# Actors playing the same role over long periods
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 18, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172 "2006-08-18T01:36:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/1 "2006-08-18T01:36:02Z")
I just caught an episode of the new _Twilight Zone_ from 2003 called “It’s Still a Good Life.” It’s a sequel to the memorable 1961 episode of the original _TZ_ called “It’s a Good Life” about a petulant little boy with the power to vanish anything or anyone who annoys him “to the cornfield.” The 2003 show is about the same boy forty years later, now that he has his own seven-year-old daughter.
The character of Anthony Fremont in the original show was played by seven-year-old actor [Billy Mumy](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0612621/), who went on to play Will Robinson in _Lost in Space_. The actor playing 49-year-old Anthony Fremont in the 2003 was…
[Bill Mumy](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0612621/).
Yep, same guy, 42 years later.
Now, we can all think of actors who played the same role in a number of films (especially among the serials of 1930s and 1940s) or for a long time on a TV series. In a quick look through IMDb just now, I found that Amanda Blake played Kitty on [_Gunsmoke_](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0047736/) for 19 years. I didn’t have enough patience to go through the enormous cast list of the longest running drama on TV, [_The Guiding Light_](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0044265/), which has been on the air since 1952, although I noticed that Charita Bauer, a member of the original cast, played “Bert” Miller Bauer for an amazing 32 years.
I can’t think of anyone who has played the same character over a longer period that Mr. Mumy. But I knew that my fellow Dopers might.
Keep in mind, I’m looking for the longest span _in real life_ between two performances of the same character by the same actor, but not in the same exact show. That is, not playing Hamlet at 20 and again at 70. But two different works featuring the same character, who is probably assumed to have aged as the actor has in the intervening years. Also, I’m _not_ looking for something like Dustin Hoffman’s performance in _Little Big Man_, in which the character ages more than 100 years.
And I’d like to restrict this competition to TV and film actors and roles.
So, does anyone beat Mr. Mumy?
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### Author:  [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/2 "2006-08-18T01:51:29Z")
Hmm…
Doesn’t beat it, but Shatner first played Cpt. Kirk in 1966, and most recently in _Star Trek: Generations_, 1994 (unless we count voice acting for the same character, in which case IMDB says Shatner provided the voice of Kirk in two Star Trek videogames in 1997). So that’s either 28 or 31 years, both short of Mumy. But it should be pointed out that Shatner _kept playing_ Kirk in every decade from 1966 to 1994/1997. Mumy had bookends with nothing for that character in the middle.
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### Author:  [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/3 "2006-08-18T01:57:43Z")
I think that Kelsey Grammar had about 20 years of playing Frasier continuously, first on chers and then on the sequel.
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### Author:  [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/4 "2006-08-18T01:59:50Z")
> [@supervenusfreak](#):
>
> I think that Kelsey Grammar had about 20 years of playing Frasier continuously, first on chers and then on the sequel.
“Cheers” not chers. Even he didn’t play the role THAT long… :smack:
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### Author:  [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/5 "2006-08-18T02:05:03Z")
David Suchet has been playing Poirot for about fifteen years of real time, by now.
In publishing time, the first Poirot was The Mysterious Affair at Styles, published in 1920, and the last is Curtain, published in 1975 (though written in 1940; the last Poirot written was Poirot’s Early Cases in 1974). This gives the character a span of 55 years… the time in the books seems to roughly match the publishing time, too. According to Wikipedia Poirot was born in 1885, which makes him 35 at the time of Styles and 90 at his death, both of which ages make sense.
I don’t think Suchet has played Poirot in Curtain, though. Has it been made?
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### Author:  [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/6 "2006-08-18T02:25:15Z")
I hate to admit knowing this but, [Frances Reid](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0717265/) has been playing Alice Horton on Days of our Lives since 1965. She’s the only original member of the cast that’s left.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/7 "2006-08-18T02:36:08Z")
[Don Hastings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Hastings) beat Mumy: he’s has been playing the same character on “As the World Turns” since 1960 – 46 years now. Wikipedia says this is the longest period of time playing the same character in TV history (Hastings got his start in the seminal SF series, “Captain Video” and has been working steadily ever since).
In films, there’s Jean-Pierre Leaud, who played Antoine Doinel in five films over twenty years.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/8 "2006-08-18T02:41:16Z")
Not beating Hastings, but William Boyd played Hopalong Cassidy from 1935 until 1952, in films and on TV.
Elisha Cook, Jr., and Lee Patrick reprised their roles in **The Maltese Falcon** 34 years later in **The Black Bird**.
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/9 "2006-08-18T02:42:35Z")
This isn’t QUITE a match, but James Garner first played Bret Maverick on TV in 1957. And his character in the “Maverick” movie (the 1994 Mel Gibson version) was revaled to be Bret Maverick Sr.
So, James Garner played the same part (once removed) 37 years apart.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/10 "2006-08-18T02:52:15Z")
[James Garner](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001258/) first played Bret Maverick on TV in 1957, played him in several TV revivals and played him again in the movie “Maverick” in 1994.
As a bonus, Garner played Jim Rockford as early as 1974 and in a TV movie in 1999.
So 37 years for one character and 25 years for a different character.
The first reference I can find for Jackie Gleason playing Ralph Kramden was in 1950, and the last in 1978.
Voice work may be cheating, but Mel Blanc’s first credit for a \*Looney Tunes \* character was as Porky Pig in 1937, and he continued voicing Porky until his death in 1989.
Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll played _Amos 'n Andy_ from 1928 to 1960. That may be the record for radio.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/11 "2006-08-18T02:53:24Z")
Damn, I spent to much time researching.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/12 "2006-08-18T02:55:26Z")
Buster Crabbe played Flash Gordon in 1938 and “Brigader Gordon” in an episode of [Buck Rogers in the 25th Centruy](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0185568/) TV series in 1979.
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### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/13 "2006-08-18T03:04:45Z")
Kiyoshi Atsumi played the lead character of Tora-san in the _Otoko wa Tsuraiyo_ series of films. 48 movies, from 1969 to 1996.
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### Author:  [@Khadro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadro)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/14 "2006-08-18T03:35:08Z")
> [@Only Mostly Dead](#):
>
> Hmm…
>
> Doesn’t beat it, but Shatner first played Cpt. Kirk in 1966, and most recently in _Star Trek: Generations_, 1994 (unless we count voice acting for the same character, in which case IMDB says Shatner provided the voice of Kirk in two Star Trek videogames in 1997). So that’s either 28 or 31 years, both short of Mumy. But it should be pointed out that Shatner _kept playing_ Kirk in every decade from 1966 to 1994/1997. Mumy had bookends with nothing for that character in the middle.
And if the video game voice work does count, Shatner will be voicing the role of Kirk for the next Star Trek game, that is out later this year, making it 40 years.
Cite: [http://www.gamespot.com/news/6155744.html](http://www.gamespot.com/news/6155744.html)
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/15 "2006-08-18T04:45:02Z")
**RealityChuck** : You didn’t read your own cite closely enough: Don Hastings “is second only to co-star [Helen Wagner](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Wagner) in having the distinction of playing the same role for the longest period of time on television.”
On her page on Wikipedia, it says Wagner “has played matriarch Nancy Hughes McClosky on the soap opera As The World Turns, with only a few interruptions, since the show’s debut in 1956. This has earned her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Wagner spoke the first lines of the program: ‘Good morning, dear.’”
Fifty years this year. Congrats, Ms. Wagner. I should have known it would be a soap.
So that makes it official. I had checked the GBWR Web site before writing the OP, but somehow didn’t find Wagner’s record.
Thanks for all the other cites, folks.
BTW, **Sattua** , I established in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=245340) that as far as fictional characters (written by their original authors) go, Poirot is second to Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster. **Exapno** pointed out that Ed McBain is at 50 years now with his 87th Precinct series, and could beat Wodehouse if he keeps going for a few more years.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/16 "2006-08-18T04:56:58Z")
I suspected it would be Helen Wagner. I used to watch _As The World Turns_ and was constantly amazed at just how LONG she’d been playing Nancy Hughes.
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### Author:  [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/17 "2006-08-18T05:29:33Z")
Topol has played Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof since 1967, so 39 years. I suspect that’s a record for live performance.
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### Author:  [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/18 "2006-08-18T05:33:12Z")
> [@commasense](#):
>
> **Exapno** pointed out that Ed McBain is at 50 years now with his 87th Precinct series, and could beat Wodehouse if he keeps going for a few more years.
Ed McBain died last July.
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### Author:  [@Cherry\_Garcia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cherry_Garcia)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/19 "2006-08-18T06:50:11Z")
Buddy Ebsen starred in the TV series **Barnaby Jones** from 1973 to 1980. In 1993, he played Barnaby Jones in the theatrical **Beverly Hillbillies** motion picture. 13 years in between the final TV appearance and the theatrical appearance of Barnaby.
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### Author:  [@Arch\_Trout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arch_Trout)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-playing-the-same-role-over-long-periods/369172/20 "2006-08-18T10:39:54Z")
William Roache has played ‘Ken Barlow’ in the UK soap _Coronation Street_ since 1960.
A whopping 46 years of playing the same character.
With only normal holiday breaks, no extended holidays iirc.
I often wonder if he actually knows where his character stops and the real him begins.
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