TV Actors Who Thought They Were "Too Good" For Their Roles

Leonard Nimoy spent most of the 1970s distancing himself from the role of Mr. Spock only to embrace it again when the [italic]Star Trek[/italic] movies were made.

Katherine Heigl in any series

David Caruso tops the list.

George Clooney's whole career prior to NBC's [italic]ER[/italic] seems to be but a mere speck in his eye of hindsight.

Viola Davis

With any luck, Lisa Kudrow.

Sherry Stringfield in everything she's every been in.

I hope Stringfield saved her money. I think I remember reading she left all of those shows for non-career reasons.

I don't think Shirley Jones felt too good for the Partridge family, but David Cassidy wanting to be a real artist and musician always cracked me up.

All of the kids in the Brady Bunch seemed to have loved Robert Reed. I guess he knew he was in a sitcom, but it was weird for him and he tried to make it less inane (some of it WAS stupid, like never letting Cindy ever have another hairstyle but the pigtails, no matter how old she got).

Bob Saget in "Full House."

Stringfield played the mom of a hot guy in the CBS series "Under The Dome."

What a come-down for her.

Mischa Barton on the OC

Mandy Patinkin on Criminal Minds

Maybe Michael Nesmith.

Thomas Gibson.

Bea Arthur owns this thread

Tony Geary as Luke Spencer from "General Hospital" tops them all.

McLean Stevenson

Larry Linville

Gary Burghoff

All M*A*S*H, all left, all hasbeens in less than five years.

Shelley Long

Screen legend Joan Bennett said that she didn't like being on the gothic soap "Dark Shadows" because it was so much work but she warmed up to it toward the end. It also revived her career bigtime.

First Lady of the American Soap Opera Victoria Wydham

Suzanne Sommers.

Al Corley.

Will Smith

Kate Jackson, Charlie's Angels.

No Eve Plumb owns this thread.

Have we forgotten one of the most famous ones of all?

Eve plumb wasn't even the top Brady for this thread!

R25, her daughter seems rather successful as a writer. Wonder if there are any horror stories about Caprice Crane.

Morgan Freeman on "The Electric Company." Despite its popularity, and his, at the time, he really doesn't look upon that experience with fondness.

Pernell Roberts in 'Bonanza'.

"I feel I'm an aristocrat in my field of endeavor. My being part of Bonanza was like Isaac Stern sitting in with Lawrence Welk".

Pernell Roberts. He was the butt of many Johnny Carson jokes because of what everyone felt was Roberts' career suicide when he left Bonanza. It was shocking when he got Trapoer John

Oops. I just realized that OP had already mentioned Tina Louise.

Oops, sorry. Must have been typing when R28 posted.

R24, The way images are cropped on DL on my computer, the photo cut off the top part of her face, and she looked pretty good. When I clicked on the link, Whoa!!!

I heard Gary Burghoff was a real pain in the ass on MASH.

Tina Louise thought she was the star of Gillian's Island

She was!

Farrah Faucet who quit Charlie's Angels after just ONE season!

[quote] Screen legend Joan Bennett said that she didn't like being on the gothic soap "Dark Shadows" because it was so much work but she warmed up to it toward the end. It also revived her career bigtime.

Substitute the name "Agnes Moorehead" and "Bewitched." Froth that she thought would never sell. It did make her a household name in a way none of her other roles had done.

OP, Susan Dey doesn't do regret or ego.

Doubtful that Vivian Vance thought she was too good for her various roles with Lucy. She knew exactly what she signed on for, and was the best second fiddle in the business.

Janet Jackson

Don Knotts

Here's a relatively obscure one:

Rachel Gurney (Lady Marjorie) - Upstairs Downstairs

Geri Jewell

Paul Benedict a.k.a. Mr. Bentley from the Jeffersons

Bill Shatner from Star Trek

Robert Beltran from Star Trek Voyager

Terry Ferrell from Star Trek DS9

Christopher Reeve a.k.a. "Superman"

Jesse Metcalf with "Desperate Housewives" & "Passions"

Jennifer Anniston & her "Leprechaun" role

William 'Kirk' SHATner in the 70s.

Don Johnson in Miami Vice with wanting a massive pay rise and phoning it in whilst being drunk.

Pat Duffy

Suzanne Sommers didn't think she was too good for the role she thought she was too good for the money she was being paid and she was right.

Her salary was supposedly a pittance and she helped launched that show big time. It is unwatchable without her on it. She should have made a fortune from it the way the producers were drowning in profits and now residuals.

Her costars fucked her over big time by not supporting her. I've seen nothing to contradict this. Yeah she turned into a royal pain in the ass during production but considering how she was being ripped off who wouldn't be furious?

Chevy Chase; one season on SNL, and he was ready for Hollywood--or rather he felt Hollywood was ready for him. Eddie Murphy at least gave SNL two more seasons after "48 Hrs"

R47: Hi, Suzanne!

R48 We have a winner! Amazed I didn't think of him earlier. Chevy Chase owns this thread!

Mike Evans from "All In the Family" and "The Jeffersons"

He thought the Jeffersons should have been named "Lionel" and centered around his character.

The blond actress who left Grey's Anatomy. Character was Izzy. I can't remember the actress but I think I saw her doing a cat food commercial a few months ago.

It's funny cause it's true Mike Evans really thought The Jeffersons was going to be about him.

Terry Farrell got fired from two shows did she not? She kept asking for more money than she was worth!

DL faves Linda Lavin for Alice and Bonnie Franklin for One Day at a Time.

Somers was a part of Three's Company but the star was Ritter, Period. End of Conversation. If she honestly thought she was as valuable as Carroll O'Connor or Alan Alda, she must have been pulling that side ponytail too tightly.

Suzanne Somers was so fucking ugly; with those big ol horse teeth,flat but and jacked legs. She was blonde, and for straight white men, I guess it was enough.

Bronson Pinchot

[quote][R24], The way images are cropped on DL on my computer, the photo cut off the top part of her face, and she looked pretty good. When I clicked on the link, Whoa!!!

Whoa, indeed! That picture is such a shock it's almost scary. Who'd have guessed that the Ginger who often tried seducing the men on the island to get her own way would one day look like a big moth just wanting to eat their clothes?

Kristen Wiig

The car in My Mother The Car.

Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster.

Barbra Streisand in Smash.

How did y'all leave off Daniel J Travanti aka Capt Frank Furillo from Hill St Blues?

I found Holocaust endlessly humiliating.

OP, you're wrong about Vance. She knew how lucky she was with ILL, and how it gave her a stardom she never approached during her Broadway career.

Alexandra Moltke (Isles) who played the pivotal role of the governess, Victoria Winters, on the iconic "Dark Shadows". She didn't think she was too good for the part - she was actually quite good in it - but she got sick of playing the nice, good girl role and wanted a juicier role. She left when she became pregnant and never came back to the show. The producers wanted her to return later on but she stated only if she could play an evil-like person. No return, a pity, since she was the human element of the show.

R67

She was the one who was later in the news for having been Claus von Bulow's mistress.

Fred McMurray in My Three Sons

R68 Yes! And this time involved in a real-life soap opera of epic proportions.

I've read anecdotes that makes it seem Vance was not very happy being known most of her life as Ethel Mertz.

[quote]Somers was a part of Three's Company but the star was Ritter, Period. End of Conversation. If she honestly thought she was as valuable as Carroll O'Connor or Alan Alda, she must have been pulling that side ponytail too tightly.

She's always thought of herself as Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball all rolled into one.

Tim .Considine (My Three Sons)

Rob Reiner (All in the Family)

When I was a kid they'd play My Three Sons all the time in syndication but only the color episodes. I had no idea there was a different oldest son, or that Fred Mertz used to be in it

Rob Lowe in The West Wing. Rob Lowe in Brothers & Sisters. Rob Lowe in Parks & Recreation.

Meg Ryan will cut a bitch who asks about ATWT.

R76, what a difference between Meg Ryan, who NEVER acknowledges her soap past, and Julianne Moore, who not only proudly talks about it, but returned to the show for a cameo before it went off the air.

Meg Ryan's been an unhireable hamburger meat faced bitch for the last 20yrs.

Amanda Bearse

Clooney left ER to do movies. So did his costar Juliana Marguiles.

Yes, Batman and Robin was a far superior accomplishment than ER!

Amy Brenneman left the star-making "NYPD Blue" after two seasons to make "Heat" alongside De Niro and Pacino. Like her co-star, David Caruso, she comes crawling back to television with "Judging Amy".

R1 chaa chinggg! ole lenny liked the money.

Ma Furrow on Peyton Place.

does anybody know if House Hunters is real? I saw something about it being fake and now I'm not sure. I really hope it's real.

Max Baer

Kate Jackson. Scarecrow and Mrs. King.

R38 I always thought Vivian was a better actress than Lucy

Discuss Rob Lowe, bitches! I don't care if he broke Melissa Gilbert's heart and despises any tv show he's ever signed up for after a season or two - he still looks unnaturally good for whatever age he is now!

Ted Knight on Mary Tyler Moore. Technically. He was furious playing a fool and begged the producers to change the character. Apparently Ed Asner told him to get over it. They were both "working" actors doing single episodes on lots of shows before they got MTM. Ted didn't understand how important a regular role in a hit show was. Asner set him straight.

A lot of soap actors. Nowadays, it would be wonderful to simply have those jobs back.

We're gonna BRING those jobs back! And they're gonna be BETTER THAN EVER! YUUUUGE!

Alan Alda had to be the most smug insufferable actor in the history of the entertainment industry. I could never watch him. The absolute worst.

His father however was terrific.

Great story R90, love that Asner tuned him in.

Nathan Fillion (Frefly, Castle)

[quote] A lot of soap actors. Nowadays, it would be wonderful to simply have those jobs back.

They acted like they were too good for it, they looked at it with smugness and disdain, but now that it's gone, it's deprived a generation of young actors of a stepping stone in their careers. Perhaps if they'd had more real actors and fewer personality-less underwear models they never would have imploded.

Yeah in a couple of interviews I saw Knight was extremely grateful for Asner's very, very blunt advice.

R96, not only that, it deprived a lot of older actors a great gig and paycheck, along with young actors in NY who worked onstage at night and soaps by day. However, even though New York reportedly disliked LA actors because of visuals, that became the trend. Audiences didn't want to see earthy, they wanted beauty. All remaining soaps are in LA and feature the socalled underwear models.

And speaking of the Jeffersons, Mike Evans was hated because he thought he was the star of the show but clearly never was. Isabelle Sanford, Sherman Hemsley, even Zara Cully saw some horrible things in their acting career and they were overjoyed to be on a hit show, getting a regular paycheck and being on a show that had upper income black people. They had no time for Evans.

What about John Amos and Esther Rolle?

Michael Moriarty left Law & Order after the 1st season.

Sarah Michelle Gellar in All My Children. Bitch.

Moriarty was on Law & Order for 4 seasons

Bette Davis guest appearance on TV's Perry Mason. It's TV!

[quote]Amy Brenneman left the star-making "NYPD Blue" after two seasons to make "Heat" alongside De Niro and Pacino. Like her co-star, David Caruso, she comes crawling back to television with "Judging Amy".

Actually Brenneman was bumped off the show after Caruso pulled his "too good for TV" bit. Their characters were dating, and she didn't have any place left. She did meet her husband on the show, and has been married over 20 years.

Greg Evigan (BJ & The Bear)

[quote]All remaining soaps are in LA and feature the socalled underwear models.

Except when [italic]The Bold and the Beautiful[/italic] drags out former sitcom stars who need the work. Even seeing the dad from [italic]Small Wonder[/italic] playing a security guard makes me wonder why there aren't more working class characters on soaps anymore. And don't give me that "America wanted untalented hunks and babes over real actors" line; the networks tell themselves that to rationalize every bad casting decision they ever made. If it were true, then the ratings would have gone up instead of down. The producers on those shows who screwed veterans over and went for style over substance (although with B&B one could argue that style is substance in that case) basically killed shows once thought to be unkillable.

Jimmie Walker

Not Bette Davis. Laugh if you must but one of her best performances was on Gunsmoke. The whole episode was mesmerizing from start to finish.

Valerie Harper on "Valerie's Family"

[quote] Alan Alda had to be the most smug insufferable actor in the history of the entertainment industry. I could never watch him. The absolute worst.

He lives near me and I see him pretty often. He's fine,, not smug at all,. Looks very old.

Is that why she was written off, r41

Christina Applegate

Ed O'Neill

I don't think Rachel Gurney thought she was too good for her role in Upstairs, Downstairs. I think she was afraid of being stereotyped into upper class woman parts.

R79 I don't think Amanda Bearse ever felt she was too good for her role. It's just that she hated working with Ed O'Neal. The man was a major asshole to her.

Dana Delany always talks down on her soap opera past

Sasha Alexander

Pauley Perrette

Kim Catrall, Sex/City

Actually it wasn't that Valerie Harper felt she was too good for the role, or for TV, she just wanted more money. After being fired, she actually won in court against Lorimar Productions, and won pretty big especially given that it was in 1988: On Sept. 16, after five weeks of testimony, an L.A. Superior Court awarded Harper $1.8 million in compensatory damages and a share of the show’s profits that could top $15 million. "So yes, I do wish Sandy and Jason very well because the better they do, and the better Valerie's Family continues to do, the more moola ends up in my pocket. And I don't have to do a damned thing to get it."

She was thirsty bitch

R116 I haven't seen a lot or read a lot of interviews, but the ones I have she has never talked badly about her soap days.

Michael J. Fox (Family Ties)

Actually she has R122. She more or less said that daytime tv is lesser than nighttime tv and that daytime actors aren't serious actors. TBH, I kind of agree but considering that that is where she got her start it wasn't a nice thing to say. One of the older actresses answered and threw shade by saying that Dana probably didn't like her days on the soap opera because she was never prepared and didn't act like a professional.

R124 I've never heard bad things said about her. Do you have a link?

I'll post it if I find it R125, It's been a while since I read that interview. I was surprised. Delany doesn't usually say bad things about any of her acting experiences.

The Monkees

I agree R126. That's why I was surprised to hear she would bad-mouth her experience, especially what she said about soap actors.

[quote]Ed O'Neal. The man was a major asshole to her

To be fair R115 he's an asshole to everyone. Even today he's always giving notes to the other actors on Modern Family about their scenes.

Gary Burghoff on MASH.

Shirley MacLaine on Downton Abbey

Well, at least her performance looked like she didn't give a fuck.

Pedro

Lee Majors

Lindsay Wagner

R111 I don't know Alda. It's how he comes off to me on TV. Clever, self righteous and full of himself to the point where I have to change the channel. Personally he might be the greatest guy ever.

However his father to me was genuinely talented in that he's terrific and appealing or not depending on the role in movies and of course his performance on the obc of Guys and Dolls is one for the ages.

Comden and Green who must have seen just about all of the great shows on Broadway from the 30s to the end of the 20th Century said Guys and Dolls was the best. As a very young woman my mother saw it and it remains for her the most unforgettable thing she's ever seen.

Wayne Rogers

I hated fake Lionel.

Julianna Marguiles

Agreed R129. But with Amanda Bearse he took his assholiness to another level. He kept making derogatory remarks about her because she is a lesbian

Isn't he gay himself R138?

Ross Martin felt he was the only actor in The Wild Wild West, and used to refer to the actual star as "that stuntman."

R138, yes, the rumor is that he is gay. But he was terrible to Bearse because she is gay, She even said in an interview that he was the only one not invited to her wedding because he made fun of gay weddings.

I don't get why actors leave successful shows late into their runs (which usually get the entire cast & crew fired as the show gets canceled either immediately) or won't agree to do a reunion show. So what if it isn't "high art?" They earn enough from a single episode or two as a family will earn in income in a year. Cash the damn check.

That's sad R141. He seems like a bitter man.

I don't recall hearing anyone say she thought it was beneath her in any way, but didn't Elizabeth Montgomery refuse to discuss "Bewitched" ever again after that show was over?

[quote]Rachel Gurney (Lady Marjorie) - Upstairs Downstairs

So we sank her on the Titanic! Ha ha ha!

While he was the HIGHEST PAID actor in Daytime, Gerald Gordon, who was on "General Hospital" was always denigrating acting on soaps, even in interviews with tv stations and magazines. The ungrateful shit should have been fired...I never thought he was all that on GH.

[quote][R138], yes, the rumor is that he is gay. But he was terrible to Bearse because she is gay, She even said in an interview that he was the only one not invited to her wedding because he made fun of gay weddings.

And then [italic]Modern Family[/italic] negated years of depicting gay families in a positive light by pushing News Corporation's trans agenda.

[quote]Greg Evigan (BJ & The Bear)

"BJ and the Bear" sounds like a gay porn title.

Dan Stevens and Jessica Brown Findlay from Downton Abbey.

And one of them was right.

Michael Pitt and Boardwalk Empire.

Sally Field on The Flying Nun DVD extras

Elizabeth Montgomery was happy to talk about Bewitched and the actors on it. The only trouble came when people expected her to BE Samantha in real life, twitch her nose on command, etc.

A lot of people used Nancy McKeon's absence from [italic]The Facts of Life Reunion[/italic] (aka [italic]The Facts of Life Goes to Toronto[/italic]) as evidence of her trying to distance herself from Jo Polniaczek, but that's not true; she wasn't in it because couldn't get out of [italic]The Division[/italic], but she still participates in things related to it from time to time, and she's worked the most since it went off the air so she had the least trouble getting work outside her old sitcom persona.

[quote] Sally Field on The Flying Nun DVD extras

There probably wouldn't have been a [italic]Flying Nun[/italic] if ABC hadn't already cancelled [italic]Gidget[/italic]. Someone at Screen Gems or ABC must have thought "hey, Julie Andrews flew in one movie and played a nun in another. How can we capitalize on those? How about a show about a nun who can fly?"

Rob Morrow on Northern Exposure. Wanted out from the time it became popular to go be a "movie star". He's probably doing dinner theatre now.

David Duchovny. Definitely thought he was too good for X-Files. Now he wants another reboot.

[quote]David Duchovny. Definitely thought he was too good for X-Files. Now he wants another reboot.

That's because no one else would hire him once that Showtime show was off the air.

R153, he was in the People vs. OJ Simpson, which is the most critically acclaimed / awarded TV show of the past year.

The past year was one of the worst years in pop culture history.

LOL, oh you cunt R157

David Caruso in NYPD Blue

Shelley Long owns this thread

Esther Rolle as Florida

Took long enough r156. 20 years?

He was often mistaken for Rob Schneider by casting agents and that hurt his career...

r57, not the first season. Her look drastically did change towards the end of her run but she was softer and gorgeous in the first season.

Jill Hennessy (Crossing Jordan)

Many of them were.

Eddie Cibrian (Third Watch, Sunset Beach, Rosewood)

Dick Bull

Mabel King

Joe E Tata

Nell Carter

Olivia Wilde on House. Her big movie career never really took off. She worked a lot but most of her movies performed poorly. Her last show was cancelled after one season. I think House is the most commercially successful thing she's been in.

Steve McQueen on Wanted Dead Or Alive.

I think Caruso also got Sherry Stringfeild written off NYPD Blue. She played his ex wife. Ultimately it helped her though. She was able to do ER, which provided a meatier role for her. He wound up helping both his love interests. Probably not his plan.

I don't really get what David Caruso thought he could do with that pasty face and red hair. He didn't have the looks for a romantic lead or an action hero. Just played a cop a couple of times and then who knows, I don't,

R173 I heard Caruso got upset about the attention Franz was getting. Caruso threw a chair at him on set or something like that. I think the producers were happy to let him out of his contract by the time he left.

It's bizarre that Caruso even has a career. Totally unappealing on every level.

Jerry Steinfeld

Clint Eastwood in Rawhide.

Didn't Jeremy Piven get written out of the original Ellen series after a season or two?

No R178 he was on until the end- he didn't join until the 3rd or 4th season tho

I ran into David Caruso a few years ago in Paris. A very nice guy, introduced me to his girlfriend and chatted with me about a half hour about Paris and France. They were there visiting his daughter, who went to school in Paris. I couldn't believe how "old friends" he seemed. Usually celebs, if they speak you at all, are always in a hurry. I finally said I'd better get going; my bf was with me and we did have to meet up with our Paris friends. I rarely had seen NYPD!

He has a lot of time to be friendly now.

He was just grateful someone recognized him r180. He was a complete prick back in the day. I guess humble pie is transformative stuff.

Donny Most

What’s SHE doing here?!

[quote]And speaking of the Jeffersons, Mike Evans was hated because he thought he was the star of the show but clearly never was. Isabelle Sanford, Sherman Hemsley, even Zara Cully saw some horrible things in their acting career and they were overjoyed to be on a hit show, getting a regular paycheck and being on a show that had upper income black people. They had no time for Evans.

I watched an Emmy Legends interview and Sanford said when Norman Lear told her they were going to do a Jefferson's spin-off, she told him "no." She said that she was on a hit show and wanted to keep it that way, instead of potentially being out of work. Norman Lear told her that Sherman Hemsley had agreed to do it, and he's simply recast Louise with another actress if she didn't do it.

[quote]And speaking of the Jeffersons, Mike Evans was hated because he thought he was the star of the show but clearly never was. Isabelle Sanford, Sherman Hemsley, even Zara Cully saw some horrible things in their acting career and they were overjoyed to be on a hit show, getting a regular paycheck and being on a show that had upper income black people. They had no time for Evans.

I watched an Emmy Legends interview and Sanford said when Norman Lear told her they were going to do a Jefferson's spin-off, she told him "no." She said that she was on a hit show and wanted to keep it that way, instead of potentially being out of work. Norman Lear told her that Sherman Hemsley had agreed to do it, and he's simply recast Louise with another actress if she didn't do it.

Melissa George - Home and Away

Katherine Heigl owns this thread.

Bea Benaderet

Jessica Lange for "King Kong." She used to bitch and bitch about doing that role, but Meryl Streep actually wanted it (it was huge publicity at the time), and she has said she's always felt slightly inferior to Jessica Lange as a result.

Harry Shearer for "The Simpsons." He STILL bitches about doing it, yet he still continues to draw a paycheck.

Constance Wu for "Fresh Off the Boat."

Emma Thompson for the hit West End revival of "Me and my Gal": "I thought I would scream if I had to that fucking 'Lambeth Walk' one more time."

[Quote]Suzanne Somers was so fucking ugly; with those big ol horse teeth,flat but and jacked legs. She was blonde, and for straight white men, I guess it was enough.

Only a gay man would think straight guys liked Suzanne Somers for her blonde hair. I'll give you two guesses why they liked her. Here's a hint:

[quote] Harry Shearer for "The Simpsons." He STILL bitches about doing it, yet he still continues to draw a paycheck.

I'd love to be a voice actor or to be the narrator for books on tape. I notice Reese Witherspoon has gotten into narrating books on tape. I just listened to "Go Set a Watchman" by Harper Lee. Reese was good, OK, and awful, depending whose voice she was narrating.

R175 he went on to do Jade (a silly basic instinct clone) Kiss of Death (with a buffed up Nicolas Cage), and Proof of Life (Meg left Quaid to screw Crowe). -- all box office shitbombs

Then he came crawling back to TV with CSI Miami

Jeannine Riley — she played Billie Jo on ‘Petticoat Junction’

Oh God, do I feel old ...