Robert Conrad played James West on Wild Wild West.
Michael Garrison was the creator of the show.
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.
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.
Alan Alda from Hawkeye to Arnold Vinick
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…
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
Tom Bosley in Happy Days and The Father Dowling Mysteries.
Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton on “Family Ties” to Mike Flaherty on “Spin City”
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.
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.
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
Michael C. Hall managed an incredible transformation - with virtually no gap between the roles - from gay, sensitive David in Six Feet Under, to Dexter.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Last season & this season, fans of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse have been amazed by the versatility of Enver Gjokaj:
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!
Edie Falco, who went from Carmela Soprano to Nurse Jackie.
Bill Dailey, Major Healey on I Dream Of Jeannie and Howard Borden on The Bob Newhart Show.