View Full Version : Which actors got typecast by playing in a sitcom or tv show


Tubehead
08-03-2019, 10:46 PM
mine are:
jackie gleason the honeymooners
lucille ball i love lucy
Henry Winkler the fonz
Jaleel White as steve urlak
Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson
the olsen twins full house
Jimmie Walker aka jj evens good times
micheal j fox as Alex p keton in family ties
jonathan taylor thomas home improvement
fred savage as kevin arnold as the wonder years
TOM WELLING CLARK KENt smallville
harry anderson night court
red foxx sanfrod & son
dean cain lois & clark the new adventures of superman

mandyrenee
08-03-2019, 10:49 PM
Max Baer as Jethro Bodine on "The Beverly Hillbillies".

Heenan Fan
08-04-2019, 05:07 PM
The entire casts of Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch.

howilu
08-05-2019, 09:24 AM
Jerry Mathers as The Beaver.
Ken Osmond as Eddie Haskell.
Bob Denver as Gilligan.

loaferman
08-05-2019, 08:04 PM
Adam West and Burt Ward from "Batman".

treky
08-06-2019, 12:47 AM
just about all the Star Trek actors

jimpickens
08-06-2019, 01:34 AM
Everybody mentioned.

andress_jade
08-06-2019, 01:35 AM
Bob Saget as Danny Tanner on Full House.
Barbara Eden as Jeannie on I Dream of Jeannie.
Kirk Cameron as Mike Seaver on Growing Pains.
Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane on Cheers and Frasier. (He played the character for 20 years!) :o

Zoneboy
08-06-2019, 03:55 AM
I have to disagree with Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason and Robert Reed. I Love Lucy , The Honeymooners and The Brady Bunch are what they're best known for TV wise, but Ball and Gleason went on to have respectable careers in TV and movies and Reed did so in TV.

Schmo
08-06-2019, 08:12 PM
Andy Griffith

Zoneboy
08-06-2019, 08:39 PM
Andy Griffith

Nope, he was not typecast. Matlock took care of that.

mandyrenee
08-06-2019, 09:21 PM
just about all the Star Trek actors

William Shatner was definitely not typecast.

Heenan Fan
08-07-2019, 05:27 PM
Jeremy Allen White as Lip Gallagher from shameless .

Heenan Fan
08-07-2019, 05:28 PM
Nope, he was not typecast. Matlock took care of that.

I agree with Zoneboy, not to mention all the movies Griffith made.

Lee
08-08-2019, 12:41 PM
Jaleel White as steve urlak


You mean Steve Urkel?

Heenan Fan
08-08-2019, 12:57 PM
You mean Steve Urkel?
Yes

Tubehead
08-08-2019, 08:24 PM
yea sorry i spelled it wrong!! but i think that Jaleel White really got type casting by playing Steve Urkel! i only watched him in dancing with the stars!! i also know he did the voice of sonic the hedgehog in the Anmited tv series of sonic the head hog!!

Duster76
08-08-2019, 11:10 PM
mine are:
jackie gleason the honeymooners
lucille ball i love lucy
Henry Winkler the fonz
Jaleel White as steve urlak
Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson
the olsen twins full house
Jimmie Walker aka jj evens good times
micheal j fox as Alex p keton in family ties
jonathan taylor thomas home improvement
fred savage as kevin arnold as the wonder years
TOM WELLING CLARK KENt smallville
harry anderson night court
red foxx sanfrod & son
dean cain lois & clark the new adventures of superman


I won't comment on all the selections but several are so completely off-base that I have to comment.

Jackie Gleason: Gleason had a prolific career before, during and after the Honeymooners. Did you know he had top 40 albums after The Honeymooners. Did you know he starred or was featured in 5 films between 1961-63 alone. He costarred in the Smokey and the Bandit film series in the 70's, he was in The Toy, Sting II and he made Nothing In Common with Tom Hanks right before his death. Did you know he had a long running variety show in the 1960's. How could you suggest he was typecast?

Lucille Ball: You can't be serious, the zany redhead was Lucy's on-screen persona, it made her a fortune. She was an owner in all three of the hit series, it's not typecasting, this is her bit. This would be like suggesting to Don Rickles that he would be more successful if he just cut out all those insults.

Michael J Fox: I'm stunned at this selection, he starred in movies through the mid 90's, and then made a successful return to television in 1996 with his second hit series Spin City until his health issues forced him to leave the show.

Schmo
08-10-2019, 12:32 PM
Nope, he was not typecast. Matlock took care of that.

He starred in a string of flops between “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Matlock” (“The Headmaster”, “The New AGS”, and “Salvage One”). Whether that was due to typecasting or bad luck is a matter of opinion. I know about his prolific TV movie career, but when he played the bad guy he couldn’t pull it off like he did in “A Face in the Crowd”, which was released in 1957.

Zoneboy
08-11-2019, 01:47 AM
He starred in a string of flops between “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Matlock” (“The Headmaster”, “The New AGS”, and “Salvage One”). Whether that was due to typecasting or bad luck is a matter of opinion. I know about his prolific TV movie career, but when he played the bad guy he couldn’t pull it off like he did in “A Face in the Crowd”, which was released in 1957.


I know all about the string of flops, but the bottom line is he wasn't typecast. Someone who is typecast usually has difficulty finding work, Andy had no trouble it's just that the choices weren't the best until Matlock. Personally, I wish Salvage 1 had done better. I loved that show.

treky
08-11-2019, 01:59 AM
William Shatner was definitely not typecast.

I disagree

treky
08-11-2019, 02:12 AM
McLean Stevenson as Col. Blake on MASH.
He made a HUUUGE mistake by leaving that show-which he later admitted.



I remember seeing Harvey Korman on Johnny Carson once in 1978 talking about how he couldn't find a hit series after leaving Carol Burnett and he laughed and said when he feels sad, "I'll call McLean Stevenson and talk about our careers and...have a good cry." (he laughed as he said that last part)

jimpickens
08-11-2019, 04:14 AM
But Harvey did find success in movies working with Mel Brooks and how about Don Adams after Get Smart was canceled he was typecasted as Maxwell Smart type bungling characters throughout his career and what about the rest of the cast of The Beverly Hillbillies the only one who was able to escape was Buddy Ebson when he came back with Barnaby Jones and Max Bear with Macon County Line.

Schmo
08-11-2019, 03:10 PM
I know all about the string of flops, but the bottom line is he wasn't typecast. Someone who is typecast usually has difficulty finding work, Andy had no trouble it's just that the choices weren't the best until Matlock. Personally, I wish Salvage 1 had done better. I loved that show.

I think Andy Griffith tried to play “Matlock” as close to “Sheriff Andy Taylor” as possible without being a clone. That made the series a success. I can’t say that the series was well-written or that the supporting characters were well-developed.

dee2364
08-12-2019, 02:59 PM
mine are:
jackie gleason the honeymooners
lucille ball i love lucy
Henry Winkler the fonz
Jaleel White as steve urlak
Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson
the olsen twins full house
Jimmie Walker aka jj evens good times
micheal j fox as Alex p keton in family ties
jonathan taylor thomas home improvement
fred savage as kevin arnold as the wonder years
TOM WELLING CLARK KENt smallville
harry anderson night court
red foxx sanfrod & son
dean cain lois & clark the new adventures of superman

None of these people got typecast. Some of them either simply stopped acting to pursue other things after starring on a show or found success playing different characters. For example:

Jackie Gleason starred in many dramatic films (like The Hustler) and in the popular BJ and the Bandit.

Sherman Helmsley had a decent run on Amen.

Harry Anderson was in Dave's World.

Michael J. Fox became more remembered for Back to the Future and was on Spin City for years.

jimpickens
02-15-2020, 11:38 PM
Bob Denver after Gilligan's Island he like Don Adams and Don Knotts was typecast as the lovable bungling buffoon then there's George Lindsey even on Hee Haw he was typecast as Goober up until 79.

merlinjones
02-16-2020, 04:56 AM
Wouldn't it be easier to list the actors who weren't typecast after creating a beloved classic role?

Blessing or curse? It must be nice to be so universally loved and well remembered, yet it doesn't pay the bills or satisfy the ongoing need for creative expression.

jimpickens
02-17-2020, 02:49 AM
True but it wouldn't be as fun now wouldn't it.