| Hallmark Hall of Fame | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Anthology |
| Written by | Robert Hartung Jean Holloway Helene Hanff Gian Carlo Menotti |
| Directed by | George Schaefer William Corrigan Albert McCleery Kirk Browning Fielder Cook Jeannot Szwarc |
| Composer(s) | Gian Carlo Menotti Bernard Green Richard Addinsell Jerry Goldsmith |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 57 |
| No. of episodes | 200 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | George Schaefer Brent Shields |
| Producer(s) | Maurice Evans Samuel Chotzinoff Phil C. Samuel Robert Hartung |
| Editor(s) | Henry Batista Robert L. Swanson Sam Gold Richard K. Brockway |
| Cinematography | Freddie Young |
| Running time | 30–150 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions |
| Distributor | NBC/PBS/ABC/CBS |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC PBS ABC CBS |
| Audio format | Monaural Stereo (from 1980) |
| Original run | December 24, 1951 – present |
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television. It has had a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and still continuing today. From 1954 onward, all of their productions have been shown in color, although color television productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many TV-movies have been shown on the program since its debut, though the program began with live telecasts of dramas and then moved into videotaped productions before finally turning to filmed ones. The most recent TV movie seen was episode #237, A Dog Named Christmas, that aired on CBS on November 29, 2009.
Its programming traditionally airs during sweeps, a period in which ratings are used to determine advertising rates.
The series has received seventy-eight Emmy Awards, twenty-four Christopher Awards, eleven Peabody Awards, nine Golden Globes, and four Humanitas Prizes. Once a common practice in American television, it is the last remaining television program where the title contains the name of the sponsor. Although it is considered one of the longest-running TV series still on the air, it differs from other long-running shows in that it only broadcasts occasionally and not on a weekly schedule (as opposed to The Simpsons, Gunsmoke and the news program, 60 Minutes).
The series debuted on 24 December 1951 on NBC with first opera written specifically for television, Amahl and the Night Visitors, by Gian Carlo Menotti, starring Chet Allen. It was the first time a major corporation developed a television project specifically as a means of promoting its products to the viewing public. The program was such a success that it was restaged by Hallmark several times over a period of fifteen years. Amahl was also staged by other NBC television anthologies.
Early productions were the classical works of Shakespeare; Hamlet, Richard II, Macbeth, and The Tempest. Biographical subjects were very eclectic, ranging from Florence Nightingale to Father Flanagan to Joan of Arc. Popular Broadway plays such as Harvey, Dial M for Murder, and Kiss Me, Kate were made available to a mass audience, most of them with casts that had not appeared in the film versions released to theatres. In a few cases, the actors repeated their original Broadway roles. Noted actors such as Richard Burton, Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Maurice Evans, Julie Harris, Laurence Olivier, and Peter Ustinov all made what were then extremely rare television appearances in these plays.
Two different productions of Hamlet have aired on the Hallmark Hall of Fame, one starring Maurice Evans (1953) and the other starring Richard Chamberlain (1970). Evans and actress Judith Anderson brought their famous Macbeth to the Hallmark Hall of Fame on two separate occasions, each time with a different supporting cast. The first version (1954) was telecast live from NBC Studios; the second (1960) was filmed on location in Scotland and released to movie theatres in Europe after being telecast in the U.S.
After a few decades the series began to offer original material, such as Aunt Mary (1979) and Thursday's Child (1983), although its lineup still primarily consisted of expensive-looking Masterpiece Theatre-style adaptations of American and European literary classics, such as John Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent (1983) and Robert Louis Stevenson's The Master of Ballantrae (1984). Beginning with Love is Never Silent (1985), however, the Hallmark Hall of Fame concentrated on inspirational relationship stories particularly appealing to women aged 25–54, often taking place in historical and/or rural settings. This period saw some of the series' most acclaimed productions, such as Foxfire (1987), My Name is Bill W. (1989), Sarah, Plain and Tall (1991), O Pioneers! (1992), To Dance With the White Dog (1993), The Piano Lesson (1995), and What the Deaf Man Heard (1997). One installment, Promise (1986), starring James Garner and James Woods, remains the most honored two-hour movie in the history of network television, winning five Emmys, two Golden Globes, a Peabody award, a Humanitas Prize, and a Christopher Award.
Through the 1980s and 1990s, Hallmark Hall of Fame films often had twice the budget of other network films. Hallmark movies also ran (in some cases) approximately 10–15 minutes longer (or up to 110 minutes minus commercials) because Hallmark Cards fully sponsored the films and took fewer commercial breaks. Unlike most network movies of the period, Hallmark always filmed on location, and usually shot for 24 days, compared to 18–20 days for most other movies-of-the-week.
For nearly three decades, the series ran on NBC, but after the network dropped it due to declining ratings it moved to PBS, later to ABC, then to CBS where it currently airs. Some of the films are perennial top ten rated programs.
Many recent Hall of Fame movies repeat on the company's Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel, and are available on home video and DVD under Hallmark Entertainment (now RHI Entertainment), often distributed through Hallmark Gold Crown Stores.
Only a small number of Hallmark Hall of Fame programming has been released to VHS and DVD, and nearly all are relatively recent productions. The earliest aired movie from the series to be released on DVD is The Littlest Angel, first broadcast in 1969.
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   | 50 Years of Hallmark Hall of Fame - 50 Years of Hallmark Hall of Fame |
| | Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie List - Hallmark Corporate Information | Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie List |
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