Eleanor Johnson  •  Dennis O’Keefe as Daniel (“Danny”) Legget  •  Robert Keith as Inspector Martin Ferris  •  John Qualen as Maibus  •  Frank Jenks as Detective Shaw  •  Ross Elliott as Frank Johnson  •  Jane Liddell as the messenger girl  •  Joan Shawlee (credited as Joan Fulton) as the tipsy blonde in the bar  •  J. Farrell MacDonald as the sea captain  •  Steven Geray as Dr. Arnold Hohler  •  Victor Sen Yung as Sam  •  Reiko Sato (credited as Rako Sato) as Suzie  •  Syd Saylor as Sullivan  •  Milton Kibbee as man yelling from the apartment house  •  Tom Dillon (credited as Thomas P. Dillon) as Joe Gordon

Distributed by Universal-International Pictures Company  •  Produced by Fidelity Pictures, Inc.