TV actors who really could have been movie stars if given the chance

[TMC]

Are there any television actors (past or present) who were actually so good or so marketable that they could have been much more famous had they been movie actors?

[king of comedy]

I see Ed O Neil more in that role.

[merlinjones]

Robert Conrad
Jim Stacy
Paul Petersen

[dee2364]

Nope. I can't ever remember a time watching a TV show where I thought, "That person could've/should've made the jump and become the next George Clooney, Will Smith, etc." I think the people who were or are good enough to make the jump to movie stardom did; the others are right where they needed to be.

In fact, the talent pool is so weak right now that the opposite seems to be the case now--too many TV stars who aren't good enough to make it big in Hollywood were/are being heavily pushed as movie stars. I was so surprised when Hollywood was trying to make Olivia Wilde a thing, as well as that kid from Third Rock from the Sun (forgot his name).

[TV Guy]

Tina Yothers

[cnnbcbs]

The guy who played 'bubba' on mama's family. The character/actor had a real 'woody boyd's/woody harrelson vibe.

[merlinjones]

Pete Duel

[Sal]

David Cassidy

Freddie Prinze Sr.

Cheryl Ladd

Farrah Fawcett

Henry Winkler

Johnny Carson

Michael Landon

Elizabeth Montgomery

[broadmoor]

Two blonde gals from the late-50s/early-60s:

Dorothy Provine
Connie Stevens

I always thought had those two come along about 20 years earlier, in the pre-television era, they would have made a comparatively bigger mark and garnered greater stardom in feature films in the classic Hollywood age, especially the screwball comedy genre, or maybe musical-comedies.

Oh, they both had perfectly decent careers, but their strong serio-comedic personalities would have been a better match for the 1930s/1940s. By the late-50s/early-60s, the role of leading-ladies had become increasingly just decorative and rather secondary, with perhaps the lingering exception of Doris Day.

[Babalu]

Originally Posted by Sal

David Cassidy

Freddie Prinze Sr.

Cheryl Ladd

Farrah Fawcett

Henry Winkler

Johnny Carson

Michael Landon

Elizabeth Montgomery

Cheryl Ladd, Farrah Fawcett and Henry Winkler tried their hand at movies and failed.

Johnny Carson? He made one or two movie cameos that he joked about but I can't imagine anyone suited more for TV and less for movies than Johnny Carson.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by Babalu

Cheryl Ladd, Farrah Fawcett and Henry Winkler tried their hand at movies and failed.

Johnny Carson? He made one or two movie cameos that he joked about but I can't imagine anyone suited more for TV and less for movies than Johnny Carson.

Farrah Fawcett put in a really good performance in The Burning Bed. Yes that was a TV movie premiere and not theater, but better quality than a lot of the theater movies. Although even with its quality I don't know if I would watch The Burning Bed a 2nd time as that was so intense.

[Edward216]

Originally Posted by dee2364

Nope. I can't ever remember a time watching a TV show where I thought, "That person could've/should've made the jump and become the next George Clooney, Will Smith, etc." I think the people who were or are good enough to make the jump to movie stardom did; the others are right where they needed to be.

In fact, the talent pool is so weak right now that the opposite seems to be the case now--too many TV stars who aren't good enough to make it big in Hollywood were/are being heavily pushed as movie stars. I was so surprised when Hollywood was trying to make Olivia Wilde a thing, as well as that kid from Third Rock from the Sun (forgot his name).

Joseph Gordon-Levitt. And he's done all right in movies, maybe not as good as some but better than others. So what do you know.

Ed.

[Edward216]

Originally Posted by Sal

David Cassidy

Freddie Prinze Sr.

Cheryl Ladd

Farrah Fawcett

Henry Winkler

Johnny Carson

Michael Landon

Elizabeth Montgomery

It's funny you should mention Michael Landon, he actually did start out in movies and not TV, but I don't think he did that many movies before ending up on TV. He actually debuted in a late 50s cheesy horror film I Was A Teenage Werewolf, and he was the title character! In fact they did a Highway To Heaven Halloween episode where Victor French's character Mark is watching the movie on a TV, but I don't remember that they mentioned the name of the movie but you do see Michael Landon on the screen in werewolf makeup. In fact the episode was kind of creepy. Because Mark falls asleep and dreams that Jonathan turns into a werewolf and tries to attack him! It was creepy but I think they were going for laughs too but I didn't really care for it. I thought it was a dumb episode but I kind of understand Michael Landon wanting to poke fun at the movie, he was kind of embarrassed that that was his professional acting debut.

Ed.

[merlinjones]

Originally Posted by broadmoor

Two blonde gals from the late-50s/early-60s:

Dorothy Provine
Connie Stevens

Dorothy Provine was effervescent in Walt Disney's That Darn Cat! - I always wondered why we didn't see more of her.

[king of comedy]

Farrah Fawcett did do theatre. It was an off Broadway show called Extremities. I heard she was great. She also did the film version.