Season 1

E1. Birth of a Titan

Jul 3, 1987 · 60m

Ed Asner tells the story of RKO Pictures through the eyes of the people who worked there from its creation at the start of the talkies in the late 1920s.

E2. Let's Face the Music and Dance

Jul 10, 1987 · 60m

He examines the musicals made in the mid 1930s with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Includes interviews with both stars, the producer Pando Berman and choreographer Hermes Pan.

E3. A Woman's Lot

Jul 17, 1987 · 60m

The story of RKO Pictures, told through the eyes of the people who worked there, traces the films made at RKO for and by women, concentrating on the careers of Ginger Rogers and Katharine Hepburn.

E4. It's All True

Jul 24, 1987 · 60m

Orson Welles spent a hectic few years at RKO, making Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons and the abandoned It's All True.

E5. Dark Victory

Jul 31, 1987 · 60m

The 1950s were a time of mounting paranoia, reflected by the studio's ventures into film noir. Robert Mitchum makes his first screen appearance, Val Lewton creates Zombies and Cat People, and the House Un-American Activities Committee stalks its prey.

E6. Howard's End

Aug 7, 1987 · 60m

Series concludes as Howard Hughes' purchase of RKO has a devastating effect on the studio.