I mean relatively unknown actors and actresses who eventually became household names. Note: that tv series is not necessarily their first appearance or lucky break. Just jog you memory or crank up Youtube.
For me, it’s overwhelmingly “The Night Stalker” starring Darren Macgavin. Just those I recall:
David Doyle (Charlie’s Angels) appeared as a lab technician in “Firefall.”
Bernie Koepell (Love Boat) was — a doctor in “The Trevi Collection.”
A very young Tom Skerritt in “The Devil’s Platform”
A very young Erik Estrada in “Legacy of Terror.”
Gorgeous Cathy Lee Crosby in “Youth Killer.”
(Already a star) but Dick Van Patten was in “They have been, they are…”
Antonio Fargas (Starsky and Hutch) was a step up as a gang lord in “Zombie”
Jamie Farr (MASH) was a clerk in the morgue at least once.
Jaws Kiel was a monster at least once.
Or is this a common phenomenon wherein aspiring actors/actresses always gravitate towards a top-rated series?
I’d think the winner is going to be some form of anthology show. Certain The Twilight Zone featured a great many people before they broke. Just off the top of my head:
Jack Klugman
Burgess Meredith
Robert Redford
William Shatner
LAW & ORDER was on the air for twenty years, employing Samuel L Jackson before PULP FICTION (in an episode with Philip Seymour Hoffman making his on-screen debut, Sarah-Paulson-style) sure as they found work for Clare Danes before MY SO-CALLED LIFE, and for William H Macy before FARGO, and Julianna Marguiles before ER, and Clark Gregg and Jennifer Garner and Charlie Day and – look, how much time have we got, here?
TV shows in the 50s (especially those shot in NYC) were replete with actors who later became big name stars. Playhouse 90, for instance, gave work to many actors at the start of their careers, including Kim Hunter, Cliff Robertson, Sterling Hayden, Rod Taylor, Keenan Wynn, E. G. Marshall, Richard Baseheart, Jack Klugman, Charles Bronson, Werner Klemperer, Richard Boone, Rip Torn, Lloyd Bridges, June Lockart, Barbara Hale, Ricardo Montalban, Burt Reynolds, Arnold Stang, Dan Blocker, Inger Stevens, Robert Vaughn, Deforest Kelley, Jack Lord, Nancy Marchand, Nicholas Colasanto, Harry Guardino, and Maureen Stapelton (note – a few of these may have been established when the appeared on the show, but I don’t have time to check out every one).
It’s sort of cheating, but I’d guess that The Tonight Show is the series that the largest number of big stars have, at some point, appeared on, and at least some of them made their first appearance when they were relative unknowns.
If you’ve talking regular cast members (as opposed to anthology guest stars) I’d vote for either Cheers:
[ul]
[li]Ted Danson[/li][li]Shelley Long[/li][li]Rhea Perlman[/li][li]George Wendt[/li][li]Woody Harrelson[/li][li]Kelsey Grammer[/li][li]Kirstie Alley[/li][li]Bebe Neuwirth[/li][/ul]
or Taxi:
[ul]
[li]Judd Hirsch[/li][li]Danny DeVito[/li][li]Marilu Henner[/li][li]Tony Danza[/li][li]Christopher Lloyd[/li][li]Carol Kane[/li][li]Andy Kaufman[/li][/ul]
Only John Ratzenberger and Jeff Conaway didn’t do much else…
it’s a little known faxt that John Ratzenberger is the 6th most successful actor of all time judging by box office totals of films in which he is credited…
From wikipedia, a list of guest stars on Route 66:
James Caan, Joan Crawford, Robert Duvall, Dorothy Malone, George Kennedy, Joey Heatherton, Ben Johnson, E.G. Marshall, Walter Matthau, David Janssen, Buster Keaton, Ed Asner, Lee Marvin, Michael Rennie, Tina Louise, Darren McGavin, Jack Lord, Kent McCord, Suzanne Pleshette, Anne Francis, Tuesday Weld, Susan Oliver, Robert Redford, Leslie Nielsen, Martin Sheen, Rod Steiger, Lois Nettleton, Lois Smith, Sylvia Sidney, Beulah Bondi, Barbara Eden, Diane Baker, Julie Newmar, William Shatner, DeForest Kelley.
Naked City (1961-1963) was another one of those NYC-based shows alluded to by RealityChuck that employed loads of future stars. While that Route 66 (1960-1964) list above is impressive, some of those people were already well-known; compare that with this list from wikipedia from the entry on Naked City, bearing in mind that these people were not a big deal yet:
The series was notable for featuring young New York stage actors who later became major stars. Among the future stars to appear in the series were Robert Duvall, Rip Torn, Telly Savalas, David Janssen, Jack Klugman, Peter Falk, Cicely Tyson, Barbara Barrie, Vic Morrow, Alex Cord, James Caan, Ed Asner, Gene Hackman, James Coburn, Alan Alda, Tuesday Weld, Carroll O’Connor, Jean Stapleton, Jack Lord, George Maharis, Suzanne Pleshette, George Segal, Martin Sheen, Robert Redford, Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Diane Ladd, Dennis Hopper, Sylvia Miles, Jon Voight, Sandy Dennis, William Shatner, Christopher Walken, Dustin Hoffman, Rod Steiger.
Well, Burgess Meredith was an established actor long before The Twilight Zone (you may remember him opposite Lon Chaney Jr. in ***Of Mice and ***Men, back in the Thirties).
But The Twilight Zone had appearances by LOTS of future stars, sometimes in lead roles and sometimes in very small roles. Just off the top of my head
Charles Bronson
Elizabeth Montgomery (she appeared with Bronson in a post-nuclear war episode)
Several “Star Trekkers” besides Shatner:
James Doohan
Leonard Nimoy (small part as a GI in an episode about WW2)
George Takei
Dennis Hopper
Robert Duvall
James Coburn
John Astin
Peter Falk
Cloris Leachman
Bill Bixby
Mariette Hartley
For an enormously popular anthology, The Love Boat, i remember it didn’t feature that many future big names. What it featured were existing ones; anything from John Ritter and Charo, to the children in “Eight is Enough,” to a couple member of the Short Circuits.
One of my favorite episodes was with the kissing bandit (played by Billy Crystal.) He was matched with one of the Eight is Enough girls.
