Roles That Stereotyped Actors

[Tim-In-Houston]

I think the entire cast of "Star Trek" would certainly qualify. Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley will always be seen as Kirk, Spock and Bones and the rest of the cast is no different. Even after George Takei's recent coming-out, he will always be Sulu.

One, who is just stereotyped in my mind, is Robert Guillaume. He will always be "Benson Dubois". Even his short-lived stint on Aaron Sorkin's "SportsNight" and voice over work in "The Lion King" cannot erase his Benson character from my mind.

Another that comes up is Erik Estrada as Ponch on "CHiPS."

Joan Collins as Alexis Carrington-Colby-etc-etc-etc (aka the b!tch on "Dynasty") is yet another.

 

[Legend City]

The entire cast of Welcome Back Kotter, sans Travolta. (Pallilo, Kaplan, Hegyes)

Shelley Long from Cheers (she attempted suicide)

That kid from 8 is Enough, Adam Rich

Everyone's favorite radio babe, Jan Smithers from WKRP.

Linda Lavin, Hal Linden, anyone from Facts of Life, Butch Patrick from the Munsters.

Anyone from any of the Star Trek shows but Shatner.

But think of the actors that escaped roles that could have really hurt them, Sally Field in Gidget and Flying Nun, Bill Bixby in Martian, Eddie's Father, Incredible Hulk, Jack Klugman and Tony Randall and Penny Marshall in Odd Couple. Jerry Van Dyke in My Mother the Car, Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies, Michael Keaton and Jim Belushi in Working Stiffs.

 

[mleach]

Marvin Miller, who played Michael Anthony
While he played Michael Anthony, Miller was constantly
besieged with letters from viewers wanting a million-
dollar check. His customary reply was to send each
one a fake check for "a million dollars' worth of good
luck." But things got ugly on one occasion when a
New Jersey couple refused to accept the "check"
and wrote Miller a second letter, demanding a million
dollars. They got a response saying, in effect,
"Get a life." One woman somehow found Miller's house
and went up and rang the doorbell. When Miller came
to the door, he wasn't especially pleased to see her;
he let her know in no uncertain terms that he didn't
have a million dollars to give away (and probably wouldn't
if he had had the money).

Raymond Burr, when he was playing Perry Mason, decided
to play along with viewers who believed Mason was real;
to try to explain that it was all make-believe might make
some viewers angry and they might not watch the show
again. So when a woman came up to him and asked him
how he won all his cases, he replied, "But madam, you
see just the cases I try on Saturday (which is when
Mason aired at the time)."

And it wasn't always actors who got typecast. Monty
Hall once complained that critics saw him as no different
from the costumed, hyperkinetic contestants on "Let's
Make A Deal." He felt that it kept him from getting more
non-game show work (one assignment he really wanted,
and couldn't get, was the Tournament of Roses Parade).

What happened to Miller a similar situation happened at the home of Lucille Ball. Some people got over her backyard fence and Lucy asked them what they were doing only to have the trespassers say that since Lucy Ricardo did it then it was OK to do the same at Lucy's house.

Raymond Burr for years did commercials for a local insurance agency here. Even after his death the ads ran. It was only after it came out that Burr was gay that the ads were pulled.

Monty Hall, I remember back in the early 90s when he tried to keep Lets make A Deal going even after it left TV by doing the game via those 1-900 numbers. Hall actually got some heat over that since some of the ads pointed out to the then-current recession ( by flashing headlines like GM laying off thousands ) and asking people if they could use some extra money.

others who were stereotyped..

The girls from The Facts of Life
Jay North and more/less the cast from Dennis The Meance
Julie London and Bobby Troup from Emergency, heck Jack "Dragnet" Webb for that matter

Then there was Vivian Vance. Even AFTER she did The Lucy Show, people still called her Ethel Mertz. And she hated it, often getting nasty with people who would call her Ethel rather than Vivian.

 

[bpatrick]

Vivian Vance might have gotten angry at people calling
her Ethel, but Doris Singleton, who played Caroline Appleby
on "I Love Lucy," reveled in the idea of people coming up
to her and saying things like, "I know who you are, you're
Caroline Appleby!"

Eve Arden was always "Our Miss Brooks," even though she
did two other sitcoms ("The Eve Arden Show" and "The
Mothers-In-Law"). She once told of a woman and her small
child who came up to her; the woman told the kid to say hello
to Miss Brooks, then explained that the kid watched the show
every morning. Ms. Arden didn't mind a bit.

Agnes Moorehead became so identified as Endora on "Bewitched"
that, shortly before she died, she was asked to write an introduction
to a book on witchcraft (I don't know if she got to finish it). In an
interview, a reporter once asked, "But you are a witch, aren't you?"
"No," she replied, "I'm just a fantasy witch."

And one of TV's earliest female comedy stars was typecast BEFORE
television: Joan Davis ("I Married Joan") was stereotyped as a man-
hungry single woman in movies and on radio. She was determined
not to play the same role on television. (After "I Married Joan" she
made a pilot for a sitcom about the first woman astronaut; it didn't
get on the air.)

I noticed that someone mentioned Edd "Kookie" Byrnes of "77 Sunset
Strip." I think I've mentioned this before, but he was Merv Griffin's
first choice to host "Wheel Of Fortune." However, just before taping
the pilot, Byrnes was pacing back and forth going "AEIOU...AEIOU..."
in an attempt to remember his vowels. Chuck Woolery got the job
instead. Byrnes did play the host of a TV lottery drawing in the
short-lived 1979 NBC series "Sweepstakes."

 

[KML0224]

Rick Schroder? Was the darling of NBC's "Silver Spoons" in the 1980s. I think "NYPD Blue" changed that a bit. Same cop show, different actor: Mark Paul Goselaar (spelling?), a.k.a. Zack from "Saved By The Bell" (NBC). And with that show, comes the ultimate stereotype: SCREECH! I'm sure we've all heard of the drama of him (Dustin Diamond) possibly losing his home in Wisconsin lately.

 

[Ultimajock]

Although it's a Canadian show that shows up on PBS stations, Steve Smith will probably be stereotyped as Red Green. I saw that this is his last season in Canada after 15 years.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by ccmfan on 04/18/06 02:04 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

...similar is Don Harron, who performed in quite a few roles over the years but is still Charlie Farquharson to anyone who ever saw a "Hee Haw" broadcast...

 

[Ultimajock]

> > Christopher Reeve-Superman Especially after his tragic
> accident and death. Now his wife is gone. very sad :-(

This is a <u>television</u> board, not a <u>movie</u> board. Please remain on-topic.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>

...one look at Reeve's listing at the Internet Movie Database establishes that most of his work was indeed on television (including recurring roles on "Love of Life," "Smallville" and the "Black Fox" TV-movies), so he qualifies here...

 

[Ultimajock]

and Soupy Sales will always be remembered as a kids host no matter what he wil do in the future. Even when he did radio on NYC's WNBC-AM, many folks really believed his show was...for kids.

...pretty much anybody who did a long-running kiddie show has always been stuck with that persona. The only exceptions I can think of at the moment are Ruth Buzzi, who has done numerous kids' shows ("Sesame Street," "Whatever Turns You On," and assorted Hanna-Barbera cartton series voices) after her "Laugh-In" run, and Bill Cosby, who went into kids' TV ("Fat Albert," "The Electric Company," "Cos") after first establishing himself as a stand-up comic and semi-dramatic actor ("I Spy," "The Bill Cosby Show")...

 

[Ultimajock]

...Lorne Greene was a distinguished news anchor on CBC Radio during World War II, and starred on several different series after "Bonanza," but had anyone ever seen one of his appearances on TV in the last 15 years of his life and not thought it was Ben Cartwright they were looking at? Same with Don Adams as Maxwell Smart...at least Raymond Burr had two distinct personae -- first as Robert Ironside, then as the go-to guy for advertisers who preferred Orson Welles as a commercial pitchman but couldn't afford Welles' fee -- after "Perry Mason" wrapped...

 

[bpatrick]

James Arness will always be Matt Dillon, even though
he did ABC's "How The West Was Won" after "Gunsmoke."

 

[CrankyYankee]

Actor John Russell, playing the role of Marshall Dan Troop on "Lawman", was
cast on both sides of the law, though he was mostly a "good guy" on TV and usually a "bad guy" in movies. IMHO, Russell had more talent than he was allowed to use.

Then there was Gracie Allen. Playing a dizzy "Dumb Dora" type may have been typecasting, but it was a passport to sucess for Burns & Allen.

 

[anotherguyTN]

Although it's a Canadian show that shows up on PBS stations, Steve Smith will probably be stereotyped as Red Green. I saw that this is his last season in Canada after 15 years.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by ccmfan on 04/18/06 02:04 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

...similar is Don Harron, who performed in quite a few roles over the years but is still Charlie Farquharson to anyone who ever saw a "Hee Haw" broadcast...

There were at least two episodes of The Red Green Show where Don Harron played Charlie Farquharson. I've seen one of them on TV, but IMDB shows there being two.

 

[Legend City]

Ruth Buzzi begs the question:

Joanne Worley
Arte Johnson
Henry Gibson
Allen Sues
Barbara Sharma
Judy Carne
Jeremy Lloyd
Ann Elder
Dennis Allen
Dave Madden

All Laugh In regulars, with a variety of success.

 

[ixnay]

And with (Saved by the Bell), comes the ultimate stereotype: SCREECH! I'm sure we've all heard of the drama of him (Dustin Diamond) possibly losing his home in Wisconsin lately.

I didn't. Please fill in. :-[

ixnay

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

All in the info you need: http://getdshirts.com/

 

[LKellerIII]

OK - I know it's movies, not TV - but I have to take exception to the charge that Christopher Reeve was stereotyped by Superman. After Superman, Reeve did not again attain the kind of box office money Superman generated - but he worked regularly, and got critical acclaim for his work in films - often in independent films. He said more than once in the early 90s (before his accident) that it was a conscious decision on his part to take more fulfilling roles. I guess you could be cynical and say he was covering up for an inability to get leading parts in big-box office movies, but I think he was sincere. Not all actors want to travel the "super-star" track, and I'm sure he was financially well off. Sadly, nobody can say where his career would have taken him.

Now back to television...

 

[mleach]

Vivian Vance might have gotten angry at people calling
her Ethel, but Doris Singleton, who played Caroline Appleby
on "I Love Lucy," reveled in the idea of people coming up
to her and saying things like, "I know who you are, you're
Caroline Appleby!"

From the number of Lucy related books I have read over the years, Vance more and less kinda flip floped over
her role as Ethel Mertz. Some days she was proud of her role, other days she wished it had never happened.
I have heard that Vance had her share of emotional problems, could be reason. Back in the 60s I think Vance was one of the very few celebrities to offer help to those who suffer from emotional problems as well as providing finanical help as well

Jay North from Dennis The Meance is another example of this. Back in 90s he made quite a few TV appearances where one show he would speak highly of his Dennis co-stars while on others he would slam them by no offering help when he was abused by family members on the set. While it is true that North was a victim of abuse by the hands of his aunt, I do wonder if the story where his aunt slapped him in the mouth so hard that not only did he lose a tooth and drew blood but was witnessed by the entire cast of Dennis The Menace is true or not? I think it was on NBC where North made that claim. I know child abuse wasn't treated very seriously back then as it is today, but I am surprised ( again if this is even true ), that someone didn't step in and take action such as banning North's aunt from the set. Such as the case with Lauren Chapin from Father's Knows best, I believe in her case her abusive mother was banned from the set.