# 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:** 5
**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 14, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/81 "2014-02-14T23:33:06Z")
Re: Ralph Waite. > [@terentii](#): > > Eerie you should have written that when you did. :eek: ☹ I know. I know. Anywho, Florence Henderson is 80 years young today and has a few early TV appearances. ---
**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 15, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/82 "2014-02-15T02:28:01Z")
Tina Louise of **Gilligan’s Island** fame – she’s the one blocking your view of the much cuter actress – turned eighty this week, and got her first screen credit on television in '55, and followed that up in '56 with appearances on **Studio One In Hollywood** and **Appointment With Adventure** and **Producers’ Showcase** , and followed _that_ up with appearances on **Climax!** and **The Phil Silvers Show** in '57. And she’s still acting as of this year, with a movie in the works. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/83 "2014-02-15T02:41:03Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner both wrote for Sid Caeser. Brooks is 87 years old and Reiner is 91. As did Woody Allen, who is 78 now. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/84 "2014-02-15T02:50:51Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > 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.) That guy! Damn, I did not know he was that old. I remember him from St. Elsewhere. ---
**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 15, 2014, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/85 "2014-02-15T03:02:40Z")
Rita Moreno made her television debut in '52 by appearing on _Fireside Theatre_ and _China Smith_ and _Schlitz Playhouse_ the same year she was all over the big screen in _The Fabulous Señorita_ and _Singin’ In The Rain_ and _The Ring_ and _Cattle Town_. She was in four more movies in '53, but picked up yet more TV credits in her free time; yada yada yada, Emmy Grammy Oscar Tony, now well into her eighties but with yet more television work and a couple of movie roles on the way for this year. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/86 "2014-02-15T09:11:20Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > 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.) > [@Biggirl](#): > > That guy! Damn, I did not know he was that old. I remember him from St. Elsewhere. He was also an associate producer on _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ and a director on _The Adventures of Kit Carson_. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/87 "2014-02-15T09:46:41Z")
For those of you who can’t get enough of the question, you need to know about [the Dead People Server.](http://www.dpsinfo.com/dps/index.html) Dead yet? Check 'em out! ---
**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 15, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/88 "2014-02-15T13:15:01Z")
Elaine Stritch, who got all those Emmy nominations on 30 ROCK as Alec Baldwin’s sarcastic mom, had recurring roles on LAW & ORDER and THE COSBY SHOW after decades of TV work – with plenty of pre-'58 credits dating back to the '40s, when she played an insurance salesman’s screwball wife on THE GROWING PAYNES. In '53 and '54, she was active on GOODYEAR PLAYHOUSE – just like Steven Hill, who likewise wound up on LAW & ORDER after working on TV in the '40s (on SUSPENSE and THEATRE OF ROMANCE and ACTOR’S STUDIO). So he was on MAGNAVOX THEATRE in '50, and ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS in '57, and picked up over a dozen TV credits in between, long before playing the team leader on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/89 "2014-02-15T13:25:39Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I saw Jack Nicholson on an Andy Griffith Show rerun from around 1962. He was arrested for speeding in Mayberry IIRC. He started his screen career as a lawbreaker early. Didn’t he also play a man who was accused of stealing a radio in an episode that Aunt Bee was the lone holdout on a jury and ultimately forced the jury to vote Not Guilty and it was finally found out that the accused was really not guilty? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/90 "2014-02-15T15:04:48Z")
[quote=“GuanoLad, post:23, topic:681218”] [June Foray](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004931/) is still around, and is still doing it. /quote]:eek: I just watched 12 Angry Men, and was struck by the cast – most of them would have easily qualified for this thread, except that all but one are dead. Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, E. G. Marshall, Martin Balsam, Jack Warden, John Fiedler, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Joseph Sweeney, Ed Begley, George Voskovec\*, Robert Webber - the only one still alive ---
**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 15, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/91 "2014-02-15T15:18:20Z")
Two-time Tony winner Marian Seldes, now in her eighties, got plenty of TV work from '51 to '57: _Lux Video Theatre_, _Kraft Theatre_, _Matinee Theatre_, _Zane Grey Theater_, _General Electric Theater_, and everything else from _Playhouse 90_ to an episode of _Gunsmoke_ to a TV movie about Emily Bronte; she kept working on TV and in the movies during the '60s, and the '70s, and the '80s and '90s and '00s and '10s. And then there’s two-time Oscar winner Luise Rainer, now well over a hundred, who was acting on the _Chevrolet Tele-Theatre_ back in the 1940s before getting work on the _BBC Sunday-Night Theatre_ in '50, and _Faith Baldwin Romance Theatre_ in '51, and _Schlitz Playhouse_ in '52, and _Lux Video Theatre_ in '53, and _Suspense_ in '54. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/92 "2014-02-15T15:59:58Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I saw Jack Nicholson on an Andy Griffith Show rerun from around 1962. He was arrested for speeding in Mayberry IIRC. He started his screen career as a lawbreaker early. > [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Didn’t he also play a man who was accused of stealing a radio in an episode that Aunt Bee was the lone holdout on a jury and ultimately forced the jury to vote Not Guilty and it was finally found out that the accused was really not guilty? [Yes, you’re both correct](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Andy_Griffith_Show_guest_stars): **“Jack Nicholson played the baby’s father in ‘Opie Finds a Baby’ and played the defendant in ‘Aunt Bee the Juror’.”** Assuming that first one is when he was arrested for speeding. > [@Musicat](#): > > For those of you who can’t get enough of the question, you need to know about [the Dead People Server.](http://www.dpsinfo.com/dps/index.html) Dead yet? Check 'em out! There’s also [DeadOrAlive](http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/dead.nsf/pages-nf/main). ---
**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 15, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/93 "2014-02-15T16:01:14Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Roger Moore was on the show in '59. Sean Connery got all kinds of television work in '57 and earlier: a small part on _The Jack Benny Program_, the leading role on a BBC production of _Requiem For A Heavyweight_, a TV movie of _Anna Christie_, and everything else from _Sailor of Fortune_ to _Dixon of Dock Green_. He was later up for the role of Captain Von Trapp in _The Sound Of Music_, which of course went instead to Christopher Plummer – who was likewise pretty busy on TV back before '58, in made-for-television versions of _The Prince And The Pauper_ and _Othello_ and _Cyrano de Bergerac_ and _Oedipus, The King_ when he wasn’t busy getting work on _Kraft Theatre_ and _Ponds Theater_ and _General Electric Theater_ and _Broadway Television Theatre_ and et cetera, and then spent the rest of the '50s in TV movie versions of _The Philadelphia Story_ and _A Doll’s House_ and _Johnny Belinda_ while Connery embarked on the role of his career: playing the villainous O’Bannion in a Tarzan movie. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/94 "2014-02-15T16:14:02Z")
[David McCallum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_McCallum) is not only still with us, but still a TV regular on NCIS!!! ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/95 "2014-02-15T16:37:04Z")
Irwin Corey, born July 29, 1914 ---
**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 15, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/96 "2014-02-15T16:42:57Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > [David McCallum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_McCallum) is not only still with us, but still a TV regular on NCIS!!! As far as I can tell, he got his start on TV in '58, which just barely misses the OP’s cut-off date. But the villain from the first episode of _The Man From U.N.C.L.E._ was played by Fritz Weaver, who had television roles back in '57 on _Studio One In Hollywood_ and _The DuPont Show Of The Month_ after making his debut in '56 on _The United States Steel Hour_. ---
**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 15, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/97 "2014-02-15T17:18:03Z")
Nehemiah Persoff got his start on television in the '40s before getting work on _Playhouse 90_ and _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ and _The United States Steel Hour_ and _Kraft Theatre_ and _The Alcoa Hour_ and so on by 1957, after which he spent the rest of the '50s making the rounds on _Twilight Zone_ and _The Untouchables_ and et cetera. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2014, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/98 "2014-02-15T18:03:28Z")
June Lockhart. ---
**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 15, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/99 "2014-02-15T19:29:19Z")
James _“David Lo Pan”_ Hong was a castmember – Number One Son Barry Chan – on **The New Adventures Of Charlie Chan** back in '57, after getting work on **Crusader** and **Four Star Playhouse** and **The Millionaire** and **Sky King** and **The Man Called X** and **Crossroads** back in '56 after yet more TV work in '55, and is of course still acting well into his eighties. ---
**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 15, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/100 "2014-02-15T20:04:37Z")
Since folks in another thread just mentioned her, I’ll note that Carol Burnett was getting TV work back in '55 – on _The Paul Winchell Show_ – before she became a castmember on _Stanley_ in '56, and is still working in her eighties. Oh, and speaking of women who got eponymous shows, Patty Duke was acting on _Armstrong Circle Theatre_ in '56 and stuck with it in '57 – same year she branched out onto _The DuPont Show Of The Month_ and _Kraft Theatre_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=6)