Name shows where they had to come up with an explanation of a character's absence, when an actor passed away or was ill.

Dennis The Menace, Joseph Kearns died, and they explained he was away on vacation. Later on The Wilsons moved away and were replaced by The John Wilsons.

Petticoat Junction, while Bea Benaderet was ill with cancer and even after she passed away, it was explained she was visiting relatives. (I think later in the series, one of the girls acknowledged her passing.)

Name shows where they had to come up with an explanation of a character's absence, when an actor passed away or was ill.

Dennis The Menace, Joseph Kearns died, and they explained he was away on vacation. Later on The Wilsons moved away and were replaced by The John Wilsons.

Petticoat Junction, while Bea Benaderet was ill with cancer and even after she passed away, it was explained she was visiting relatives. (I think later in the series, one of the girls acknowledged her passing.)

Hill Street Blues, when Sgt. Esterhaus passed on (as did Michael Conrad, who played him: don't know how to explain the circumstances).

Also during the run of Petticoat Junction, Smiley Burnette (as Charley Pratt) passed away (d. 1967). I don't believe his passing was addressed -- he was replaced by Byron Foulger (as Wendell Gibbs), and oddly Rufe Davis came back briefly (as Floyd Smoot) on the Cannonball despite having his character gone for quite a while.

Bonanza: Dan Blocker died in 1972 prior to the final season, and it was acknowledged in a script that Hoss Cartwright was dead -- explained as due to an accident.

Hill Street Blues, when Sgt. Esterhaus passed on (as did Michael Conrad, who played him: don't know how to explain the circumstances).

His character died "in the act" with a woman he'd been seeing. ;)

Nicholas Colosanto passed away during Cheers' run. Coach died, but I don't beleive the details were mentioned.

Both Selma Diamond and Florence Halop died during the run of Night Court. The next female bailiff, Marsha Warfield, aka "Roz" was considerably younger than her predecessors.

Jack Soo passed away during Barney Miller. :(

Stanley Kamel died of heart failure during Monk's run and his character passed away as well.

John Ritter died while filming 8 Simple Rules and the show's focus then became the family's coming to grips with their loss.

Now I'm depressed. :crying:

Freddie Prinze - Chico And The Man: When Freddie died they made it sound like Chico had left the garage to go into business with his dad, but later on it was implied that Chico died.

Dolph Sweet - Gimme A Break: When Dolph died, the Chief died.

Newsradio: Phil Hartman was murdered and Bill, his character, was killed off by a heart attack.

When Will Lee died, Sesame Street put together one of its most famous episodes ever where the adults explained to Big Bird about the death of Mr. Hooper and talked to children about the reality of death. A classic 1983 episode.
Later on, in 1989, actor Northern Calloway died in real life (but he left the show shortly before he died) and it was explained on the show that David moved to live on his grandmother's farm.

On Lassie, George Cleveland (as "Gramps" Miller) died in 1957 during the show's run. In a script, Gramps' daughter Ellen (Jan Clayton) and grandson Jeff (Tommy Rettig) were shown having returned from attending the character's funeral.

Jim Davis from "Dallas". They had his character, Jock, die as well.

Adding to that, Bea Benederet and Jim Davis were similar in that all of their careers they had played second fiddle and had never been the main stars of a series. When they finally became the stars of their shows, they got to enjoy it for a little while but then got sick and died.

On "Eight Is Enough", Diana Hyland played the mother Joan Bradford. A few episodes in, Diana had to stop appearing on the show due to cancer treatments. The rest of the first season Joan would only be heard making phone calls to the Bradford's house. After the first season wrapped, Diana died and Joan was also depicted (offscreen) as dying.

On Bewitched, when Alice Pierce (who played Gladys Kravitz) died, they had her off visiting relatives and Mary Grace Canfield filled-in as Harriet Kravitz, Abner's sister, until they decided to recast Gladys, with Sondra Gould.

And when Marion Lorne (Aunt Clara) died, they just stopped making reference to her.

Nancy Walker died of cancer during the production of the FOX sitcom "True Colors" in 1992. She was written out (if I remember correctly) as getting married.

Cleavon Little replaced the lead male character Frankie Faison in the "True Colors" series. However, Cleavon Little passed away as well later after Nancy Walker died.

Michael Thoma (Mr. Crandall) died of cancer after season one of "Fame". When season two began, Crandall's character was killed off after several episodes.

redd foxx died while royal family was in first season.it was revealed al royal had died at bowling alley I think

Frances Bay played Aunt Ginny on The Middle. She passed away between seasons two and three. The first episode of the season that they showed Aunt Edie, who usually is always seen with Aunt Ginny, she commented that Ginny was on the toilet. Eventually they killed off Aunt Ginny.

Madeline Kahn passed away during the 4th Season of Cosby.

As I recall Raymond Burr wasn't well during the last Perry Mason movie and died a few months later.

Jerry Orbach passed away during the filming of Trial by Jury, a spinoff to the popular Law & Order of which Orbach was a lead character.

Larry Hagman passed away in 2012 and the updated Dallas series portrayed J.R.'s funeral in a March 2013 episode.

Nancy Marchand was ill in real life during the filming of the Sopranos, so they actually portrayed her character as the sick mother of Tony Soprano. When Marchand passed away in 2000, The Sopranos also held the funeral for Livia Soprano in its third season.

George Reeves supposedly committed suicide, though many debate this and claim he was murdered (Perhaps by a higher up at MGM)- during the production of a proposed Adventures of Superman sequel series.

Barbara Colby was murdered after her first couple of episodes of spinoff "Phyllis".

Judith Lowry who played Mother Dexter on "Phyllis" died during the middle of the second season. Her last ep was when she married her fiancé. The actress died before the episode aired and the actor who played the groom was too ill to watch the episode and he eventually died as well.

The Waltons: Will Geer ("Zeb" Walton) died in '78 and the series went on. The character's passing was acknowledged.

On Bewitched, when Alice Pierce (who played Gladys Kravitz) died, they had her off visiting relatives and Mary Grace Canfield filled-in as Harriet Kravitz, Abner's sister, until they decided to recast Gladys, with Sondra Gould.

And when Marion Lorne (Aunt Clara) died, they just stopped making reference to her.

And of course with Bewitched as well, lingering pain from
Dick York's back injury from years earlier resulted in his not being able to continue with the series -- replaced by Richard "Dick" Sargent in the same role as Darrin.

The mother of George Jefferson died early in the series.
I'm sure it was mentioned onscreen.

Since the Jeffersons lasted as long as it did, it was likely that had she not died when she did (1978), she would have died sometime during the show's run.

I didn't realize that Mother Jefferson died early on. I liked her -- perfect casting -- and remember her well from first-run viewing.

The mother of George Jefferson died early in the series.
I'm sure it was mentioned onscreen.

Since the Jeffersons lasted as long as it did, it was likely that had she not died when she did (1978), she would have died sometime during the show's run.
yes, it was mentioned on-screen. I don't know if it was ever mentioned how she died or if they showed her funeral or anything, but I remember seeing an episode on Nick at Nite once (that tells you how long ago it was:lol: ) and in one scene someone said to George "Hey, I'm sorry to hear about your mothers passing."

On MacGyver, the actor who portrayed Pete Thornton, Dana Elcar, developed glaucoma and underwent surgery for it. This was incorporated into his character and thus Pete Thornton was depicted as having glaucoma and was seen going in for eye surgery on the show as well. And Pete did appear in the 7th. season, but only in a handful of episodes, most likely because of all the medical work the actor was having done.
Dana Elcar died in 2005, but I mentioned him because his illness did affect the show he was working on and I'm really glad that the MacGyver producers worked that into the show rather than write him off altogether.

Howard McNear (Floyd) suffered a stroke during the run of The Andy Griffith Show. He eventually returned on a limited basis.

Wasnt Floyd replaced by Emmitt on Andy Griffith?

Obviously JR Ewing is the one I remember most. Actually Aunt Bee died but I saw that in the return to Mayberry movie that Andy was at her gravesite. I'm assuming should would have been in the movie had she not died.

One more thing about Phil Hartman. He played Lionel Hutz, Lyle Langley on The Simpsons. I dont think his death was acknowledged by The Simpsons, nor is his characters ever mentioned on there as well.

Wasnt Floyd replaced by Emmitt on Andy Griffith?

Obviously JR Ewing is the one I remember most. Actually Aunt Bee died but I saw that in the return to Mayberry movie that Andy was at her gravesite. I'm assuming should would have been in the movie had she not died.


Actually, Frances Bavier (Aunt Bee) didn't pass until late 1989. I still remember the TBS "TBS remembers Frances Bavier" 5 second promo.

Wasnt Floyd replaced by Emmitt on Andy Griffith?


Emmett appeared in the last season of TAGS, but I know sometime after McNear had his stroke, he returned to the show, before Emmett came along. Paul Hartman as Emmett went on to appear in Mayberry R.F.D. after TAGS.

Actually, Frances Bavier (Aunt Bee) didn't pass until late 1989. I still remember the TBS "TBS remembers Frances Bavier" 5 second promo.

How come she wasnt in the movie? Her voice was there but it wasnt even her voice? Did get really bad that Andy and Frances wouldnt work on the movie together?

How come she wasnt in the movie? Her voice was there but it wasnt even her voice? Did get really bad that Andy and Frances wouldnt work on the movie together?
She was asked, but declined.

She was asked, but declined.
I believe she was ill at the time, at least that's what was reported.

Yeah. I believed she died Dec 30th 1989. I forgot the actual date but it was right around that time, though.

Yeah. I believed she died Dec 30th 1989. I forgot the actual date but it was right around that time, though.

Close, it was Dec 6th, she was living in Siler City, NC at the time which is about 20 miles from me.

Pete Duel died during production of Alias Smith and Jones and his role was taken over by Roger Davis who previously served as the series' narrator.

William Frawley left My Three Sons due to health issues and later died on March 3rd, 1966 (same day as Alice Pearce of Bewitched) he was replaced by William Demarest

Larry Keating died during production of Mister Ed, Leon Ames and Florence MacMichael joined the cast as Gordon and Winnie Kirkwood.