# One show, one actor, different characters **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907 "2008-01-17T18:52:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/21 "2008-01-17T20:22:54Z")
A Martinez played a guy sentenced to the gas chamber on _LA Law_ and them came back as the newest attorney, Danny Somethingorother, for the firm when Jimmy Smits left the show. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/22 "2008-01-17T20:31:01Z")
I saw one just the other day. Tom Arnold played Arnie for quite a few episodes of _Roseanne_, and his character was eventually kidnapped by aliens and only seen once after that (in the episode “Stand On Your Man”), although Tom Arnold did star in another episode (“Lose a Job, Winnebago”) where he played the host of his own show: Danny Thomas. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/23 "2008-01-17T20:34:37Z")
Roger R. Cross played four characters on X-files. He played(from the IMDB): ``` - Folie a Deux (1998) TV Episode .... Agent Rice - Pusher (1996) TV Episode .... Lieutenant Brophy - Fresh Bones (1995) TV Episode (as Roger Cross) .... Private Kittel - E.B.E. (1994) TV Episode (uncredited) .... Officer Green ``` ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/24 "2008-01-17T20:35:18Z")
I was surprised when I saw the very first episode of **the Honeymooners**. art Carney appeared not as Ralph Cramden’s neighbor Norton, but as a policeman(!) **Dragnet** (at least in the 1960s incarnation I saw) kept re-using the same stable of actors for the changing cast of criminals and victims each week. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/25 "2008-01-17T20:36:09Z")
Leslie Landon made appearances on _Little House on the Prairie_ as FIVE different characters: _Plague_, 1975, as Leslie _The Election_, 1977, as student Kate _The Third Miracle_, 1979, as pregnant stagecoach passenger Marge. - A Wiser Heart\*, 1981, as kitchen worker Pam Then from 1982 to the series finale she played schoolteacher Etta Plum. Guess it doesn’t hurt to have a dad in the business, huh? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/26 "2008-01-17T20:37:07Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] Three of those were within the same fictional universe. [/QUOTE] Y’don’t say? 😉 > [@Shayna](#): > > Dang, you kind of scooped me with the L&O reference. Yep, Annie Parisse played Jasmine Blake before coming back as Alexandra Borgia, and S. Epatha Merkerson was Denise Winters before becoming Lt. Van Buren. If it makes you feel better, you both scooped me. Jon Lovitz played a suicidal man in an episode of _Newsradio_ before joining the regular cast in the last season. Someone else (David Cross?) played two or three different one-off characters, too. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/27 "2008-01-17T20:54:04Z")
I’ve got one. In Homicide: Life on the street Vincent Donofrio played a guy who was pushed off a subway platform and had his bottom half spun around and cinched off. The show was 40 minutes of coming to terms that this alert, aware person was going to die once they pushed the subway cars off him. As it happens this wouldn’t be a problem, except that Homicide had a crossover with Law & Order establishing that they shared universes. In fact Det. Munch is from Homicide as well. And now Donofrio is the lead on Criminal Intent, another of Law and Order’s spin offs. In fact, I just found this out: From: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203259/trivia](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203259/trivia) > [@](#): > > Richard Belzer carried his role of Det. John Munch over from the series “Homicide: Life on the Street” (1993). He also played John Munch in “Law & Order” (1990) which had several crossover episodes with “Homicide”, an episode of “The X Files” (1993), an episode of “The Beat” (2000), an episode of “Law & Order: Trial by Jury” (2005) and the finale of “Arrested Development” (2003). This is a record for appearances by an actor playing the same character in different programs. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/28 "2008-01-17T20:55:18Z")
[QUOTE=Lobohan] In fact, I just found this out: From: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203259/trivia](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203259/trivia) [/QUOTE] If that interests you, check out the [Tommy Westphall universe](http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html). ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/29 "2008-01-17T21:01:28Z")
[QUOTE=Cheesesteak] The Nero Wolfe series did this, with a small group of actors reused over and over again as different characters. Not just for bit roles either. Fun stuff seeing the FBI director from last week being a barber or bartender this week. [/QUOTE] I loved that - they essentially had a repertory company for a TV show, including Debra Monk and George Plimpton. Very theatrical and very cool. BTW, those actors who reappear on \*Law & Order \* (and there are a million of them) are known as “repeat offenders.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AdmiralCrunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@AdmiralCrunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AdmiralCrunch)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/30 "2008-01-17T21:33:27Z")
[QUOTE=Troy McClure SF] Y’don’t say? 😉 Jon Lovitz played a suicidal man in an episode of _Newsradio_ before joining the regular cast in the last season. Someone else (David Cross?) played two or three different one-off characters, too. [/QUOTE] Jon Lovitz also played Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States when Bill befriends him in a mental institution. “Cigarette, prepare to be smoked.” I recall David Cross being Theo, Jimmy’s weird nephew that does magic tricks, and a member of “Chock”, Dave’s a capella singing quartet. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/31 "2008-01-17T22:00:45Z")
I had thought Pat Morita played two characters on Happy Days, but IMDB says otherwise. It does look like he played two characters on Sanford and Son, though, Colonel Hiakowa and Ah Chew. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/32 "2008-01-17T22:16:49Z")
In _Buffy_, the same actor played the vampire henchman Luke, who got killed in the pilot, and the demonic Judge in the second season. In season three, the demon who uses a homeless shelter as a source for slave labor for his home dimension later appears as the fiance of Doyle’s ex-wife on _Angel_. He was also an Alliance mole in the pilot for _Firefly_. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/33 "2008-01-17T22:19:56Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] Jack Garner was all over _The Rockford Files_ and its follow-up movies. Checking the IMDb I count at least 18 characters. [/QUOTE] As someone else here noted, it doesn’t hurt to be related to the show’s star! ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/34 "2008-01-17T22:33:51Z")
There is the kid who played Picard’s nephew in France, and a few years later played “young Picard” in the episode with the transporter accident. No, not _that_ transporter accident, the other one. No, the _other_ other one. :: sigh :: When Picard, Ro and Guinan all got turned into kids! And Matthew Laborteaux played a young Charles Ingalls in an episode of _Little House_ before he came on board as a full cast member as What’sHisFace. (edit: Albert) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/35 "2008-01-17T23:09:41Z")
On MASH Harry Morgan played a crazy prejudiced Col. and then of course came back and played Col. Potter. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/36 "2008-01-17T23:32:35Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] On MASH Harry Morgan played a crazy prejudiced Col. and then of course came back and played Col. Potter. [/QUOTE] Ya mean like in the OP? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/37 "2008-01-17T23:38:08Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] The original **Doctor Who** has several actors who appeared as one character and then showed up later as a series regular. [/QUOTE] In the new series, actress Freema Agyeman played a luckless ‘red-shirt’ Torchwood employee in 2.12: “An Army of Ghosts” (she appears long enough to get killed off & changed into a Cyber-“man”), then in season 3, she plays the regular companion character Martha Jones. (A brief aside was written in to explain the physical similarities - Martha mentions having a cousin who ‘disappeared during the Canary Wharf disaster’.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/38 "2008-01-18T00:31:21Z")
> [@](#): > > As someone else here noted, it doesn’t hurt to be related to the show’s star! Or its creator. Although **Star Trek** has generally kept actors to only one role, bringing some back _decades_ later to play the same character, **Majel Barrett** has played multiple roles through the years: 1.) “Number One” (the Spock-like female second-in-command) in the first pilot 2.) Nurse Christine Chapel in TOS and the movies 3.) The Computer Voice in TOS, the movies, and the later serieses 4.) Random voices in the animated series 5.) Lwaxana Troi in Next Generation ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/39 "2008-01-18T03:23:00Z")
How should we characterize Bob Newhart, who played Dick Loudon on _Newhart_ only to be revealed to actually be Bob Hartley from _The Bob Newhart Show_? Also from _Dobie Gillis_ Jean Byron played a character named Ruth Adams in the first season, the reappeared as Dr. Burkhart in later years. ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907/40 "2008-01-18T03:47:34Z")
In _The Gilmore Girls_, the writers got around this problem by having most of the small bit parts played by Kirk. Lorelei even comments about this in one episode with the line, “Kirk, You have, like, 10,000 jobs!” when he was applying to get another. Although early in the series, the actor who played Kirk had a different role entirely… so he still fits into the category of Same Actor, multiple characters. Sorry, I am too tired to look up all the specifics, and I haven’t seen the show since the finale, so I am not up on my Gilmore trivia today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-show-one-actor-different-characters/433907.md?page=3)