I got to thinking about this the other day and decided to throw it out to the SDMB. Not many big screeners have made it on the small screen (Anthony Quinn, Shirley McClain and Henry Fonda come to mind), and few small screeners have made it on the big screen (although hundreds, if not thousands, have tried).
This is sort of like the game we had last year (where we were trying to find actors who had three or more successful series). Name an actor (male or female) who has been successful on both movies and television.
Some ground rules:
They have to have appeared in a TV series that lasted at least two full seasons (although these days what is a full season? Two shows?). This would eliminate people who hosted things like Hollywood Ralace or were in mini series like Roots. You get extra points (like we are really giving out points) for two series.
They have to have at least three successful big-screen movies. In other words Tom Green doesn’t pass on either (number or success) count. However, Bruce Willis would.
Hi Opal!
They should be the (a) star of both the movies and the TV show(s). I suppose we could extend this to featured player for television, but not for the movies. I think they should be able to carry the movie to be considered.
List the actor, what movies and what TV Show(s).
Burt Reynolds-Deliverance, Smokey and The Bandit and The Man Who Love Cat Dancing- TV Evening Shade, Dan August
Limit yourself to no more than three names at any single post-this gives everybody a shot at taking part. and wait at least one person posting before you post again (unless you screwed up and need to apologize for something - most of us have done that).
One that won’t show there will be Patrick Stewart, who didn’t have three successful TV series (just ST:TNG), but who was in three Star Trek movies, plus Dune (he plays Gurney Halleck) and Conspiracy Theory amongst others.
There’s also Will “The Fresh Prince” Smith, whom we all know from TV’s The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He was in Independence Day, Men in Black, and most recently, Ali.
How about Kyle MacLachlan? Twin Peaks the TV series. Movies include - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Dune, and Blue Velvet. Some sort of David Lynch fest going on here.
Helen Hunt. Star of “Mad About You” and won an Oscar for “As Good As It Gets,” plus has been in some other commercially successful films.
Ron Howard. Star of two beloved TV shows, “Andy Griffith Show” and “Happy Days,” many TV movies, and the producer of TV programs like “24” and “Felicity.” and later the star, producer and/or director of innumerable successful, high-qualiy motion pictures, including (an an actor) “American Graffiti,” “The Shootist” and as a director, “Splash,” “Apollo 13,” “A Beautiful Mind” and “Backdraft.”
Carroll O’Connor. Starred in a huge number of motion pictures in the 1960s. Later became the Emmy-winning star of the groundbreaking series “All in the Family” and then later starred in another hit series, “In The Heat of the Night.”
Johnny Depp
TV: 21 Jump Street (1987-1990)
Film: Nightmare on Elm Street, Platoon, Benny & Joon, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Dead Man, Before Night Falls, etc.
Granted, some of those films aren’t necessarily successful big screen movies, but he’s at least one tv actor who’s worked consistently with some of the better people in Hollywood.