I’m watching DVDs of the original “What’s Happening!!” and What’s Happening Now!!!" and found several recycled characters in various episodes. A couple:
• Chip Fields first plays Shirley’s pregnant sister and then later plays Rerun’s nurse sister.
• “Sweet Daddy” from Good Times plays the Doobie Brother’s made-Rerun-tape-the-Doobie Brother’s-concert-guy in the original series, and then a bum who takes out Raj’s wife’s mom in the Now series.
There’s more, but you get the idea…
LH
Vincent Gardenia (one of my favorite character actors) appeared on two episodes of ALL IN THE FAMILY. In one he was a neighbor who had sold his home to a black family (The Jeffersons) and was trying to get away before Archie and other neighbors found out. In another he was a wife swapper who due to classic sitcom miscommunication arrived with his wife (Rue McLanahan) to get freaky deaky with Archie and Edith. Later he became a recurring character- Frank Lorenzo.
There was no continuity twixt the shows of the LEAR verse. Maude was a spin-off (and thus in the same continuity as) All in the Family, yet the same actors played several different roles on both shows. Rue McLanahan for example was Maude’s friend and neighbor Vivian.
(No idea if SANFORD & SON was in the same continuity as [Maude spin-off] GOOD TIMES, but Lamont was played by Demond Wilson who was previously a burglar on AITF, while one of Fred’s buddies was John Amos [James on GT]; of course GT made references to the ROOTS miniseries and to Kunta Kinte in particular but never any in-jokes about John Amos playing the role after leaving GT. Off-topic, but one of the biggest goofs was that Sammy Davis, Jr.'s appearance as himself on AITF was legendary, yet by the time the Jeffersons moved-on-up to the East Side Louise, who had gushed over him when he came to Houser Street, seemed to have forgotten ever having met him when he moved across the hallway from them.)
He also played a nightclub owner on an episode of GOOD TIMES after his first appearance as Sweet Daddy but before his last appearances. (Per imdb it was his second of 7 appearances.)
The problem with that was that syndication was common in the late 1950s. I Love Lucy went into syndication as soon as it went off the air, and some of the earliest shows I remember (e.g., The Buccaneers which ran in 1956 when I was four, but which I saw a few years later) were syndicated (the ran in a non-prime-time slot, too.).
The practice still continues – if an actor is liked by the producers, they might bring him back as someone else. What has made a difference is the fact that more shows now have a continuity angle. No one cared in the 60s that an actor appeared in different roles since no one bothered to refer back to earlier episodes (and they usually couldn’t if they wanted). Now, people remember these things almost to the point of obsession, so if you want to give an actor a new role you have to factor in that part of your audience.
When I sat in on a Dragon*Con panel for James Hong he pointed out that he not only played multiple parts on *Hawaii 5-0 *(4 are credited), he played multiple nationalities. Polynesian, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian - whatever they needed - he was it.
In fact, he’s played multiple characters on multiple shows. Course, after so many years, he’s now a much more recognized character actor and tends to come back as the same person now.
Did you mean to do that or is it one of those Freudian slip things?
I give Dillahunt credit for playing two roles so different that I did not notice he was the same person.
Tony Shaloub played a waiter in a season 2 episode of Wings before joining the cast in season 3 as Antonio.
John Lovitz had a couple of guest roles–patient in an asylum and suicidal jumper–on NewsRadio before he joined the cast as a Max Louis.
The guy who currently plays Roman Brady on Days of Our Lives played Chris Kositchek on the same show years ago.
If we count the various incarnations of Trek from TNG on, I think Vaughn Armstrong wins the award for most roles, hands down. This guy was everywhere. :eek:
Patrick Cargill played two different roles in The Prisoner – in Hammer Into Anvil as Number Two, and in Many Happy Returns as a former co-worker of Number Six’s.
Also in the same series, there was Kenneth Griffith – once as the “Napoleon” villain in The Girl Who Was Death, and then as the council chairman in Fall Out.
Two words: Black. Adder.
An Englishman I know decided Deadwood, which he had been enjoying up until that point, had turned to crap as soon as he saw the guy get off the stagecoach. Said the first thing he thought was : “Hey! That’s the guy who killed Wild Bill Hickock!” He almost stopped watching the show after that. Said he couldn’t take it seriously anymore and asked was there really such a shortage of actors that they had to double up like that.
That is a good question. With all those starving actors out there waiting tables, why do some shows feel they must use the same actor for a different role when it’s not part of some sort of in joke like on Barney Miller.
IIRC, the waiter WAS Antonio, and there was a mention of this early on when he showed up as a cabbie.
I forgot all about that. I used to watch it all the time and was so surprised when I found out that real cops didn’t change jobs week to week
I only count 10 different roles; still well behind Jack Garner.
Ubiquitous freelance old man Burt Mustin must have held a record for appearing as different characters on multiple episodes of the most shows. Take a look at his credits: he had multiple appearances playing different characters on Dragnet, All in the Family, Bewitched, Andy Griffith, The Monkees and several other shows. Charles Lane did a lot of repeats as different characters as well but Mustin seems to have him beat.
A freaky thing about Mustin: check out this pic of him as ateenager; the man was evidently born 90 years old.
Everyone back then looked 90 years old. 
I remember seeing Mustin on Johnny Carson. He was a neat old coot.
I Love Lucy is generally credited as the show that invented rerun syndication, so it wasn’t common at that time. Perhaps it was by the end of the decade, but syndicating shows after their initial run is different than the situation today, when reruns often air concurrently with new episodes.
I did acknowledge that some shows do that. I know for a fact that for many, casting directors do not even want to look at someone who has been on the show before. Of course a show-runner could overrule the casting director, but that would be an exceptional case. For instance, every casting breakdown posted for “Numbers” includes the sentence “PLEASE BE CAREFUL NOT TO SUBMIT ACTORS WHO HAVE APPEARED ON THE SHOW PREVIOUSLY.” Unfortunately, they’re on a subscription only site and posting a complete example would violate terms of service, so again, I have no real cites to offer, sorry. I also know from my years working as a “background actor” (extra) that many shows do not want to reuse anyone who has been “established,” unless it’s for a setting such as a school or an office that would logically have the same people in it day after day.
Allan Melvin (Sam the Butcher) played a couple of different characters on The Andy Griffith Show
