Here are some secondary characters from stores–movies, TV, books, etc. Tell what the story was and give a brief description of the character.
Melvin Cowznofski was a recurring name in the early years of Mad magazine. It was one of the names given to the gap-toothed lad who eventually became known as Alfred E. Neuman, but was also applied to various one-shot characters.
Judge Bradley Stevens Married Joan, and often used her wacky hijinks to illustrate a point he made in court.
Zelmo Zale was one of the enlisted men on MAS*H who wasn’t Radar or Klinger.
All the ones I knew are gone. So I’ll add:
Sorry, Pete, I don’t know any of those. Tanner sounded like the family name for Bob Saget’s series Full House.
3. Chuck Clayton was the black kid in the Archie comics; coach Clayton’s son, boyfriend of black girl Nancy Johnson, and a budding cafrtoonist.
5. Roscoe W. Chandler (Louis Sorin) was the straight man for Groucho and Chico in Animal Crackers (“Abie, the Fishman!”)
7. Philby (Alan Young) was Rod Taylor’s friend in Time Machine (1960).
10. Valerie Todd Spofford was the woman who ran the dance school in Ellen Tebbitts and Otis Spofford, books by Beverly Cleary.
Here are more:
Bill Tanner is chief of staff to M head of the British Secret Service in the Ian Fleming James Bond books
John Benton is Sgt Benton of UNIT, often assisting Doctor WHO in his adventures.
Norman Kent was one of the Saint’s partners in crime, a particularly able and brave man who gave his life for his country and to protect his friends.
The barber played by Howard McNear on The Andy Griffith Show.
A recurring character on “Barney Miller”, played by James Gregory. I think (It’s been a while since I’ve seen the show) he was in Internal Affairs, and was used every once in a while to annoy the precinct.
Scratch out the “Internal Affairs” part- I seem to have confused whim with Scanlon.
Not “whim”, “him”.
(This is getting to be a rather embarrasing series of posts.)
Is “Stinky” Joe Besser’s childish character from the “Abbott & Costello” TV program, or is there another?
Icepick is a shady underworld character, a friend of Magnum’s buddy Rick.
Inspector Fix followed Phileas Fogg around the World, in the mistaken belief that Fogg was a criminal.
That’s the one. 
Lugar was the harmless character who came in to bend everyone’s ear. Scanlon always assumed someone in the 12th Precinct wasn’t doing his job right–he was always looking for something to find fault with.
Animal was a newspaper photographer on “Lou Grant.”
15.) Detective Tarrant:
was one of the nonexsistent characters in Anthony Schaeffer’s play (and later movie) Sleuth. Milo Tindle says he’s going to show up, but he doesn’t before the end. He is, I think, supposed to be a real character, but he doesn’t show up onstage or onscreen. Nevertheless, the Playbill gave a name for the actor and even a fake biography.
Mr. Cogswell ran Cogswell Cogs in “The Jetsons.” He was Mr. Spacely’s bitter rival. (George Jetson worked for Spacely Sprockets.)
Professor Potter was an eccentric inventor in the “Superman” comics. His inventions usually went awry, with unintended consequences.
Oh! dougie_monty, Gabby Hayes played Hopalong Cassidy’s sidekick, Windy. Is that who you’re going for?