# TV actors who have succeeded in creating two very different memorable characters within a few years **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 9, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546 "2009-12-09T01:49:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tacoloco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/21 "2009-12-09T05:01:11Z")
> [@Gary\_Baldy](#): > > Michael Garrison in Wild Wild West (1965-1969) Robert Conrad played James West on Wild Wild West. Michael Garrison was the creator of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/22 "2009-12-09T05:08:29Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > I think it was just this year that I noticed Bryan Cranston is also Dr. Tim Whatley in Seinfeld. He also stars as the cancer-stricken high-school teacher turned meth lab technician in _Breaking Bad_. Chris Noth in _Sex and the City_ and _Law & Order_. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/23 "2009-12-09T05:09:07Z")
> [@breezman](#): > > Marsha Warfield played Roz the bailiff, then shortly thereafter joined the cast of Empty Nest as Dr. Maxine Douglas. This is probably the best example from Night Court since both characters were regulars. I think a better example is Harry Anderson going from Harry Stone on Night Court (1984-1992) to Dave Barry on Dave’s World (1993-1997) - being a main character in the NC ensemble then the title character on DW. Only the expected year between the two series. Both lasted multiple seasons. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/24 "2009-12-09T05:11:07Z")
Alan Alda from Hawkeye to Arnold Vinick ---
**Author:** ![Kylede](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@Kylede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kylede)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/25 "2009-12-09T05:13:06Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Lots: > > Betty White went from Miss Brooks, to Sue Ann Nivens, to Rose Neyland. > Mary Tyler Moore went from Laura Petrie to Mary Richards. > Bea Arthur went from Maude Finley to Dorothy Zbornak. > Rue McClanahan went from Maude friends to Blanche Deveraux. > Ron Howard from Opie Taylor to Richie Cunningham. > Harry Morgan went from Officer Gannon to Col Potter > Johnny Galecki went from spineless David Healy (Roseanne) to Leonard on TBBT. > Ted Danson went from Sam Malone to Dr John Becker > Lucy Ball went from Lucy Ricardo to Lucy Carmichael to Lucy Carter. Other then Betty White (Sue Ann=Tramp, Rose=Ditsy), and Rue McClanahan (Maude’s Friend=Ditzy, Blanche=Tramp) how are any of the others “Different Memorable Characters” Maude and Dorothy were both Tough, take-no-prisoner women, ahead of there time Laura Petrie and Mary Richards were both sweet lovable ladies (hell the writers of MTM decided to change Mary’s backstory to a broken engagement instead of a divorce, because they thought people would think she was just a divorced Laura) Opie and Richie…the only differnce was height and color Officer Gannon and Col. Potter, could either be more “By-the-Book” I don’t think you got the jist… ---
**Author:** ![Kylede](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@Kylede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kylede)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/26 "2009-12-09T05:16:45Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > I think a better example is Harry Anderson going from Harry Stone on Night Court (1984-1992) to Dave Barry on Dave’s World (1993-1997) - being a main character in the NC ensemble then the title character on DW. Only the expected year between the two series. Both lasted multiple seasons. Harry Anderson had a recuring role on the early seasons of “Cheers” as a magician con-man who hung out at the bar…then went on to play the Judge ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/27 "2009-12-09T05:36:21Z")
Tom Bosley in _Happy Days_ and _The Father Dowling Mysteries_. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/28 "2009-12-09T05:36:50Z")
Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton on “Family Ties” to Mike Flaherty on “Spin City” ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/29 "2009-12-09T05:37:10Z")
> [@Kylede](#): > > Harry Anderson had a recuring role on the early seasons of “Cheers” as a magician con-man who hung out at the bar…then went on to play the Judge Yeah, I didn’t mention it because Harry the Hat and Harry Stone are pretty similar characters in ways that Dave wasn’t, so Harry to Harry wasn’t really creating two memorable characters, but putting essentially the same character into two different contexts. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/30 "2009-12-09T05:39:23Z")
Garett Dillahunt played two extremely different and extremely memorable characters on the same SHOW (_Deadwood_) - for that alone, I think he deserves some kind of prestigious award. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/31 "2009-12-09T06:02:08Z")
Lee Majors - Steve Austin on _The Six Million Dollar Man_ & Colt Seavers on _The Fall Guy_ Charlie Sheen - Charlie Crawford on _Spin City_ & Charlie Harper on _Two and a Half Men_ Robert Urich - Dan Tanna on _Vega$_ & Spenser on _Spenser: For Hire_ William Conrad - Frank Cannon on _Cannon_ & Jason Lochinvar ‘Fatman’ McCabe on _Jake and the Fatman_ Raymond Burr - Perry Mason on _Perry Mason and Robert T. Ironside on Ironside Buddy Ebsen - Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones on Barnaby Jones Michael Landon - Joseph ‘Little Joe’ Cartwright on Bonanza and Charles Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie_ ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/32 "2009-12-09T06:35:53Z")
Michael C. Hall managed an incredible transformation - with virtually no gap between the roles - from gay, sensitive David in _Six Feet Under_, to Dexter. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Baldy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Gary\_Baldy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Baldy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/33 "2009-12-09T06:45:57Z")
> [@tacoloco](#): > > Robert Conrad played James West on Wild Wild West. > > Michael Garrison was the creator of the show. Major brainfart! I knew it didn’t feel right when I typed it. Michael Garrison was the creator of Wild Wild West and the underrated rarely seen The Investigators. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/34 "2009-12-09T06:57:15Z")
Sacha Baren Cohen has three different characters in his repertoire, including Ali G, Borat, and Bruno. Do voice actors count? Because Billy West, Maurice LeMarche, Tress Macneill, Phil Lamarr, and Dave Herman appear in countless cartoons playing completely different characters. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Baldy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Gary\_Baldy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Baldy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/35 "2009-12-09T07:15:31Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Do voice actors count? Because Billy West, Maurice LeMarche, Tress Macneill, Phil Lamarr, and Dave Herman appear in countless cartoons playing completely different characters. You cannot forget Mel Blanc. Besides cartoons, he would appear in radio and TV shows as random and many times memorable characters. For example, on Jack Benny’s radio and TV show he played the very memorable roles of Sy, the Little Mexican and the Christmas sales clerk, among many others. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/36 "2009-12-09T07:54:03Z")
I was going to nominate Michael C. Hall, but **Alessan** got there before me. I haven’t actually watched any episodes of the new _90210_, but it seems to me that Tristan Wilds’ character in that show is very different from the character he plays on _The Wire_. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/37 "2009-12-09T09:32:39Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Garett Dillahunt played two extremely different and extremely memorable characters on the same SHOW (_Deadwood_) - for that alone, I think he deserves some kind of prestigious award. Not only that, he played three different characters on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. He started off as an actor (George Lazlow IIRC) and then became Cromartie (who had previously been played by another actor!) and ended up as John Henry. Now that’s versatile. Over on Dollhouse, Enver Gjokaj has been amazingly versatile as well, playing everything from a Russian mobster to a horse breeder to an English boy toy to a ditzy college girl (this one is made of awesome) to a copy of another character (for the win!). His range is absolutely stunning. Ian McShane, best known as Al Swearengen on Deadwood went on to play the awesome King Silas Benjamin on Kings. And he managed to get through the entire series without calling anyone a cocksucker! ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/38 "2009-12-09T09:38:51Z")
Last season & this season, fans of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse have been amazed by the versatility of [Enver Gjokaj](http://www.ifmagazine.com/feature.asp?article=3611): > [@](#): > > Among Gjokaj’s identities as Victor have been would-be Russian mobster, British lover, Italian art gallery owner, prim psychopathic killer and, courtesy of a mix-up with an assignment with Eliza Dushku’s character Echo, college party girl. And this week, he had a tour-de-force playing Fran Kranz’s high-strung progammer Topher in a dead-on impersonation. The last season of the show is running through December & January. Reruns of several episodes are available on Hulu. (No “real” re-runs on TV, since Fox doesn’t want to cut into the eventual DVD sales or pay the creators & actors residuals.) _Dollhouse_ isn’t an easy show to love (I like it a lot) & most fans seem resigned that at least we’ll get the full second season (of 13 episodes) made & shown. But we all _know_ we’ll be seeing Enver again… **DWmarch** had the same thought at the same time–but he/she finished their message first! ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/39 "2009-12-09T10:23:57Z")
Edie Falco, who went from Carmela Soprano to Nurse Jackie. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546/40 "2009-12-09T12:12:19Z")
Bill Dailey, Major Healey on I Dream Of Jeannie and Howard Borden on The Bob Newhart Show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-have-succeeded-in-creating-two-very-different-memorable-characters-within-a-few-years/520546.md?page=3)