You see actors who guest star as one person turn up as a completely different person like a year later. For instance, Charles Lane appears in season 3 as a old die-hard gambler and then shows up in season 4 as Charlie's father. Do they think that the viewer won't notice? Was there a shortage of actors back then or something?
shareThe Charles Lane thing was pretty far-fetched. But it was fun looking at his very unique comb-over (sort of a swirl around the back of his head).
Ed Harris was on at least twice.
Kurtwood Smith (70s Show) was on at least twice, playing policemen or firemen.
Parley Baer was on FOUR times.
Dominique Dunne was on twice, playing different teenage characters each time.
And I just saw Jeff Corey and his mammoth eyebrows for the third time. In "Blacklist," he plays an actor who was blacklisted - which was actually true for Corey. He mentions having played Shakespeare, which is also reflective of his early career.
shareThat was pretty common for a lot of shows back then. It was done with The Rockford Files, Hogan's Heroes, Star Trek, just to name a few. You also tended to see the same people appearing in the different shows. A lot of the guest stars in Lou Grant appeared on The Rockford Files. Or even in M*A*S*H where Harry Morgan plays a guest general in an earlier season before he becomes a regular cast member as Col. Potter.
I'm sure that people noticed, but it wasn't really a big deal back then. People just didn't care all that much.
Also, most people didn't have VCRs or any way of recording the show, so one may not necessarily recall which guest stars were on the show in other seasons. Even if you did, it might be something like, "Hey wasn't that guy in an episode last season?" But that's usually as far as it went. No Internet or IMDb to check, so if you really wanted to know, you'd either have to go down to the library or contact the TV station.
I'd say that the 1967-70 version of "Dragnet" holds the record for recycled guest stars.
shareEven more recent shows such as Dallas and Dynasty did this.
Its that man again!!
It was easier to double up on affordable quality actors as guest stars in those days, as vhs was available late seventies but only exploded in the early 80's and there was no DVD or IMDB (internet use by the general public) at that time. Thus less exposure and knowledge about a show and no way to watch a whole season in one weekend so by the time the actor appeared again it was often more than a year later.
shareIt used to be quite common to use good actors more than once on the same TV series. After all, they're ACTING -- playing different characters -- and the audience had no problem with that. Often if an actor made a good impression in a minor role, he or she might get a larger role the next time around. For example, Ed Harris appeared in 3 different episodes of LG, in 3 different roles -- and each time, the role was larger & better.
shareThis happens all the time on the Law & Order shows. One episode an actor or actress will be the suspect/criminal, and then later, they're playing the judge.
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Every person that served can be called a veteran, but not every veteran can be called a Marine.
Even Jerry Orbach, who played probably the best known character on the original Law & Order, played a different character on the show a season before becoming Detective Lennie Briscoe.
(knock,knock,knock) Penny (knock,knock,knock) Penny (knock,knock,knock) Penny
I remember Ice-T played a criminal once before become a series regular, too.
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Every person that served can be called a veteran, but not every veteran can be called a Marine.
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I refer to an actor who appears two or more times on a TV show as totally different characters as a "two timer". It has been commonplace on TV for decades. I think the record is Morgan Woodward playing seventeen different characters on nineteen episodes of "Gunsmoke". Two of the episodes were two parters.
shareThis seems a perfect opportunity to ease myself from the Gilligan's Island board into another board without just barging in like a total newbie. The Professor from Gilligan's Island (Russell Johnson) is in the black market babies episode. I didn't become a fan of Gilligan's Island until 2010 so I didn't know who RJ was at the time I was into Lou Grant. But I recently watched the black market babies episode on YouTube and yep, there's our dear, sweet Professor being all shady. I also recall it as being one of my favorite LG episodes because of the scenes with Billie and Rossi in the seedy motel room and Rossi immediately checking out the water bed and the porn channel on TV.
I loved TV in the 70s. I was a teenage girl who fell in love with just about everybody and I would watch things like Love Boat and Fantasy Island just to see who the Guest Stars were that week. I hit the jackpot if it was one of my many crushes such as Bob Denver or Roddy McDowall. 😂
"He's making it up as he goes along!"