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Supporting Actors Who Really Made A Difference On TV

M

Mark Giardina

My vote goes to John Banner who played Sgt. Hans Schultz on Hogan's Heroes.

His famous line " I see nothing....NOTHING!" was not only classic, but cracked me up every time I heard it.

Without Banner Hogan's Heroes wouldn't have been the same show.
 
Mark_Giardina said:
My vote goes to John Banner who played Sgt. Hans Schultz on Hogan's Heroes.

His famous line " I see nothing....NOTHING!" was not only classic, but cracked me up every time I heard it.

Without Banner Hogan's Heroes wouldn't have been the same show.
Click to expand...

Good choice, but there are plenty of others who's shows wouldn't have been (and in Linville's case, weren't) the same without them. Here's a few from off the top of my head.

Alvy Moore (Hank Kimball on Green Acres)
Bob Hastings (Lt. Carpenter on McHale's Navy)
Larry Linville (Frank Burns on M*A*S*H)
Ted Cassidy (Lurch on The Addams Family)
George Wendt (Norm Peterson on Cheers)
Ron Palillo (Arnold Horshak on Welcome Back Kotter)
Harriet MacGibbon (Mrs. Drysdale on The Beverly Hillbillies)
 
One name...JESSE DONALD KNOTTS!
 
Conchata Ferrell - "Berta" on Two and a Half Men.

Saverio Guerra - "Bob" on Becker.

Katee Sackoff - "Starbuck" on Battlestar Galactica.

Daniel Davis - "Niles" on the Nanny

David Hyde Pierce - " Niles" on Fraiser.
 
Martin Spanjers - "Rory" on 8 Rules (didn't have many lines but they were almost always the best)
 
The King Bee said:
One name...JESSE DONALD KNOTTS!
Click to expand...

He was more of a co-star on The Andy Griffith Show than a supporting player, so as great as he was, I don't count him in this context.

Or were you talking about Three's Company? I hope not! ;D
 
I have to give a nod to the late Alice Pearce,
the first Gladys Kravitz on "Bewitched." Her
cry of "ABNER!" when she inadvertently saw
Samantha practicing her witchcraft sounded like
fingernails across a blackboard, but no matter,
it was hilarious, much better than her
replacement, Sandra Gould's, uttering of the
same line. BTW, Ms. Pearce received a Best
Supporting Actress Emmy posthumously in
1966, the year she left us much too soon at
age 49.

Also, IMO, the best episodes of "The Carol Burnett
Show" feature two people together: Tim Conway and
Harvey Korman.
 
Which is why most people I know (and this is
Griffith country) avoid the color episodes; I think
Don Knotts appeared in--maybe--five of them, and
the rest just aren't funny.

I could add a few more names:

Ed Asner and Ted Knight from "The Mary Tyler Moore
Show"

and two TV Guide picked:

Morey Amsterdam of "The Dick Van Dyke Show"
Jack Riley (Mr. Carlin on "The Bob Newhart Show")

and let us not forget possibly the greatest group of
players of all time, the cast of "The Jack Benny Program":
Don Wilson, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, Dennis Day,
Mary Livingstone and Phil Harris (when they were on),
Mel Blanc, and Frank Nelson.
 
bpatrick said:
Which is why most people I know (and this is
Griffith country) avoid the color episodes; I think
Don Knotts appeared in--maybe--five of them, and
the rest just aren't funny.

I could add a few more names:

Ed Asner and Ted Knight from "The Mary Tyler Moore
Show"

and two TV Guide picked:

Morey Amsterdam of "The Dick Van Dyke Show"
Jack Riley (Mr. Carlin on "The Bob Newhart Show")

and let us not forget possibly the greatest group of
players of all time, the cast of "The Jack Benny Program":
Don Wilson, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, Dennis Day,
Mary Livingstone and Phil Harris (when they were on),
Mel Blanc, and Frank Nelson.
Click to expand...

I agree that after Don Knotts left Andy Griffith, the show was never the same.
Regarding Morey Amsterdam, as great as he was, the entire cast of DVD made that show special.
That was one of the greatest casts of all time, if not the very best.
 
Concerning Andy Griffith, he should be considered the supporting actor since he played straight man to just about everyone on the show. He was smart enough to know who the real stars were on his show and allowed them to show their talent.
 
tlyle said:
Concerning Andy Griffith, he should be considered the supporting actor since he played straight man to just about everyone on the show. He was smart enough to know who the real stars were on his show and allowed them to show their talent.
Click to expand...

Good point. Andy has said that right away he realized that Don Knotts should be getting all the jokes and he should just be the straight man.
 
I still have trouble believing that Griffith's ratings remained sky-high without Knotts (and also with an almost-entirely new team of writers from 1965 onwards). Knotts' guest appearances must have gotten such great ratings, they skewed the overall numbers higher for the entire season.

Other sitcoms-much of the cast of 'Barney Miller' should be mentioned. There's definitely something missing from the post-Abe Vigoda and Jack Soo episodes...and from any episode where Luger (James Gregory) doesn't drop in.

If this is not a 'sitcoms only' thread, then I'd like to mention William Talman on 'Perry Mason'.
 
radioman148 said:
bpatrick said:
Which is why most people I know (and this is
Griffith country) avoid the color episodes; I think
Don Knotts appeared in--maybe--five of them, and
the rest just aren't funny.

I could add a few more names:

Ed Asner and Ted Knight from "The Mary Tyler Moore
Show"

and two TV Guide picked:

Morey Amsterdam of "The Dick Van Dyke Show"
Jack Riley (Mr. Carlin on "The Bob Newhart Show")

and let us not forget possibly the greatest group of
players of all time, the cast of "The Jack Benny Program":
Don Wilson, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, Dennis Day,
Mary Livingstone and Phil Harris (when they were on),
Mel Blanc, and Frank Nelson.
Click to expand...

I agree that after Don Knotts left Andy Griffith, the show was never the same.
Regarding Morey Amsterdam, as great as he was, the entire cast of DVD made that show special.
That was one of the greatest casts of all time, if not the very best.
Click to expand...

The unsung hero on the Van Dyke show was Richard Deacon, who also had some great underappreciated moments on 'Leave it to Beaver', and also popped up on Jack Benny's show every once in a while.
I'd throw in Frank Nelson for his occasional 'Flintstones' appearances, essentially doing the same 'bastard store clerk' character; the difference is that Alan Reed as Fred gave as good as he got, resulting in some good 'trading insults' scenes between two OTR pros(I'm thinking of the one where Fred tries to buy, and then return, a bowling ball.)
 
onairb said:
radioman148 said:
bpatrick said:
Which is why most people I know (and this is
Griffith country) avoid the color episodes; I think
Don Knotts appeared in--maybe--five of them, and
the rest just aren't funny.

I could add a few more names:

Ed Asner and Ted Knight from "The Mary Tyler Moore
Show"

and two TV Guide picked:

Morey Amsterdam of "The Dick Van Dyke Show"
Jack Riley (Mr. Carlin on "The Bob Newhart Show")

and let us not forget possibly the greatest group of
players of all time, the cast of "The Jack Benny Program":
Don Wilson, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, Dennis Day,
Mary Livingstone and Phil Harris (when they were on),
Mel Blanc, and Frank Nelson.
Click to expand...

I agree that after Don Knotts left Andy Griffith, the show was never the same.
Regarding Morey Amsterdam, as great as he was, the entire cast of DVD made that show special.
That was one of the greatest casts of all time, if not the very best.
Click to expand...

The unsung hero on the Van Dyke show was Richard Deacon, who also had some great underappreciated moments on 'Leave it to Beaver', and also popped up on Jack Benny's show every once in a while.
I'd throw in Frank Nelson for his occasional 'Flintstones' appearances, essentially doing the same 'bastard store clerk' character; the difference is that Alan Reed as Fred gave as good as he got, resulting in some good 'trading insults' scenes between two OTR pros(I'm thinking of the one where Fred tries to buy, and then return, a bowling ball.)
Click to expand...

All the characters on DVD were great contributors. Rose Marie and her wisecracks along with neighbors "Millie & Jerry" and don't forget Carl Reiner's "Alan Brady". "Shut up Mel!"
 
John Cleese of Monty Python (Dead Parrot Sketch,Eric The Half a Bee and the "completely different" intro)

Barry Livingston as Ernie on My Three Sons

Richard Sanders as Les Nessman and Howard Hesseman as Dr Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati

Jaleel White as Steve Urkel on Family Matters


Neil Flynn as The Janitor on "Scrubs"
 
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