# Guest starring in your own TV show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [August 25, 2024, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195 "2024-08-25T14:49:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/21 "2024-08-26T19:02:19Z")
[This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO_lLb8pI84) appears to be that _A&C_ episode. The prisoner and the lawyer are played by different actors. And Syd is only credited once in any case. I think shows with a cast who routinely play different roles isn’t really comparable to the _Kildare_ instance. Don’t know how to clearly phrase such a distinction. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/22 "2024-08-26T19:08:09Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I love the fact that the credits on _ **Bewitched** _ had **Serena** played by _Pandora Spocks_. I think _ **Bewitched** _ deserved bonus points for that. A great play on the words “Pandora’s Box”. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/23 "2024-08-26T19:13:23Z")
Tough one, given the conditions. I can think of three episodes of _Hogan’s Heroes_ where an actor played two different roles, but both times, the fact that they looked like a regular character was an integral part of the plot. Add to the list of “regular character’s actor also appears as the actor himself”: Robert Cummings on _Love That Bob_. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/24 "2024-08-26T19:16:03Z")
This seems to be the closest so far. Does he have two credits in the episode? But still, even his portrayal of Weyoun comes to only 11 shows out of 173 for the _DS9_ run. Not exactly a regular. (And 32 total episodes as various characters.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/25 "2024-08-26T19:29:02Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The prisoner and the lawyer are played by different actors. [IMDB says it’s Fields playing both parts.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0504544/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm) (They _did_ bring in a different actor to play the prisoner when he beats up the lawyer.) > [@ftg](#): > > And Syd is only credited once in any case. True. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/26 "2024-08-26T22:07:37Z")
Robert Culp, in heavy makeup, played the title character in the I Spy episode The War Lord, as well as his normal Kelly Robinson role. I believe that would count. ---
**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:** [August 26, 2024, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/27 "2024-08-26T22:23:34Z")
I’ve been trying to find the closing credits on _The Nanny_ episode where Fran Drescher played Bobbie Fleckman to see if she was credited. It’s not mentioned in IMDB and it looks like Peacock is the only streaming service that has the show. Yes, the physical resemblance is a plot point, but otherwise they aren’t related. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/28 "2024-08-26T23:23:04Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > I’ve been trying to find the closing credits on _The Nanny_ episode where Fran Drescher played Bobbie Fleckman to see if she was credited. I didn’t know about that (never watched _The Nanny_), but you reminded me of the time Spinal Tap made a guest appearance on _The Simpsons_. Harry Shearer is one of the show’s regular voice actors; I don’t know whether he was also credited (either as himself or as Derek Smalls) as a guest for that episode. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/29 "2024-08-26T23:52:43Z")
This is quite interesting. Given Culp was made up a Chinese person there doesn’t seem to be any twin-ish thing going on. (OTOH, that wouldn’t fly today.) I’d be interesting to know what the credit situation is. So far I’ve only found a [clip](https://youtu.be/b3OpBm3YjRg) on YouTube of the episode. And here’s the IMDb [page](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0609490/) for more info. In searching for what sites I can stream it from, I discovered that there was an earlier series named _[I Spy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048872/)_ from 1955-56. Starring Raymond Massey! (Shades of the OP.) But he doesn’t seem to have any dual roles in the 36 of 39 episodes he appeared in. Drat. No one else appeared in that series more than 2 times. Seeing J. Pat O;Malley on the list was not a surprise, but Florence Henderson? She was around 21 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/30 "2024-08-27T18:35:29Z")
Gilligan’s Island, season 3, episode 14 is described thusly on IMDB - “An unattractive and lovelorn woman named Eva Grubb comes to the island to escape civilization and offers the castaways her boat. But before they can leave, the women give her a makeover and turn her into a Ginger Grant lookalike.” The ‘directed by’, ‘written by’, etc. pop up during the first scene. Following those, the words appear reading “Tina Louise as Eva Grubb.” Season 3, episode 2 was “Gilligan vs. Gilligan” in which a Russian agent looked and dressed just like Gilligan, but no additional credit appears for Bob Denver. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/31 "2024-08-27T19:27:01Z")
I don’t have any examples to give, but I must ask: why would they do that in Dr Kildare? If you’re not going to draw attention to it\*, why bother? Trying to save budget for that episode is the only thing I can come up with. \*Wild Wild West episode. West and Gordon are asked by a woman to find her missing fella. Said woman is strangely resistant to West’s charms. At the end, we finally see the guy: he’s played by Robert Conrad. West can’t see why she likes her fella and not him. Minor hilarity ensues, roll credits. That was just played for a joke (that didn’t really add anything to the episode) ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/32 "2024-08-27T21:18:37Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > > > I’ve been trying to find the closing credits on _The Nanny_ episode where Fran Drescher played Bobbie Fleckman to see if she was credited. > > I didn’t know about that (never watched _The Nanny_), but you reminded me of the time Spinal Tap made a guest appearance on _The Simpsons_. Harry Shearer is one of the show’s regular voice actors; I don’t know whether he was also credited (either as himself or as Derek Smalls) as a guest for that episode. Shearer got just the one credit, in the usual “Starring” portion of the closing credits. It is very rare for an actor on _The Simpsons_ to have their role mentioned, in part because most of the stars do multiple parts. The only time I remember someone being given two separate voice credits is when Dan Castellaneta was also credited as “Jerry Seinfeld voice impersonated by.” ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/33 "2024-08-27T21:44:19Z")
Y’all are missing an obvious one: [Orphan Black](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2234222/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_orphan%2520%2520blac). The amazing Tatiana Maslany is credited with three roles in the first episode and has six roles in the final episode. There are scenes throughout the series that have several characters talking or otherwise interacting and Maslany plays ALL of the roles in the scene. However, maybe it doesn’t qualify since, in the story, the characters are all clones of each other. Still, each character has a distinct appearance, personality, voice/accent, and backstory. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/34 "2024-08-27T22:51:07Z")
Reminder: The thing that got me about the _Kildare_ episode is that Massey’s other character was _not_ considered a look-alike. Rule 3 in my OP. _Orphan Black_ also violates rule 2 (no relatives). May I suggest that if people want to list other twin-ish circumstances that they start a different thread. It could be a looong thread since such instances are a dime-a-dozen. I assumed that they wanted to give Massey a “meatier” part to play. He was considered a very good movie actor and playing the No. 2 role in a TV show would have been a step down. (He played Abe Lincoln in 7 different movies and TV shows. Not bad for a Canadian.) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2024, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/35 "2024-08-27T23:11:18Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I must ask: why would they do that in Dr Kildare? > [@ftg](#): > > I assumed that they wanted to give Massey a “meatier” part to play. It occurred to me that, possibly, they had someone else in mind for the guest role, but that other actor turned out at the last minute to be unavailable or unsuitable, so someone had the idea to let Massey do it. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/36 "2024-08-28T00:13:37Z")
In the _ **Star Trek** _ episode “Operation: Annihilate,” Kirk loses his only brother, Sam. When the corpse is turned over, we briefly see it’s Shatner with a mustache glued on. For years, I thought Patrick Macnee played Peter Peel, Emma’s long-lost husband on _ **The Avengers** _, whom we saw only from a distance in “The Forget-Me-Knot.” Turns out he was stuntman Peter Weston, who often doubled for Macnee. There was at least one episode of _ **The Avengers** _ where the bad guys tried to substitute a surgically altered double for John Steed. Macnee played a double role in that one. In an episode of _ **That Girl** _, Ann is treated by a doctor who looks exactly like boyfriend Don Hollinger (Ted Bessel), who is out of town for most of the story. Romantic highjinx abound as the Doc starts to put the moves on Ann. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/37 "2024-08-28T01:51:41Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > The only time I remember someone being given two separate voice credits is when Dan Castellaneta was also credited as “Jerry Seinfeld voice impersonated by.” I imagine that may have been done for legal reasons. The Simpsons had frequent guest stars and I can’t think of a lot of situations where a “real life” person appeared and it wasn’t the actual person. Though now that I think of it, they did it with George HW Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/38 "2024-08-28T02:16:20Z")
> [@Jay\_Z](#): > > > [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > > > The only time I remember someone being given two separate voice credits is when Dan Castellaneta was also credited as “Jerry Seinfeld voice impersonated by.” > > I imagine that may have been done for legal reasons. The Simpsons had frequent guest stars and I can’t think of a lot of situations where a “real life” person appeared and it wasn’t the actual person. They used the same “impersonated by” credit for Jay Mohr when he voiced Christopher Walken. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/FZ1mdBYrFBU/maxresdefault.jpg "The Simpsons - Christopher Walken reads Goodnight Moon") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ1mdBYrFBU) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/39 "2024-08-28T14:35:32Z")
None of which at all qualify for the question I was asking in the OP. The key point ( **again** ) is that **they are not playing a doppelganger type role.** ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195/40 "2024-08-28T15:25:51Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Not on TV but in the movie _ **Mary Poppins** _, Dick van Dyke played Bert the Chimney Sweep and Bank President Mr Dawes. (Not at all related, I’d assume.) As Mr. Dawes he’s first credited as “Navckid Keyd” until the letters unscramble. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guest-starring-in-your-own-tv-show/1006195.md?page=3)