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Who is your favorite classic TV show character and why?

M

Mark Giardina

As a kid growing up in the 1950s they would be.

George Reeves- Superman

Guy Williams -Zorro

Captain Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan)

Later on as an adult I enjoyed

Carrol O'Connor - All in the Family

Ted Knight - Mary Tyler Moore Show

John Banner - Hogan's Heroes.




This list isn't limited just to the 1950s btw. Feel free to add people from any time period and they could be either from when you were a youngster or an adult.
 
James Garner - The Rockford Files. Made we want to be a private detective, live in a trailer on the beach in Malibu, and drive a Pontiac Firebird...unfortunately though none of that happened. :)
 
Two:

Joe Mannix (Mike Connors)--solves his cases without
benefit of gimmicks on the one detective show that
was, for me, the easiest to follow

Dr. Bob Hartley (Bob Newhart)--only Jack Benny and
Johnny Carson could top Newhart as a reactor, and
who wouldn't want to be married to Suzanne Pleshette--
if only for 30 minutes a week?

Honorable mention:

Any character played by James Franciscus. I know,
"Longstreet" was a "gimmick" show (the central character
was blind) but it was still well-done and he showed the
same sense of determination to overcome his challenge
that he did in teaching English on "Mr. Novak".

Owen Marshall (Arthur Hill)--the legal counterpart of
Marcus Welby; the show never achieved Welby's popularity
in part because Robert Young was already an icon from "Father
Knows Best," and Hill was scarcely known outside his native
Canada. But I wouldn't hesitate to have Owen Marshall on my
side in court; besides, Hill was a class act in just about anything
he did.

Jack Tripper (John Ritter)--the male Lucy. Only she could touch
him when it came to physical comedy.
 
Mark_Giardina said:
This list isn't limited just to the 1950s btw. Feel free to add people from any time period and they could be either from when you were a youngster or an adult.
Click to expand...

I guess enough time has passed for my choice to fit into the classic category:

Detective Andy Sipowicz played by Dennis Franz on NYPD Blue. We got a hint of his acting genius earlier in his role as Norman Buntz in Hill Street Blues.
 
Mark_Giardina said:
This list isn't limited just to the 1950s btw. Feel free to add people from any time period and they could be either from when you were a youngster or an adult.
Click to expand...

You asked for a favorite, not favorites, and being approximately the same age as you I'd have to list a bunch of them. I noticed you listed six so I'll try to keep it short too:

James Garner (for Maverick)
The Three Stooges (Larry, Moe, Curly and Shemp)
The Our Gang kids (silents through 1938)
Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo (for Cisco Kid)
E. G. Marshall (The Defenders)
Ernest Borgnine and Joe Flynn (McHale's Navy)
Guy Williams (Zorro)
Kent Taylor (Boston Blackie)
Werner Klemperer and John Banner (Hogan's Heros)
 
My vote goes to Gomez Addams..filthy rich,..married to a sultry brunette,.smoke cigars, & blows up model trains...man, that's livin!
 
Vicki the Robot from Small Wonder, because she made me wish I had my own robot to help me with lifting heavy stuff. (You likely remember how she would lift the refrigerator and there were episodes in which she would lift other characters.) I still sometimes wish that to this day. Vicki could help me lift heavy items at Office Depot, where I work!
 
Carl Kolchak as portrayed by the late Darren McGavin on "Kolchak: The Night Stalker". Some of the stuff he tried to pull the wool over his editor Anthony Vincenzo (portrayed by the late Simon Oakland) were priceless. I still love to watch those DVD's on the Kolchak box set. Love the show!!!
 
The fab four....Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer. Made the 90s a special time in TV history....
 
napoleon solo from the man from uncle.(i am watching the dvd set of all 4 seasons.he is as cool to me now as he was then)

carl kolchak from the night stalker series(i like the way he was willing to follow through any investigation even though when he confronted the evil he was investigating he at times ran and screamed like a girl)

perhaps i will post more as i have to go now.
 
bret mavrick(he was a great non heroic western hero.if that makes sense)

roger moore as the saint(he had a lot of style)
 
Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, The Odd Couple.
And another vote for Werner Klemperer and John Banner from Hogans Heroes, and another vote for Caroll Oconnor as Archie.
 
Not in any order:
Ted Knight (Ted Baxter, Henry Rush). He was also not too proud to use his "Ted Baxter" persona in TV commercials, etc..From all i've heard of him, he was a class act personally..

What may be an odd choice for most:Richard Bull (Mr. Oleson, Little House on The Prairie)..He seemed weak around Harrriet, but was always honorable and did the right thing, in spite of her. Always enjoyed those few times he'd get one over on her..

John Dehner (Cyril Bennett, Doris Day Show), While this was his best known TV role, he was always a delight to watch, either in villainous, authority or comic roles..
 
Sherkley the Porcupine. I liked the sound of her voice. I only saw her once, and I dreamed about her every night for about a year. I was 4 years old then. I only "saw" her once, and I never heard her again.
 
Herb Tarlek on WKRP. I knew so many guys who looked just like that in the Seventies. Some acted like that too.

Murray Slaughter on MTM. A straight guy who could be friends with a woman without hidden agendas.

Frank Fontana on Murphy Brown. Same thing as Murray Slaughter.

Rhoda Morganstern on MTM. No matter what I did, I always came out like her. Voice, clothes, etc.

Barney Miller. The type of supervisor I would want.

Kermit the Frog. My ideal husband

Ally McBeal. I wanted to dress like that to go to court. Not in Virginia

John Cage. Wanted him for my best friend

Dana Sculley. My ultimate roll model (I wish) and the most competant female character in any drama series up to that time.

"The Cigarette Smoking Man"-------harbinger of things to come.
 
Two...both from CBS....

Archie Bunker, (Caroll O'Conner),was perfect to represent a lead role in a culturally changing sitcom. Even when he said outragous things, he was believable.

Ted Baxtor, (Ted Knight), was also the glue that made the MTM show stick. This show was funny, but Ted make it funnier.
 
Maybe the time frame was wrong, but I always saw Mrs.Carlson and Andy Travis on WKRP as kind of Marge Schott and Pete Rose or Marge Schott and Lou Pinella.
 
(The entire cast and crew) of WKRP in Cincinnati...the self-explanitory reason.

Also:
The Monkees-rock n' roll with comedy and innocence...wish it stayed that way.
You Bet Your Life/The Best of Groucho-there will never be another like him.
I Dream of Jeannie-when I was thirteen years old back then I surely did!
Rocky and Bullwinkle-After a bad day in school and enduring the sixth grade from hell...I needed a good laugh.
Where the Action Is-same as above.
Sanford and Son- my youngest son says the older I get,the more I act like Fred Sanford (S-A-N-F-O-R-D..PERIOD!)
 
I thought Arthur Dietrich (Steve Landesberg -rip) was a great character for Barney Miller. He, along with Sgt. Schultz and Eddie Haskell, to me, are the three best non-main characters on TV. I guess you can say they stole the scenes they were in.
 
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