Yes, it was. He’s a perfect candidate.
John Forsythe in Bachelor Father and Dynasty (plus Charlie’s Angels)
Robert Young in Father Knows Best and Marcus Wellby, MD.
Carl Betz in The Donna Reed Show and Judd for the Defense
Art Carney in The Honeymooners and Lanigan’s Rabbi
Eddie Albert in Green Acres and Switch
Buddy Ebsen in The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones.
He also played two different characters on Deadwood, neither one a nice guy at all. The first character he played killed Martha Plimpton’s (Virginia on Raising Hope) father’s character in an early episode, and in season two, he played a serial killer with very weird sexual tastes.
And he’s had a couple of one-shot roles on one or more of the Law & Orders. I know he very convincingly played a creepy child molester in an episode of the SVU version.
And now he’s Burt!
George Clooney had roles in sitcoms like E/R, The Facts of Life, and *Roseanne *before he was on ER.
James Garner in Maverick and then in The Rockford Files, although I suppose it could be argued that those were dramadies of a sort.
Richard Belzer, of course, is actually a stand-up comic when he’s not on Law & Order.
Gerald McRaney - Major Dad (sitcom), Simon & Simon, The Promised Land, Jericho, and Deadwood (dramas).
Judd Hirsch - Taxi and Numb3rs.
OMG, I can’t believe I didn’t recognise him. It’s been a few years between the shows, but all the same, it’s a sign of hod good acting that I totally didn’t associate the two roles at all.
Yeah - his whole career was basically playing psychopaths, until RH. Maybe there’s hope for Mark Sheppard (Badger in Firefly/a bad guy in everything else) yet.
Khandi Alexander - News Radio and CSI: Miami
Adrienne Barbeau - Maude and Carnivale
Meredith Baxter - Family and Family Ties
Dabney Coleman - Buffalo Bill and Boardwalk Empire
Mike Farrell - MASH and Providence
The Commish was not exactly a sitcom, but did have a lot of humour. Compare Michael Chiklis as Tony Scali to his later role in The Shield.
Mark Sheppard was a good guy in Doctor Who and I would argue he’s a good guy in Warehouse 13, though I don’t know if he’s been in it past the first two seasons.
I wouldn’t mind seeing him in a comedy though, I think he’d be good in the right role.
He also played a dramatic role on ER.
My current fave in this category: Christine Baranski. Mostly comedies but currently a regular on The Good Wife.
Mark Sheppard did not play a bad guy on Battlestar. Amoral, maybe, but not bad.
And he is frakking hilarious in person. Someone brought him a beer at a Dragon*Con panel and he handed it off to his co-panelist stating, “No, I’m allergic to alcohol. I break out in handcuffs.” (Apparently he’s something like 20 years sober.)
I camed up with a whole new list overnight, although some of them have since been mentioned.
Tim Reid (WKRP in Cincinnati/Simon & Simon/Frank’s Place)
Susan Sullivan (Falcon Crest/Dharma & Greg)
Swoosie Kurtz (Sisters/Mike & Molly)
Rene Auberjonois (Benson/Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Kristy McNichol (Family/Empty Nest)
William Daniels (Knight Rider [not sure how to classify that one]/St. Elsewhere/Boy Meets World)
Jeff Conaway (Taxi/Babylon 5)
Heather Locklear (Dynasty/T.J. Hooker/Melrose Place/Spin City)
Ethan Philllips (Benson/Star Trek: Voyager)
Sally Field (Gidget/The Flying Nun/Brothers & Sisters)
So is this thread about actors that were excellent in both a comedy and a drama or simply actors that have performed in both genres?
The title specifies “successful.”
Elisha Cuthbert in 24 (drama) and Happy Endings (sitcom)
Connie Britton on Spin City (sitcom) and American Horror Story (drama)
Heather Locklear, also on Spin City, as well as TJ Hooker and Melrose Place (dramas)
Jenni Garth on both versions of 90210 (drama) and also What I Like About You (comedy)
Lori Laughlin on Full House (sitcom) in addition to the 90210 reboot
John Stamos also on Full House and also on ER (drama)
Jorge Garcia on Becker (sitcom) as well as Lost and Alcatraz (dramas)
Also on Becker, Terry Ferrell, who of course was on Star Trek Deep Space 9 (drama)
Tim Daly on Wings (sitcom) and Private Practice (drama)
I know that but a lot of the examples given I would rate at less than successful
Has anybody mentioned Ernest Borgnine for comedy-McHale’s navy and drama-Airwolf? Both shows ran for several years.
How did it happen that Ernest Borgnine never took a bit part on Star Trek just so he could be billed as “Borg Nine”?