Which makes me think of Candice Bergen. Has she been mentioned yet? She appeared in a 1958 episode of You Bet Your Life.
Speaking of folks who bring folks to mind, Eunice Gayson did a TV movie in '50, and another in '51, and more in '52, and after more TV work in '53 and '54 and '55 and '56 was the first woman seen speaking to/gambling against/sleeping with Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr No.
After that, she was up for episode after episode after episode of TV as you’d expect: with Secret Agent Patrick McGoohan, and Roger The Saint Moore, and Patrick Macnee of The Avengers fame – the last of whom was doing TV movies of Wuthering Heights and Hamlet and Macbeth back in the '40s, and who kept at it in 1950 with television productions of Othello and The Strange Case Of Doctor Jekyll And Mister Hyde before making the rounds on Schlitz Playhouse and Kraft Theatre and et cetera pre-'58.
Michael Constantine (best known for ***My Big Greek Wedding ***and Room 222) had a television credit from 1949 (The Big Story) and from 1959 (The Last Mile)
Not sure if anyone got him but Clint Walker is still with us (which is very odd given that he is such a large man). He was famous for his role 1950s cowboy role Cheyenne
James Drury (most famous for his eponymous role as The Virginian) is still around. He’ll be 80 this year making him one of the "younger members of the 1950s television crowd. He does promos for Encore networks Western channel.
Nita Talbot apparently made her television debut in '49 – with her recurring role on the Man Against Crime series – and was a regular on Search For Tomorrow before she was cast as, well, Mabel on Joe & Mabel in '56, after getting plenty of other TV work along the way.
Tab Hunter appeared on I’ve Got A Secret and What’s My Line? in '57, after appearing on Playhouse 90 and The Jimmy Durante Show in '56, and The Ford Television Theatre and Lux Video Theatre in '55, and et cetera.
Joanna Barnes is maybe best known as The Other Woman targeted by Hayley Mills (and, well, Hayley Mills) in The Parent Trap back in '61 – but before that, she had plenty of pre-'58 TV credits: on Maverick and Cheyenne in '57 after appearing on Playhouse 90 after making her screen debut on Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers.
Debra Paget and her kid sister Lisa Gaye each got a healthy amount of Golden Age TV work as twentysomethings in the 1950s: the former on The Milton Berle Show and The Tony Bennett Show after debuting on The Colgate Comedy Hour, the latter on The George Burns And Gracie Allen Show after appearing on Passport to Danger and Frontier, and so on between the two of 'em for Matinee Theatre and Science Fiction Theatre and Annie Oakley and The Adventures Of Jim Bowie and et cetera before '58.
Paper in the mob sense - he was selling lottery tickets, wasn’t he?
Decades before playing Edna Garrett on The Facts of Life and Diff’rent Strokes, Charlotte Rae made her TV debut in '54 by acting on Armstrong Circle Theatre and The United States Steel Hour; pre-'58, you could also see her on The Phil Silvers Show and The Ed Sullivan Show and The Martha Raye Show and et cetera.
You are correct. Robert Blake was selling lottery tickets in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Happy 93[sup]rd[/sup], Mr. Vigoda.
The Mickey Rooney discussion got me thinking of *Evil Roy Slade *(of course) which made me think of John Astin. Just barely squeaks in with an uncredited 1957 part.
BTW: The Mickster just did some filming in Toronto for Night at the Museum 3.
I’m afeared that Nimoy’s number is coming up. He did not live a life in which he treated his body like a temple. He smoked and indulged in other vices and now his chickens appear to be coming home to roost.
I just wish that more celebs would leave a message to their fans like the one that Yul Brynner left for his fans. That was a truly impressive and responsible thing to do.
Did you see that? It was a very fine message. Great job, Yul!
In his messsage he pointed the finger (the middle finger) at the tobacco corporations and he put the blame squarely on them for his lung problems (he had lung cancer or emphasema). I forget exactly what diseases he had. But he left a very fine message for his fans explaining that his impending death was mostly due to his lung problems that came from shmoking. What a great man!
Sad to hear
Carol Channing has been appearing on TV since the '40s, singing on everything from The Milton Berle Show to The Colgate Comedy Hour and acting on everything from Playhouse 90 to The Red Skelton Hour before '58 – after which, three Tony Awards.
I’m afraid the same is true of Shatner; plus, he and Nimoy were born within days of each other.
Robert Wagner was on *The 20th Century Fox Hour *in 1955.
Dina Merrill was on *Four Star Playhouse * in 1955.
Dick Van Patten was on Mama from 1949 to 1957.
Debbie Reynolds appeared on *The Affairs of Dobie Gilllis in 1953.
Jimmy “Tommy Bailey” Hawkins appeared on * The Ruggles from 1949 to 1952, followed by Annie Oakley and The Donna Reed Show.
That was a movie, not a TV show. She didn’t have a regular appearance as an actor in a TV show until the late 60s. You have to dip into TV appearances as herself to qualify her in the 1950s. Though she might have done some acting in sketches on The Eddie Fisher Show and such.
Barbara Rush acted on Lux Video Theatre in '54 and '55 and '56 before playing Cathy in a 1957 made-for-television version of Wuthering Heights. She also got work on Playhouse 90, both before and after '58.
Rhonda Fleming was a sketch performer on The Bob Hope Show in 1957 after hosting an episode of The Colgate Comedy Hour with Abbott and Costello – and she’d already been credited as a singer in an episode with Martin and Lewis, after being credited as an actress in an episode with Errol Flynn – and in 1955, she’d played Jean Maitland on The Best Of Broadway and Connie Crawford on The Ford Television Theatre, stopping off in between to appear on The Name’s The Same and What’s My Line?