# Phantom TV Actors: In Title Credits But Not In Show **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2011, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229 "2011-03-19T03:37:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229/41 "2011-03-22T04:44:42Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > Nope, the show I was thinking of was an hour-long drama, I’m sure of it. And at least 5 years on from Barney Miller’s heyday. I was too young to get Barney Miller, but I remember liking the theme song. Sidney Clute from _Cagney & Lacey_. He died in 1985, but according to [imdb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0167368/): > [@](#): > > Even after his death, Sidney Clute was featured on the opening credits of every episode of Cagney & Lacey until the series ended in 1988. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229/42 "2011-03-22T19:12:25Z")
Bea Benederet remained in the credits for **Petticoat Junction** in 1967-68 even though she was unable to do the show due to illness (lung cancer, which eventually killed her). She would try to come back from time to time, but was too sick to continue. ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229/43 "2011-03-22T20:42:57Z")
How about Renee Estevez, who appears in the credits of The West Wing? Her character’s name is Nancy. She seems to only have a few speaking lines per season. She’s a bringer of coffee and notes- the only way I know her names is because of the choruses of “Thanks, Nancy!” that follow her offscreen. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229/44 "2011-03-22T21:11:22Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Not all shows do this – _Gilmore Girls_ would redo the credits every time, depending on which of the secondary characters was in a particular episode. …umm… Really? They’d change the credits with the season…but I just can’t believe they changed it by episode. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229/45 "2011-03-22T21:56:43Z")
In the early 1970s the “CBS Evening News” would have an announcer say “CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite” and then say the namesr of the reporters who would have stories that night. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229/46 "2011-03-22T22:01:19Z")
> [@Zjestika](#): > > How about Renee Estevez, who appears in the credits of The West Wing? Her character’s name is Nancy. She seems to only have a few speaking lines per season. She’s a bringer of coffee and notes- the only way I know her names is because of the choruses of “Thanks, Nancy!” that follow her offscreen. Is this a whoosh? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229/47 "2011-03-22T22:13:16Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Jack Soo died when he was on Barney Miller > > Also I believe Vincent Pastore got listed in credits even after the episode where Big Pussy was whacked by Tony Soprano. He was not listed for any of the following seasons. Lorraine Bracco is in the credits for all Soprano’s episodes, though she doesn’t appear in all of them. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229/48 "2011-03-23T00:04:49Z")
> [@Zjestika](#): > > How about Renee Estevez, who appears in the credits of The West Wing? Her character’s name is Nancy. She seems to only have a few speaking lines per season. She’s a bringer of coffee and notes- the only way I know her names is because of the choruses of “Thanks, Nancy!” that follow her offscreen. She’s in the listed name credits, but not in the opening credit montage. This is on par with all of the other actresses who played “assistants” like Carol (CJ’s assistant), Margaret (Leo’s assistant) and even Mrs. Landingham. And they were only in the listed name for the episodes in which they actually appear; Nancy was almost always in the background and rarely said more than “thank you, Mr. President” or words to that effect, but if you heard her voice or saw her in the outer office of the Oval, she was listed. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Estevez is a certain someone’s daughter… ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229/49 "2011-03-23T11:43:18Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > Nancy was almost always in the background and rarely said more than “thank you, Mr. President” or words to that effect, but if you heard her voice or saw her in the outer office of the Oval, she was listed. If you have a line, you HAVE to be credited. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229/50 "2011-03-24T23:47:11Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > …umm… Really? They’d change the credits with the season…but I just can’t believe they changed it by episode. I didn’t watch the show, but I can believe it since they did this sometimes in the later seasons of Charmed on the same network. > [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > If you have a line, you HAVE to be credited. Not true. Here’s [a cite](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285331/trivia?tr=tr0731395) > [@](#): > > Harris Yulin, who plays the recurring character of NSA director Roger Stanton in Season 2 [of **24**], is not credited at all in the opening or ending credits. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229/51 "2011-03-25T11:49:13Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Not true. > > Here’s [a cite](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285331/trivia?tr=tr0731395) Right, but Harris Yulin asked to not be credited because his name would have to share screen space with someone else. Do you think that’s the case with Martin Sheen’s daughter? No, she’s going to follow the standard rules of “you speak, we credit.” ---
**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:** [March 25, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229/52 "2011-03-25T16:22:10Z")
“Like sands through the hourglasss, so are The Days of Our Lives. This is Macdonald Cary, and these are the days of our lives.” Cary was dead for over a year before his name was edited out of that beginning statement. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-tv-actors-in-title-credits-but-not-in-show/575229.md?page=2)