# 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:** 31
**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, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/601 "2014-12-02T11:27:40Z")
**Shane Rimmer** made his television acting debut in '57, followed by more small-screen work in '58 and '59, and the '60s and '70s and '80s and '90s and '00s and '10s. Heck, he’s got a TV movie in the works for next year as we speak. ---
**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 3, 2014, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/602 "2014-12-03T10:28:44Z")
Before becoming a biographer of Brando and Clift and et cetera, **Patricia Bosworth** was a TV actress on _Concerning Miss Marlowe_ and _Robert Montgomery Presents_ and _Kraft Theatre_ before the end of '57; she recently wrapped up a biography of Jane Fonda, and is set to appear in a documentary on method acting this month. ---
**Author:** ![ClickIt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@ClickIt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClickIt)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/603 "2014-12-03T22:12:18Z")
Waldo, where did you find all these names? Did you grow up watching these people and so you remember them, or did you check online somewhere? Amazing that there are so many of them out there. ---
**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 5, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/604 "2014-12-05T01:44:20Z")
> [@ClickIt](#): > > Waldo, where did you find all these names? Did you grow up watching these people and so you remember them, or did you check online somewhere? Six of one, half-a-dozen of IMDB. So, f’rinstance, take the prior page; given that James Garner came up in this thread, how can Gena Rowlands not come to mind? And given how STAR TREK references dot the landscape likewise – hey, what Doper _ **hasn’t** _ seen the episode where the whole point is that Robert Walker Jr looks young-but-not-that-young? So there’s that – plus, given how examples will _ **occasionally** _ jump out at me, bumping this thread every day for months makes it _ **easier** _ to keep bumping this thread every day for months. In November, THE CAINE MUTINY came on while I was flipping through channels; during the commercial, I looked up May Wynn on my phone; I wouldn’t have thought to do that in August or April, but I kept posting other stuff until it simply appeared before me in Autumn like Burt Kwouk in a PINK PANTHER flick. So, too, do I now mention Virginia Leith, who (a) of course achieved MST3K fame by starring in THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN"T DIE; and who (b) made her television debut way back in 1956, the year she was up on the big screen with Joanne Woodward and Robert Wagner in A KISS BEFORE DYING, which was a classic the way BRAIN ain’t. And – from a quick look at the credits for BRAIN – I note that Marilyn Hanold deserves mention for doing OFFICIAL DETECTIVE and THE BOB HOPE SHOW before doing a Jerry Lewis movie in 1957 before she made the rounds on THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW and HAVE GUN - WILL TRAVEL and et cetera before the end of the '50s, after which she went from Playboy Playmate to eye candy on BATMAN and IN LIKE FLINT and so on. > [@](#): > > Amazing that there are so many of them out there. I’d figured on bumping the thread until we hit the one-year mark. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/605 "2014-12-05T01:56:38Z")
Harry Shearer was on the JAck Benny Show on radio in 1950. And, I’ve heard the show. You can find it out OTR sites. ---
**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 6, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/606 "2014-12-06T01:50:23Z")
**Hal Stalmaster** was Disney’s _Johnny Tremain_ – remember that one? – back in '57, after making his television debut acting on _Cavalcade of America_; you could still see him on TV later in the '50s, when he’d moved from pre-Revolutionary-War antics to post-Civil-War ones with _The Rebel_; and in the '60s, he went from a recurring role with _The Swamp Fox_ to a WWII-era role on _12 0’Clock High_. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2014, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/607 "2014-12-06T03:48:32Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#): > > Harry Shearer was on the JAck Benny Show on radio in 1950. And, I’ve heard the show. You can find it out OTR sites. what’s the date? ---
**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 6, 2014, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/608 "2014-12-06T13:09:35Z")
**Jackie Loughery** became the first Miss USA back in 1952, and after getting movie work in 1953 landed a recurring role on _Mister District Attorney_ in 1954, and after yet more movie work in 1955 got a recurring role on _Judge Roy Bean_ in 1956 before getting a recurring role on _The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show_ in 1957. Along the way, she also beat the deadline on half-a-dozen other TV shows – from _Damon Runyon Theater_ to _West Point_ to _The Cisco Kid_ 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:** [December 7, 2014, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/609 "2014-12-07T12:57:37Z")
**Carol Lynley** got plenty of television work in 1956 – on _Goodyear Playhouse_ and _General Electric Theater_ and _The Alcoa Hour_ and so on – before spending 1957 acting on _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ and _The DuPont Show of the Month_. She kept acting on TV when she started getting movie work in 1958; was still at it when she came away with a Golden Globe nomination in 1959; and then kept making both small-screen and big-screen appearances in the '60s and '70s and '80s and '90s and '00s, easy as earning herself an award on Broadway. ---
**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 9, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/610 "2014-12-09T00:18:28Z")
**Charles Herbert** was acting on _The Loretta Young Show_ in '54, and kept at it in '55 (when he was doing episodes of _The Bob Cummings Show_) and '56 (when he was doing everything from _Playhouse 90_ to _Science Fiction Theatre_). And after getting work on _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ in '57, he got a recurring role on _The Donna Reed Show_ in '58 and '59 and '60 – a year when (a) he was doing a recurring role on _Men Into Space_, and when (b) you could of course _still_ see him on _The Loretta Young 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:** [December 10, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/611 "2014-12-10T01:00:24Z")
**Buddy Greco** has television appearances dating back to 1956, when you could see him on _The Rosemary Clooney Show_. Also on that show that year: his then-future-ex-wife **Dani Crayne** , who acted in _Conflict_ episodes before doing _Cheyenne_ in '57. (Her small-screen credits technically stretch back even further: to 1955, when she appeared in a TV movie alongside Clint Eastwood and Steve Allen and Audie Murphy and Tony Curtis; it’s a cliché to say _What Is This, I Don’t Even_, but, c’mon.) ---
**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 11, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/612 "2014-12-11T01:35:54Z")
**Sally Forrest** made her TV debut in 1952 on _Schlitz Playhouse_ with Irene Dunne and Barbara Billingsley; after doing _Lux Video Theatre_ and _Armstrong Circle Theatre_ and _The Ford Television Theatre_ and yet other shows, she could be seen acting on _Climax!_ in '55 and '56 and '57 – and '58, but, hey, who’s counting? (She also beat the deadline in a TV movie with a pre-_Perry Mason_ Raymond Burr.) ---
**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 12, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/613 "2014-12-12T00:24:09Z")
We could technically count Liza Minnelli for this – she’s been appearing on TV since '56, when she hosted _Ford Star Jubilee_ – but I don’t want to quibble over trifles. I do, though, want to note that in '59 she appeared on _The Gene Kelly Show_ with **Cherylene Lee** , who (a) went on to do sitcoms ranging from _Bachelor Father_ to _McHale’s Navy_ to _Dennis The Menace_ years after she’d (b) made her small-screen acting debut on _Playhouse 90_ back 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:** [December 13, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/614 "2014-12-13T01:33:14Z")
**Ralph Votrian** has a film role as an elderly resident completed and awaiting release, sure as he earned youthful credits on a dozen TV shows 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:** [December 14, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/615 "2014-12-14T01:34:47Z")
**Jack Imel** appeared on _The Ed Sullivan Show_ in '56 – and _The Lawrence Welk Show_ in '57, where you could still see him in the '60s. And the '70s. And the '80s. He was still performing in the '90s and '00s, as it happens. ---
**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 15, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/616 "2014-12-15T00:28:10Z")
Patty’s blandly dimwitted boyfriend Richard on _The Patty Duke Show_ was of course played by **Eddie Applegate** , who’s still getting work half a century later: he did a movie last year with French Stewart and Claudia Black, and did a TV movie the year before that with Patton Oswalt and Laura Kightlinger, and before _that_ was the grandfather in _Easy A_ with Emma Stone, and et cetera. Anyhow, before all of that he was acting on _The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis_ – and back before _that_ he was beating the deadline on _Kraft Theatre_. ---
**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 15, 2014, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/617 "2014-12-15T08:37:08Z")
**Loren Janes** has acting credits in the '00s and the '90s and the '80s and the '70s and the '60s and even the '50s, dating back to _The Cisco Kid_ in 1955 – the same year he more significantly made his debut as a stuntman. And so in 1956, he was getting stunt work on _The Adventures of Jim Bowie_; in 1957, on _Sugarfoot_; in 1958, on _Broken Arrow_; in 1959, on _Laramie_; in 1960, on _Bat Masterson_; and so on: he was a stunt double for Kirk Douglas in _Spartacus_, and for William Shatner on _Star Trek_, and for Steve McQueen in _Bullitt_ (and _The Sand Pebbles_ and _The Getaway_ and _The Hunter_ and _The Reivers_ 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:** [December 17, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/618 "2014-12-17T03:02:45Z")
**Yvonne Craig** is, of course, Batgirl – but before that, she was racking up TV credits in the early '60s (on _77 Sunset Strip_ and _Laramie_ and _Tales of Wells Fargo_) and late '50s (on _Bronco_ and _Perry Mason_ and _Schlitz Playhouse_), all the way back to her television debut on _The Bob Hope Show_ in '57 (the year she was in a movie with Jim Backus). ---
**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 18, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/619 "2014-12-18T00:37:33Z")
_Top Five_ just hit theaters, with the role of “Rosario Dawson’s grandmother” going to **Miriam Colon** decades after she was Tony Montana’s mom in _Scarface_ – and decades before _that_, she was racking up pre-'58 TV credits on _Danger_ and _Star Tonight_ and _The Big Story_ and _Studio One In Hollywood_. And from a quick look at IMDB – dang, but that’s a lot of characters named “Maria”. ---
**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 19, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/620 "2014-12-19T00:50:44Z")
Groucho’s daughter **Melinda Marx** acted in _The Story Of Mankind_ like dad in '57, after appearing side-by-side with him on _You Bet Your Life_ the year before that, and the year before that – and they were still doing _You Bet Your Life_ episodes together the year _after_ that, followed by a made-for-TV version of _The Mikado_. No, really. And from a look at IMDB, that’s her singing on _The Ed Sullivan Show_ with dad nowhere in sight: after '57, sure, but that’s her on _Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall_ – and various other TV shows – _before_ the end of 1957, which is still pretty good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=30) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=32)