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Unknowns On Sitcoms That Went On To Become Stars

S

searadiofreak

Guest
There are many, but let me start with two that I have seen recently:

Helen Hunt as Murray Slaughter's daughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, season 7.

Mark Hammill as one of Laurie's suitors on The Partridge Family, season 1.

Let the others flow in...
 
Brad Pitt on Growing Pains

George Clooney on E/R (not to be confused with his NBC series) and The Facts of Life

Jay Leno on Good Times

Richard Dreyfuss on Bewitched and That Girl

Warren Beatty on Dobie Gillis

Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton (separately) on Love American Style

Bill Maher on Alice and Newhart

Susan Sarandon on Calucci's Department

Mariska Hargitay on Seinfeld.

Kaley Cuoco on Ellen
 
Adam Sandler and Michael Weatherley(Tony on 'NCIS') both had brief appearances on 'The Cosby Show', as friends of Theo.
 
...Jodie Foster did a bit part on an episode of Mayberry R.F.D. (where her brother Buddy Foster was a regular), a recurring part on The Courtship of Eddie's Father, a regular part as Anita Gillette's daughter on Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and a starring role on Paper Moon. Immediately after ABC cancelled Paper Moon, Foster was cast in Taxi Driver and got a batch of awards (including two BAFTAs) and an Oscar nomination for 1976, and hasn't looked back since...
 
David Letterman on Mork and Mindy

Kaley Cuoco on Northern Exposure

Aaron Spelling on I Love Lucy

Sean Connery on The Jack Benny Program
 
How about Warren Beatty as Milton Armitage in the first season
of "Dobie Gillis"? Likewise, Michael J. Pollard (pre-"Bonnie And
Clyde") as Barney's cousin Virgil on "The Andy Griffith Show."

Phil Silvers had a couple of then-unknowns on the Bilko show;
Dick Van Dyke played a Southern mountain boy with a wicked
baseball throw; naturally, Bilko tried to get a major-league team
to sign him. Alan Alda made a brief appearance on another episode,
but I'm not sure what he played.

And while I wouldn't classify Aaron Spelling as a star, just one of
the mega-producers of all time, he convinced Lucy (through Gary
Morton) to do that disastrous "Life With Lucy" in 1986. On "I Love
Lucy" he appeared in the episode where the Ricardos and Mertzes
were arrested for speeding in Bent Fork, TN, and Lucy's Cousin Ernie
(Tennessee Ernie Ford) had to bail them out. Spelling was the loopy
gas station attendant who couldn't quite tell Lucy, who was driving,
how to get back on the main road to Nashville.

Then there was Greg Morris, pre-"Mission: Impossible," who appeared
on the Van Dyke show to convince Rob Petrie that their babies had not
been switched at birth.
 
Raquel Welch, Adam West, and Maureen McCormick appeared in some early Bewitched episodes. I started to include Billy Mumy as part of that list, but he seemed to guest star everywhere before Lost In Space.

John Ritter played a minister who performed a wedding on Mary Tyler Moore.
 
Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor on an episode of The Partridge Family, I believe as a love interest for Keith (David Cassidy). I remember seeing this particular episode as a rerun just about the time that she replaced Farrah Fawcett (Majors?) as one of Charlie's Angels. Of course, by then, she was married, and better known as Cheryl Ladd.
 
John Ritter played a minister who performed a wedding on Mary Tyler Moore.

& Henry Winkler played a party guest on MTM
 
BD Sullivan said:
Patrick Swayze appeared on a 1979 episode of MASH.
Click to expand...

More from MASH as patients:

John Ritter
Andrew Dice Clay
Lawrence Fishburne
George Wendt
Ron Howard (Post-Andy Griffith Show and pre-Happy Days)
Leslie Nielsen (Not unknown but pre-Airplane and Naked Gun movies when he was known for more serious roles.)

Shelley Long and Teri Garr as nurses.
 
And Mary Tyler Moore played "Happy Hotpoint," a little elf who danced on the appliances in Harriet Nelson's kitchen in The Adventures of Ozzie Harriet's commercials.

Bob Crane appeared as an neighbor taking part in a community theater production on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Jill St. John appeared as a teenager visiting George and Gracie in early episodes of Burns and Allen.
 
firepoint525 said:
FredLeonard said:
David Letterman on Mork and Mindy
Click to expand...
Wasn't Letterman still largely unknown (at least on a national level) when he appeared as a judge on The Gong Show?
Click to expand...
He and Michael Keaton were regulars on Mary Tyler Moore's short-lived variety show. Keaton would star in the sitcoms "Report to Murphy" and "Working Stiffs," neither of which were on long.

firepoint525 said:
Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor on an episode of The Partridge Family, I believe as a love interest for Keith (David Cassidy). I remember seeing this particular episode as a rerun just about the time that she replaced Farrah Fawcett (Majors?) as one of Charlie's Angels. Of course, by then, she was married, and better known as Cheryl Ladd.
Click to expand...
She appeared on a first-season "Happy Days" as a Sandra Dee-type movie star Richie won a date with. By then she was going by Cheryl Ladd.
 
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