The Corpse Came C.O.D. The Corpse Came C.O.D. The Corpse Came C.O.D. is a 1947 American film directed by Henry Levin, produced by Samuel Bischoff and starring George Brent and Joan Blondell. The comedic mystery is notable for featuring cameos by Hollywood gossip columnists appearing as themselves: Harrison Carroll, Jimmy Fidler, George Fisher, Hedda Hopper, Erskine Johnson, Louella Parsons, and Sidney Skolsky. The movie is based on a novel by columnist Jimmy Starr, who also appears in the movie. Two reporters who are in love (Brent and Blondell) compete with each other when covering the story about the discovery of a corpse found at
High Noon and "Los Angeles Times" gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, among others. According to "Darkness at High Noon: The Carl Foreman Documents"—a 2002 documentary based in part on a lengthy 1952 letter from Foreman to film critic Bosley Crowther—Foreman's role in the creation and production of "High Noon" has been unfairly downplayed over the years in favor of Kramer's. Foreman told Crowther that the film originated from a four-page plot outline he wrote that turned out to be very similar to a short story by John W. Cunningham called "The Tin Star". Foreman purchased the film rights to Cunningham's story and wrote