Heard, But Never Seen

[Otto Maddock]

Did Carlton the Doorman (Mary Tyler Moore Show) or Charlie (Charlie's Angels) ever appear on camera? Throughout TV history, were there any other well-known regular characters whose voices were heard, but we never got to see?

 

[Davros2006]

On the '90s computer animated series REBOOT, Al, who owns a "slow food" diner in Mainframe, is never seen but does yell "WHAT!?!?" when his waiter asks something. It is suggested that Al is deaf (exactly how deaf I do not know).

 

[Stanislav]

Wikipedia used to have a lengthy list of such characters (heard but not seen; referred to repeatedly in dialog, but neither seen nor heard, etc.), but it seems to be gone -- probably purged in their general discouragement of lists of trivia.

 

[kirkiefan]

Man,that's a concept that goes back to the 1950s.

I still remember from my childhood "The Millionaire" where billionaire recluse John Beresford Tipton (Paul Frees..whom I think went uncredited as the closing credits mentioned Tipton's name near the scary MCA logo at the end)would ask for his employee Michael Anthony (actor Marvin Miller who also appeared in cigarrette commercials) to deliver a check for one mil as a random act of kindness to a person in need. Poor 'ol Mike had his hands full being as polite as possible when most of Tipton's recipients were skeptcal...and there were a few of them who went and squandered the full amount within days. It was a dramatic series but was also one of the first family-freindly "feel good" shows produced by Don Fedderson who later gave us My Three Sons and Family Affair.

Here's an episode I found on You Tube that runs in three parts which featured DeForest Kelley (...later as Star Trek's Dr. McCoy) who plays the beau of check recipient Iris Millar...pardon the poor quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRyFo1p7eKo&feature=related

 

[WMC2006]

-Norm's wife, Vera, on Cheers
-Niles wife, Maris, on Frasier
-the guy who made the public-address announcements on MASH

We never saw Charles Townsend's face. We saw the back of his head, his hair, even his eyes as I recall when he was dressed in scrubs when one of the Angels was in the hospital.

Carlton the doorman was never on camera as far as I know.


Edit: Now that I think of it, I'm not sure we ever heard Maris or not. I know Vera was heard once or twice.

 

[mleach]

For many years on the old Peanuts cartoon shows..the adults were heard but never seen. Oh course the adults talked like...ah you get the idea.

 

[WMC2006]

Here's some lists:

http://tv.msn.com/tv/heard-but-not-seen/

http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Unseen:character.htm

Amongst others, Wilson from Home Improvement (not COMPLETELY seen, anyway); Robin Masters on Magnum PI; Peg Bundy's mother; Orson from Mork and Mindy; and, the radio announcer from Gilligan's Island.

Going for a slightly different twist, one character who for many years was heard of and often mentioned but never seen until the later years of Happy Days was Jenny Piccolo.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

We never saw Charles Townsend's face. We saw the back of his head, his hair, even his eyes as I recall when he was dressed in scrubs when one of the Angels was in the hospital.

John Forsythe did Charlie's voice...Was it him in scrubs?

 

[bpatrick]

In the first year of "Bracken's World" (1969-70), John
Bracken was the unseen head of a major Hollywood
studio. although his voice was provided by character
actor Warren Stevens. The gimmick added nothing to the ratings, so
Leslie Nielsen was brought in a (visible) Bracken the second
year. That added nothing either, and the show was
canceled. Whatever happened to the three actresses
who played the starlets on that show?

 

[firepoint525]

Here's some lists:
http://tv.msn.com/tv/heard-but-not-seen/
http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Unseen:character.htm
Amongst others, Wilson from Home Improvement (not COMPLETELY seen, anyway); Robin Masters on Magnum PI; Peg Bundy's mother; Orson from Mork and Mindy; and, the radio announcer from Gilligan's Island.
Going for a slightly different twist, one character who for many years was heard of and often mentioned but never seen until the later years of Happy Days was Jenny Piccolo.

Another sign that Happy Days had "jumped the shark." As if Fonzie actually jumping the shark wasn't convincing enough! ;D

 

[anotherguyTN]

Vera was seen once on Cheers, but she had a pie in her face from the Thanksgiving food fight.

On MASH, Sparky, a company clerk from another unit that Radar talked to, was unseen except for possibly once.

There were several unseen characters on The Red Green Show, including Red's wife Berniece, Buster Hatfield, Old Man Sedgwick, and Stinky Peterson.

The MSN article mentioned George Steinbrenner in Seinfeld. Could he be the only unseen character from a TV show that was a real person?

 

[WMC2006]

We never saw Charles Townsend's face. We saw the back of his head, his hair, even his eyes as I recall when he was dressed in scrubs when one of the Angels was in the hospital.

John Forsythe did Charlie's voice...Was it him in scrubs?

I'm going to go with a "NO" only because I've read somewhere in the past that Forsythe had said he never actually went to the studio. He recorded his lines elsewhere and they dubbed in his voice later on.

 

[LKellerIII]

Vera was seen once on Cheers, but she had a pie in her face from the Thanksgiving food fight.

On MASH, Sparky, a company clerk from another unit that Radar talked to, was unseen except for possibly once.

There were several unseen characters on The Red Green Show, including Red's wife Berniece, Buster Hatfield, Old Man Sedgwick, and Stinky Peterson.

The MSN article mentioned George Steinbrenner in Seinfeld. Could he be the only unseen character from a TV show that was a real person?

Steinbrenner was also seen from behind - he was usually waving his arms and gesticulating wildly. Larry David provided the voice - not sure if he played the body or not.

 

[firepoint525]

Heard, but never seen (at least not without their makeup): KISS, until 1983, when they had that very ceremonial "unmasking" on MTV that year.  Then after everyone saw them without their face paint, we all screamed, "PUT IT BACK ON!!!"  ;D 8)

 

[WMC2006]

Heard, but never seen (at least not without their makeup): KISS, until 1983, when they had that very ceremonial "unmasking" on MTV that year. Then after everyone saw them without their face paint, we all screamed, "PUT IT BACK ON!!!" ;D 8)

Well, if you're going to count that, then you have to count The Unknown Comic, Murray Langston, from The Gong Show. He wore a bag over his head and was eventually unmasked on Real People.

Speaking of Real People, we probably would have been better off neither seeing nor hearing Skip Stephenson.

And Peter Billingsley. :

But Sarah Purcell was a hottie. ;D

 

[firepoint525]

Heard, but never seen (at least not without their makeup): KISS, until 1983, when they had that very ceremonial "unmasking" on MTV that year.  Then after everyone saw them without their face paint, we all screamed, "PUT IT BACK ON!!!"  ;D 8)

Well, if you're going to count that, then you have to count The Unknown Comic, Murray Langston, from The Gong Show. He wore a bag over his head and was eventually unmasked on Real People.
Speaking of Real People, we probably would have been better off neither seeing nor hearing Skip Stephenson.      
And Peter Billingsley.   :
But Sarah Purcell was a hottie.   ;D

So the UNknown comic became the "known" comic?  ;D  I wasn't aware of that one.  (Chucky baby, Chucky baby!!)

What was it with Skip and those sweaters?  Maybe he should have had the bag over his head!  (Just a joke, people! 8))

I agree with you about Sarah Purcell.  And it seemed like she and Skip had good on-air chemistry.

 

[WMC2006]

Thought of a couple more:

-the female dispatcher on Adam-12 (who was a real person and whose real job was a police dispatcher, if I'm not mistaken)

-the male dispatcher (heard on the overhead intercom in the firehouse) on Emergency

-the female dispatcher on CHiPs

 

[Prais]

Never seen oldie;
Gladys (Pete's wife on December Bride and Pete and Gladys).

 

[biggguy]

Never seen oldie;
Gladys (Pete's wife on December Bride and Pete and Gladys).

On December Bride......never seen. However, "Pete and Gladys" without Gladys would have been pretty tough- it would have been like "I Love Lucy" with no Lucy...

 

[landtuna]

And going even further back in time.....

The Kirby's and their martini drinking dog were never seldom seen in Topper.