While lazily surfing TV today, I noticed Tommy Lasorda on an episode of CHIPS. It seems Lasorda was on every LA-based series in the 80s. So what non-actor have you seen the most time in acting roles. Define “non-actor” how you want: I’ll define them as “someone who is not primarily an actor, and who appears only as themselves”.
Alfred Hitchcock?
He doesn’t appear as himself.
Stan Lee has to be near the top of the list.
(OK, he doesn’t appear as himself.)
Wolf Blitzer has a lot of credits. Nowhere near the number of Hitchcockcameos though.
ETA: pointed out above, Hitchcock wasn’t appearing as himself. He was as the host of Alfred Hitchcock Presents though, playing himself, his primary occupation still being producer, director, and writer. But then start looking at Rod Serling, etc.
By a strict interpretation of the OP, I’d have to say the winner is Cal Worthington. And his dog, Spot.
From the OP:
AL Roker shows up in a shitload of movies and sitcoms as Al Roker.
Same with Larry King.
Trump would have to be somewhere on this list. He was Mr. NYC for awhile there.
An example of someone whose job is nothing close to acting and who appeared as himself on a specific TV program while continuing to hold that job is Stephen Hawking, who appeared on The Big Bang Theory seven times. Hawking was the world’s biggest fanboy. This is a list of his appearances in popular culture:
I’m not sure Larry King could play Al Roker very convincingly.
The first person I thought of was Ed Koch, but IMDb only lists about 25 acting roles.
In a couple of his cameos he doesn’t actually appear in person. In Lifeboat he appears in an ad for a weight loss product, and in Dial M for Murder only in a photograph. In a couple of others he appears in silhouette, including The Wrong Man, in which he appears as himself (the narrator).
Jay Leno and Bob Uecker have distinguished themselves in this regard.
Ron Jeremy has thousands of IMDB credits (though I suspect a lot of them are repeats under different titles). Not my idea of a “thespian.”
Lady Liberty, the statue. She can’t act for spit but she shows up everywhere. No union card, I bet.
Hmmm, I wonder… animals have acted in many productions. I know they need agents. Do they need union cards?
Dr. Joyce Brothers has 75 listings on the internet movie database.
They list her as “actor”:, but she really wasn’t – she always played DR. Joyce Brothers, in everything from the TV series Police Squad to The Dean Martin Show (where, on one occasion, she “sang” “Big Bad John”)
The first person I thought of was Alex Trebek. His IMDb page lists 184 appearances as “self.” The vast majority of them are things like game shows he hosted, interviews he gave, documentaries, or awards ceremonies, which I’m sure the OP didn’t intend. He has appeared on scripted shows and movies as himself on Cheers, The Golden Girls, White Men Can’t Jump, The Bucket List, Seinfeld, Baywatch, Mad About You, Charlie’s Angels (the 2000 film), Saturday Night Live, Ellen (the sitcom), How I Met Your Mother, and probably more.
Including a memorable appearance on The X-Files: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxwQEaKVey4
Adolf Hitler ends up with quite an IMDB listing, mostly from archival footage (over a thousand).