One thing I’ve always wondered is, what happens to TV characters after the show ends? What would you think happened to Mac after 1977? How long can you be PC? I see right now there is a power play with one of the current commissioners, who may lose her seat (there is no one “PC”). It’s a very political position.
What do you do when you get ousted from a very cool job where you get to solve mysteries, in between boring budget meetings? Probably go into private law practice, though, solving mysteries of wrongfully accused people week after week. That probably wouldn’t make an interesting TV show, though…
Right up until the producers decided to actually make a big deal about Henry Blake’s death on MAS*H, TV characters disappeared with a frequency that would make a serial killer blush.
Some, like Darren Stephens, were recast. Some, like Adam Cartwright, “went to sea,” but there were a lot of out and out deaths. Margaret, the first wife on the Danny Thomas Show, Grandmother Lindstrom on* Phyllis*, even Kate on Petticoat Junction were almost completely ignored after those characters died.
That wouldn’t be some bizarre meta-shoutout to Nancy Walker being Rosie the Waitress in the Bounty paper towel ads, would it?
I don’t remember how or why Mike was written out of My Three Sons but I do remember thinking, even at the time, that it was hilarious they’d adopt the kid next door, just so they’d still have three sons.
IIRC, Mike got married and was never seen again (though he was mentioned occasionally, as was Bub, the housekeeper):
I’m surprised to read about StJames and Hudson. I never watched M&W, and I don’t know how she felt at the time, but I do remember her being interviewed when Hudson died (on ET, I think) and she really came down on those who disparaged him because he was homosexual. Her attitude then (1985) was “So Rock Hudson is gay. So what?!? He was a great guy. His idea of a good time was to stay home in the evening and have homemade ice cream!” (As near as I can remember the quote.)
As a Wisconsin farmboy, I didn’t know the stuff that ‘everybody knows’, like who was gay, but I did read that SSJ did not like Rock. I think it might have been a passing comment in TV Guide, but it didn’t say why. I figured that it was just a personality thing. I also read that Marcia Strassman had similar feeling about Gabe Kaplan, but I don’t think he’s gay, so it didn’t have to be because of that for SSJ and RH.
FWIW, I’ve heard Florence Henderson could tell Robert Reed was gay the first time she kissed him, but he was apparently disliked by many on the Brady Bunch set because he was just a pain to work with.
There was never the kind of chemistry between Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick Sargent as there was between her and Dick York, but Sargent’s homosexuality was apparently never an issue between them and they remained friends for the rest of her life.
Kinda makes you wonder about other “happily married couples” on TV… :dubious:
I thought she was wincing because of that moustache. If he didn’t want people to think he was gay, what the hell was he doing with that gay porn moustache? I can’t watch the show because all I do is get squicked out by his moustache. And it’s not moustaches in general-- my father had a moustache, and no version of TV or movie of Hercule Poirot has ever bothered me, but it was like there were three people in bed in M&W– Mac, Sally, and the moustache.
Susan Saint James was very popular on “MacMillan and Wife”. I remember one of those sunday newspaper magazines (“Parade”?) named her as America’s favorite tv actress, slightly ahead of Cher. She and her agents could have used this as demands for more money and better perks. Lots of actors did at the time, with varying degrees of success. Carroll O’Connor, Redd Foxx, Farrah Fawcett, Suzanne Somers, Herve Villechaize. In her case, the producers said no, we will try to continue without you.
Not trying to pick a fight on this, but I’ll call this urban legend until I see a cite.
There have been a lot of gay male actors. I’d guess this is part of the deal if you’re an actress, and it’s not like they were having sex on camera on 70s network TV.
I met Susan St. James years ago in a local bar in Connecticut and she came across as a laid back hippie. Doesn’t mean that Rock couldn’t have rubbed her the wrong way, just that I’d be surprised by it.
It’s entirely possible they had a personality conflict that had nothing to do with his sexuality. I know a lot of gay men. I like most of them, but there are a few that annoy me, and one in particular who pisses me off to no end, and it has nothing to do with his being gay. He just happens to be a jerk who is gay.
Not that Rock Hudson was a jerk-- there have been people I liked individually who didn’t get along with each other for some reason. It happens.
Rock Hudson had chemistry with plenty of women on screen, like Jane Wyman and Elizabeth Taylor, but he was mismatched with Susan St. James. He was 21 years older than she was. Maybe that was part of it.
I worked with Susan Saint James for a while in the early 1980s. (You’re right, spifflog, she is basically a laid-back former hippie.) We discussed Rock Hudson a couple of times — she was still in contact with him and always spoke of him fondly.
I never asked why she left the show — mostly 'cause I didn’t care — but I doubt it had anything to do with Hudson. Probably just salary, but that’s a guess.
