# Plays (and movies) where an important character never appears **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [February 2, 2024, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022 "2024-02-02T12:51:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [February 2, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/61 "2024-02-02T22:11:23Z")
In _December Bride_, Pete Porter often mentioned his wife Gladys, but she never appeared in the show. When it ended, she did appear in the spinoff _Pete and Gladys._ Fred Sanford in _Sanford and Son_ would often refer to his dead wife, Elizabeth: “This is the big one, Elizabeth! I’m coming to join ya, honey,” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2024, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/62 "2024-02-02T22:38:50Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I didn’t watch **Magnum, PI** much but did Robin Masters ever put in an appearance? The show played coy with Robin. He was a real person, the characters in the show saw him, talked to him, plots revolved around him being a real person, etc, they just didn’t let we in the audience see him. Which was kind of stupid. And this whole BULLSHIT about Higgins being Robin was just even stupider, especially with the season 7-8 subplot that Higgins was lying about his military career. To refute, take one episode: Mad Dogs And Englishmen. Higgins is recruited by MI6 to infiltrate a paramilitary organization. MI6 would not pull some fake butlercat out of Hawaii unless they knew he was good at his job. > [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > In the “Mission Impossible” TV series, does the “Secretary” ever appear? As a kid, I used to think “the secretary” was the woman that answered the phone.“Good Afternoon, IMF, how may I direct your call?” “Does Jim Phelps work there?” “I do not know any Jim Phelps, he does not work here, and if he was involved in overthrowing a third world country he was doing that all on his own.” 🙂 But, the movies notwithstanding, “The secretary” refers IMO to the Sec Of State, since the IMF is (should be!) part of the CIA. And group of clandestine agents taking down despots would be an embarrassment to the US if “caught or killed”, so the government’s official position is, we don’t know who they are. Nothing about them can be traced to official government equipment. No one that mattered would be fooled, but such is the spy game. We pretend we’re not spying, and they pretend to believe us. Which also means when one of them got caught and imprisoned, no one was ever going to trade for them, or life a finger to get them out. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2024, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/63 "2024-02-02T22:59:25Z")
Another vote for **Harvey**. Still the most intelligently written funny movie ever, in my view. Nearly every line of dialogue is gold. And as already noted he does not appear in the film. “Well, there’s two schools of thought, Sir.” ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/64 "2024-02-03T00:16:46Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > If we’re accepting TV shows, an entire episode of **The Mary Tyler Moore Show** revolves around the death of Chuckles the Clown who AFAIK never appeared on the series. Chuckles did actually appear in three different episodes, portrayed by three different actors. ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/65 "2024-02-03T00:19:14Z")
> [@Dogginit](#): > > Most of the time it was the character Igor (or at least the actor that played him) They never do say within the series who it was. No, the two actors used most frequently for the announcements were Sal Viscuso and Todd Susman. Both appeared on screen in MASH episodes, but it’s never stated that those characters did the announcements. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/66 "2024-02-03T01:21:31Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > _Waiting for Guffman._ I’m so tempted to hand-letter “ **Guffman** _&_ **Godot** ” on the frosted glass of a blank office door. Maybe followed by “Waiting Room”! Or… . **Guƒƒman**. _&_ . **Go∂ot** P L E A S E . W A I T . T O . B E . S E E N ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/67 "2024-02-03T01:57:40Z")
_Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean._ ---
**Author:** ![Mislav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mislav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mislav)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/68 "2024-02-03T09:39:49Z")
In _Cruel Intentions_, Court Reynolds only appears once, briefly in a flashback, and doesn’t have any speaking lines. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/69 "2024-02-03T10:03:09Z")
Speaking of MASH, did Sparky, the guy Radar was always calling on the phone ever show up in person? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/70 "2024-02-03T10:12:27Z")
Over here in the UK we have The Archers Radio programme - the world’s longest running soap opera. There have been a great many unheard characters, but they were mostly short-lived. Trudy Porter was silent for 34 years until 4 April 2006, when a listener played her in a charity special after her husband paid £17,000 to the Children in Need charity. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/71 "2024-02-03T10:34:57Z")
Wilson, from the sitcom _Home Improvement_ only shows his upper face, above the fence. We hear a lot about Kramer’s friend Bob Sacamano on _Seinfeld_, but we never see him. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/72 "2024-02-03T11:13:26Z")
Mike Leigh’s _Abigail’s Party_, a classic British TV play from the 1970s, does not include Abigail. She is having a (presumably much better) party next door. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/73 "2024-02-03T11:45:09Z")
In **Grounded for Life** , the youngest kid, Henry, appears as normal through the first four seasons. Then the actor’s real-life family moved, and he became unavailable. In the fifth season, the show kept the character and worked around the actor’s absence by always having Henry just happen to be somewhere other than on camera. I also thought of Opie Taylor’s friend Johnny Paul Jason, but I googled it, and he does indeed make a few appearances. It’s just that the way Opie talks about him so much, I remembered him as one of those never-seen characters. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/74 "2024-02-03T11:49:23Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > We hear a lot about Kramer’s friend Bob Sacamano on _Seinfeld_, but we never see him. Likewise Kramer’s friend Lomez. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/75 "2024-02-03T12:32:35Z")
IIRC, in the **Cheers** show, Norm’s wife, Vera, appears only once. And that’s at the end of the Thanksgiving dinner food fight, where she walks in the door just in time to receive a pie in the face. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/76 "2024-02-03T13:45:45Z")
Almost… In To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, Julie Newmar only shows up at the very end but is mentioned throughout the movie. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/77 "2024-02-03T14:22:37Z")
Sparky showed up at least once — the Tuttle episode. Shazam! ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/78 "2024-02-03T14:27:38Z")
I’m sure there are a lot of religious movies where God isn’t seen. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, but did they ever show the man that killed Bambi’s mother? ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/79 "2024-02-03T14:33:50Z")
Never mind who was making the announcements at the 4077th, where was he? And why did none of the characters comment about him and not just his announcements? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2024, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022/80 "2024-02-03T14:43:01Z")
I think once Radar was less than six feet away from the broadcast area while an announcement was being read over the air. Ghosts. Has to be a ghost. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plays-and-movies-where-an-important-character-never-appears/997022.md?page=5)