Hallmark Hall of Fame

Hallmark Hall of Fame is the longest-running prime-time series in television history, having debuted in 1951 and aired on network television until 2014.

The series is a direct descendant of two old-time radio dramatic anthologies sponsored by Hallmark: Radio Reader's Digest and its successor Hallmark Playhouse, which premiered on CBS in 1948.

The show's debut episode on December 24, 1951, was Amahl and the Night Visitors, the first opera ever written specifically for television, featuring ballet dancer Nicholas Magallanes.

Early productions attracted major stage actors making rare television appearances, including Richard Burton, Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Maurice Evans, Katharine Cornell, Julie Harris, Laurence Olivier, and Peter Ustinov.

Two productions of Macbeth starring Maurice Evans and Judith Anderson were made: a 1954 version telecast live from NBC's Brooklyn color studio, and a 1960 version filmed on location in Scotland and later released to European movie theaters after its American telecast.

The 1970 Hamlet starring Richard Chamberlain, also broadcast in Britain on ITV Sunday Night Theatre, won five Emmys out of thirteen nominations, possibly setting a record for the most-nominated televised Shakespeare production.

The 1986 production Promise, starring James Garner and James Woods, won five Emmys, two Golden Globes, a Peabody Award, a Humanitas Prize, and a Christopher Award.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Hallmark Hall of Fame movies often had twice the budget of other network TV movies and were typically filmed on location for 24 days, compared to 18-20 days for most other TV movies of the era.