… seem to be the only names I can come up with of personalities whom I would consider to be the same in real life as they are on my television screen, so who am I missing?
I started to add the late Jim Henson to the list, but realized I don’t know that much about him except that he created the Muppets and Rawlf the Dog on the Jimmy Dean show, (and also the mighty Fawog (?) on SNL)
Please help me out here, y’all!
Thanks
Quasi
Don Knott’s most famous character was Barney Fife.
Every game show host can be added.
Then there’s all those shows where the main character and the actor(ess) in the role have the same first name, but different last names.
John Candy, while although I only talked with him for a short while, seemed to be just the same, sweet guy he was in movies and TV. My goodness, I haven’t thought of Skred and the Mighty Favog, in a long while.
I have another for ya…Dabney Colman…yes, he’s an ass in real life, too.
I recall hearing that Don Knotts was exactly opposite of the Barney Fife character in real life, as was Andy Griffith.
I don’t know about Andy Griffith, but I agree with flickster about Don Knotts. I don’t think he was a total high strung lunatic in real life.
William Frawly is supposed to be pretty much the same as Fred Mertz off camera. In fact he was so hated, that (from what I’ve heard) Desi, Lucy and William’s manager opened a bottle of champagne when they heard he died.
Evidently, Jimmy (Dodd) of the Mousketeers was the same in real life as on TV. Just a sweet guy.
Fife wasn’t the only role he played. I think our OP remembers him more from his movies than the TV roles of Barney and Mr. Furley. You gotta admit that he and Tim Conway made the Apple Dumpling Gang watchable.
My understanding is that Garry Shandling pretty much played himself in It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and The Larry Sanders Show.
So maybe the OP is thinking that, underneath the layers of artiface that all actors must necessarily assume to successfully ply their trade, Don Knotts really was a fish?
I’d venture that Jim Neighbors, while not Gomer Pyle stupid, probably has the same overall outgoing disposition in real life.
Wow, Don Knotts was married three times. There’s no way Barney would get that kind of leg. Totally different people.
Tom Hanks seems to be similar in real life to his movie roles. Even Kip/Buffy in his TV role in Bosom Buddies was similar.
Same with James Garner. In his first TV series, Maverick, the concept of the character was changed early on to fit Garner’s personality. He also had a strong sense of justice (like Rockford), taking his production companies to court to make them fulfill their contracts.
Terrifyingly, Mae West was pretty much “Mae West” offscreen.
I was surprised to learn that the character of Harold T. Stone on Night Court was not created with Harry Anderson in mind.
I started the exact opposite of this thread last month,
**What Celebrities have wholly artificial public personas? **
Reportedly Telly Savalas was pretty much the same off or on camera.
Are there any bio’s that support this? I remember seeing a list once claiming that Mae West slept with hundreds of people. I remain highly sceptical. :dubious: :dubious:
Actually, the Mae West thing is interesting.
If she really was “Mae West” off screen, was “Mae West” the way she really and truly was? Or was it a character that she played even off camera? If you play a character your entire life and never break character, even to your spouse, children, closest friends, and substance abuse counselor, is that character the “real you”?
I met Burt Reynolds once. Seemed pretty full of himself (but not a total asshole), just like the characters he usually plays.
I’ve never met Jerry Reed but I can easily imagine him as the fun-lovin’, good natured country fellow he has portrayed on the screen and in the songs he sung.
I’ve met Tommy Kirk twice, and like most of his Disney roles, he was/is the kindest, sweetest man. Just absolutely approachable, and he has a fantastic memory–two years after our first meeting he recalled me by name and asked about a couple projects I had mentioned before.
He is far more levelheaded than his characters, though he mostly played baffled teens.
Sir Rhosis