# Who's left from early TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218 "2014-02-13T03:45:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/361 "2014-05-27T11:00:45Z")
Patron deity of the SDMB **Sammy Ogg** was in a number of pre-'55 _Dragnet_ episodes after making his television debut on _Fireside Theatre_ in '51 – same year he was on the big screen, in _The Day The Earth Stood Still_ – followed by _I Love Lucy_ in '52, and _Our Miss Brooks_ in '53, and _Make Room For Daddy_ in '54, and _The Gene Autry Show_ in '55, and _Annie Oakley_ in '56, and _Schlitz Playhouse_ in '57, and et cetera. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/362 "2014-05-27T16:18:03Z")
Robert Duvall was in theater for years and started into television in 1959 on the Armstrong Circle Theater. He’s 83. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/363 "2014-05-27T23:35:39Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Robert Duvall was in theater for years and started into television in 1959 on the Armstrong Circle Theater. He’s 83. Sadly, the OP puts the cut-off date at '58. So an _Armstrong Circle Theatre_ alum like **Luke Halpin** counts, since he picked up _Studio One In Hollywood_ work in '55 and '56 and '57 – and played Jake Oakley in a TV movie of _Annie Get Your Gun_ before the deadline likewise – but not because of his years acting on _Flipper_ in the '60s, or his movie roles in the '70s, or his stunt work in the '80s and '90s and '00s, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/364 "2014-05-28T11:03:49Z")
**Kevin Corcoran** made his TV debut in '53, on _Ford Television Theatre_; in '54, he was on the big screen with Jimmy Stewart for _The Glenn Miller Story_; in '55, _Untamed_ with Tyrone Power; and in '56, back on television for _December Bride_ before showing up in '57 on _Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color_. Most recent acting credit in '09, but he’s apparently been busy since – racking up behind-the-scenes credits on _Sons of Anarchy_ just like he did on _The Shield_ before it, and just like _Crossing Jordan_ before that, and so on back through _Providence_ and _Profiler_ and _Murder She Wrote_ and _Quantum Leap_ and _Baywatch_ and _Simon & Simon_ and _Scarecrow and Mrs King_ and et cetera. Oh, and pre-'58 he was a castmember on _The New Adventures of Spin and Marty_ as well as, y’know, _Further Adventures of Spin and Marty_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/365 "2014-05-29T11:05:54Z")
**David Stollery** made his TV debut in 1950, on _Fireside Theatre_, and promptly racked up a bunch of pre-'58 television credits: on _Celebrity Playhouse,_ with Joseph Cotten; and _The Gale Storm Show,_ with Morey Amsterdam; and _The Ray Milland Show,_ with, uh, Ray Milland; and _I Love Lucy,_ with – okay, you get where this is going, right? Anyhow, throw in a Henry Ford TV movie, and work on _Studio 57_, and a role on _Dragnet_, and so on, right up to the deadline, sure as he’s still with us now. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/366 "2014-05-30T10:35:30Z")
**Fay McKenzie** is still with us, after her work on episodes of _The Colgate Comedy Hour_ pre-'54 and her work in all those Gene Autry movies pre-'44 – and she did dozens of movies back in the '30s, after doing yet more in the '20s, after making her screen debut in a silent film back in 1918. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2014, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/367 "2014-05-31T13:04:20Z")
**George Cole** was in a few TV movies before he did a 1957 episode of _Suspense_ before acting in a bunch of _Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color_ episodes in the '60s; next year, he’s set to (a) turn ninety, and (b) return to the big screen. (No, I’m not using “return to the big screen” as a euphemism for “die”; I’m referring to how he acted in plenty of movies back in the '40s, before getting the leading role on a radio sitcom starting in '53; he also picked up plenty of stage credits; go check out his autobiography some time, it only just hit the shelves a matter of months ago.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/368 "2014-06-01T20:43:14Z")
**Julie Newmar** of course did plenty of TV work in the '60s – on _Star Trek_ and _Batman_ and _Get Smart_ and _The Beverly Hillbillies_ after starring in _My Living Doll_ – but only after making her small-screen debut back in '57, on _The Phil Silvers Show_. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/369 "2014-06-01T21:58:59Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > **Julie Newmar** of course did plenty of TV work in the '60s – on _Star Trek_ and _Batman_ and _Get Smart_ and _The Beverly Hillbillies_ after starring in _My Living Doll_ – but only after making her small-screen debut back in '57, on _The Phil Silvers Show_. Oh, good one. Inspired me to check Mamie Van Doren’s IMDb [page](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0886638/). Yup, she qualifies. Well, sort of. Really stretching there. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2014, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/370 "2014-06-01T23:12:24Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Oh, good one. Inspired me to check Mamie Van Doren’s IMDb [page](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0886638/). Yup, she qualifies. Well, sort of. Really stretching there. Hey, you know who likewise appeared as the mystery guest on _What’s My Line_ before the cut-off date? And who, like Van Doren, appeared on both _Lux Video Theatre_ and _The Steve Allen Plymouth Show_ pre-'58? But who, instead of making the rounds on _The Linkletter Show_ and _The Ray Anthony Show_ like Van Doren did, busily made the rounds on _The Frank Sinatra Show_ and _The Bob Hope Show_ and _The Ed Sullivan Show_ before the end of 1957? [Kim Novak](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001571/?mode=desktop&ref_=m_ft_dsk). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/371 "2014-06-02T10:40:21Z")
Now in her nineties, **Kathleen O’Malley** has movie credits stretching back to the '20s, with TV work from _The George Burns And Gracie Allen Show_ in '51 to _Racket Squad_ in '52, _The Abbott and Costello Show_ in '53, _The Loretta Young Show_ in '54 – and so on for _The Man Called X_ and _Navy Log_ and _The Millionaire_ and _Schlitz Playhouse_ and _Wagon Train_ and _The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp_ before the deadline – after which, she spent the rest of the '50s continuing to work on small-screen westerns: _Rawhide_, _Maverick_, _Bronco_, _Laramie_, _Tales of Wells Fargo_, you name it. You maybe remember her from that Chris-Farley-and-David-Spade flick in the '90s? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/372 "2014-06-02T15:37:39Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Ann B. Davis of “Love That Bob,” who is of course better known as Alice from the Brady Bunch, is still with us. Well, no, [not anymore](http://fox6now.com/2014/06/01/tmz-com-ann-b-davis-the-brady-bunchs-alice-dead-at-88/). ☹ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/373 "2014-06-02T17:27:17Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Well, no, [not anymore](http://fox6now.com/2014/06/01/tmz-com-ann-b-davis-the-brady-bunchs-alice-dead-at-88/). ☹ **Olive Sturgess** , who was credited alongside her in half-a-dozen of those _Bob_ episodes in '57 and '56 – and who got lots of work in '55, on _Matinee Theatre_ and _Studio 57_ and _Front Row Center_ and _The Millionaire_ and _Shower of Stars_ and et cetera – is apparently still with us. Still, RIP And-Ann-B-Davis-As-Alice. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2014, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/374 "2014-06-03T11:00:56Z")
Since there’s another _Hobbit_ movie on the way for later this year, **Ian Holm** is still acting decades after his Oscar-nominated work in _Chariots of Fire_, decades after performing in a made-for-TV version of _Rope_ back in '57. In '59, he and fellow future Tony winner **Roy Dotrice** appeared in a made-for-TV version of _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_; Dotrice had previously acted on a number of TV shows (and a TV movie of _Treasure Island_) back in '57, sure as you’ve maybe seen him recently on _Game of Thrones_. Incidentally, the guy playing Oberon in that production was **Robert Hardy** , who made his small-screen debut way back in '51 before playing Cassio in a TV movie of _Othello_ in '55 and playing _David Copperfield_ in over a dozen episodes during '56; he’s got a movie role in the works for later this year likewise. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/375 "2014-06-04T10:39:39Z")
As per IMDB, **June Whitfield** ’s most recent acting credit was back in March, long after her television debut back in 1951; she then did a couple of TV movies before the end of 1957, popping in on half-a-dozen TV shows along the way – not counting her work as a small-screen voice actress, you understand – and then kept on keeping on; right after the OP’s cut-off date, you could see her on _This Is Your Life_ in '58, right before she spent the better part of a century busily racking up TV and movie roles. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/376 "2014-06-04T12:35:36Z")
Has June Foray been mentioned yet? She started her career so long ago she was an established radio star before television began. And she’s still working. (Her age is uncertain as she’s “adjusted” her birth year a few times. But she’s apparently 96.) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/377 "2014-06-04T14:08:08Z")
[The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pat_Boone_Chevy_Showroom) aired from October 3, 1957 to June 23, 1960. And Pat is still with us (for now). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/378 "2014-06-05T11:01:38Z")
**Carleton Carpenter** , who went from Broadway to the big screen in the '40s, was in a made-for-TV movie in '54 before making the rounds in '55 – on _Goodyear Playhouse_ and _The Alcoa Hour_ and _The Best of Broadway_, and _General Electric Theater_, plus a recurring role on _Luke and the Tenderfoot_. He kept racking up credits in '56 and '57 – not to mention '58 and '59, and on through the '60s and '70s and '80s – and as per IMDB is (a) still alive, and (b) set to appear in a documentary later this year. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/379 "2014-06-05T14:41:21Z")
Has **Mary Tyler Moore** been mentioned? In different sources, I see her TV debut as a dancer ranging from 1952 to 1956. The earliest thing I personally have ever seen her act in was a 1959 episode of _ **Steve Canyon** _. She only had a very brief walk-on part, but I recognized her instantly! This apparently was her TV debut on the _ **Ozzie and Harriet Show** _: DOB for MTM: 29 December 1936. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/380 "2014-06-06T10:28:18Z")
**Sherry Alberoni** has all kinds of TV credits from '58 on: she’d work on a western, she’d get recurring roles on sitcom after sitcom, she’d join the cast of a soap opera; she was even the voice of Wendy on _SuperFriends_; but before all of that, she was a _Mickey Mouse Club_ Mouseketeer before doing an Abbott and Costello movie in '56. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=20)