That actor went on to play the Granddad in Bread. But I dunno if anyone in America has seen that show. All about a Liverpool family who were a bunch of unemployed dreamers and shuysters.
–If the photo on the desk of Col. Potter (Harry Morgan) is indeed Spring Byington then that was a neat touch.
Most of the folks in this thread are bringing up TV shows from the last 30 years or so. Back in the '50’s there was a sitcom called “December Bride” starring Spring Byington. One of the characters in that series was Harry Morgan (Pete Porter) who had a wife (Gladys) who was never seen.
In 1960 there was a spin-off from the Byington show called “Pete and Gladys” where Morgan finally got a visible wife.
Here’s a link:
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Stage/2950/epg1/DecemberBride.htm
Sorry to pull this from page one (and lame for not having my own noseeum to post) but:
I was a wee lad when this show was on (there is a picture (waiting to haunt me when I start a political career) of me in fourth grade with rainbow suspenders. Ugh) but I seem to remember sometime near its death Mork met Orson. I kind of think it had something to do with him asking for permission to have a kid or something. Anyway, I kinda-almost-maybe remember him going back to wherever and meeting Orson. For some strange reason I want to say that the actor was Nick Tortelli. Ring any bells?
Karen’s husband and kids, on Will and Grace.
I was gonna say Ugly Naked Guy on Friends but someone beat me to it.
Did we ever see Donald Penobscott (sp?) on MASH*?
And what about the guy on the tape recorder who gave Jim Phelps his assignments on Mission: Impossible (“You’re mission, should you choose to accept it…”)
Jack’s (now ex-)wife, Just Shoot Me.
I don’t know if this should really count, but Sarah the operator on The Andy Griffith Show. And didn’t Aunt Bea and Opie have some friends they talked about but we never saw?
Tom & Kim refer to the never seen Delaney(?) sisters on Voyager.
Donald Penobscott:
Yes, in the MASH Olympics, where he lost a race to an out-of-shape guy, and lost Margret and him an extra week of honeymoon leave.
In the very last episode they showed her face.
carnivorousplant:
And now that you’ve brought up Star Trek, I’m reminded of the Starfleet captain with the transparent skull who Jadzia spoke of dating once and later encouraged Major Kira to ask out.
Nerys: What do you see in that guy?
Jadzia: His brain?
We never met him onscreen either.
Is that the same episode where BJ and Hawkeye convinced him that he’d broken some bone or another, and he was in a full body cast for the wedding, and subsequent honeymoon? Hilarious.
Louis, Margaret’s husband (in which the two have been having marriage problems), on Becker.
–Anake
Doug Bowe, as a matter of fact, that’s exactly WHY Harry Morgan had her picture on Col. Potter’s desk. It was his homage to the actress who gave him a big break in Show Business.
Well the only ones I could add to this would be from the long-running British show “Dr Who”…
Rassilon, the great legendary leader of the Time-Lords who is reverently spoken of by the Doctor and other Time-Lords, but to my knowledge never showed up on screen.
Some characters who were never even alluded to throughout the nearly 30 years this show was on the air were the Doctor’s family. The first episode of the series kicks off with the original Doctor coming to Earth with a grand-daughter in tow – Susan, his first “companion”. The Susan character was written out after a year and was replaced by a long run of plucky young female assistants. Conspicuously, no mention was ever made of the Doctor having a wife or children or any familial ties ever again.
Ugly Naked Guy on “Friends” was seen at least once, when Ross went to talk UKG into sub-letting the apartment to him. IIRC, you only saw the back of his balding head and a rather hairy shoulder.
Jim Dial’s wife on “Murphy Brown” was visible in several episodes, notably the one where Jim wrote a spy novel where the main characters were himself and (unintentionally) Murphy.
Mrs. King’s missing husband was a plot device in “The Scarecrow and Mrs. King”. Even the pictures she had of him had the face obscured. Although, I only saw the first season. Things may have changed.
Wasn’t there a spy who was always inside file cabinets and things on “Get Smart”? I don’t recall ever seeing him out of camouflage.
That was Agent 13. Always got the bad luck assignments of course.
- Number One from ‘The Prisoner’.
- Principal Lazarus from ‘Welcome Back, Kotter’.
IIRC, Rassilon, or at least a hologram of Rassilon, appeared in the 20th anniversary show “The Five Doctors.”
The Doctor occasionally mentioned his family–I believe the Second Doctor vaguely mentioned them in “Tombs of the Cybermen,” and the Third Doctor (I think, may have been the Second) once said something like “They live only in my memory.” Finally, in the infamous TV movie, the Eighth Doctor reveals that he was “half-human, on my mother’s side.”
So, yes, mentioned, but never seen.
Sir
Every kid ever named at the end of Romper Room.
Well…we do see Number One. It’s Patrick McGoohan. Whether it’s actually Number Six or a sort of “alter ego” (McGoohan’s own words) is…
I believe that one of the first uses of this on television was in the mid-1950’s comedy series “December Bride.” Next door neighbor Pete, Harry (Henry) Morgan, was constantly refering to his wife, expecting her to come over, taking phone calls from her, etc, but she was never seen. Her name was Gladys.
It is interesting to note, this couple, Pete and Gladys, proved to be the first “spin-off” in early television. The network brass created a new series while the original series was still on called “Pete and Gladys”. Like Mrs. Colombo, they found an actress to play Gladys opposite Morgan and hoping to capitalize on the original’s popularity put it on the air. The show died a quick death.
The idea of the never-seen (heard) character was also very popular in radio comedies. For instance, Mr. Peevee’s wife in “Fibber MaGee and Molly.”
Drat, I think you’ve beaten me. It just occurred to me that the character of Fang (White Fang) on The Soupy Sales Show was never seen but for one hairy paw, but December Bride premiered in 1954, a year before Soupy got on the air.