Wheaton has said that he had the utmost respect for Gene, largely because Gene treated and spoke to him the same as any of the adult actors. When Gene died, the guys in charge seemed bent on reminding him that he was “the kid”. And of course, Wil also already had a budding film career that he’d had to put on hold when he got the TNG role.
Nitpick: They were both shot in the guts and left to die in a slum hallway, but only Renko was supposed to bite the big one. In the original pilot, Esterhaus reports to Furillo over the phone: “Two officers down. One critical, one DOA.” They didn’t reveal the name of the DOA immediately.
Audiences liked Renko so much, Bochco decided to bring him back from the dead and they reshot the ending.
I remember that in the pilot, Renko was something of a loudmouthed jerk always bragging about his new cowboy boots (a redneck partnered with a black guy), so I was kind of expecting him to get killed off pretty quick.
You may recall that Charles Haid was always billed separately from the rest of the cast, along with Veronica Hamill. I always presumed they had some sort of “Special Guest Star” deal with the show, like Martin Landau and Barbara Bain did on Mission: Impossible.
It’s always interesting to me when actors talk about the business. Caruso, when taking heat for abandoning NYPD Blue, said as struggling actors the dream is steady work, but once the money starts coming in you don’t want to work. He wanted to get millions for doing a movie a year, rather than the weekly grind of a series, which is pretty much 12 hour days half a year; he saw a shot at that and he took it.
Similarly, when Thomas Hayden Church left Wings to do Ned and Stacey, I saw an interview where he said that in tv there are no promotions; he was never going to come to work one day and have people say “Good work, Tom, we’re making your character the star of the show now.” To move up, you have to move on.
The situation with Jonathon Harris on* Lost in Space *might be more on target. He was added after the pilot to give continuing menace to the cast, but after the cast deals had been locked down, so they couldn’t rearrange him into a starring position in the credits. Thus he was a Special Guest Star for almost every (every?) episode. The same might have applied to Haid.
ETA: Damn that HSB isn’t available on video past the second season.
That’s a perspective I’d never have thought of. Thanks for posting that.
That’s a good look at what goes through the mind of an up and coming TV actor. They have their own goals, agents pushing them, and the work can become tedious to them. If they see a their part on a show, even a successful show, interfering with their future plans, they’ll walk away. And usually regret it. The same thing happens with spin-offs like The Ropers, which are usually doomed. But for actors, every opportunity may be the last one. They usually take the leap.
Ed Marinaro left Hill Street Blues after a number of seasons and while he had a recurring role in the TV series Sisters, for the most part disappeared.
Similarly, Peter Horton, was a huge star on Thirtysomething, left expecting better things and I don’t recall him being on anything other than Brimstone, which was cancelled after half a season.
Didn’t he do some memorable commercials?
He had the bit part of bicycle guy in “Singles.” That was a landmark 1990s rom-com.
That sounds an awful lot like what I’ve noticed in the restaurant business. When you’re working for a locally-owned (i.e. non-chain) restaurant, and your immediate superior is the person who owns the place, you’re not gonna get promoted short of the owner retiring and selling it to you. So same thing: To move up, you have to move on. (And I guess that would apply to working for any small business.)
Even big business. Porsche AG instituted a policy in the 1970s that no one in the Porsche family could become CEO of the company - they felt that quality executives weren’t coming to the company because candidates knew a family member would always get the top jobs. That hasn’t been without side effects, though.
This isn’t really an actor but the guy that used to host the CMT Top 20 Count Down, Lance Smith, I don’t think has been seen since and to that is a shame because he was so nice and cute when I got to meet him back in 2002 before the Brad Paisley concert that he hosted. 
God bless you and him and Brad always!!!
Holly
Shelly Long, who left because the rest of the cast hated her for being way too much like Diane Chambers. Tough to work long term with people who hate you.
Larry Linville in MASH where his character was despised and the villian for years. He was personally liked, but it can’t be easy playing a despised idiot all your waking hours.
Topher Grace. Was under the misimpression that he was the star of That 70’s Show. Developed diva syndrome. He had that character nailed.
He wasn’t? The show seemed to fall apart without him. In fact, I don’t think I’ve watched more than a couple of eps of the seasons after Grace left. He just happened to make the more typical mistake being discussed - his career didn’t transition to “Big-time Movie Star” as he’d hoped.
Yeah, I agree. He was what held that show together. It sucked without him.
The 7th season was supposed to be the last season then Fox unexpectedly renewed; Grace & Kutcher weren’t interesting in staying on. The result the writers put together sucked.
They also wanted him to sign a “morals clause” which was incredibly vague. Basically, they could fire him any time they disagreed with him and cite the morals clause. He didn’t think they could continue losing Henry AND Trapper simultaneously, so he quit.
They succeeded, but from his point of view, he was right. They were jerks to him. He has spoken about wishing he stayed with the show(due to its success), but he couldn’t have known.
Not many, though some folks do like Chevy Chase. I’ve read of a few, but they are quite rare. I have heard he likes the cast of Community, but just dislikes the writing and producers.
If memory serves, that’s kind of how Jeff Conaway left Taxi. He had some other TV show set up where he would be the star instead of part of an ensemble. Problem was, it stunk and it tanked.
I agree.
Whether or not Chase was/is liked by folks, he cannot be considered anything but a success for 10-15 solid years in Hollywood, which should set him up for life. SNL was a stepping stone for him, but it was looked at as a stepping stone for all of those actors in the original cast. They ALL wanted their Hollywood shot, and they all got one, with the exception of Garrett Morris and Lorraine Newman.
He was on SNL in the mid 70’s, and he’s still acting. I think people don’t have a positive memory of him because he seems to be fairly universally disliked, and his late night show was the stuff of legend. They cancelled that thing within 15 shows, didn’t they? It was god awful, and for those of us old enough to remember it and watched it will be hard pressed to name another show that was meant to be taken seriously be so bad. After that, I personally never looked at him the same, but he is still getting work, and he is still making money.
Agreed.
Kinda? What the hell else is he even known for, except playing poker? He fell off the earth after “Welcome Back, Kotter”. At the beginning of his career, he was a very good stand up comedian. If you can find some of that stuff, give it a listen. You will enjoy it whether you like or hate him now.
MASH always seems to come up here, and for good reason.
Wayne Rodgers left first, and never saw the success he was looking for. He didn’t leave for his investment business. That is nonsense. I have seen him interviewed and he has said that was the biggest mistake of his career. He left because he was tired of always playing second banana to Alda, who always seemed to get the best lines. The fact that he tried a couple of shows after MASH shows he didn’t jump into his investment business full time right away.
McClean Stevenson - also a huge mistake leaving, although I did enjoy the show Hello Larry. He was perfect as Henry Blake.
Gary Burghoff - did absolutely nothing after leaving MASH that I recall, except making the rounds on the game show circuit. Not a great actor, and his dismantling of the Radar character into some weirdo, backward Iowa farmboy probably didn’t help, either. He was typecast as Radar forever.
Larry Linville - like others have mentioned, he just grew weary of the Frank Burns character. The character didn’t change in the entire run, which would have been fine if everyone else stayed the same. At the end, his leaving was the best thing for him. Too bad Alda and Swit and Farr didn’t go with him.
Charlie Sheen - as much as I think Chuck Lorre is an asshole, he seems to have won the war even if he lost the initial PR battle. Charlie Sheen has become a punch line. And it might be that the only reason why he was so successful in his role on 2 1/2 men is because he was playing himself. He wasn’t acting. But I doubt he will have any success like what he experienced with that show. He’s toast. He’s also nuts.
Winning!
As far as MASH, I’d say Burghoff and Linville left because they tired of their roles, rather than any hopes of starting a movie career or starring in a series. Stevenson and Rodgers were the ones that took a shot and missed. Really, no one on the show parlayed the recognition into a career. Swit has all but vanished, Alda himself has been sporadic, Farr mostly does cameos as “that guy who played Klinger” and Mike Farrell has done voice work and single shots, afaik.
Farrell starred in another TV show (Providence, which ran for five seasons), and saying Alda didn’t have a post-MASH career is crazy talk.