Bob Newhart. Everything you know him for came after The Entertainers, which won an Emmy and put him on the map.
Really? This is the first guy you think of? Not George Clooney, Will Smith, etc? Guys who are now mega A listers after having successful tv shows?
Ron Howard - The Andy Griffith Show
James Garner - Maverick
Several hit tv shows and a bunch of movies
This is what I came by to say. Clooney was the clear breakout actor of a series that has since passed away (he was almost unknown before), and he has one of the most estimable careers going of any performer today.
I always felt his career has been on a downward spiral since The Facts Of Life went off the air.
Yeah, the guy’s had a heckuva career on both sides of the camera. Iconic roles on iconic TV series, and film roles in cult classics, actual classics, and some great popcorn movies. Not to mention a long, actual Hollywood marriage, recent seperation aside. And all the more impressive when you remember that he, well, looks like Danny Devito.
Billy Crystal. He played one of TV’s first openly gay characters, Jody Dallas, on Soap. He’s gone onto a hugely successful movie career on both sides of the camera.
You caught me. I didn’t think about the wording long enough when writing the OP. Or else I didn’t consider all the others who would have outranked my guys in that list. But the ones you folks have provided will help me realize my short-sightedness.
Another way to phrase the question would be to ask who is the most successful actor in the world who got his start on a T.V. show? By box office numbers, that’s Tom Hanks, who is #2 after Samuel L. Jackson (who was never a series regular). If you don’t count Eddie Murphy of SNL, he’s followed by Robin Williams, Johnny Depp and Bruce Willis.
A few more:
Pierce Brosnan of Remington Steele
Michael Douglas of The Streets of San Francisco
Who can forget Ben Affleck’s star-making turn on Voyage of the Mimi
Morgan Freeman seems to have had some sort of career after his breakthrough role on The Electric Company
Denzel Washington in St. Elsewhere.
I think a breakthrough role is one in which the actor becomes really famous. George Clooney in ER counts but George Clooney in The Facts of Life does not.
Well, Julianna Margulies hasn’t done so poorly as The Good Wife.
Steve McQueen — Wanted Dead or Alive
Mega star with movies like, Magnificent 7, Thomas Crown Affair, Le Mans, Getaway, Tom Horn. Sounder.
Lee Marvin — M Squad
Academy Award winning actor with movies like, Cat Balou, Ship of Fools, Hell in the Pacific.
I might add
Bert Reynolds — Riverboat
big star with movies like, Deliverance, Smokey and the Bandit, Boogie Nights and two or three other television series.
Sorry, but another came to mind.
Goldie Hawn — Laugh In
A list star with films like, Cactus Flower, Butter Flies Are Free, Overboard, First Wives Club.
Beat me to it.
Mary Tyler Moore