She had a blink and miss it role in Mission Impossible III (one of the guests at the engagement party at the beginning) and a brief role in the recent Jennifer Aniston movie the name of which has already slipped my mind because it was just that memorable, or, you know, not.
Patinkin’s exit from Criminal Minds is controversial, well both exits are controversial, but when he left Chicago Hope it’s pretty well understood now that it’s because he was going blind. He had his first cornea transplant within a year after leaving. His second cornea transplant seems to coincide with the timing of the Dead Like Me movie which could explain his absence there.
Rob’s been on Brothers & Sisters since its first season. I think he’s going pretty well for himself.
Doherty was let go from Charmed because Alyssa Milano (with backing from Holly Marie Combs) laid the ultimatum on Aaron Spelling: her or me. To add insult to injury, in the episode before her character was killed off, she was turned into a dog. Ouch.
My vote, a guy whose name I had to look up: David Garrison, who played Marcy’s first husband on Married with Children. He lasted 3.5 seasons, the show went on to have 11. He’s now doing Broadway theatre, apparently.
She also left Scare Tactics, to be replaced by Stephen Baldwin and later Tracy Morgan. But that was a hosting gig, more than an acting gig (she did act in a prank or two, though)
Valarie Harper’s situation was somewhat unique. In additon to starring in the show, she also owned a good part of it. So when she left the show, and Sandy Duncan replaced her, she was still getting paid a decent amount of money. So Harper had an incentive NOT to do anything to harm the show, as it was still making her money, whether she was on it or not.
Suzanne Somers had “She’s The Sheriff” for two years as well as “Step By Step.” Somers had said she easily made over twice the money from her Thighmaster, than she would’ve ever made from “Three’s Company.”
Both Polly Holliday and Chloris Leechman, left their sitcoms for their own spin-offs, which did well in their first season but then quickly tanked. The same can be said for the Norman Fell and Audra Lindley who left “Three’s Company” to do their own spin off, which also did great the first year, then tanked.
Lassie went through a few complete cast turnovers during its 19-year run, but of all the regulars on the show, the best-known human must be Cloris Leachman, even though her participation on the show was largely forgotten.
She was the first actress to play Timmy’s mother, but was let go after only one season. Some sources say she disliked the role and deliberately upset the primary sponsor by disparaging Cambell’s Soup in an interview, others say she just wasn’t right for the part. In any case, June Lockhart took over and became a television icon. When the “Lassie” was first syndicated and for many years afterward, the Leachman episodes were excluded.
I have another related one: Steve Burns left Blue’s Clues after ~7 years. He was the only human in that particular show’s cast.
A set of actors that I didn’t see mentioned was the original cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Notably, Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, and Frank Conniff all left. I guess one could argue about how successful MST3K was, but it was one of those shows where there was turnover in the entire cast (save Kevin Murphy). Still, the show rolled with the changes.
Norman Fell and his tv wife Aura Lindley left “Three’s Company” to star in their own spinoff “The Ropers”. Apparently Fell was told he could return to “Three’s Company” if the spinoff failed but they wouldn’t let him when it did. They had one actor (Don Knotts) playing the part of two and could save on salary.
Tom Lowell left “Combat!” after two seasons although it was his agent’s idea and not his. Got him a role in “That Darn Cat!” and a few other tv appearances.
Amy Locane–who was so wonderful in Cry Baby–was in the first season of Melrose Place, and was booted right before it caught fire. She’s appeared steadily in bit parts ever since.
Kinda, Grease was 1978 and so was his first appearance in Taxi, and if I recall correctly he was performing the “Danny” role in Grease on stage before it became a movie and it was decided that a bigger name was needed for the star.
Looking at Jeff Conaway’s IMDB page there are over 60 entries post Taxi, including the 5 series of Babylon 5 (along with some pretty dire movies from the look of it)… so while not an “A list” star by any stretch I think “solidly working actor” would be pretty accurate.
No, she never left AITF. Don’t feel bad though, lots of people make that mistake, or think Edith was killed off. Actually, she had a greatly reduced role on the followup series Archie Bunker’s Place, and she left that show, which is when Edith was actually killed off.
Terry Farrell left Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to go act in the quality show Becker. I may be one of the few ST fans that much prefers her replacement. Jadzia was never a believable character.
