# 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:** 22
**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:** [July 8, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/421 "2014-07-08T21:55:58Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > What happened in 1958? I don’t understand. While the OP never gave a reason for the cutoff, nor needs to, I posted my own reason for taking this as a suitable cutoff [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17159702&postcount=197). ---
**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:** [July 10, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/422 "2014-07-10T00:24:43Z")
**Shep Houghton** turned one hundred last month – it was in all the papers – after making his movie debut in the '20s and getting small parts in big movies in the decades since: he’s one of the Southerners milling around in _Gone With The Wind_, he’s a nightclub patron in _The Big Sleep_, he’s a Roman soldier if Claudette Colbert is playing _Cleopatra_, he’s a French soldier if Ingrid Bergman is playing _Joan of Arc_, you name it. And he acted in a number of _Dragnet_ episodes before the OP’s cut-off date, followed by acting in a number of _Ozzie & Harriet_ episodes soon thereafter. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2014, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/423 "2014-07-10T10:21:22Z")
In the '60s, **Harry Landers** spent five seasons as Dr. Ted Hoffman of _Ben Casey_ fame; before that, he earned dozens of pre-'58 credits on everything from _Perry Mason_ to _Have Gun - Will Travel_ to _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ to _Playhouse 90_ 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:** [July 11, 2014, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/424 "2014-07-11T10:46:32Z")
**Jane Powell** was plenty busy on television pre-1958: acting on _Goodyear Theatre_ and _Alcoa Theatre_, making appearances on _The Ed Sullivan Show_, playing mystery guest on _What’s My Line_ – even doing _Producers’ Showcase_ with a young **Hal Linden**. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2014, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/425 "2014-07-12T11:04:07Z")
From '58 to '64, **Paul Petersen** did hundreds of _Donna Reed Show_ episodes; he then spent the rest of the decade acting on _The Flying Nun_ and _Mannix_ and so on, followed by yet more roles in the '70s and '80s and '90s and '00s and '10s – and branching out as a writer/director/producer to boot – all after, y’know, qualifying for this thread on _The George Sanders Mystery Theater_ in '57 and _The Ford Television Theatre_ in '56. ---
**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:** [July 13, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/426 "2014-07-13T12:47:53Z")
**Roberta Shore** , who I’m pretty sure wasn’t just Robert Shaw in drag, was acting on _Playhouse 90_ with Eddie Cantor and Peter Lorre back in '56 – after getting work on _The Fireside Theater_ with Jane Wyman, and appearing on _The Pinky Lee Show_ to boot. (In '60 and '61, she was Joyce on _Ozzie & Harriet_; in '61 and '62, Henrietta on _The Bob Cummings Show_; and from '62 to '65, Betsy on _The Virginian_.) ---
**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:** [July 14, 2014, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/427 "2014-07-14T10:37:27Z")
**Ann Gillis** did dozens of movies in the '30s and '40s – she was Becky Thatcher in the classic version of _Tom Sawyer_ back in '38, voiced Faline in _Bambi_, and as per wiki is the last surviving member of the _Beau Geste_ cast – and in the early '50s, she was a TV actress by way of _Out There_ and _Studio One In Hollywood_. Oh, and in the '60s, you could see her in _2001: A Space Odyssey_. ---
**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:** [July 15, 2014, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/428 "2014-07-15T11:06:20Z")
Now ninety-nine, WWII veteran **Jan Merlin** is still with us sixty years after he was getting steady work as Roger Manning on _Tom Corbett, Space Ranger_. After that '51-to-'54 run he played Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr in a 1955 TV movie, and then acted on a dozen shows before the end of '57, after which he spent '58 and '59 as a regular on _The Rough Riders_. And he kept working in the '60s – _Perry Mason_, _Mission: Impossible_, _Bonanza_, and et cetera – before winning an Emmy in the '70s, and then getting right back to work in the '80s whenever the gang on _The A-Team_ or _Riptide_ or _Dallas_ or whatever had something interesting for him to do. ---
**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:** [July 16, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/429 "2014-07-16T06:24:36Z")
**Earl Cameron** was acting on _Chevron Theatre_ in '52, and after doing a couple of TV movies got work on a few TV shows before landing his first recurring role in '57. Most recent IMDB credit was back in October, at the age of ninety-six. ---
**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:** [July 17, 2014, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/430 "2014-07-17T11:21:39Z")
After making his Broadway debut in the late '50s – in _The Music Man_, alongside the inimitable Robert Preston – **Eddie Hodges** became one of the few people to act on both _Gunsmoke_ and _LAW & ORDER_, taking the time in between to do an Elvis movie in the '60s and a kung-fu movie in the '70s and et cetera. Anyhow, back in '59 Hodges memorably sang “High Hopes” with Frank Sinatra on the big screen in _A Hole In The Head_; the year before that, he was acting on _Omnibus_; and in the years before that, _The Jackie Gleason Show_ and _Name That Tune_. Yes, the episode with John Glenn. (Who’s also still with us, come to think of it.) ---
**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:** [July 18, 2014, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/431 "2014-07-18T10:25:01Z")
**Lydia Reed** , who acted in _High Society_ with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly – as well as _The Seven Little Foys_, with Bob Hope and Jimmy Cagney – racked up credits on over a dozen television shows before she started her '57-'63 run on _The Real McCoys_, all after making her debut in a TV movie back in 1952. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2014, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/432 "2014-07-19T10:43:07Z")
Over the last decade, **Patty McCormack** went from a recurring role on _The Sopranos_ to a recurring role on _Hart of Dixie_, stopping off to do _Frost/Nixon_ in between. In '57, she was acting on episodes of _Playhouse 90_; before that, she was (a) getting work on _Kraft Theatre_ and _Matinee Theatre_ – and _The Revlon Mirror Theater_, and _General Electric Theater_, and a dozen others besides – and (b) earning herself an Oscar nomination by reprising her most famous Broadway role for the big screen. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2014, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/433 "2014-07-20T11:41:47Z")
Since someone just mentioned **Stan Freberg** in another thread, I’ll add that in '54 and '55 he performed as a comedian on _The Colgate Comedy Hour_ before doing likewise on half-a-dozen episodes of _The NBC Comedy Hour_ in '56 – not to mention doing a little acting on _The Eddie Cantor Comedy Theater_ along the way. (All after his first Emmy nomination back in '51, you understand; the guy started working on television in the '40s, long before he was the voice of Pete Puma.) ---
**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:** [July 20, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/434 "2014-07-20T16:33:32Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > James Garner was on _Maverick_ starting in '57. For that matter, Roger Moore was on the show in '59. They’re both in their mid-80s. Sadly, Garner just died. ☹ ---
**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:** [July 20, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/435 "2014-07-20T21:31:24Z")
Sally Ann Howes turned 84 today. [Credits](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0398141/) go back to 1943 with first TV listing from 1950. Hasn’t done TV/movies in a long while but was performing on stage until fairly recently. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2014, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/436 "2014-07-21T06:04:27Z")
**Gina Lollobrigida** was appearing on _The Jimmy Durante Show_ and _The Ed Sullivan Show_ in '54 and '55 respectively, after making her TV debut on _What’s My Line_ with Steve Allen decades before doing all those _Falcon Crest_ episodes in the '80s. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2014, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/437 "2014-07-22T11:35:26Z")
**Lydia Clarke** was married to Charlton Heston for sixty-four years and acted alongside him on _The Philco-Goodyear Playhouse_ back in '53, after doing episode after episode of _Studio One In Hollywood_. (Before that, she was earning the Theatre World Award on Broadway – oh, and appearing in _The Greatest Show On Earth_, of course.) ---
**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:** [July 22, 2014, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/438 "2014-07-22T21:52:14Z")
Louise Fletcher turns 80 today. Unfortunately, her first [IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001221/) listing is for 1958. Interestingly enough, [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Fletcher) says that her appearance on _Maverick_ in 1959 was the highest rated episode of the late great James Garner’s show. I’m hoping someone will turn up a pre-1958 credit for her. For thread-conformance: One of her co-stars in a _Playhouse 90_ episode was [Isabel Cooley](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0177601/) who started on TV in 1957 and continued to 1990s. Apparently still alive. Another co-star in one of her early credits is the thread-popular Rance Howard. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/439 "2014-07-23T23:09:21Z")
I think we can count **Connie Francis** , who appeared on a number of TV shows before 1958 (when she was on all those _Dick Clark Show_ episodes) and 1959 (when she was acting on _The United States Steel Hour_ and singing on _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:** [July 24, 2014, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/440 "2014-07-24T12:24:56Z")
**Clifton James** was the fat Southern sheriff in Roger Moore’s 007 movies, and the fat Southern sheriff in SILVER STREAK and SUPERMAN II; he was also a fat Southern sheriff on THE FALL GUY and THE A-TEAM and THE DUKES OF HAZZARD; and he was, of course, a state trooper on _The Phil Silvers Show_ back in 1957, after making his Broadway debut as – and I’m quoting, here – “A Cop”. Movie in the works for later this year, incidentally. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=23)