# Difficult actors on TV shows whose characters are killed off **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674 "2025-01-07T14:50:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/61 "2025-01-08T02:10:57Z")
_Airwolf_ was a television series in the mid 1980s starring Jan Michael-Vincent. The show was about a high tech attack helicopter, and Jan played the pilot. He was also a troubled alcoholic and addict, and the show was totally recast after CBS cancelled it, and USA Network picked it up for its 4th, and last, season. > **[No Star Has Ever Fallen Further Than Jan-Michael Vincent - Factinate](https://www.factinate.com/people/jan-michael-vincent-facts/amp/)** > > Jan-Michael Vincent was the 1980s heartthrob most famous for portraying Stringfellow Hawke in the popular TV series Airwolf. His muscled, beach-ready body and classic all-American looks catapulted him to stardom. But his addictions, violent behavior,... ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/62 "2025-01-08T02:11:28Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Her replacement, Diana Muldaur, was never made a main cast member and apparently clashed with the other cast, Diana Muldaur had a spectacular death\* on **LA Law** , but it wasn’t because of a dispute. The character was considered unpopular and they wrote her off the show. \*_What’s that you say? Dr Drake Ramoray who?_ ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/63 "2025-01-08T03:40:01Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Jean Hagen had frequent clashes playing Danny Thomas’s wife on _The Danny Thomas Show._ She also was dissatisfied with her role, so she left. And Sherry Jackson, who played their daughter, has said frequently that working with Jean Hagen was the only thing she liked about being on the show. When Hagen left Jackson also tried to quit and ended up negotiating her own departure (she was all of 16 years old at the time. She wasn’t killed off, though; just sent “off to college.” After a year in college, another actress was cast as the daughter but only appeared in a handful of episodes before being written out entirely. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/64 "2025-01-08T03:49:47Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > A woman able to play both roles of a mother-daughter pair, and play the daughter some years after playing the mother must be one heck of a woman. Or have one heck of a makeup team. It involves time travel, so the daughter is about the same age as the mother would have been, had she not gone back in time before having a kid. There is also makeup, but the daughter is half Romulan (cousins to the Vulcans), so the makeup primarily consists of pointy ears and a bad haircut. _Yesterday’s Enterprise_ is one of the best episodes in all of Star Trek. Back to the topic: Does Kal Penn dying on _House_ to take a job in the Obama administration count? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/65 "2025-01-08T04:05:33Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > bad haircut The Romulans (and their close relatives, the Vulcans) did seem to have a galactic monopoly on bowl cuts. [![](https://d2thvodm3xyo6j.cloudfront.net/media/2013/05/tasha-yar-romulan-600x338.jpg) ](https://d2thvodm3xyo6j.cloudfront.net/media/2013/05/tasha-yar-romulan-600x338.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/66 "2025-01-08T05:04:46Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Back to the topic: Does Kal Penn dying on _House_ to take a job in the Obama administration count? I was wondering the same, they did bring him back as a hallucination in the finale, so it appears it wasn’t on bad terms, he just wasn’t going to be available. Did they really have to kill him off though? ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/67 "2025-01-08T05:43:31Z")
The short-lived Lethal Weapon TV series starred Clayne Crawford and Damon Wayans. They did not get along and Clayne’s character was killed off at the end of Season 2. Although I liked the new character (played by Seann William Scott), a Lethal Weapon show isn’t quite the same without Riggs and they only got one more season out of it. For what it is worth, I have a feeling Wayans was the difficult one to work with but I don’t have anything specific to back this up. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/68 "2025-01-08T06:24:16Z")
In **The Rookie** , Titus Makin who played Jackson West was killed off after he felt he was unable to justify playing the role of a Police Officer in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests. His death scene was a bit lame (a double was used as he didn’t come back to shoot the scene) and though the cast put on sad faces for about 20 seconds, his character was never mentioned again. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/69 "2025-01-08T07:52:47Z")
There’s a radio example from the UK - the sacking of the lead actor in the BBC’s daytime drama _Mrs Dale’s Diary_: [Mrs Dale’s Dire Day](https://www.pressreader.com/uk/scottish-daily-mail/20201109/283437784024185) This inspired the play and movie _The Killing of Sister George_. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/70 "2025-01-08T15:43:50Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Back to the topic: Does Kal Penn dying on _House_ to take a job in the Obama administration count? Good question. I did say that just leaving because the actor no longer wanted to do the show was fair game, even if it’s not really being difficult, other than to the writers and show runners having to scramble to change the plotline. I remember at the time though, being an avid House watcher, feeling like it was kind of rude to kill off his character, not to mention weirdly out of left field for his character to commit suicide, when Penn left for a pretty good, high-minded reason. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/71 "2025-01-08T15:49:14Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > There’s a radio example from the UK - the sacking of the lead actor in the BBC’s daytime drama _Mrs Dale’s Diary_ Marian (“Molly”) Jordan was written out of the radio show “Fibber McGee & Molly” when she went to rehab in 1938, but she managed to recover and returned to the role in 1939. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/72 "2025-01-08T16:42:26Z")
Nicolette Sheridan was killed off on Desperate Housewives. Apparently there were disagreements with the producer. She may not have been “difficult”. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/73 "2025-01-08T21:39:59Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > Apparently there were disagreements with the producer. She may not have been “difficult” Apparently back in the late 90s a few actresses developed the “difficult to work with” reputation because they refused advances from Harvey Weinstein. ---
**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/74 "2025-01-08T22:03:24Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > J. Michael Straczynski A bit of a tangent, this is the first time that I put 2 and 2 together and realized that the creator/writer of B5 is the same JMS that wrote the Spider-Man comics that I enjoyed in the early 2000s. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/75 "2025-01-08T23:05:24Z")
He also posted here a few times. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/76 "2025-01-09T16:36:29Z")
John Amos had disagreements with the writers on _Good Times_ and he was ultimately let go and James Evans was killed off screen in a car accident. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/77 "2025-01-09T16:53:29Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > He also posted here a few times. Before my time here, but I’ve seen them linked before. I wonder how long it took for poor RealityChuck to get out of the burn ward? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/78 "2025-01-09T17:01:10Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I wonder how long it took for poor RealityChuck to get out of the burn ward? Huh? Care to enlighten another relative SDMB newbie (only 15 years)? So, J. Michael Straczynski was a former occasional poster to this board, and he and RealityChuck would get into it over some topic, with JMS landing some sick burns on RC? Is that what I’m picking up? ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/79 "2025-01-09T17:02:38Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > John Amos had disagreements with the writers on _Good Times_ and he was ultimately let go and James Evans was killed off screen in a car accident. Damn! ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674/80 "2025-01-09T17:06:14Z")
From the Wikipedia article on John Amos, “During his tenure on the sitcom, Amos openly clashed with the writers of the show, pointing to the scripts’ lack of authenticity in portraying the African-American experience. He notably criticized what he felt was too much of an emphasis on Jimmie Walker’s character J.J. and a lesser regard for the other two Evans children. He also criticized J.J.'s stereotypical buffoonish personality.” He wasn’t wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficult-actors-on-tv-shows-whose-characters-are-killed-off/1012674.md?page=5)