MovieChat Forums > Harry O (1973) Discussion > Used same actors for different parts in ...

Used same actors for different parts in same season

posted 15 years ago by Lucaslover
12 replies | jump to latest

I've noticed that some actors (not the regularly recurring characters like Manny Quinlan) appear over and over again during the same season (and even across seasons) playing different roles each time. One actor Les Lannom was used multiple times through out the series. Sometimes playing a different character each time and sometimes playing the same role through 4 different episodes. I never paid much attention to this when the show was being broadcast, but it's perfectly obvious now.

Did the network or producers actually believe we wouldn't notice the same faces popping up again and again? I can't believe there weren't enough professional actors seeking tv work at the time to allow for fresh faces each week. Would love for someone to explain this situation.

Did Janssen have the power to insist on giving roles to his buddies? Or was this re-use of actors the work of producers or Warner Brothers executive decisions?

"Loyalty counts. . ." Lucas Buck

[–] tommary1962 15 years ago

There is no reason why actors cannot be used multiple times in diverse roles. Producers use actors more than once when they feel the actor has the skill to play diverse characters.

Why on Earth would anyone object to such a thing is beyond me. There were dozens of "fresh faces" each week on this and all other series.

[–] tommary1962 15 years ago

I decided to test your "theory" and it really falls flat. For a start, not counting the regulars (Harry, the two police Lts), there were at least 515 roles in the 46 episodes made. Of these, only the following actors played different roles in different episodes:

1. Anne Archer - 2
2. Barry Atwater - 2
3. Bill Henderson - 2
4. Claudette Nevins - 2
5. Clay Tanner - 2
6. Clifford David - 2
7. Cynthia Avila - 2
8. Fred Sadoff - 2
9. Gordon Jump - 2
10. GW Bailey - 3
11. Hal Williams - 2
12. Jack Mullaney - 2
13. Jack Riley - 2
14. James Hong - 2
15. James McEachin - 2
16. Jerry Hardin -2
17. Joanna Pettet - 2
18. John Crawford - 2
19. John Hawkins - 2
20. John McMurty - 2
21. John Rubenstein - 2
22. Jon Lormer - 2
23. Julio Medina - 3
24. Kathy Lloyd - 2
25. Kenneth Mars - 2
26. Lani O'Grady - 2
27. Lawrence Cook - 2
28. Les Lannom - 3
29. Lou Frizzell -2
30. Macon McCalman - 2
31. Margaret Avery - 2
32. Mel Stewart - 2
33. Michael Gwynne - 2
34. Michael McGuire - 2
35. Randy Powell - 2
36. Richard Kelton - 2
37. Richard Staahl - 2
38. S. John Launer - 2
39. Sabrina Scharf - 2
40. Stanley Bennett Clay - 2
41. Tim McIntire - 2
42. Ty Henderson - 2
43. William Sylvester - 3
44. WT Zacha - 2

That is 11% of the casting.

[–] Lucaslover 15 years ago

I dunno. It just seems the producers seemed to take the audience for granted and assumed no one would notice the repetition. Taken collectively, considering the show only lasted two seasons, that was a LOT of actors playing multiple roles.

And I have to say when I watched (and loved) the show the first time around, I really didn't notice what was going on. So maybe the producers were smarter than I.

"Who's drivin' the car, Ben?" Lucas Buck

[–] harryplatt33702 14 years ago

That's actually a HUGE number, especially for a show with such a short run.

As for your statement that you don't get why people mind this: it can spoil the suspension of disbelief for some. Seeing the guy you were introduced to as a skid row bum in one episode playing a banker 12 episodes later and then a cop the next season (made up examples) can be distracting for some who are trying to escape into the fantasy that a show presents.

As another poster mentioned, though, this was likely not as noticeable when the show originally aired once a week vs. watching it daily in reruns or on DVD.

[–] rogerscorpion 9 years ago

I agree. For a show that only lasted 2 years---that's a LOT of re-using the same actors.

Carpe Noctem!

[–] bpvalentine 9 years ago

That’s 44 actors reused at least twice and some cases 3 times. Now consider there were something like 48 episodes produced. That’s almost every episode a viewer being taken out of the show by the “but wasn’t that person in another episode?”

I actually think it works. I’m fine with it. But your debunking kinda blew up in your face.

[–] ttimgents 12 years ago

Lucasglover: I don't know how old you are, but I think back in the day it was not all that uncommon to notice one actor as different character in the same show. Not only that, I don't think it would have been unusual to see a particular "guest star" playing in two different shows on the same night. What the reasons for that I do not know: an interesting topic for a grad student majoring in film/television.

Among many other reasons, might have been due to SAG rules, availability of actors, preference of producers and stars, smaller pool of available actors, or friendship/acquaintance.

[–] joymo69 12 years ago

I saw another actress -- who had appeared just two episodes earlier (in the Admiral's Lady) but was credited to another actress (at least by imdb ? I forgot to check that with the dvd) ... Ellen Weston played the promiscious abandoned wife in the Admiral episode, and was the ex-wife of the nutbar in Mortal Sin.
However, imdb posts that MS' ex-wife was played by Carol Eve Rossen; i am 100 per cent certain that this was Weston, as she had the same haircut, same aloof nature. Tell me I'm wrong!
(and the practice of going to the same actor/actress to play a different role was pure laziness on the casting director/director's part... not like there weren't thousands of unemployed people in Hollywood, including a hundred or more familiar faces who could fit the bill.)

[–] w22nuschler 12 years ago

I have never had a problem with the same actor playing different parts in the same season. The original Hawaii Five-O and other shows did it all the time. I kinda liked it, especially when I liked the actor.

The one thing I don't like is when they use the same scenes from an episode in a later episode. Starsky & Hutch did it once and T.J. Hooker also did it at least once.

Harry-O is also guily. Has anyone else bought the firs season from Warner Archives and noticed the same scenes were used in 2 different episodes. Sal Mineo had a part as a dealer in an early episode and then again in the episode where Harry-O cop friend Manny is killed on a case. They used the exact same scenes. There was a great chase at the end on a bike, but how can they do it and think that people won't notice it.

I have really enjoyed the episodes from Season 1. I have seen them all before and did not care for him seeming to sleep with every woman he worked for, but it was not as bad as I remembered. Good writing and really good actors on this show. I am on the ones with Anthony Zerbe right now and never thought anyone could replace Henry Darrow, but he does it. I love how he always calls Harry "Orwell". I laugh becauase of the way he does it. He really makes the character his own.

[–] Prismark10 12 years ago

his used to be rather common in US tv series although Harry O was more prolific.

Its that man again!!

[–] The_Man_in_the_Planet 9 years ago

I believe this was fairly common back in the day --- actors playing different parts in the same series, I mean. In the pre-VHS days, I don't think a lot of viewers would notice that.

In heaven everything is fine.

[–] elvimark01 8 years ago

It never seemed to bother me. Producers tend to go with people who are reliable and competent actors. Mega-producers like Jack Webb and Quinn Martin used the same actors time and again in their programs...in Webb's case, he used the actors who could give him the cold, flat readings that he wanted. Hawaii Five-O used a lot of the same actors because the Hawaiian acting community raised a big stink about too many mainland actors getting cast in bit roles.

In this case, sometimes an actor will be rehired because they have a chemistry with Janssen...Les Lannom had that, whether you like his character or not. Carol Rossen appeared in each season of Harry O as different characters...she and Janssen always worked well together, as evidenced by her turning up five times on The Fugitive.