# Mainstream actor makes the leap question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005 "2011-11-15T15:02:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4bbf92/32.png) [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Hamsandwich)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/1 "2011-11-15T15:02:55Z")
From what I understand, many years ago it was considered taking a major “step down” for a movie actor to accept a lead role in a sitcom. Currently, however, it seems it’s exactly the opposite: Charlie Sheen, Zooey Deschanel, and others. ``` I was curious to find out who WAS the first mainstream actor/actress to make the move to a sitcom which was successful. My first thought was Craig T. Nelson in "Coach". After seeing Poltergeist 2, it did seem like he had some sense of comic timing and funny lines. Any Dopers shed some light on this? ``` ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/2 "2011-11-15T15:10:01Z")
Lucille Ball, maybe? Although she wasn’t necessarily a huge film star before “I Love Lucy” and her radio work. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/3 "2011-11-15T15:11:34Z")
Fred McMurray had also done big films before My Three Sons. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/4 "2011-11-15T15:12:15Z")
Andy Griffith, after NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS and A FACE IN THE CROWD, went on to headline multiple long-running television shows. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/5 "2011-11-15T15:25:54Z")
They weren’t huge stars, but they were “names,” and Peggy Wood, Charlie Ruggles, Wendy Barrie, and Rosemary DeCamp were all doing TV series by the late 1940s. Mostly it was the big \*radio \*stars who got into TV real early (ca. 1948 or so). ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/6 "2011-11-15T15:27:34Z")
this has obviously always happened. only now it’s the "cool’ movie people like Deschanel who doing TV as well more, well, staid movie stars. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/7 "2011-11-15T15:37:59Z")
Dick Van Dyke had been a fairly big star in Bye, Bye, Birdie and Mary Poppins before starting The Dick Van Dyke Show. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/8 "2011-11-15T15:43:06Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Dick Van Dyke had been a fairly big star in Bye, Bye, Birdie and Mary Poppins before starting The Dick Van Dyke Show. You’ve got that backwards. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/9 "2011-11-15T15:44:10Z")
Donna Reed? Oscar winner in 1953, TV show in 1958. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/10 "2011-11-15T15:44:55Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > You’ve got that backwards. Ah, you’re right. The listing on IMDB must be arranged based on the last date of the TV series and I misread it. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/11 "2011-11-15T15:45:30Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/12 "2011-11-15T16:08:52Z")
I came here to mention Donna Reed, but I wasn’t fast enought. Ernest Borgnine was an Oscar winning actor, but starred in the sitcom\*\*\* McHale’s Navy \*\*\*beginning in in 1962. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/13 "2011-11-15T16:11:19Z")
Groucho Marx did **You Bet Your Life** , first on radio, then on TV. He was famous enough to have appeared on the cover of **Time Magazine.** Gene Autrey – a big western star in the 40s, did **The Gene Autrey Show** in 1950. Burns and Allen started their sitcom the same year. William Bendix was fairly successful in films (Notably in **Lifeboat** and **The Babe Ruth Story** ) before he starred in the sitcom **The Life of Riley** in 1949. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/14 "2011-11-15T16:14:27Z")
Robert Young was never a huge star in movies, but he made a lot of good films (_ **Crossfire** _ comes to mind) before becoming the quintessential sitcom Dad on _ **Father Knows Best.** _ ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/15 "2011-11-15T16:18:14Z")
I came back to say Groucho Marx, but I wasn’t fast enough! Oscar-winning (1947) Ronald Colman and his wife Benita Hume starred in the radio comedy _The Halls of Ivy_ from 1950 to 1952, and it moved to TV in 1954 and ran for one season. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/16 "2011-11-15T16:24:50Z")
Even now, it remains true that very few actors who have thriving movie careers give up making movies to star on television, whereas successful TV stars regularly leave TV to make movies. Charlie Sheen was no longer starring in serious, acclaimed films like _ **Platoon** _ or \*\*\*Wall Street \*\*\*when he made the move to _ **Spin City** _ in 2000. He hadn’t starred in a hit movie since _ **Hot Shots** _! in 1993. Nobody looks down on TV any more, but it’s STILL not most actors’ favorite medium. Charlie Sheen would probably have continued to make movies if he could have gotten deent roles in better quality films. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/17 "2011-11-15T19:08:31Z")
Neil Patrick Harris went full cycle: child TV actor to movies to musical theatre and back to TV. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/18 "2011-11-15T19:14:35Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Neil Patrick Harris went full cycle: child TV actor to movies to musical theatre and back to TV. Ron Howard did it before that – from Opie to American Graffiti and then back in time for Happy Days, while finding the time to rack up a quick Golden Globe nomination for his big-screen role in The Shootist – and then his career _ **really** _ started to take off. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/19 "2011-11-15T19:49:05Z")
James Garner bounced back and forth between movies and TV throughout most of his career. I’d say he was pretty successful in both. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005/20 "2011-11-15T20:06:00Z")
> [@Darth\_Hamsandwich](#): > > I was curious to find out who WAS the first mainstream actor/actress to make the move to a sitcom which was successful. My first thought was Craig T. Nelson in “Coach”. The first time I noticed this happening was when Burt Reynolds made an extremely brief guest appearance on _Golden Girls_, which was a notable event at the time, but then he started his own sitcom, _Evening Shade_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mainstream-actor-makes-the-leap-question/603005.md?page=2)