The The next half hour has its baggage packed to take a trip with America's fabulous freelance

insurance investigator, Johnny Duller.

At insurance investigation, he is just an expert.

At making out his expense account, he is an absolute genius.

From 1949 until 1962, America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator tracked down fraudsters, fakes, and swindlers. He was Johnny Dollar and he kicked off his long radio

crime-solving career 66 years ago this month. But the story of Johnny Dollar

really begins at the end of 1948 when an audition

recording was prepared with Dick Powell starring as Johnny, an episode we've previously

heard on the podcast.

Ultimately when it came time for the show to go to the airwaves,

Powell declined the role.

And a few months after Johnny Dollar premiered,

he would be starring on radio as Richard Diamond, private detective.

In need of a new Johnny Dollar, the network and producers turned to another Hollywood actor,

albeit one with a little less star power. Charles Russell, a

20th century Fox contract player, recorded a new audition and on February 11th, 1949, he went on the air as radio's first Johnny Dollar. Charles Russell made his film debut in 1943's Ladies Day for R. K.O. in an uncredited in gave him his first screen credit. Russell signed with 20th Century Fox in 1944,

where he worked on several films,

including The Purple Heart with Dana Andrews

and give my regards to Broadway with Dan Daly.

While at Fox, he met and married his wife, fellow contract player Nancy Guild.

In 1949, the same year he started as Johnny Dollar, Russell left Fox for Columbia, where

he appeared in a pair of films. Ultimately, his film career ended almost as soon as it began, with his final appearance coming

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