Stars billed as "Special Guest Star"

[markway895]

I always thought this was strange. A star billed as "Special Guest Star", when they're a regular castmember.

Cloris Leachman Mary Tyler Moore
Heather Locklear Melrose Place
Luke Perry Beverly Hills 90210 (after he returned to series)

are their others?

[Stuck In The '70's]

Jonathan Harris of Lost in Space

[Marvo301]

Edward Hermann - Gilmore Girls

[esl]

I never got this "Special Guest Star". It seemed very popular in the '70s especially with Quinn Martin productions. Many of the "Special Guest Stars" I had never heard of and still do not know why they are special unless this was their only bit of professional acting, and that is what is so special about it.

"Tonights episode - 'There's a boil on my Bum' with special guest star Elmer Grumplemeier." Who?!?

[factsoflife]

it's just a special contract perk used to lure big name stars (or just people with big egos or big salaries) to a show and used to give them a special billing so that they stand out from the rest of the cast.

In the case of Heather Locklear it happened because she was originally signed onto only about a seasons worth of episodes and then her character Amanda took off with the audience and they opted to keep her on and let her keep the special guest star billing because they knew how popular she was.

[megamanj2004]

Martin Landau as Rolland Hand - on the 1st season of "Mission: Impossible" when yet he appeared on nearly every episode of S1.

Henry Polic II as Jerry Silver on "Webster" - I never understood why in the heck they downgraded him from "Co-Starring" in S1 to "Special Guest Star" in other seasons. Other episodes had him credited as "Guest Star" when yet he was still with the show after S1 as a recurring character.

[browneyes106]

It did bug me that on Melrose Place Heather Locker credit status never changed.

[Stuck In The '70's]

It did bug me that on Melrose Place Heather Locker credit status never changed.
It never bugged me. She earned it, She saved the show. Before she joined the cast, MP was in danger of being canceled.

[factsoflife]

It never bugged me. She earned it, She saved the show. Before she joined the cast, MP was in danger of being canceled.

I agree. Plus until she came on the shows ratings were floundering and it was not very noteworthy. She came on, turned the show into a cultural phemonenom and earned her status as "special guest star". As i understand it, her contract with MP was for the longest time was a month by month thing and that bascially they left it up to her wether she'd come back or not. which is why she was always billed as special guest star.

[superpsych]

Marcia Wallace- The Simpsons

[Stuck In The '70's]

Audrey Landers, Priscilla Pointer and Howard Keel were all billed as Special Guest Stars on Dallas during the 1981-1982 season even though they were on most of the episodes.

[markway895]

Audrey Landers, Priscilla Pointer and Howard Keel were all billed as Special Guest Stars on Dallas during the 1981-1982 season even though they were on most of the episodes.


And Dynasty, Rock Hudson, Ali McGraw and George Hamilton, were Special Guest Stars.

[wkomorow]

Don't know if it counts, but I think that Marcia Wallace has a special fuest voice status on the Simpsons, although she is on nearly every week.

[70s show watcher]

johnithon winters had guest star billing on mork and mindy the entire 4th season

[dakert]

I will always remember John Travolta being special guest star during the 4th season (1978-79) of Welcome Back Kotter

[megamanj2004]

Jackee Harry (credited as just Jackee at the time) was also credited as "Special Guest Star" on the 5th and final season of "227" when she was present on some eps.

Christy McNichol (who left "Empty Nest" in 1992) was given this title in opening credits of the series finale episode of in 1995.

[James]

Does Florence Henderson guest-starring on The Brady Brides count? I'm unsure because it's a spin-off of the show on which she was a regular, namely The Brady Bunch.

[megamanj2004]

Peter DeLuise received this credit when he appeared on some S5 eps. of "21 Jump Street."