On Becker, Nancy Travis had laryngitis, so her character Chris had it too.

On Cheers, Woody Harrelson worked with a cast on his arm. I forget how they explained it on the show.

That's all I got.

on HERE'S LUCY, Lucille Ball broke her leg, so her character-Lucy Carter-did too.

When Robert Guillaume suffered a stroke, his illness was written into the storyline of "Sportsnight" when the character he played on that series had a stroke as well.

Matt LeBlanc dislocated his shoulder so they had Joey fall off his bed while jumping on it dislocating his shoulder lol

I know there's an episode of The Brady Bunch and Barry Williams talks about this in his book Growing Up Brady where he had some car accident and had some bandage on his face I think. I forgot exactly how the show explained it, but Greg had a bandage on. Maybe they called it a cut while shaving or something.

Dana Elcar (Peter Thornton of MacGyver) was stricken with glaucoma and later complete blindness. His affliction was written into the series

Luccile Ball broke her leg once while she was doing "Here's Lucy" so they wrote it into the show by having her character, Lucy Carter, break her leg skiing.

On the now defunct soap Capitol (1982-87 on CBS), an actor named Todd Curtis was injured in a bad car accident. He had several broken bones and lacerations in his face. Instead of taking a leave and recovering off camera, the injuries were written into the storyline. It was a very well received story, as I recall.

Julia Louise Dreyfuss had laryngitis and the incorporated it into the storyline as her losing her voice because she was screaming at a dog.

Disabled Character, Disabled Actor (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DisabledCharacterDisabledActor)

Family Affair: Anissa Jones broke her leg during season four, so at the last minute the writers of the show had Buffy break her leg sliding into home plate winning the stickball game.She was in a cast in and out during season four.

Michael Moriarty broke his wrist playing tennis in 1992, and had to wear a cast and sling, so the writers of Law & Order had EADA Ben Stone breaking his wrist after playing tennis. This was in the second season episode, "Severance".

Dana Elcar (Peter Thornton of MacGyver) was stricken with glaucoma and later complete blindness. His affliction was written into the series
He also played a character afflicted by diabetes-inflicted blindness on a Law & Order episode.

Julia Louise Dreyfuss had laryngitis and the incorporated it into the storyline as her losing her voice because she was screaming at a dog.
what show?

Luccile Ball broke her leg once and it was written into the storyline of "HERE'S LUCY".

Home Improvement- Tim was scheduled to break Bob Vila's steamroller record on "Tool Time" and a separated shoulder puts Tim in the hospital in the episode called "Insult to Injury" in season 6.

Bonanza: Dan Blocker had an arm injury and Hoss was then shown with his arm in a sling. I can't recall however what the accident was, or its explanation on the show.

I always thought will smith got shot in real life when he did that episode on the fresh prince of bel air where will and carlton are planning to go camping and will accidently gets shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfAnTxVCMBo

Ellen Corby's real life stroke became part of the storyline on The Waltons as her character Esther Walton also suffered a stroke on the show.

Dana Elcar (Peter Thornton of MacGyver) was stricken with glaucoma and later complete blindness. His affliction was written into the series

He also played a character afflicted by diabetes-inflicted blindness on a Law & Order episode.

As you can tell from my user name and avatar, MacGyver is one of my all time favorite shows- had I seen this thread sooner, I definitely would have posted about Dana Elcar's glaucoma. It was very nice that Pete Thornton was maintained for the rest of the series- it was good not only for Dana Elcar but also good to see a disabled person in a position of leadership and command and still being able to do their job and not letting their disability define them.
In the 7th. season, Dana Elcar had lessened screen time (but then, the season itself was shorter than others)- but he had some powerful and key moments- particularly in "Obsessed" and "Good Knight, MacGyver" (Parts 1 and 2)- and of course, his appearance in "The Stringer", the series finale. These actually were his only episodes in Season 7, but all of them were great- I'm really glad for those episodes and his presence there.
And by the way, Dana Elcar also played a blind character on an episode of "ER" as well.

Oh yeah- and while I'm talking MacGyver, I'm pretty sure Richard Dean Anderson had a number of injuries here and there throughout the series that the show worked around- thus, MacGyver might sometimes have some injuries here and there as well- which is of course quite believeable, considering the line of work he does.

Highway Patrol: Broderick Crawford broke an ankle late in the series and is seen with a cast on it.

In an early Season 9 episode of The Facts of Life, Jo (Nancy McKeon) was using crutches and she really had some kind of injury that happened to her earlier.

As you can tell from my user name and avatar, MacGyver is one of my all time favorite shows- had I seen this thread sooner, I definitely would have posted about Dana Elcar's glaucoma. It was very nice that Pete Thornton was maintained for the rest of the series- it was good not only for Dana Elcar but also good to see a disabled person in a position of leadership and command and still being able to do their job and not letting their disability define them.
In the 7th. season, Dana Elcar had lessened screen time (but then, the season itself was shorter than others)- but he had some powerful and key moments- particularly in "Obsessed" and "Good Knight, MacGyver" (Parts 1 and 2)- and of course, his appearance in "The Stringer", the series finale. These actually were his only episodes in Season 7, but all of them were great- I'm really glad for those episodes and his presence there.
And by the way, Dana Elcar also played a blind character on an episode of "ER" as well.
Dana Elcar also played a blind man on a Law & Order episode - a bitter and angry man who lost his sight due to a botched surgery for diabetes-induced glaucoma. It was in L&O's third season. He did a great job.

Michael J. Fox has appeared as himself on an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and will appear in a show loosely based on his own life, "The Michael J. Fox Show", as fictional character Mike Burnaby, who also has Parkinson's Disease, as Fox does in real life.

In an episode of Full House, Stephanie had a cast on her arm. They explain that she broke it by showing that she had slipped on some pizza on the floor. They showed the spot on the butt of her jeans, it was hilarious! I don't know how Jodie Sweetin broke it though.

I don't know if this counts but during one season of The Cosby Show, Phylicia Rashad was pregnant and in one episode she spent the whole show lying in bed. Clair said that she picked up Rudy and hurt her back. I guess Phylicia Rashad had to be bedridden for part of her pregnancy. She spent a lot of the last half of the season "away" at some conference or something and wasn't onscreen much.

That's all I can think of right now.

Robert David Hall who plays the coroner Dr. Al Robbins on C.S.I. lost his legs in a car accident in 1978 and has prostetics and walks with a cane. His character also lost his legs in a car accident, has prostetics and uses a cane.

Marlee Matlin, who is deaf, played the head of a school for the deaf once on C.S.I.
Once on C.S.I.: NEW YORK she played a deaf mother.
Another time on MY NAME IS EARL she played a deaf lawyer.
And once on SIENFELD she played a deaf tennis player.

Marlee Matlin, who is deaf, played the head of a school for the deaf once on C.S.I.
Once on C.S.I.: NEW YORK she played a deaf mother.
Another time on MY NAME IS EARL she played a deaf lawyer.
And once on SIENFELD she played a deaf tennis player.She also has a recurring role playing a deaf teacher on Switched at Birth.

Marlee Matlin has (or had) a good thing going being about the only deaf actress. Need a deaf person in a role? Call her.

My vote is Richard Sanders who played the inept newsman, Les Nessman. Sanders actually had a minor injury during the first episode and wore a bandage. For some reason WKRP or Les made that a trademark for the character to have a bandage somewhere in every episode that he usually blamed on for owning a vicious dog (in an apartment) which bit him.

Marlee Matlin has (or had) a good thing going being about the only deaf actress. Need a deaf person in a role? Call her.

My vote is Richard Sanders who played the inept newsman, Les Nessman. Sanders actually had a minor injury during the first episode and wore a bandage. For some reason WKRP or Les made that a trademark for the character to have a bandage somewhere in every episode that he usually blamed on for owning a vicious dog (in an apartment) which bit him.

Hazel: Don DeFore cut his finger badly while running a table saw, and his bandaged hand was written into the episodes.

Sadly this wasn't an illness or an accident but on Monk they (all too briefly) mentioned that Dr. Kroger had died of a heart attack, when in fact Stanley Kammel passed away from a heart attack in 2008.

Richard Thomas broke his leg while filming a scene in the movie 'September 30, 1955', they explained it on The Waltons that he broke it during a motorcycle race.
Before I knew he had broken his leg in real life, and before the show was released on DVD, I thought there was an actual episode about the race and I just kept missing it on TV re runs.

Ellen Corby's real life stroke became part of the storyline on The Waltons as her character Esther Walton also suffered a stroke on the show.

I thought it was excellent how they made that part of the show.

Jerry Seinfeld had a hoarse voice in 'The Maid,' there was a throwaway line about performing at a rodeo.

Michael Zaslow broke his leg during his time on The Guiding Light, and they did incorporate that into the show.

Unfortunately, they would not do the same years later when he developed ALS, and was pretty much fired because of it.

Michael Zaslow broke his leg during his time on The Guiding Light, and they did incorporate that into the show.

Unfortunately, they would not do the same years later when he developed ALS, and was pretty much fired because of it.
Luckily One Life to Live incorporated his illness into that show. :)

I don't see this one mentioned:

Andy Griffith got mad about something during production, punched a hole in the wall with his fist, and wound up with a cast on his hand - it was explained on a TAGS epppy that he had gotten into it with some guys he was bringing into the jail..

Luckily One Life to Live incorporated his illness into that show. :)

Yeah, they are definitely the "heroes" of that particular story. He wasn't on OLTL very long, I believe just a couple of months, but how brave was it to include him when his disease had robbed him of the ability to speak or walk on his own, or really even move much at all? Bravo!

I don't see this one mentioned:

Andy Griffith got mad about something during production, punched a hole in the wall with his fist, and wound up with a cast on his hand - it was explained on a TAGS epppy that he had gotten into it with some guys he was bringing into the jail..

Wow, I never heard that! Never realized Andy had that kind of temper! Must have been during the "non Knotts" years; they kinda frustrated me, too! ;)

When Tom Baker was playing The Doctor on Doctor Who, during filming of the episode "The Ribos Operation," his co-star's dog bit his face. They wrote him hitting his face on the TARDIS console to explain the injury.

Actress Madlyn Rhue was confined to a wheelchair because of disease, not sure if it was MS. Angela Lansbury was a good friend of hers and while she was on Murder, She Wrote, had the writers create a part for her where her character could still act despite not being able to walk.

Jeanne Cooper's character Katherine Chancellor on The Young and the Restless incorporated her real-life face lift into a story where she gets it done to keep her husband.

Micheal J. Fox had a reoccuring role on The Good Wife. With his Parkinson's Disease they wrote his character the same way.

Nicholas Colasanto who played Coach on Cheers died in real life so they had his character pass away as well.

Meredith Baxter was pregnant during the third season of Family Ties. They mae her character Elyse pregnant. She missed several episodes in season three because of it.

There's an episode of 3rd Rock From The Sun where Dick Solomon (John Lithgow) plays around in a wheelchair and gets hurt. The character and actor stay in the wheelchair for the whole episode. In real life he sprained his ankle.

Wow, I never heard that! Never realized Andy had that kind of temper! Must have been during the "non Knotts" years; they kinda frustrated me, too! ;)
I never heard that either!

once on CHEERS Rhea Perlman was pregnant so Carla became pregnant too.

I thought it was excellent how they made that part of the show.
I cried buckets at the episode where she returns home. I think that was the last episode Will Geer (Grandpa) filmed before he passed on.

I'm SURE this has already been mentioned, but when Elizabeth Montgomery was pregnant for the second time Samantha Stevens on BEWITCHED became pregnant for the 1st time.

Sonny Shroyer (Enos, Dukes of Hazzard) missed several episodes of the second season due to appendicitis. It was simply written into the script that Enos had just had his appendix taken out as well, and Hughie Hogg (or maybe it was Cletus before he became a series regular) stepped in as deputy while Enos was recuperating.

On "Falcon Crest" Margaret Ladd who played Emma Channing was absent during a part of the second season of the show because she was pregnant with twins.

On "Falcon Crest" Margaret Ladd who played Emma Channing was absent during a part of the second season of the show because she was pregnant with twins.

Wow, I never knew that. Wasn't Emma sent of to an institution at that point, or am I thinking of Julia (Abby Dalton)?