# Have any Oscar winners returned to series television? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982 "2013-08-23T17:06:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/21 "2013-08-23T18:30:27Z")
The only one that came to my mind was Bugs Bunny. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/22 "2013-08-23T18:32:10Z")
Charlize Theron and Liza Minelli, both in **Arrested Development**. Kathy Bates was in **Six Feet Under** and **The Office**. Mercedes Ruehl had a guest run on **Frasier**. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/23 "2013-08-23T18:32:58Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Yes, she played a nun who worked as a counselor at the prison. Sister Pete! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/24 "2013-08-23T18:33:14Z")
Mel Brooks - Best Original Screenplay for _The Producers_ (1968), later made three television series: _When Things Were Rotten_ (1975), _The Nutt House_ (1989), _Spaceballs: The Animated Series_ (2008). ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/25 "2013-08-23T18:35:09Z")
Helen Hunt won her Oscar for _As Good As it Gets_ while she was still appearing on _Mad About You._ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/26 "2013-08-23T18:37:37Z")
One of the first Oscar winners to do a TV series was Shirley Booth- from Best Actress in \*\*\*Come Back, Little Sheba \*\*\*to wisecracking maid in the sitcom _ **Hazel.** _ ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/27 "2013-08-23T18:38:44Z")
Well **Adrien Brody** has been showing up in some pretty terrible commercials lately. \*\*Forest Whitaker \*\*was in a short-lived series in 2011 called “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior.” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/28 "2013-08-23T18:39:28Z")
Charlton Heston starred in the _ **Dynasty** _ spinoff _ **The Colbys.** _ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/29 "2013-08-23T18:40:44Z")
Does Jose Ferrer count as a TV series regular, for his appearances on _ **Newhart** _? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/30 "2013-08-23T18:42:35Z")
There was Richard Dreyfuss on the short-lived drama series _ **The Education of Max Bickford.** _ ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/31 "2013-08-23T18:43:03Z")
Also… **F. Murray Abraham** has appeared recently on Homeland. **Marcia Gay Harden** is on The Newsroom (and has appeared in other TV series since her Oscar) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/32 "2013-08-23T18:45:50Z")
A few years after winning Best Actor for playing Idi Amin, Forrest Whittaker took the lead role in a _ **Criminal Minds** _ spinoff. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/33 "2013-08-23T18:53:15Z")
The TV series itself has been forgotten, but Hattie McDaniel, who won an Oscar playing Mammy in _ **Gone With the Wind** _, starred in the early Fifties sitcom _ **Beulah.** _ Like _ **Amos & Andy** _, the sitcom was widely regarded as perpetuating racial stereotypes, so as far as I know, it hasn’t been shown in re-runs in my lifetime. ---
**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 23, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/34 "2013-08-23T18:53:21Z")
George C. Scott played the President in _Mr. President_, an early (and short-lived) Fox network sitcom. (Yes, he counts as an Oscar winner; in fact, I remember a picture of Scott holding it, standing next to Charles Finley (longtime owner of the Oakland Athletics).) ---
**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 23, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/35 "2013-08-23T19:00:53Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > George C. Scott played the President in _Mr. President_, an early (and short-lived) Fox network sitcom. He was also Ebeneezer Scrooge in a made-for-TV version of _ **A Christmas Carol** _ back in '84. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/36 "2013-08-23T19:13:24Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > Peter Capaldi has an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film, and he’s been in several TV series, and is going to be the new Doctor Who. Christine Lahti also won the best live action short film award, while she was on Chicago Hope. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/37 "2013-08-23T19:53:50Z")
Also, Jim Rash won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for The Descendants in 2011, while appearing on Community as Dean Pelton. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/38 "2013-08-23T19:59:32Z")
Shelley Winters won Oscars for The Diary of Anne Frank and A Patch of Blue. Estelle Parson won an Oscar for Bonnie & Clyde. Then they portrayed Roseanne’s Nana Mary and mother Beverly Harris. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/39 "2013-08-23T20:16:00Z")
Broderick Crawford – On TV with **Highway Patrol**. F. Murray Abraham – **Homeland** ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982/40 "2013-08-23T20:16:37Z")
One which I should have thought of in hindsight was Patty Duke, who won an Oscar for “The Miracle Worker” in 1962 at the age of 16, then starred in “The Patty Duke Show” and a few other series afterwards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-oscar-winners-returned-to-series-television/666982.md?page=3)