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Classic TV's worst actors & actresses..

B

BobSacamano

Guest
As much as I loved M*A*S*H,..I always thought the acting was a bit suspect. In particular, Mike Farrell, Loretta Swit, and Jamie Farr..

So which classic TV stars do you think were in need of acting lessons?
 
Everybody on 'Lost In Space' (although Guy Williams was great in 'Zorro').

Everybody on 'Star Trek' (the original).

Most everybody on 'Bonanza'.

Everybody on 'Route 66'.

There's much more but it's late.....
 
...between Jack Lord, William Shatner and Adam West, there was enough wood to open a chain of lumberyards...
 
David Caruso (CSI-Miami-NYPD Blue)
Jack Lord (Hawaii Five-0)
Jack Webb ( Dragnet)
William Shatner (TJ Hooker) * However he was good as Denny Crane
Robert Vaughn (The Man from U.N.C.L.E)
Jack Larson (The Adventures of Superman)
George Burns (Burns & Allen)
 
Everybody on 'Star Trek' (the original)

You mean I'm not the only one who's noticed! I thought I was the only person on Earth (or the entire Delta Quadrant) who had noticed! I was always afraid to mention anything for fear of being considered sacrilegious, or getting taken by the Borg.....
 
landtuna said:
Everybody on 'Lost In Space' (although Guy Williams was great in 'Zorro').
Click to expand...

You have offended me, sir! ;D. Lost in Space was awful, I grant you - Olivier would have been awful reading those lines. But I give kudos to Jonathan Harris for his portrayal of Dr. Zachary Smith for delivering one of the hammiest and over-the-top performances of all time. "Ohhhh, the pain..."
 
skippercollector said:
Everybody on 'Star Trek' (the original)

You mean I'm not the only one who's noticed! I thought I was the only person on Earth (or the entire Delta Quadrant) who had noticed! I was always afraid to mention anything for fear of being considered sacrilegious, or getting taken by the Borg.....
Click to expand...

I can't agree 100%. Leonard Nimoy was the one cast member who showed actual acting talent. And you have to give James Doohan credit for the Scottish accent - dialects were his specialty.

Shatner. On. The. Other. Hand... ;D
 
Lkeller said:
You have offended me, sir! ;D. Lost in Space was awful, I grant you - Olivier would have been awful reading those lines. But I give kudos to Jonathan Harris for his portrayal of Dr. Zachary Smith for delivering one of the hammiest and over-the-top performances of all time. "Ohhhh, the pain..."
Click to expand...

I hated that show with a passion. Partly because it was so terrible as any sort of sci-fi but mostly because it ruined the career of one of my all-time favorite childhood actors, Guy Williams.
 
Lkeller said:
You have offended me, sir! ;D. Lost in Space was awful, I grant you - Olivier would have been awful reading those lines. But I give kudos to Jonathan Harris for his portrayal of Dr. Zachary Smith for delivering one of the hammiest and over-the-top performances of all time. "Ohhhh, the pain..."
Click to expand...

I always thought that Jonathan Harris as Dr. Smith would have been a great villain on Batman. ;D
 
In regards to Dragnet, According to Harry Morgan, he was told to play it flat & sort of detached by Jack Webb..plus to save rehearsal time, dialogue was READ off of teleprompters..
 
"Sir! The Victim was found without his hands!"

"Well....I guess you can say he.."

(•_•)

( •_•)>⌐■-■

(⌐■_■)

"..lost his touch."

YYEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH­HHHHH
 
landtuna said:
I hated that show with a passion. Partly because it was so terrible as any sort of sci-fi but mostly because it ruined the career of one of my all-time favorite childhood actors, Guy Williams.
Click to expand...

Guy Williams eventually moved to Argentina. Perhaps he left the United States partly because of his role on 'Lost in Space.'

'Lost in Space' lost me after the first episode and especially when the focus of the program centered on Jonathan Harris' Dr Smith. The monsters in the rubber suits didn't enchance the character of the show either.

As for the rest of the cast, I think it got to the point that they just showed up, read a few lines from a cue card, picked up their checks, and went home.

Like 'Family Affair' I could never understand why 'Lost in Space' stayed on the air as long as it did.
 
Well since I have already mentioned it, I have to nominate Brian Keith and Sebastian Cabot for ‘Family Affair.’
Both Keith and Cabot looked so bored with their characters. Again I mention the adage of showing up, reading a few lines, getting paid and going home. In other words calling it in.
The three child actors tried their best but they couldn’t carry the show by themselves.
 
BobSacamano said:
In regards to Dragnet, According to Harry Morgan, he was told to play it flat & sort of detached by Jack Webb..plus to save rehearsal time, dialogue was READ off of teleprompters..
Click to expand...
Webb had all of the actors who appeared on Dragnet use the same format as Harry Morgan described. However he didn't require the actors on other Mark VII productions (owned by Webb) such as Adam 12 and Emergency to follow the same stiff acting style as featured on Dragnet.
 
KeithE4 said:
skippercollector said:
Everybody on 'Star Trek' (the original)

You mean I'm not the only one who's noticed! I thought I was the only person on Earth (or the entire Delta Quadrant) who had noticed! I was always afraid to mention anything for fear of being considered sacrilegious, or getting taken by the Borg.....
Click to expand...

I can't agree 100%. Leonard Nimoy was the one cast member who showed actual acting talent. And you have to give James Doohan credit for the Scottish accent - dialects were his specialty.
Click to expand...
...James Doohan was indeed a talented actor, but that Scots accent would never have fooled anyone north of Windsor, let alone in the British Isles...
 
KeithE4 said:
I can't agree 100%. Leonard Nimoy was the one cast member who showed actual acting talent.
Click to expand...

Really? Must have been another show because his "Vulcan" personality sure didn't let him range far and wide on Star Trek.

Actually, I didn't think any of the actors on that show got much range in their characters and the plots were so generally stupid that their hardest effort must have been not laughing at the lines.

Sci-Fi is not generally the easiest for actors to carry off but Star Trek lowered the bar even below what it had been on previous efforts like Flash Gordon.
 
landtuna said:
Really? Must have been another show because his "Vulcan" personality sure didn't let him range far and wide on Star Trek.
Click to expand...

I was comparing him to the others. Nimoy was Lawrence Olivier when compared to the rest of the cast.

"It's acting, Jim - but not as we know it." ;D
 
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