Forgot Wayne. Before he was re-used as Lorien, he played Sebastian, the Inquisitor in “Comes the Inquisitor”. He also played a Drazi in the episode “Intersections in Real Time.”
Possibly the most outrageous of all switches; Smithers from the Simpsons started as a black guy (first season) and finished as a white guy.
They replaced Michael Landes with Justin Whalin as Jimmy Olsen in Lois and Clark.
There were several Lassies, as I recall.
Wow, I didn’t realize that Ross’ wife, Carol Willick, was played by anyone else than Jane Sibbitt. But Anita Barone was Carol in “The One with the Sonogram at the End”. She also played Jeff Foxworthy’s wife Karen for the first incarnation of his show, but was also replaced. She’s a one-woman “First Wife’s Club”! :D:D
Also: SCTV’s Andrea Martin originated the role of Ishka, Quark and Rom’s mother, on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”. But all other appearances of Ishka were played by Cecily Adams (Don Adams’ daughter).
14, using your numbers; 13, using the Internet Movie Database, for “Dr. Who and the Curse of Fatal Death”. Rowan Atkinson, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, and Joanna Lumley all played the Doctor.
In “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” Aunt Viv was played by Janet Hubert-Whitten and then by Daphne Maxwell Reid.
Well, if we’re talking movies, let’s not forget James Bond, who has been played by Sean Connery, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Terence Cooper, Woody Allen, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan. Plus, in Never say Never again, they replaced Q, M, and Moneypenny. Q and M may not count because the letter title seems to pass with the job, but I think they intended for the characters to be the same people, not just the same title.
Let’s not forget that Xev changed to Zev in the transistion from “Tales from a Parallel Universe” to “Lexx: the Series.”
… but I definitely looked better as Xev… 
Zev Steinhardt
Smithers was never intentionally black. However in one of his early appearances, there was a communications glitch between the American producers and the Korean animators which resulted in him being colored brown instead of yellow. Due to time and budget constraints, and the fact that Smithers was a minor character at the time, the episode was broadcast with the error.
On the other hand, Smithers was originally heterosexual. In another early appearance he had a line where he refered to his wife and kids. However the line was cut from the script, making it possible for later writers to develop his alternate lifestyle.
The same Q? I don’t think so! Not unless he got a sex change!
Let’s make it 15. As any WHOvian knows, there is also the guy who was The Valeyard. He’s the Doctor sometime after his 12th regeneration who has become evil. Add whoever is going to be in the next Dr. Who movie if it ever gets made and we’ll have 16.
Dr. Who also had four actors to play The Master if you count Eric Roberts in the Paul McGann TV movie and two actresses to play Romana.
Ethilrist writes:
> Well, if we’re talking movies, let’s not forget James
> Bond, who has been played by Sean Connery, David Niven,
> Peter Sellers, Terence Cooper, Woody Allen, Roger Moore,
> George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan.
There’s also Barry Nelson, who played Bond in an American TV movie of Casino Royale in 1954. There’s Reg Gadney, who played James Bond in some short sequences in a TV documentary in 1989 called Goldeneye: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming. There’s also seven other people listed in the IMDb as playing James Bond in a small role in other films. Apparently in each of those seven films it’s supposed to be a joke that this person seen briefly in one scene is actually James Bond.
IIRC, in the feature film version of Casino Royale, the original James Bond, played by David Niven, orders everyone in MI6 to be reclassified as James Bond 007 including the women. So, from that point on in the film, absolutely every agent you see is James Bond. That includes the aforementioned Sellars, Allen, Cooper and Niven, but also includes Ursula Andress, Joanna Pettet, Daliah Lavi and Deborah Kerr. And, since Woody Allen was James Bond 007, Jimmy Bond AND Dr. Noah, we should include Valentine Dyall to that list too as he provided the OTHER voice for Dr. Noah.
What a confusing movie!
On “Law and Order,” S. Epatha Merkerson, who plays Lt. Van Buren, appeared as “Denise Winters” in an early episode. Jerry Orbach, who plays Det. Lenny Briscoe, appeared earlier as defense attorney Frank Lehrman.
On “L.A. Law,” A Martinez played a convict facing a death sentence several years before he became a regular on the show as attorney Daniel Morales. Richard Masur played a con-man who is cross-examined into heart attack, and a few years later appeared as a sixties radical and fugitive from justice.
I realize these are the same actors playing different characters, rather than the other way around…
- Rick
One of the most famous examples of this is when Harry Morgan played a general on MAS*H and then returned a few years later as Col. Potter.
Zev Steinhardt
Does no one remember all the Bradley girls on Petticoat Junction?
Three Billie Jo’s (4 if you count Sharon Tate in the pilot)
Two Bobbie Jo’s.
Thank God Betty Jo was the producer’s daughter.
Phyllis Coates gave way to Noel Neil on The Adventures of Superman.
On Happy Days, Chuck Cunningham only showed up in a handful of episodes and they had to use two different actors. Ditto with Donald Penobscott on MAS*H
Barney Miller’s wife was played by Abby Dalton in the pilot before they switched to Barbara Barrie for the run of the show.
And how many different parents did Helen Hunt have on Mad About You, and Rob Petrie have on the Dick Van Dyke show?
For that matter, how many different Kenny’s have been on South Park? I mean, he’s replaced in EVERY episode!
What about “Grace Under Fire?” not only did they switch actors they aged the character about 5 years
Quentin was the character.
As to actors appearing in multiple roles on a show:
Paul Lynde first appeared on Bewitched as a driving instructor. They liked him so much, they brought him back as Uncle Arthur.
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