This thread is for giving examples of actors who politically were
(or are) the exact opposite of the characters they played on TV.

An example would be Jack Lord. He was known for playing ultraconservative
cop Steve McGarrett on Hawaii Five-O, but in real life, Lord Himself was a
very liberal man indeed. Any more examples?

Marcia Cross as Bree Van de Kamp on Desperate Housewives

Carroll O'Connor.

Edward Asner. He played a conservative named Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and on the TV show spin-off of the same name.

But away from the cameras, he is your typical bleeding-heart liberal, utterly loathed by so many right-wing conservatives. In fact, I believe his recent behavior towards MTM herself (disrespecting her just because of her being a republican) may have cost him his friend ship with her.

Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls was pretty conservative in her thinking but in real life, Betty White is a lot more liberal.

Yeah Archie Bunker was Republican, but Carroll O'Conner was a Democrat.

Michael J Fox played Alex Keaton a Republican but I believe he has stated he is a Democrat (or supports Democratic politicians).

I said this before, but I do not think that George Jefferson would have liked Sherman Hemsley that much.

George was a businessman and a family man and was very uptight and racist, while Sherman was definitely a free spirit type in his personal life. George was never married, and was a fan of white progressive rock bands, the most famous band he liked was "Yes" but his favorite band was called "Gong".

George was also very good with his money, while Sherman....not as much, although Sherman would have made more money than George did.

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More to the point, Lou Grant (The MTM Lou Grant) would have physically tossed Ed Asner out on his ear for talking smack about America!

Andy Griffith was a Democrat in real life, but his charaters were probably conservative.

I've read that the man who wrote the original novel that MASH was based on was an ultra-conservative who viewed anti war protesters as commies!

Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock.

Here's another one...

Nell Carter played a Christian housekeeper on "Gimme a Break", but she was Jewish at the time.

Dixie Carter was a conservative Republican in real life, but played a liberal Democrat on Designing Women.