Difficult Stars to Work For or With

[KeithE4]

Not to pile on Vivian Vance, but her resentments seem strange. Ethel was obviously the role of a lifetime for her, and the role was presumably written before she was cast for the part - as an older, frumpy woman. Lucy was the star of the show, after all..."duh," as they say. I doubt Bea Benadaret would have had the same resentments if she had played Ethel - all you have to do was watch her as Cousin Pearl Bodine on Beverly Hillbillies to see that she didn't mind frumping it up for a role. I was a kid when these shows were on the air, and I don't think I realized it was the same actress that played Kate Bradley.

Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet were originally considered for Fred & Ethel but had previous committments. Both later appeared on the show in guest roles - Gordon as Ricky's boss and Benaderet as an eldery housewife.

And getting "frumped up" certainly didn't hurt Audrey Meadows, who was initially turned down for the role of Alice Kramden because she was too attractive. She "frumped up" for a second crack at the part, and the rest is history.

 

[onairb]

My memory of Hawaii Five-O was that the cast didn't turn over until almost the last season, when James MacArthur quit. It could be that MacArthur just wanted to do something else. On the other hand, all you have to do is watch Lord's portrayal of McGarrett (carefully arranged lock of hair and all) to presume he was a vain and difficult person.

On 'Five-O', one of the original members of the team, Kono(played by a single-named actor known as 'Zulu') left in 1972(replaced by Herman Wedemeyer as 'Duke'). Kam Fong (who played 'Chin Ho') decided to leave in 1978, and his character was killed off.(They almost certainly missed the opprtunity to wrap up everything with that episode!) James MacArthur decided to call it quits a year later, which led to that mostly-forgettable 12th season(the only partial saving grace was that McGarrett finally caught Wo Fat in the last episode).

 

[BD Sullivan]

Supposedly Jack Lord (aka "The Lord") was a pain in the ass on Hawaii Five-O, which explains the turn-over in the main cast.

Jean Hagen quit Make Room for Daddy because Danny Thomas was a pain to work with. And then Sherry Jackson, who considered Hagen her only friend/ally in the case, left, too.

Re: Actors not acting. It always seemed in the scenes between Fred and Ricky that Desi showed a genuine affection for Frawley and wasn't acting. Gale Gordon had great chemistry with Eve Arden but Gordon and Lucy were nowhere near as good as Frawley and whoever he had scenes with, including Viv.

I understand Vance was sick of people on the street calling her "Ethel." That was also a factor in not wanting to do a Fred and Ethel spin-off, and why she insisted on her character having her own name (and being the same age as Lucy) when she came back.

My memory of Hawaii Five-O was that the cast didn't turn over until almost the last season, when James MacArthur quit. It could be that MacArthur just wanted to do something else. On the other hand, all you have to do is watch Lord's portrayal of McGarrett (carefully arranged lock of hair and all) to presume he was a vain and difficult person.

According to MacArthur's own website, he had these comments about why he left and about working with Lord:

"Quite frankly, I grew bored. After Leonard Freeman died, the series began to stagnate. It had started out very fresh and 'cutting edge' with stories and villains relevant to the times, but this did not continue once he was gone. The stories became more bland and predictable and presented less and less challenge to me as an actor. I haven't seen much of the 12th season, but no, I don't have any regrets about leaving when I did."

"Perhaps it was for some, but I never had any difficulties working with Jack. He was a consummate professional who always came to work fully prepared. This was also important to me, so we always got along just fine. Jack was very perfectionistic and always demanded the best from himself and the people around him. He had little tolerance for those who didn't hold themselves to the same high standards, which is probably where the rumors of him being difficult to work with got started. I always respected Jack's sense of purpose and, although he was sometimes more outspoken about it than I was, I agreed with him in that attitude."

 

[FredLeonard]

FYI: Kam Fong's son plays "Duke" on the new series.

 

[rnigma1]

On 'Five-O', one of the original members of the team, Kono(played by a single-named actor known as 'Zulu') left in 1972(replaced by Herman Wedemeyer as 'Duke'). Kam Fong (who played 'Chin Ho') decided to leave in 1978, and his character was killed off.(They almost certainly missed the opprtunity to wrap up everything with that episode!) James MacArthur decided to call it quits a year later, which led to that mostly-forgettable 12th season(the only partial saving grace was that McGarrett finally caught Wo Fat in the last episode).

Actually, Zulu was replaced by Al Harrington (as Ben). Wedemeyer came a bit later. (Harrington made a couple of appearances on the new Five-O, perhaps the only member of the original-series cast to do so. James MacArthur wanted to do a guest shot on the new show, but died before it could happen.)

 

[onairb]

Thanks for the correction. I was going by Brooks and Marsh, which lists both Wedemeyer and Harrington (who I'd forgotten) as joining in '72(though Wedemeyer was not in the opening credits for his first couple of years).

 

[ShawnHill1]

As it relates to this thread, Yahoo's TV section has a feature tonight ranking their top 15 all-time cast feuds in TV...some recent (Charlie Sheen and Selma Blair on "Anger Management", Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj on "American Idol"), and some from years past (Bea Arthur and Betty White on "The Golden Girls", Will Smith and Janet Hubert on "The Fresh Prince", etc.)

http://tv.yahoo.com/photos/actor-vs-actor-s-tv-s-biggest-on-set-feuds-1371684083-slideshow/

 

[bpatrick]

William Frawley once said about Vivian Vance: "She's one of
the finest gals to come out of Kansas, but sometimes I wish
she'd go back there." And in the later years of "I Love Lucy"
he had this to say about the show: "It's like eating stew every
night--stale and not a bit funny."

 

[bpatrick]

No doubt Robert Reed's mentality about The Brady Bunch stemmed from the fact that he had earlier co-starred on "The Defenders," which was one of the most honored and revered shows of its era. "Bunch" may have been popular with kids, but it certainly wasn't in line for Emmy consideration.

On the set of "Make Room for Daddy," Rusty Hamer was allowed to get away with murder since he was "just a little kid," which infuriated some of his co-stars. It's presumably that attitude that helped make his career nosedive after the show ended, culminating in his suicide in 1990.

Robert Reed once spent a week as a celebrity guest on the ABC version of "Password," and I still remember that on Friday Allen Ludden reminded viewers to watch Reed on "The Brady Bunch." Reed cut in, "and Mannix!" Reed never made any secret as to which of the two shows he preferred working on.

 

[michael hagerty]

No doubt Robert Reed's mentality about The Brady Bunch stemmed from the fact that he had earlier co-starred on "The Defenders," which was one of the most honored and revered shows of its era. "Bunch" may have been popular with kids, but it certainly wasn't in line for Emmy consideration.

On the set of "Make Room for Daddy," Rusty Hamer was allowed to get away with murder since he was "just a little kid," which infuriated some of his co-stars. It's presumably that attitude that helped make his career nosedive after the show ended, culminating in his suicide in 1990.

Robert Reed once spent a week as a celebrity guest on the ABC version of "Password," and I still remember that on Friday Allen Ludden reminded viewers to watch Reed on "The Brady Bunch." Reed cut in, "and Mannix!" Reed never made any secret as to which of the two shows he preferred working on.

I never understood why Mannix felt the need to have three different police lieutenants as characters on the show. One would have been fine. And given that, for the most part, neither show (Brady or Mannix) shot more than 15 minutes away from the Paramount lot (and usually shot on the lot itself), Reed's schedule shouldn't have been an issue.

 

[onairb]

IMDB shows Reed appeared in 22 episodes of 'Mannix'...initially as a sergeant, later promoted to Lieutenant. Character actors Ward Wood(listed in Brooks and Marsh) and Jack Ging(not credited in that book) were the other lieutenants.

 

[ixnay]

Eve Plumb was on The Brady Bunch, The Brady Brides, and The Bradys, but there was a different Jan on The Brady Bunch Hour (Geri Reischl, per Brooks and Marsh). Why did Plumb do a Tina Louise regarding Hour? Or was Plumb otherwise occupied?

ixnay

 

[Ultimajock]

Well, people say a lot of things - especially show biz types. Famously, when (widely-hated) Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn died, a big crowd turned out for the funeral. Red Skelton commented, "Give people what they want and they'll turn out for it."

...I've seen that line also attributed to Billy Wilder and Frank Capra, the latter of whom had a widely-noted falling out with Columbia Pictures just before World War II...

 

[Ultimajock]

Eve Plumb was on The Brady Bunch, The Brady Brides, and The Bradys, but there was a different Jan on The Brady Bunch Hour (Geri Reischl, per Brooks and Marsh). Why did Plumb do a Tina Louise regarding Hour? Or was Plumb otherwise occupied?

...Plumb claims she was more than willing to do the variety hour, but already had commitments to NBC for movies-of-the-week and guest shots, so she couldn't agree to the five-year option that Sid & Marty Krofft were demanding all the participants commit to...

 

[bpatrick]

IMDB shows Reed appeared in 22 episodes of 'Mannix'...initially as a sergeant, later promoted to Lieutenant. Character actors Ward Wood(listed in Brooks and Marsh) and Jack Ging(not credited in that book) were the other lieutenants.

Tim Brooks, in his "Complete Directory of Prime Time TV Stars," simply says that Jack Ging was a frequent supporting player on "Mannix" in the late '60s and early '70s but gives no dates as to his time on the show. It always seemed to me that Ward Wood (Lt. Art Malcolm) and Reed alternated weeks, perhaps because of Reed's shooting schedule on "The Brady Bunch."

 

[michael hagerty]

IMDB shows Reed appeared in 22 episodes of 'Mannix'...initially as a sergeant, later promoted to Lieutenant. Character actors Ward Wood(listed in Brooks and Marsh) and Jack Ging(not credited in that book) were the other lieutenants.

Tim Brooks, in his "Complete Directory of Prime Time TV Stars," simply says that Jack Ging was a frequent supporting player on "Mannix" in the late '60s and early '70s but gives no dates as to his time on the show. It always seemed to me that Ward Wood (Lt. Art Malcolm) and Reed alternated weeks, perhaps because of Reed's shooting schedule on "The Brady Bunch."

If Reed had alternated weeks, he would have had 22 episodes by the end of season two. The show ran eight. And, as noted before, both shows were shot on the Paramount lot or a few minutes' drive away. Neither required Reed for more than a few minutes of screen time.

 

[KyDXIn]

Re: Actors not acting.  It always seemed in the scenes between Fred and Ricky that Desi showed a genuine affection for Frawley and wasn't acting.  Gale Gordon had great chemistry with Eve Arden but Gordon and Lucy were nowhere near as good as Frawley and whoever he had scenes with, including Viv.

Not to pile on Vivian Vance, but her resentments seem strange.  Ethel was obviously the role of a lifetime for her, and the role was presumably written before she was cast for the part - as an older, frumpy woman.  Lucy was the star of the show, after all..."duh," as they say.  I doubt Bea Benadaret would have had the same resentments if she had played Ethel - all you have to do was watch her as Cousin Pearl Bodine on Beverly Hillbillies to see that she didn't mind frumping it up for a role.  I was a kid when these shows were on the air, and I don't think I realized it was the same actress that played Kate Bradley.

Or Blanche on the "Burns and Allen Show". Bea had a long career in radio where she played on the "Fibber McGee and Molly" Show. Bea was also one of the original voices of Betty Rubble on the "Flintstones."

 

[FredLeonard]

On "My Favorite Husband" on radio, the "other couple" was Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet. They had already signed to do "Our Miss Brooks" and "Burns and Allen," respectively, when Lucy was cast. Actors in radio would have recurring roles in multiple shows. In addition to working with Lucy on "My Favorite Husband" and Eve Arden in "Our Miss Brooks," Gordon also played Mayor LaTrivia on "Fibber McGee and Molly" (plus roles on other shows). Benaderet also was a regular on The Jack Benny Program and did the female voices in Warner Brothers cartoons.

Gordon and Benaderet also did the original radio version of Green Acres.

TV shows, however, required several days to rehearse and shoot and actors were mostly limited to regular roles in one series at a time.

Gordon and Benaderet were almost the same age (Gordon was a month and a half older). Bill Frawley was more than 22 years Vivian Vance's senior. Gale Gordon, on the other hand, despite playing much older, was only five years older than Lucy (three years older than Viv).

Reportedly, Vivian also acted "superior" to her Lucy cast mates because she came to the show from the legitimate theater, including 11 shows on Broadway. (Note: Desi had been in the original cast of a Rogers and Hart Broadway musical. Frawley had been in the original cost of 10 Broadway plays, including Hecht and MacArthur's classic comedy, "Twentieth Century.")

 

[KyDXIn]

On "My Favorite Husband" on radio, the "other couple" was Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet. They had already signed to do "Our Miss Brooks" and "Burns and Allen," respectively, when Lucy was cast. Actors in radio would have recurring roles in multiple shows. In addition to working with Lucy on "My Favorite Husband" and Eve Arden in "Our Miss Brooks," Gordon also played Mayor LaTrivia on "Fibber McGee and Molly" (plus roles on other shows). Benaderet also was a regular on The Jack Benny Program and did the female voices in Warner Brothers cartoons.

Gordon and Benaderet also did the original radio version of Green Acres.

TV shows, however, required several days to rehearse and shoot and actors were mostly limited to regular roles in one series at a time.

Gordon and Benaderet were almost the same age (Gordon was a month and a half older). Bill Frawley was more than 22 years Vivian Vance's senior. Gale Gordon, on the other hand, despite playing much older, was only five years older than Lucy (three years older than Viv).

Reportedly, Vivian also acted "superior" to her Lucy cast mates because she came to the show from the legitimate theater, including 11 shows on Broadway. (Note: Desi had been in the original cast of a Rogers and Hart Broadway musical. Frawley had been in the original cost of 10 Broadway plays, including Hecht and MacArthur's classic comedy, "Twentieth Century.")

Here is one of my favorite clips with Gordon and Vance together. Gordon wasn't a "spring chicken" when this was filmed either! This also shows that Vance had a good voice and some pretty good moves. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d-pCNQ0xNg

 

[BD Sullivan]

Gordon and Benaderet were almost the same age (Gordon was a month and a half older). Bill Frawley was more than 22 years Vivian Vance's senior. Gale Gordon, on the other hand, despite playing much older, was only five years older than Lucy (three years older than Viv).

That reminds me of the oddity of both Good Times and The Jeffersons, which each (originally) had a married couple as the focus. In both cases, the "wife" was, in real life, about 15-20 years older.