Long-running characters closely associated with a non-originating actor

[Acsenray]

@caligulathegod

It even has Waylon Jennings as the narrator.

Ahem … The Balladeer.

[Fear_Itself]

The role of Marilyn on The Munsters is most closely associated with actress Pat Priest, but it was originated by Beverly Owen. Priest first appeared as the oddly beautiful Munster in episode 14 of season 1.

[its_the_daddy]

I’ve talked about Suchet with a long-term member of the team. He was an extreme method actor (there’s a good Facebook post about him) and once he put on the persona he became the same narcissistic, finicky, dismissive, overbearing character that Christie had created. Particularly to his colleagues. Perhaps it was worth it…

[Peter_Morris]

@psychonaut

The fictional police detective, Lieutenant Columbo, is inextricably linked with the actor Peter Falk, who played him for 35 years across 69 TV episodes. But Falk was not the first actor to play the character; that honour goes to Bert Freed, who took the role for a 1960 episode of The Chevy Mystery Show.

Actually, Bert Freed was the second actor to play Columbo.

Columbo | Other appearances

And the play itself was adapted from a short story.

[terentii]

I’m confused. 1962 came before 1960?

[TBG]

Tom Bosley was not the original Howard Cunningham.

[DCnDC]

@CalMeacham

Bozio the Clown was played by several actors in different parts of the country (Willard Scott famously played him in Washington DC around 1960),

Scott also created and was the first Ronald McDonald.

[Son_of_a_Rich]

For the longest time I believed Chris Christy played the original Lumpy Rutherford on Leave it to Beaver.

[PatrickLondon]

Hyacinth Bucket’s man-mad sister Rose was initially played by Shirley Stelfox, somewhat more restrained than her replacement (which might explain why she was replaced).

As for Agatha Christie detectives, Miss Marple was played rather for laughs by Margaret Rutherford in a couple of cinema films in the 1950s (and Joan Hickson - later the definitive Marple on TV - was in that earlier series’s 4.50 from Paddington, playing the kind of part she tended to be typecast as in those days: a rather shrill, complaining and bossy lower middle-class housekeeper).

[Tibby]

Although they were different characters, Matt Dillon’s original right-hand man (and comic foil) in Gunsmoke was Chester, played by Dennis Weaver. In season 9 Chester was replaced by Festus, played by Ken Curtis (though his debut was in season 8 and Chester and Festus were in 1 episode together). They were both memorable characters, but Curtis owned the role more IMO.

[psychonaut]

@DCnDC

Scott also created and was the first Ronald McDonald.

Yes, but I suspect he’s still most closely associated with the role. Of the top of my head I can’t recall the name of anyone else who played Ronald McDonald.

[Little_Nemo]

@terentii

I remember when Trapper John, MD came out. I thought it was a blatant ripoff of MASH.

I came up with another idea for a series of my own:

It’s a hundred years after Dodge City, and your favorite GP is back in Doc Adams, MD!

He’s a Civil War veteran, teamed with young Alonzo Gates, a Spanish-American War veteran.

Together, they’ll try anything to save a life!

I thought Doc moved to a small town in North Carolina and became a barber.

[Northern_Piper]

@PatrickLondon

As for Agatha Christie detectives, Miss Marple was played rather for laughs by Margaret Rutherford in a couple of cinema films in the 1950s

I remember reading an interview with Christie and she said something to the effect that Margaret Rutherford was an excellent actress whom Christie respected, but she was not Miss Marple.

Although I remember the climactic scene in 4.50 where Rutherford confronts the murderer, just the two of them alone. It was not played for laughs and was chilling. It’s the only part I remember from the movies.

[terentii]

@Little_Nemo

@terentii

I remember when Trapper John, MD came out. I thought it was a blatant ripoff of MASH.

I came up with another idea for a series of my own:

It’s a hundred years after Dodge City, and your favorite GP is back in Doc Adams, MD!

He’s a Civil War veteran, teamed with young Alonzo Gates, a Spanish-American War veteran.

Together, they’ll try anything to save a life!

I thought Doc moved to a small town in North Carolina and became a barber.

Life there was way too dull and boring. He missed the excitement of the OR.

[digs]

@terentii

I remember when Trapper John, MD came out. I thought it was a blatant ripoff of MASH.

That was kind of the idea… it was supposed to be the continuing adventures of Trapper John. I thought it wasn’t enough of a MASH ripoff, and was just another medical drama.

But with a few light or rebellious aspects. Loved that the sidekick (Gregory Harrison?) lived in an RV in the hospital parking lot. Doctors or nurses would leave the hospital and he’d be in a lawn chair on the roof and invite them up for a drink.

That’s just about the time I decided to go to med school… hmmm…

[caligulathegod]

@psychonaut

Yes, but I suspect he’s still most closely associated with the role. Of the top of my head I can’t recall the name of anyone else who played Ronald McDonald.

I’ll throw in one. Robert “King” Moody. He was a working actor in the 60s and the most famous thing he did was playing Shtarker on Get Smart. He was the definitive Ronald McDonald, playing him from 1969 to 1985. If you’re of this website’s target generation and think of Ronald, it’s this guy. After him was Squire Fridell, who was also doing the Toyota commercials at the time.