# 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:** 3
**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:** [February 13, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/41 "2014-02-13T12:40:01Z")
Warren Beatty and Tuesday Weld had recurring roles on _The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis_ back in '59, which (a) is admittedly the wrong side of '58, but (b) came after both of 'em had gotten TV work in '57. (Which is also true of Dobie Gillis himself – stretching back through '56 and '55 and ‘54 for ol’ Dwayne Hickman.) ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/42 "2014-02-13T13:45:27Z")
Lauren Bacall, who’s 89, appeared in a live TV version of _The Petrified Forest_ in 1955. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/43 "2014-02-13T14:24:39Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > He’s still alive? I thought he died in 1987. 😉 He just looks that way. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/44 "2014-02-13T14:27:24Z")
Oscar winner [Cloris Leachman](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001458) started in the late 1940s, was working TV shows regularly in the early 1950s and is still appearing as a regular on a prime time network show. Was nominated for a 2011 Emmy. She was even a contestant on _Dancing With The Stars_ in 2005! ---
**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:** [February 13, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/45 "2014-02-13T15:34:48Z")
Doris Roberts won all those Emmys for _Everybody Loves Raymond_ after a TV career dating back to '51 – which reminds me that Jerry Stiller, like Anne Meara, was also getting television work well before '58. Oh, and in his twenties Dean Stockwell got pre-'58 television work – from _Climax!_ to _Matinee Theater_ to _Schlitz Playhouse_ to _The United Steel Hour_ to _Wagon Train_ – and was still in his twenties when he landed that recurring role on _Dr Kildare_, and in his thirties when he popped up in episode after episode after episode after episode of _Police Story_, and after a lot of movies in his forties was in his fifties during _Quantum Leap_, followed by yet more movies in his sixties followed by yet more TV work on _Battlestar Galactica_ in his seventies, and he doesn’t seem to be slowing down, which is pretty good for someone who got his start as a child actor on the silver screen circa 1945. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2014, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/46 "2014-02-13T15:57:30Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner both wrote for Sid Caeser. Angela Lansbury appeared on _Your Show Of Shows_ in '54, after other TV work dating back to 1950 (on _Robert Montgomery Presents_ and _Lux Video Theater_). And, after a quick check at IMDB, I see that Rose Marie is still alive and working, with pre-'58 TV credits on _Gunsmoke_ and _The Red Skelton Hour_. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/47 "2014-02-13T16:27:41Z")
Don Pardo was announcing for NBC before they even had a television network. Angela Cartwright was acting on TV as early as 1957. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/48 "2014-02-13T16:36:23Z")
James _“Officer Rosco P. Coltrane”_ Best got plenty of work in TV westerns before 1958, from **Have Gun, Will Travel** to **Trackdown** to **Red Ryder** to **Frontier** to **Annie Oakley** to **The Adventures of Kit Carson** to **The Adventures of Champion** to **Hopalong Cassidy** to **The Gene Autry Show** to **Buffalo Bill Jr** to **The Lone Ranger** to **Stories of the Century**. (Man, this country just could not get its fill of westerns in the '50s.) ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/49 "2014-02-13T17:46:34Z")
Johnny Crawford from The Rifleman is still around. That started in '58, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/50 "2014-02-13T17:50:38Z")
I saw Norman Lloyd in something recently. He’ll be 100 this year if he makes it to November, and he has a 2014 acting credit in his IMDB filmography. He was a regular in all the early anthology shows (Kraft Theater, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/51 "2014-02-13T18:02:27Z")
David Attenborough. He’s worked (with a few gaps) for the BBC since 1952- behind the scenes at first, then in front of the camera from 1954, and he’s still regularly presenting stuff in the UK today. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/52 "2014-02-13T18:03:25Z")
Before people figured out what Barbara Eden was put on this planet to do, she was all over the place on pre-1958 TV; in '57, during her first year as a castmember on **How To Marry A Millionaire** , she did an **I Love Lucy** episode and a **Perry Mason** episode and a **Gunsmoke** episode and so on for **Bachelor Father** and **Crossroads** and **Highway Patrol** and **December Bride**. And 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:** [February 13, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/53 "2014-02-13T18:18:12Z")
Back before Honor Blackman was Pussy Galore, or even Cathy Gale, she was getting television work on _Boyd QC_ and _The New Adventures of Charlie Chan_ in '57, and the _ITV Play Of The Week_ and _Rheingold Theatre_ in '56, and _The Vise_ in '55 and '54. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/54 "2014-02-13T19:07:18Z")
Mart Tyler Moore is still around. Eva Marie Saint appeared in DuMont network television in the late 1940s. Goerge Kennedy was in **The Phil Silvers Show** (called **Bilko** in syndication) in the late 1950s. Hugh Downs really got his start in 1957 on **The Jack Paar Show** (aka **The Tonight 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:** [February 13, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/55 "2014-02-13T20:13:47Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > Goerge Kennedy was in **The Phil Silvers Show** (called **Bilko** in syndication) in the late 1950s. Holy moley. I thought George had died several years back. Good to hear he’s still with us. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/56 "2014-02-13T20:17:22Z")
[Queen Elizabeth II made her first Christmas TV broadcast in 1957,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRP-o6Q85s) and she’s still lookin’ fine on television. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/57 "2014-02-13T20:20:05Z")
Rod Serling is still around even though he died in 1975. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/58 "2014-02-13T20:46:13Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > [Don Hastings](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Hastings) started in TV in 1947, and appeared in **Captain Video** in 1949. He went into soap operas in the 1950s and was a regular on **As the World Turns** until it went off the air in 2010. As is his older brother Bob who first appeared on television in 1949 > **[Bob Hastings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hastings)** > > Robert Francis Hastings (April 18, 1925 – June 30, 2014) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Lt. Elroy Carpenter on McHale's Navy and voicing Commissioner James Gordon in the DC Animated Universe. Bob Hastings was also in episode season 1 Adam-12 episode 13- log 122: Christmas- the yellow dump truck. > Hastings was born in Brooklyn, New York to Charles and Hazel Hastings. His father was a salesman. He started out as a boy singer on National Barn Dance,: 251-252  Doug Gra... ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/59 "2014-02-13T20:52:26Z")
Hugh O’Brian starred in “Life and Times of Wyatt Earp” 1955-61. He will be 89 in April. Wiki says he got married for the first time at age 81 and his official website says he will call you for a three minute conversation for $100. > **[Hugh O'Brian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_O'Brian)** > > Hugh O'Brian (born Hugh Charles Krampe; April 19, 1925 – September 5, 2016) was an American actor and humanitarian, best known for his starring roles in the ABC Western television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961) and the NBC action television series Search (1972–1973). His notable films included the adaptation of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians (1965); he also had a notable supporting role in John Wayne's last film, The Shootist (1976). > He created the Hugh O'Brian Yo... ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/60 "2014-02-13T20:58:24Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Hugh O’Brian starred in “Life and Times of Wyatt Earp” 1955-61. He will be 89 in April. Wiki says he got married for the first time at age 81 and his official website says he will call you for a three minute conversation for $100. > > [Hugh O'Brian - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_O'Brian) Ummm…that’s significantly more than a porn line…so it’s likely that most people will just say “Thanks, but no…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=4)