# 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:** 20
**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 8, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/381 "2014-06-08T00:53:43Z")
**Jimmy Baird** is apparently still alive long after working on _The Bob Hope Show_ and _The Jack Benny Program_ and _Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre_ and the rest before landing a recurring role on _Fury_ in 1957. But the OP didn’t come here for “apparently” – so I’ll promptly add that Jimmy’s big sister **Sharon Baird** did a better job of remaining in the public eye after spending '51 and '52 and '53 acting and dancing on _The Colgate Comedy Hour_: in '54 you could see her performing on _The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show_; in '55, she was acting on _Damon Runyon Theater_; and so on in the '60s and '70s and '80s and '90s and '00s. (A lot of the '70s stuff was _HR Pufnstuf_/_Lidsville_/_Sigmund and the Sea Monsters_ work, but, hey, that still counts.) ---
**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 9, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/382 "2014-06-09T02:08:18Z")
After making his TV debut on _The Ray Milland Show_, **Joey D. Vieira** had a recurring role on half-a-dozen _The Pride of the Family_ episodes in '53 and '54; from '54 to '57, he had a recurring role on well over ninety episodes of _Lassie_; and he kept acting in the '60s and '70s and '80s and '90s and '00s, with a movie in the works for later this year. ---
**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 10, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/383 "2014-06-10T02:12:15Z")
**Nicolas Coster** – do an image search, and then say _“oh, that guy”_ – has been acting in the movies and on TV since '53: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s, you name it. Last year? Check. This year? Yup. Next year? The flick’s already in post-production. ---
**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 10, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/384 "2014-06-10T15:36:44Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Martha Hyer spent the '60s on the big screen with guys like Redford and Mitchum and Brando and everyone else from John Wayne to Roger Moore after getting an Oscar nomination in the late '50s, but before that she busily racked up acting credits on television – starting with _The Lone Ranger_ in 1950, and on through to her fifth role on _Lux Video Theatre_ in '56, while popping in on ten other TV shows in between. Another one lost. [Passed away aged 89](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2654038/Oscar-nominee-Sabrina-actress-Martha-Hyer-dies-Santa-Fe-home-aged-89.html). ---
**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 11, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/385 "2014-06-11T01:18:29Z")
**Renée Asherson** is still with us at 99, though: first TV appearance back in the '30s, most recent movie role in a Nicole Kidman flick _this_ century, and plenty of pre-1957 work on both the big screen and the small one in between. ---
**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 11, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/386 "2014-06-11T19:28:50Z")
**Jerry Maren** was a frickin’ Munchkin in _The Wizard of Oz_, had his most recent movie credit in 2010, was the _Hamburglar_ in between, and worked on the _Andy’s Gang_ TV series back in '55 even if you don’t count how _Superman and the Mole Men_ got turned into episodes of the show with George Reeves back when. Oh, and he was the diminutive dad from the “Yada Yada” episode of _Seinfeld_. ---
**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 12, 2014, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/387 "2014-06-12T10:26:58Z")
Now in his nineties, **Joe Kirkwood Jr** was Joe Palooka in _The Joe Palooka Story_ in '54 and '55 before doing yet other TV work in '56 (on _Matinee Theatre_) before spending the rest of the 1950s on _The Red Skelton Hour_ and _The Ed Sullivan Show_. ---
**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 13, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/388 "2014-06-13T11:48:41Z")
**Biff McGuire** has credits on some twenty different TV shows in 1957 and earlier, with his most recent movie role circa last year; for the better part of a century, he’s been married to **Jeannie Carson** – who starred in _Hey, Jeannie!_ in 1956 and 1957 after singing on _The Jimmy Durante Show_ and doing a TV movie with Bob Cummings. (Speaking of which, Biff starred as Josiah Blow in the _Legend of Josiah Blow_ TV movie back in '52, and Jeannie was _Heidi_ in a made-for-TV version with supporting roles for everyone from Natalie Wood to Wally Cox back in '55.) ---
**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 14, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/389 "2014-06-14T10:50:38Z")
Before doing _The Jack Benny Hour_ in '59 and _The Frank Sinatra Show_ in '58 – and before appearing in a couple of movies in '57 – **Mitzi Gaynor** was making the rounds on _The Ed Sullivan Show_ and _The Donald O’Connor Show_ and et cetera in the golden age of television, after racking up film credits all the way back to the '40s. ---
**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 15, 2014, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/390 "2014-06-15T12:03:26Z")
Richard Chamberlain almost counts, since he made his TV debut in '59. And he has a movie in the works for later this year with **Sally Kemp** , who picked up television roles in the '00s and the '90s and the '80s and the '70s and the '60s – and, yes, back in '57 was acting on _Armstrong Circle Theatre_ and _The Kaiser Aluminum Hour_ years after she first appeared on _Robert Montgomery Presents_. ---
**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 16, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/391 "2014-06-16T23:51:02Z")
**Lonnie Burr** was getting work on episodes of _The Colgate Comedy Hour_ in 1950, and after some movies in '51 acted on _The Roy Rogers Show_ in '52 and _The Range Rider_ in '53, followed by decades of work in yet other movies and TV shows. (How many other guys can say they shared the big screen with both Danny Kaye and Jean-Claude Van Damme? Who else has small-screen credits from ‘Medicine Man’ on _The Beverly Hillbillies_ to ‘Strip Club Manager’ on _Homicide: Life On The Street_?) ---
**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 17, 2014, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/392 "2014-06-17T23:35:30Z")
Back before the first _Mickey Mouse Club_ episode in '55, **Cubby O’Brien** was earning TV credits on _Where’s Raymond?_ and _The Hoffman Hayride_; in '56, he was on the big screen with everyone from George Reeves to Iron Eyes Cody, after which he spent the '60s bouncing around from a Natalie Wood flick to an Elvis Presley flick before doing yet more TV in the '70s and '80s and performing on Broadway in the '90s and '00s. ---
**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 18, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/393 "2014-06-18T15:38:40Z")
I don’t see any mention of **Don Keefer** , who (a) got work on over a dozen TV shows back before '58 – _Gunsmoke_, _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_, _The Phil Silvers Show_, and so on – and who also (b) has a danged fun name to say. ---
**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 19, 2014, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/394 "2014-06-19T11:23:42Z")
WWII veteran **Kirk Douglas** made the rounds on _What’s My Line_ and _Name That Tune_ when he wasn’t busy on _The Colgate Comedy Hour_ or _The Jack Benny Program_ – all before '56, when he was tapped to serve as guest host of _The Ed Sullivan Show_. In '57, he hosted the _General Motors 50th Anniversary Show_; in '58, he got his own _This Is Your Life_ episode; and in '59, he became a TV producer with _The Vikings_. ---
**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 20, 2014, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/395 "2014-06-20T11:40:55Z")
**Jean Darling** of _Our Gang_ fame is still alive – and still acting, as of last year – and could be seen on TV as far back as '52, on _All Star Summer Revue_. ---
**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 21, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/396 "2014-06-21T23:54:50Z")
**Virna Lisa** , who was so good with Jack Lemmon in _How To Murder Your Wife_, is still at work as of this year – a TV miniseries back in February, a movie currently filming, and so on – and in 1957, played Elizabeth Bennett in a made-for-television version of _Pride and Prejudice_ before doing some TV movies in '58 (followed by yet another TV movie, plus another TV miniseries, in '59). ---
**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 22, 2014, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/397 "2014-06-22T23:26:20Z")
Wiki says nonagenarian **Peter Sallis** was in every _Last Of The Summer Wine_ episode from 1973 to 2010, and IMDB specifies that he acted in a couple of TV movies and got work on television show after television show after television show before 1957, and I’d sure like to add that he’s of course Wallace of _& Gromit_ fame. ---
**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 23, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/398 "2014-06-23T18:32:04Z")
Yesterday was the 82nd birthday of [Prunella Scales](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0768795), Sybil from _Fawlty Towers_. First started work on the tube in 1952 and still active. Other _FT_ cast members that qualify include [Elizabeth Benson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0072483/), [Bernard Cribbins](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0187754/), [Geoffrey Palmer](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0658244/), and [John Quarmby](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0702921). [Andrew Sachs](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0755133/) (“Manuel”) just misses the cutoff.\* - At least per IMDb. The listings for early British shows is not nearly as complete as for US ones. ---
**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 23, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/399 "2014-06-23T18:44:02Z")
**Bobby Burgess** was a dancer on _The Lawrence Welk Show_ from '61 to '82, and before that he was acting on _The Donna Reed Show_ in '58, and before that he’s got TV credits in '57 and '56 and '55, with his most recent IMDB appearance hitting last year. ---
**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 24, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/400 "2014-06-24T22:59:42Z")
**Lynn Ready** got a recurring role on _Ozzie & Harriet_ after earning TV credits in '57. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=21)