Jan Merlin
Character actor, screenwriter, and author. He had recurring roles on Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (1951-54) and The Rough Riders (1958-59). Merlin won a Daytime Emmy for writing Another World.
Featured Characters
Roles you can spot in Whatthemovie snapshots
Buried Alive
A husband finds out that his wife and her lover are trying to kill him.
The Hindenburg
Colonel Franz Ritter, a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to the great Hindenburg airship as its chief of security. As he races against the clock to uncover a possible saboteur aboard the doomed zeppelin he finds that any of the passengers and crew could be the culprit.
The Slams
Rival prison factions surround a Los Angeles convict who has $1.5 million stashed on the outside.
I Escaped from Devil's Island
In 1916, A group of prisoners plot their escape from the notorious fortress located in French Guiana.
The Twilight People
A kidnapped diver is taken to an island inhabited by a mad scientist and his half-animal, half-human creations.
Take the Money and Run
The life and times of inept bank robber Virgil Starkwell.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Chicago February 14th 1929. Al Capone finally establishes himself as the city's boss of organised crime. In a north-side garage his hoods, dressed as policemen, surprise and mow down with machine-guns the key members of Bugs Moran's rival gang. The film traces the history of the incident, and the lives affected and in some cases ended by it.
Gunfight at Comanche Creek
In 1875 a murderous outlaw gang breaks criminals from jail, uses them to help in crimes, and then kills them for the reward, when it goes high enough.
Hell Bent for Leather
Mistaken for a murderous outlaw, an innocent horse trader is forced to go on the run to try and clear his name by catching the real culprit.
Six Bridges to Cross
Follow the evolution of a small time juvenile delinquent hood to a big time racketeer. Based on the famous 1950 Brinks Robbery in Boston that netted the crooks $2.5 million. The story delves into the psychology of the perpetrators, as well as the intricate mechanics of the hold-up.
Illegal
A hugely successful DA goes into private practice after sending a man to the chair -- only to find out later he was innocent. Now the drunken attorney only seems to represent criminals and low lifes.
Big House, U.S.A.
A tough and realistic crime drama unfolds as merciless kidnapper Jerry Barker (Ralph Meeker) demands ransom paid against a young runaway whose fate lands Barker in Casabel Island Prison.
Flight to Nowhere
A couple on board a plane find themselves mixed up in a plot to steal atomic secrets.