# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 35
**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 9, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/681 "2015-02-09T00:16:53Z")
Teen idol **Bobby Rydell** was beating the deadline as a regular on _TV Teen Club_ in the 1950s, because of course he was. And he was appearing on _The Red Skelton Hour_ in the '50s likewise, and after doing _The Red Skelton Timex Special_ in 1960 you could still see him acting in skits on Red Skelton’s show in 1961 (when he was still a teen) and 1962 (after he hit twenty) and 1963 and 1964 and 1965, and then doing a TV movie with Red Skelton in 1966, 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:** [February 9, 2015, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/682 "2015-02-09T11:24:27Z")
Happy birthday to **Roger Mudd** , who produced his first half-hour TV documentary back in 1957, the same year he conducted his first live TV studio interview, followed by rather a lot of stuff in the '60s and '70s and '80s and '90s and '00s and '10s. ---
**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 11, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/683 "2015-02-11T01:49:32Z")
Chubby Checker was playing mystery guest on _What’s My Line_ in 1962 after singing on _The Ed Sullivan Show_ in 1961 after appearing on _The Dick Clark Show_ in 1960 and 1959, which isn’t nearly good enough. But **Fats Domino** , who beat him to it in 1958, was singing on _The Steve Allen Plymouth Show_ years before that – specifically, the year _Fats_ made the first of his own _Ed Sullivan Show_ appearances. (Heck, go find the 1957 episode of _The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet_ where little Ricky Nelson makes his singing-and-dancing debut when a real swell band comes to town; what’s that tune they’re playing? “I’m Walkin” is what they’re playing.) ---
**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 11, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/684 "2015-02-11T14:25:46Z")
Bambi Linn was already mentioned, but the other surviving castmember from the original opening-night production of “Oklahoma” is **George S. Irving** , who then beat the deadline by acting on _The Goldbergs_ and _Producers’ Showcase_ in the 1950s, and kept his hand in during the 1960s by narrating the _Underdog_ cartoon when he wasn’t appearing on _The Patty Duke Show_ and _Car 54 Where Are You_ and so on before winning the Tony in the 1970s. And then he was the voice of Heat Miser! ---
**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, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/685 "2015-02-13T00:58:17Z")
After making his small-screen debut on _Chevron Theatre_, **Robert Horton** was acting on _The Lone Ranger_ in '54 and _Public Defender_ in '55 and _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ in '56 before playing Flint McCullough on _Wagon Train_ in '57 and '58 and '59 and '60 and '61 and '62 before doing TV movies as improbably-named protagonists – Danny Paris? Mark Dolphin? – before starring in his own series as _A Man Called Shenandoah_. (You know who else was on episode after episode after episode of _Wagon Train_ after racking up early TV credits in '57 and '56 and '55? **Scotty Morrow** , also still here.) (Which brings me to my point: today’s the one-year mark for this thread, and as far as I can tell it can keep getting bumped indefinitely; even if one of the guys I just mentioned passes away tomorrow, this latest post is still relevant so long as the other one is still standing. And likewise for plenty of the previous posts: we just lost Lizabeth Scott, but the post that brought her up touched on Marsha Hunt and Cara Williams as well; we lost Mike Nichols, but we’ve still got Elaine May; we lost Elaine _Stritch_, but still have Steven Hill; and et cetera; I swear, it’s enough to make me swear off bumping the thread with multiple-actor posts!) (Except – eh, why bother with half-measures? The point’s made; the list simply goes on and on and _on_; I could keep bumping this thread daily, but it’s like Poe said: _I might have adduced other examples, but I should have proven no more._) ---
**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 16, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/686 "2015-02-16T18:50:14Z")
We lost another one: [Louis Jordan](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=18138156). Did some early TV anthology work, etc., starting in 1953. Referenced in passing earlier but not actually listed as qualifying. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/687 "2015-03-23T01:18:16Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > **Gregory Walcott** of _Plan 9 From Outer Space_ fame later graced the _Ed Wood_ film with an in-joke small part, after racking up 1990s credits on _Murder She Wrote_ and _Dallas_, and 1980s credits on _Simon & Simon_ and _The Dukes of Hazzard_, and 1970s credits on _CHiPs_ and _The Six Million Dollar Man_, and 1960s credits on _Bonanza_ and _Dennis The Menace_ – and, yes, pre-'58 credits on _Wagon Train_ and _Cheyenne_ and _Tombstone Territory_ and _Zane Grey Theater_ (and, sure, on shows _other_ than westerns, like _Navy Log_, _I Led 3 Lives_, _The People’s Choice_, and _Dr. Christian_.) not any longer. > **[Gregory Walcott, Reluctant Star of 'Plan 9 From Outer Space,' Dies at 87](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/gregory-walcott-reluctant-star-of-plan-9-from-114350132232.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma)** > > Gregory Walcott, an admired actor who appeared in such memorable films as 'Mister Roberts,' 'The Eiger Sanction,' 'Norma Rae' and, unfortunately for him, Ed Wood’s lamentable 'Plan 9 From Outer Space,' has died. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/688 "2015-03-27T18:56:14Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > **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.) now kaput. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=34)