"The Danza" (characters with the same name as the people who played them)

[bmasters9]

How many people can you recall who pulled "The Danza," by which I mean that the names of the characters they played were the same as their real names (or similar)? It's known as "The Danza" in honor of Tony Danza, who played a "Tony" in several shows in his career, as in "Taxi" (Tony Banta), "Who's The Boss?" (Tony Micelli), et al.

Here are some of the ones I've heard of:

Mary Tyler Moore (Mary Richards, in "MTM")

Kate Mulgrew (Kate Columbo/Callahan, in NBC's ill-fated "Columbo" spinoff "Mrs. Columbo" [later renamed "Kate the Detective" and "Kate Loves A
Mystery"]); she almost did it with "Voyager" as well, but the character there was Kathryn Janeway

Lucille Ball (who played several well-known characters named Lucy in her long career, the foremost of course being Lucy Ricardo in CBS' classic comedy "I Love Lucy")

At least once, some last names were "Danzified"; this occurred w/"What's Happening!!" in the '70's, where Ernest Thomas played Roger "Raj" Thomas, and Haywood Nelson played Dwayne Nelson. Fred Berry got the first-name "Danza" treatment, however, being known as Freddy "Rerun" Stubbs, and so did Mabel King and Shirley Hemphill, as Mabel Thomas and Shirley Wilson respectively.

So did Tim Allen, who played Tim Taylor in "Home Improvement," and Andy Griffith, who played Sheriff Andy Taylor in "The Andy Griffith Show."

What I'd like to know is, do you happen to know of any others?

[Heidi Dawn]

Ted Baxter - Ted Knight 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'
Bob Hartley - Bob Newhart 'The Bob Newhart Show'
Al Delvecchio - Al Molinaro 'Happy Days' 'Joanie Loves Chachi'
Marion Cunningham - Marion Ross 'Happy Days'
Mac Robinson - Charles Robinson 'Night Court'
Florence Kleiner - Florence Halop 'Night Court'
Selma Hacker - Selma Diamond 'Night Court'

[Marvo301]

Bob Newhart - Bob Hartley The Bob Newhart show
Nell Carter - Nell Harper Gimme a Break
Marion Ross - Marion Cunningham Happy Days
Joey Lawrence -Joey Russo Blossom
Bob Collins - Bob Cummings Love That Bob
George Carlin - George O'Grady The George Carlin Show
George Lopez - George Lopez The George Lopez Show
Shirley Jones - Shirley Partridge the Partridge Family
Danny Bonaduce - Danny Partridge The Partridge Family
Julie McCullough - Julie Costello Growing Pains
Al Molinaro - Al Delvecchio Happy Days
Valerie Harper - Valerie Hogan The Hogan Family
Sandy Duncan - Sandy Hogan The Hogan Family
Richard Correll - Richard Rickover Leave it to Beaver

[megamanj2004]

Harry Anderson - Harold "Harry" T. Stone: Night Court

Martin Lawrence - Martin Payne on Martin

Rick "Ricky" Schroder - Richard "Ricky"/"Rick" Stratton: Silver Spoons

Alfonso Ribeiro - Alfonso Spears: Silver Spoons

Ron Glass - Ron Harris: Barney Miller

Roseanne - Roseanne Connor: Roseanne

Cherie Johnson - Cherie: Punky Brewster

[Marvo301]

Gabe Kaplan - Gabe Kotter (Welcomr Back Kotter)
Malcolm Jamal Warner - Malcom McGee (Malcom and Eddie)
Eddie Griffin - Eddie Sherman (Malcolm and Eddie)
Martin Lawrence - Martin Payne (Martin)
Fran Drescher - Fran Fine (The Nanny)
Dave Foley - Dave Nelson (Newsradio)
Joe Rogan - Joe Garelli (Newsradio)
Ricky Segall - Ricky Stevens (Partridge Family)

[oz615]

Andrea Parker - Miss Parker : The Pretender

Dee Wallace - Dee McCulloug :The New Lassie

Christopher Stone - Chris McCullough :The New Lassie

Will Estes (Will Nipper at the time) - Will McCullough :The New Lassie

[TV_on_the_Porch]

Jeffrey Tambor - Jeffrey P. Brookes III, The Ropers

Jeffrey told Bill Kennedy that the character was named Jeffrey when he went in to read for it, so that was (according to him) really mere coincidence.

Paul Lynde - Paul Simms, The Paul Lynde Show
Mary Jane Croft - Mary Jane Lewis, The Lucy Show; Here's Lucy

The principal cast of The Mothers In Law during the first season all had characters with the same first name as the actors who played them.

[oz615]

Clifton Davis - Clifton Curtis:That's My Mama

[Silly Lily]

Joey Lawrence -Joey Russo Blossom
Joey Lawrence also played Joe Roman in Brotherly Love. His younger brothers, Matthew and Andrew, played Matt and Andy Roman.

[treky]

Jack Benny-Jack Benny "THE JACK BENNY SHOW"
George Burns and Gracie Allen-George Burns and Gracie Allen "BURNS AND ALLEN"
Bud Abbot and Lou Cosstelo-Bud Abbott and Lou Costello "ABBOTT AND COSTELLO"
Bob Newhart-Bob something "BOB"
Jerry Sienfeld-Jerry Sienfeld "SIENFELD"
Gary Shandling-Garry Shandling "IT'S GARY SHANDLINGS SHOW"
Vivian Vance-Vivian Bagley-"THE LUCY SHOW"

[Skywalker]

Norm Macdonald played Norm Henderson on the short lived The Norm Show/Norm.

[TV_on_the_Porch]

Bob Newhart-Bob something "BOB"


Pretty sure it was Bob McKay. [Googles it] Yep, Bob McKay.

[Chocoholic]

I can't believe no one has said Woody Harrelson/Woody Boyd yet :lol:

[rebafan1]

Reba McEntire played Reba Hart on Reba.