# 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:** 26
**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:** [September 12, 2014, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/501 "2014-09-12T11:46:02Z")
Switching gears from _The Twilight Zone_ to _The Addams Family_ – no, not that one; the one with Raul Julia and Christina Ricci – there’s **Judith Malina** as Granny long after her TV debut on _The Goldbergs_ back in '54. (And, since she’s still up and around, I guess she could get work on the all-new all-different _The Goldbergs_.) You maybe remember her as Aunt Dottie, on _The Sopranos_ – or as Al Pacino’s mom, in _Dog Day Afternoon_ – or from the Woody Allen picture she did back in the '80s, or from _Queen of Sheba Meets Atom Man_ in the '60s – or from that TV movie she was in last year, on the heels of that romantic comedy she did with Kristen Bell? She’s got a long and weird list of credits, is what I’m saying. ---
**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:** [September 12, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/502 "2014-09-12T20:48:09Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Switching gears from _The Twilight Zone_ to _The Addams Family_ – no, not that one; the one with Raul Julia and Christina Ricci – there’s **Judith Malina** as Granny long after her TV debut on _The Goldbergs_ back in '54. (And, since she’s still up and around, I guess she could get work on the all-new all-different _The Goldbergs_.) Wow! People have got to check out her IMDb [page](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0539652/). Astonishing she has only 32 credits listed over such a long career. While she seems to have taken most the 70s and early 80s off, still you’d expect a much bigger list for someone who doesn’t seem to have had a problem finding work for over 60 years. _And_ she was married to the [creepy guy](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0065191/) in Poltergeist II. Plus anyone who played a grandma in the 60s has to be dead by now, right? ---
**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:** [September 13, 2014, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/503 "2014-09-13T11:16:56Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Wow! People have got to check out her IMDb [page](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0539652/). Astonishing she has only 32 credits listed over such a long career. While she seems to have taken most the 70s and early 80s off, still you’d expect a much bigger list for someone who doesn’t seem to have had a problem finding work for over 60 years. Her fellow _Goldbergs_ alum **Viola Harris** earned a more reasonable fifty IMDB credits: she spent the '50s getting work on _M Squad_ and _The Betty Hutton Show_; the '60s on _Gidget_ and _Rawhide_; the '70s, _All In The Family_ and _Ironside_; and et cetera through _LAW AND ORDER_ and _LAW AND ORDER: SVU_ and right on up to (a) that Will Ferrell movie a few years back, and (b) a Heather Graham movie filming at present. (And, man, _The Secret Friend_ was just all kinds of award-bait back in 2010.) ---
**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:** [September 14, 2014, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/504 "2014-09-14T11:51:20Z")
There was an article last year about how **Lita Milan** – who did drama on _Playhouse 90_ and _Public Defender_, and comedy on _The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show_ and _The Bob Cummings Show_, along with westerns like _The Adventures of Jim Bowie_ and _The Sheriff of Cochise_, plus otherwise acting alongside everyone from Joseph Cotten to George Sanders on the small screen when she wasn’t up on the big screen with Buster Crabbe or Edward G. Robinson, all well before the end of '57 – is of course still with us, though long past her jet-set days now that she’s just Trujillo’s widow. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2014, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/505 "2014-09-15T11:02:18Z")
WWII veteran **John Stephenson** made his TV debut in '53, on _My Little Margie_; he then acted on half-a-dozen different shows in '54 before playing Roger Crutcher on _The People’s Choice_ in '55 and '56 and '57; he otherwise beat the OP’s deadline on everything from _Dragnet_ to _Perry Mason_ before spending all those years in the '60s voicing Mister Slate on _The Flintstones_. (His voice acting work pretty much runs the comic-book gamut: he was Professor X in an X-MEN cartoon, and Doctor Doom in a FANTASTIC FOUR cartoon, and Uncle Ben in a SPIDER-MAN cartoon; and he was Benton Quest on JONNY QUEST, and General Hawk on GI JOE – and even Marvin, on SUPERFRIENDS – and, well, you name it: when he wasn’t voicing Magneto or Doctor Strange, he was Bionic-1 of THE BIONIC SIX.) ---
**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:** [September 15, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/506 "2014-09-15T17:09:06Z")
In looking up stuff for a thread on magic, I remembered pioneer TV magician [Mark Wilson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Wilson_(magician)). While his first IMDb credit is from 1960, he was doing local and then regional TV starting in 1955. ---
**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:** [September 16, 2014, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/507 "2014-09-16T11:13:08Z")
**Charles Braverman** was acting on TV back in '57, but by the '60s he’d transitioned to working as a cinematographer with young director George Lucas; Braverman went on to earn directing credits of his own in the '70s and '80s and '90s and '00s – picking up an Oscar nomination along the way – and now exclusively plays _producer_ here in the '10s; his most recent project hit screens earlier 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:** [September 17, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/508 "2014-09-17T23:51:42Z")
Tony winner **Ann Wedgeworth** has a long line of television credits stretching back from _Evening Shade_ in the '90s to _Roseanne_ in the '80s to _Three’s Company_ in the '70s to _Another World_ in the '60s, all the way back to _Kraft Theatre_ in '57; her most recent acting credit was a little Sundance movie with Paul Giamatti and Michelle Williams. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2014, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/509 "2014-09-18T10:29:10Z")
Back in '54, **Eugene Mazzola** was acting on _Medic_ and _Passport to Danger_; in '55, he was on _The Lone Wolf_ and _Stage 7_; in '56, _The Loretta Young Show_ and _Conflict_; in '57, _Broken Arrow_ and _Wagon Train_; and so on through the rest of the '50s, as well as the '60s (_Rawhide_, _Bonanza_) and '70s (_To Rome With Love_, _Streets of San Francisco_). He also started picking up assistant director credits in the '70s – and kept picking up assistant director credits in the '80s and '90s and '00s – such that he’s currently working as an assistant director on a movie set to come out next year. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_York](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_York)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/510 "2014-09-18T11:32:19Z")
> [@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. James Garner died last July, Whoops, didn’t notice thread was that old. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/511 "2014-09-20T00:16:34Z")
**Yvonne Fedderson** had a recurring role on _The George Burns And Gracie Allen Show_ in '57, the same year she carried on with her _Father Knows Best_ recurring role from '56 (which she then kept at in '58 and '59). And she was otherwise plenty busy before the cut-off date, acting on _The Adventures of Jim Bowie_ and _The Hardy Boys_ when she wasn’t up on the big screen with Michael Landon in _I Was A Teenage Werewolf_ or alongside Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn in _The Rainmaker_. She’s since been nominated for the Nobel Prize a whole bunch of times. ---
**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:** [September 20, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/512 "2014-09-20T16:48:21Z")
**Barbara Luna** is probably most famous as Marlena Moreau from the “Mirror, Mirror” episode of _Star Trek_, which came on the heels of assorted small-screen work in the '50s – on _Mike Hammer_ and _Perry Mason_ and _The Untouchables_ and _Hawaiian Eye_, plus a recurring role on _Zorro_ as Theresa Modesto – after her TV debut in '54. ---
**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:** [September 21, 2014, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/513 "2014-09-21T12:29:38Z")
After making his TV debut in '52 on _Racket Squad_, **Bobby Clark** acted on various westerns – _Tales of the Texas Rangers_, _Tales of Wells Fargo_, _Zane Grey Theater_ – before spending '56 and '57 as a regular on _Casey Jones_; his other pre-1958 credits run the gamut from _Screen Directors Playhouse_ to, well, _The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse_. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/514 "2014-09-22T23:22:18Z")
Playboy playmate **Dawn Richard** got work in '56 on _Father Knows Best_ and _Cheyenne_ before spending '57 on shows like _Perry Mason_ and _Conflict_. (You maybe remember her as Pharoah’s daughter in _The Ten Commandments_?) ---
**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:** [September 23, 2014, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/515 "2014-09-23T08:12:43Z")
**Billie Allen** of _Black Like Me_ fame was acting on _The Phil Silvers Show_ in '55 and '56 and '57 (and '58 and '59, for that matter). ---
**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:** [September 24, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/516 "2014-09-24T15:33:43Z")
**Julia Meade** made her TV acting debut in '52, on _Lux Video Theatre_, before appearing on everything from _The Ed Sullivan Show_ to _Goodyear Playhouse_ to _Your Hit Parade_ prior to the end of '57, after which she of course made the rounds on _Playhouse 90_ and _To Tell The Truth_ and et cetera. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2014, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/517 "2014-09-25T10:29:33Z")
Long before she was acting on hundreds of _Peyton Place_ episodes, **Patricia Morrow** was on _I Led 3 Lives_ in 1954 and 1955 and 1956 before spending 1957 appearing on _General Electric Theater_ with Frank Gorshin and a TV movie with Mary Martin. ---
**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:** [September 26, 2014, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/518 "2014-09-26T10:41:17Z")
Back before becoming the mother of Lorenzo Lamas, **Arlene Dahl** was of course busily performing on _The Colgate Comedy Hour_ and _The Frank Sinatra Show_ in 1951, followed by getting work on _The Bob Hope Show_ and _Your Show of Shows_ in 1952, followed by hosting _The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse_ in 1953 and 1954, followed by acting on _Lux Video Theatre_ and _The Ford Television Theatre_ in 1955, and otherwise making the rounds on _What’s My Line_ and _The Milton Berle Show_ and et cetera. ---
**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:** [September 27, 2014, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/519 "2014-09-27T11:44:16Z")
After doing movies in the '40s with Fred Astaire and Elizabeth Taylor and et cetera, **Sara Shane** made her television debut in '52 on _Crown Theatre With Gloria Swanson_ before doing _I Led 3 Lives_ in '53, _Lux Video Theatre_ in '54, _The Great Gildersleeve_ in '55, and the _Johnny Moccasin_ TV movie in '56 – after which you could see her on _Dragnet_ and _The Bob Cummings Show_ in '57. ---
**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:** [September 27, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/520 "2014-09-27T22:05:44Z")
Jayne Meadows, one of the early mentions in this thread, is 95 years young today. Born to missionaries in China. (I keep noticing a seemingly high percentage of actors born somewhere other than their “homeland”.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=25) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=27)