# 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:** 30
**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:** [November 14, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/581 "2014-11-14T17:02:58Z")
The great **Gena Rowlands** is still acting long after her Golden Globe nominations in the '00s and '90s, after her wins in the '80s and '70s, after showing up for season after season of _Peyton Place_ in the '60s, after getting plenty of small-screen work before the end of '57 on _Goodyear Playhouse_ and _Ponds Theater_ and maybe half-a-dozen other TV shows dating back to her television 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:** [November 15, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/582 "2014-11-15T12:59:01Z")
**Richard Eyer** had roles on _The Roy Rogers Show_ and _The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse_ and _Science Fiction Theatre_ and _The Red Skelton Hour_ and _Father Knows Best_ and a dozen other TV shows – plus a dozen big-screen movies – before the end of 1957, soon after which he became a castmember on _Stagecoach West_. ---
**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:** [November 16, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/583 "2014-11-16T13:23:04Z")
**Madeleine Sherwood** got work on _The Philco-Goodyear Television Hour_ and _Suspense_ and _Danger_ and _You Are There_ and _Studio One In Hollywood_ and so on by the end of '57; in '58, she brought her Broadway role to film in _Cat On A Hot Tin Roof_; and, after doing _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ and _Decoy_ and et cetera, she was back alongside Paul Newman for yet more Tennessee Williams in _Sweet Bird of Youth_. Years later, you could see her as Reverend Mother Superior Lydia Placido in '67 and '68 and '69 and '70 – with petite Sally Field of course playing _The Flying Nun_. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2014, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/584 "2014-11-17T11:36:29Z")
**Venetia Stevenson** was acting on television before the end of '57 – on _Playhouse 90_ and _Matinee Theatre_ and _Cheyenne_ and _Sugarfoot_ – which is why she of course made the rounds on _The Bob Hope Show_ and _The Ed Sullivan Show_, appearing on the latter with the Everly Brothers, not long before she married Don Everly. (You remember Don Everly, right? Why, he performed on television whole _bunch_ of times before the end of '57…) ---
**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:** [November 18, 2014, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/585 "2014-11-18T12:04:25Z")
They tried to repeat the Rock Hudson formula with **James Westmoreland** , branding him as “Rad Fulton” when he was acting in the '50s: in the movies, and on television in _Bronco_ and _West Point_ and _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ and _Lux Playhouse_ and so on. Since it didn’t really take, he eventually switched to acting under his own name. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2014, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/586 "2014-11-19T11:55:36Z")
After doing _Forbidden Planet_ with Leslie Nielsen, you could see **Robert Dix** acting with Sal Mineo on _Lux Video Theatre_ in '56 and with Lloyd Bridges on _Studio 57_ in, well, '57. And after spending '58 on shows like _Highway Patrol_ and _Mike Hammer_ and _Richard Diamond, Private Detective_, he was back on the big screen in _Lone Texan_, which fits with how he spent '59 acting on TV westerns like _Mackenzie’s Raiders_ and _Frontier Doctor_ and _Death Valley Days_ and _The Rifleman_. He kept at it in the '60s – on yet more TV westerns like _Gunsmoke_ and _Rawhide_, when he wasn’t doing yet more movies as Frank James or Wild Bill Hickok – and in the '70s kicked off _Live And Let Die_ as That Guy Who Gets Stabbed In New Orleans. ---
**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:** [November 20, 2014, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/587 "2014-11-20T11:40:46Z")
**Kathryn Beaumont** did movie after movie after movie after movie in the '40s before acting on _Climax!_ with John Agar, and on _TV Reader’s Digest_ with Louis Hayward, and on _The Fred Waring Show_ with Sterling Holloway – and appearing as the celebrity challenger on _What’s My Line_ – all before the deadline in the '50s. Also before the deadline in the '50s: her voice work as Wendy Darling in _Peter Pan_, and as little Alice in _Alice In Wonderland_. ---
**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:** [November 21, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/588 "2014-11-21T11:52:33Z")
After doing half-a-dozen movie roles, **May Wynn** lost out on the Donna Reed part in _From Here To Eternity_ before getting, uh, the May Wynn part in _The Caine Mutiny_. She then acted on _The Ford Television Theatre_ and _Schlitz Playhouse_ before landing the recurring role of Jean Blackburn on _The Bob Cummings Show_ in '55 and '56 before playing Liz Clark as a _Noah’s Ark_ castmember in '56 and '57 – and picking up yet other pre-deadline credits on _State Trooper_ and _The Restless Gun_ and so on. ---
**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:** [November 21, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/589 "2014-11-21T23:02:46Z")
These come from looking at credits for the Robert Montgomery Show (1950-1957). [Ray Boyle](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0102318/) last worked in 1994-5 after a 30 year layoff but is apparently still alive. The previously mentioned Diana Douglas. [Jack Hartley](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0366838/) is still active (if IMDb hasn’t confused two different people), but only after a 54 year layoff! Plus I want to mention the wonderfully named Skip Homeier again. ---
**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:** [November 22, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/590 "2014-11-22T18:47:46Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > [Jack Hartley](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0366838/) is still active (if IMDb hasn’t confused two different people) IMDB is clearly confusing two different people. _“He was a member of the National Youth Theatre in the summer of 2010,”_ it says; not the same guy, says I. By contrast, I give you the IMDB entry for [Will Hutchins](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0404298/?ref_=fn_al_nm_2), who after acting on _Conflict_ and _Matinee Theatre_ played the leading role of Tom Brewster on _Sugarfoot_ in 1957, and of course stuck with the role in 1958 and 1959 and 1960 and 1961: he guested as Tom ‘Sugarfoot’ Brewster on _Maverick_ back when, and so I’m pretty sure he’s the same guy showing up as an in-joke wink in the _Maverick_ movie decades later; he got work on _Perry Mason_ in the '60s before apparently doing _The New Perry Mason_ in the '70s; he did _Spinout_ with Elvis Presley before naturally doing _Clambake_ with Elvis Presley; the whole thing hangs together, is what I’m saying. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2014, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/591 "2014-11-23T13:02:08Z")
Speaking of which, **Roydon Clark** spent the late 1950s acting on _The Rifleman_ and _Bat Masterson_ and _Maverick_ after beating the deadline on _Sugarfoot_ and _Cheyenne_ and _Colt .45_, after of course getting work in various big-screen westerns, before naturally doing his thing in yet more big-screen westerns. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2014, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/592 "2014-11-24T13:10:05Z")
Emmy winner **Keith Michell** is still here long after earning various pre-'57 TV credits. Fun fact: he was in a modern retelling of OTHELLO set among '60s-era jazz musicians, alongside Patrick McGoohan as the innocuous Iago analogue complete with a clunky racial angle – “Me? Oh, I belong to that new minority group: white American jazz musicians. They’re going to hold a mass meeting in a phone booth.” The knockoff Desdmona in that one was played by NYC-born **Marti Stevens** , also still with us long after doing a TV movie in '55 before acting on shows like _M Squad_ and _Stagecoach West_ 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:** [November 26, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/593 "2014-11-26T00:53:48Z")
After making her TV debut on _Robert Montgomery Presents_, **Millette Alexander** got work on _Goodyear Playhouse_ and _Kraft Theatre_ before the end of '57 – followed by soap-opera work starting in '58 on _Edge of Night_, followed by all those years playing Doctor Sara McIntyre on _Guiding Light_ from the '60s to 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:** [November 26, 2014, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/594 "2014-11-26T12:32:24Z")
**James Olson** apparently never got work on any of the _Superman_ TV shows over the years, but he was the guy who calls in Arnold Schwarzenegger in _Commando_, which is pretty much the closest thing to firing up the signal watch imaginable. Anyhow, he’d earned plenty of small-screen credits in the decades prior, stretching all the way back to '57 (the year he was on the big screen with young George Peppard) and '56 (the year he was on the big screen with old Victor Mature). ---
**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:** [November 28, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/595 "2014-11-28T02:18:46Z")
In the '60s, Christopher Plummer’s ex-wife **Tammy Grimes** starred in _The Tammy Grimes Show_ in between earning Tony Award wins, but before all of that she was acting on _Kraft Theatre_ and _Studio One In Hollywood_ and _Max Liebman Spectaculars_ and _The United States Steel Hour_, all before the end of '57. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/596 "2014-11-29T00:03:39Z")
**Jean Moorhead** followed up years of movie work by becoming a 35-23-35 Playboy Playmate the year she made her television debut on _The Bob Cummings Show_ before appearing as an _I’ve Got A Secret_ special guest before acting on _The Lineup_ and _Bachelor Father_ and _Death Valley Days_ and _The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet_ before the end of '57. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2014, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/597 "2014-11-29T12:01:51Z")
Happy 80th birthday to **Don Eitner** , who picked up work on _Star Trek_ – both as an actor in his own right, and as William Shatner’s stunt double – which makes sense, since a decade earlier he (a) made his TV debut on _Science Fiction Theatre_ in '56, the same year he (b) started his recurring role as Cadet Townsend on _West Point_. He then stuck with that double-barreled credential-building in '57: playing a military man on television, on _Navy Log_ and _The Silent Service_, and doing big-screen sci-fi movies like _Kronos_ and _Beginning Of The End_. (Note that he was a soldier in that last one there – just like he was a Marine in _Until They Sail_.) He then kept on doing exactly what you’d expect on TV : he’s credited as “Corporal” and “Sergeant” and “Lieutenant” and “Major” and “Commander”, easy as getting work on shows like _Men Into Space_ and _Lost In Space_ and et cetera. And he kept getting big-screen sci-fi work as well, because, hey, the man knows his job. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/598 "2014-11-29T16:07:14Z")
Sort-of watched _7 Faces of Dr. Lao_ the other day. The main cast member still alive is the noted Barbara Eden. [John Ericson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0259152) started in 1950 and the most recent credit is from 2008. From the IMDb bio page: "Studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Was in the same class as Grace Kelly, Jack Palance, Don Murray and Don Rickles. Posed for the nude centerfold in Playgirl magazine’s January 1974 issue." First is “Just, wow!”, The second is “Okaaay.” (His wife, [Karen Ericson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0259155/), started too late to qualify for this thread, but she did play “Queen Bess” in the Season 3, Episode 14\* Catwoman’s Dressed to Kill\* episode of the _Batman_ TV series. Playing the victim of Eartha Kitt’s Catwoman is always worth a mention.) Not sure if [Frank Kreig](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0470619/) is still alive. Started in 1945, first TV in 1952. Last credit in 1967. Seems unlikely but stranger things have happened. (No birth year listed, so hard to guess an age.) [Dirk Evans](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0262716/) from the above Batman episode is another one of those that would (just barely) qualify if still alive but no credits in decades. (The only other qualifier from that episode is of course Adam West.) ---
**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:** [November 30, 2014, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/599 "2014-11-30T13:40:32Z")
Speaking of _Batman_ villains, the first season of _Buck Rogers_ cast Frank Gorshin and Cesar Romero and Julie Newmar as baddies, with good guys like Peter Graves and frickin’ Buster Crabbe and Erin Grey in skintight shiny pants and it was _awesome_. And in the _second_ season, they dropped all of that – and the opening narration by William Conrad, and girl-of-the-week guest stars like Jamie Lee Curtis, and voice work by Mel Blanc – and they dropped **Tim O’Connor** as Doctor Huer. O’Connor had been a fixture on cop shows in the '70s: a recurring role as a police lieutenant on _The Streets Of San Francisco_, a murder victim on _Columbo_, and so on from _Police Story_ to _The FBI_ to _Hawaii Five-O_ and et cetera. And before that, he of course did hundreds of _Peyton Place_ episodes in the '60s. And before all of that, he was on _12 O’Clock High_ and _The Alfred Hitchcock Hour_ and _Sunday Showcase_ and _Play of the Week_ and _The DuPont Show of the Month_ and you see what I did there; and the point is, his TV credits run all the way back to '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:** [December 2, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/600 "2014-12-02T00:42:26Z")
**Robert Paget** made his TV debut on _Kraft Theatre_ before acting on _The Red Skelton Hour_ in '56 and '57 and – after acting on _Playhouse 90_ in '58 – kept at it in '59, when you could also see him on episodes of _The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis_. And after acting on _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_, you could see him on _The Joey Bishop Show_ in '61 and '62 and '63, followed by _My Favorite Martian_ and et cetera. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=29) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=31)