I'm noticing that during the closing credits, Cloris Leachman is always listed as a special guest star, but she's obviously a regular. Does anyone know why she was labeled this way in the credits?
shareIt's all about billing. "Special Guest Star" is a cut above just "Staring".
Sometimes it's in lieu of more more money.
It's a billing issue sometimes related to salary. Plus, Leachman had just won on Oscar.
Sometimes "special guest star" means that the actor is paid a bigger salary than some of the regulars who have in their contracts protective clauses that insures their paycheck is bigger than anyone who may join the show at a later date. For example, Heather Locklear was a "special guest star" for seven years on MELROSE PLACE so they could pay her more money than the original cast.
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LBJ's mistress on JFK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcXeutDmuRA
After seasons 1 & 2, she wasn't in very many episodes per 24 episode season.
I guess that would make her a "special guest star."
Season 1 - Appearances: 12
Season 2 - Appearances: 12
Season 3 - Appearances: 04
Season 4 - Appearances: 03
Season 5 - Appearances: 03
Season 6 - Appearances: 00
Season 7 - Appearances: 01
[These numbers come from Cloris Leachman's IMDb page and may be wrong.]
She made four appearances in Season 7?
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That does seem odd.
Well, according to IMDb, she was in these season 7 shows...
- The Last Show (1977) ... Phyllis Lindstrom
- Mary and the Sexagenarian (1977) ... Phyllis Lindstrom
- Hail the Conquering Gordy (1977) ... Phyllis Lindstrom
- Sue Ann Gets the Ax (1977) ... Phyllis Lindstrom
...but I don't see how, considering that she supposedly "flew" to Minneapolis to visit -after Mary and the others were laid off in "The Last Show."
I was at the filming of "Hail the Conquering Gordy," and I don't recall her in that. It's probably an IMDb error. She may only have been in "The Last Show."
OK, I just checked, and the only one of those 4 episodes she was in was "The Last Show." So, I guess you just can't trust IMDb on stuff like this. I changed the count for season 7 to 1, but I can't actually be sure of that, or the count for the other seasons, is correct.
This is a different case from Heather Locklear or Jonathan Harris (from Lost in Space), both of whom were series regulars and appeared in every episode of their respective series (or in Locklear's case, every episode once she joined the cast).
Cloris Leachman was a semi-regular during her first two seasons, and then genuinely was a guest star during her last three seasons, only appearing in 3 or 4 episodes a season during seasons 3-5. The producers even removed her clip from the opening credits in season 3, after appearing in the season 2 opening credits.
My favorite MTM episodes usually had Phyllis in them. I always missed her when she wasn't on.
shareI've read that this sometimes happens if the producers are having trouble getting the studio to put them under contract as a regular. In this case, though, Phyllis was never in even half the episodes of the season -- probably a wise choice, since the character was best used sparingly -- so paying her only when she was an integral part of an episode makes a lot of sense, both for the show's budget and for the actor, who is free to accept other work on the off-weeks.