TV shows When Actors Come Back Playing a Different Character

Bewitched used the same character actors again and again. Bernie Kopell played a variety of parts, and Sara Seegar was the McMann & Tate client's wife many times, even when the client was different.

Marcus Welby, MD.

Pamela Hensley played a cancer victim who falls in love with James Brolin but dies by the end of the episode. The next season, she came back as a totally different character and married him, becoming a series regular.

Paul Lynne played a driving instructor on Bewitched and also played Uncle Arthur.

Colombo reused actors who p.ayed villains. Jack Cassidy played 2differemt murderes among others.

The British shows do this a lot. Doctor Who and other BBC shows.

How many characters did I play?

Jerry Orbach was a lawyer in season 1 of Law and order. s epatha merkerson was a victim's mother on the same. Diane Neal was a rapist on SVU. Raul Esparza (? sp) was a murderer. they all played different long term characters, the multiple smaller characters on the LO universe would be endless.

My favorite example of this, besides countless people on the Trek franchise, is Aloma Wright who played "Nurse Laverne Roberts" in the first seasons of Scrubs.

They killed the character off when they thought the show was ending but when they discovered the show was coming back they wanted to include her so they brought her back as "Nurse Shirley" who no one noticed looked exactly like Laverne.

Charlies Angels had the same bad guys every season. Also, a number of character actress playing a different part all the time

Dragnet used a lot of the same actors over and over. They also showed up on Adam-12 and Emergency! a lot too. If Jack Webb liked you he’d give you a job.

Justin Theroux played two different love interests for Carrie in two different seasons of Sex and the City.

One of them was a premature ejaculator, I believe.

The X-Files had several. I noticed as I rewatched all the seasons on Hulu. Terry O’Quinn played a detective in the second season episode “Aubrey” and later returned as a villainous NSA operative in season nine. The guy who played Krycek also made an early appearance in the episode called “Gender Bender.” Tracey Ellis played a woman who had been kidnapped and presumably raped as a child and had a psychic connection with her captor’s latest victim in the season three episode “Oubliette”, then later appeared in a bad wig as a mentally challenged hospital worker in season nine.

I think a lot of these Vancouver based shows routinely repeat actors in different roles. Supernatural, Psych, etc.

Golden Girls had Meg Wyllie play 4 parts: stewardess, Millicent Kennedy, Myra and Edna. It was funner to consider they were all the same character in 4 different situations. Or perhaps they were all just one of her projections from Talos IV.

You're only allowed to do this on the Facts of Life, Golden Girls, I Love Lucy and Mama's Family on this site.

Facts of Life had Tom Byrd play Blair's retarded boyfriend and Blair's coke headed boyfriend.

Golden Girls had Rhoda's father play Rose's boyfriend but one as Miles and one as a completely different guy

Mama's Family had Amy Benedict play a couple of different girls including Bubba's friend. And Ken Berry played Vint on the series and played Philip (originally Roddy McDowall) on the special

Harry Morgan played the senile Gen. Steele in an episode of "M*A*S*H" called "The General Flipped At Dawn," and then went on to play Col. Sherman Potter for the rest of the series.

Actor Josh Taylor first appeared on Days of Our Lives as Chris Kositchek and years later came back to play Roman Brady

I always hated it when this cunt made her annual appearance on Charlie’s Angels.

Both Peter Capaldi and Karen Gillian appeared in the same Doctor Who episode during the David Tennant era, before joining the show in subsequent seasons as lead characters.

I was in every season!

On Golden Girls, Chick Vennera played Cuban-American prizefighter Pepe. He also played Enrique Mas, the reporter who hired Rose to perform consumer product testing.

Jeffrey Tambor played 4 different characters over the years on three's company.

Another Golden Girls mention... the actor who played Dorothy's father also played a waiter in another episode.

That "Charlies Angels" bitch is Nancy Fox - She must have been blowing Spelling because she was in 5 episodes for FIVE seasons. Thanks GAWD they didn't offer her a role as a replacement Angel

Frieda Claxton was also Dorothy's real mother, Philomena.

The actress who played Laura Palmer on Twin Peaks came back to play her cousin.

Tony Geary left GH playing Luke and came back playing his cousin Bill.

LHOTP, Albert had previously been seen as a young Pa Ingalls in a flashback episode. Other special guests appeared in various roles over the years.

[quote]Jeffrey Tambor played 4 different characters over the years on three's company.

And he also pursued each of the three blondes romantically, Chrissie, Cindy and Terri

Carol Burnett played 127 different characters throughout the run of the Carol Burnett Show

MTM used Valerie Harper's real life husband Richard Schaal in countless episodes, always playing someone's date, or some salesman or doctor.

Alan Melvin played variations of Rob's army buddy and other characters on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Denny Miller played a surfer who rode a tidal wave to the island in season 1 and an actor pretending to be Tonga the ape man in season 3.

Soap operas do this ALL THE TIME...

[quote]MTM used Valerie Harper's real life husband Richard Schaal in countless episodes, always playing someone's date, or some salesman or doctor.

It was stupid because he played, Howard Arnell, who Mary hated, then he came back and played Paul Arnell, his brother, who Mary liked, then he came back a third time again as Howard, who Mary hated (at the reunion). He played Chuckles the Clown, which is absurd because Arlene Golonka played Chuckles's daughter, and he was also a swinging single in single's bar.

Schaal was also in the first year of Phyllis's spin off and as Joe's best friend in Rhoda's spin off, who Rhoda disliked.

Valerie was always trying to get him work and he was just not good as was his daughter Wendy who was also tossed off after the first season of "It's A Living"

This happened a few times on THE SOPRANOS. The guy who played Vito Spatafore beginning in season 3 had already appeared in a season one episode, as a customer at a pastry shop. The clerk takes his order ahead of Christophuh Moltisanti’s, which causes Christophuh to shoot the clerk.

Val was nice like that, she even gave the untalented sister (of the untalented fat twin from her own show) the role as her daughter in her sitcom City.

Lets not forget that Dorothy's dead father was her waiter, Kid Pepe was also Enrique Mas and Frida Claxton was also Gina's mother. It's almost like Golden Girls had its own stable of actors.

There's a tall thin guy who appears in every crowd scene in the Dick van Dyke Show. TV Land pointed him out one time. He was Van Dyke's assistant.

There is a younger blonde woman who continually shows up in small roles on Dragnet. She must have been banging Jack Webb.

[quote]My favorite example of this, besides countless people on the Trek franchise, is Aloma Wright who played "Nurse Laverne Roberts" in the first seasons of Scrubs...They killed the character off when they thought the show was ending but when they discovered the show was coming back they wanted to include her so they brought her back as "Nurse Shirley" who no one noticed looked exactly like Laverne.

[quote]Shirley is a nurse at Sacred Heart, but nobody notices her resemblance to an old nurse, except J.D. who gave her the nickname "Lavernagain".

“Law & Order”, so many instances.

On Roseanne, Lee Garlington played half of a couple interested in buying the Connors washer and dryer in season 1 when the salesman dropped dead in their kitchen. In season 4, she played Darlene's friend Karen, who owned the bookstore.

Vito Scotti turned up more than once in just about every Screen Gems sitcom, playing the same annoying characters.

Xena and Hercules spammed the same actors a lot too. I will go off the top of my head:

The woman who played Melosa also played a Sheriff and an Arab woman wanting a war in later seasons of Xena.

Karl Urban had a lot of roles : Caesar , Cupid , and random villains. I remember him in the Issac episode as the evil brother.

Lucy Lawless (Blonde chubby Amazon ) and Renee O'Connor (Deianira ) were both in the T.V. Movies for Hercules before it was a series.

Charles Mesure played more than Michael the Archangel. I know he played Darnell in an episode, because I remember remarking he's the whitest Darnell I've ever seen.

Kevin Smith played more than Aires .

I didn't watch/pay attention to Hercules as much, so I'm not exact about which actors were recycled frequently.

Arlene Golonka and Penny Marshall played different characters on the Mary Tyler Moore show. Once they were together in a bar and the other time was as Chuckle's kid and as Mary's nurse neighbor.

Garrett Dillahunt played 2 characters with multi episode arcs on "Deadwood". Originally he was Jack McCall in the first season, the guy who eventually murdered Wild Bill Hickok and a season or two later he showed up as an associate/advance man for Hearst. He was made up differently, as McCall had a lazy eye, was grubbier, and I believe a full beard and well dressed as the Hearst guy.

I got hooked on the early b&w Gunsmokes, and they would bring an actor back the same season, sometimes just a few episodes apart.

Leonard Nimoy was on 3 times right before Star Trek, and Buddy Ebsen started popping up a year or so before Hillbillies, which makes me wonder if they didn't use established shows as a sort of audition process.

Barney Miller recycled more actors than any series I can recall. I couldn't remember more than a couple specific examples but, thanks to IMDB, here are a few who played multiple characters:

JOHN DULLAGHAN: Jackson the Pickpocket, Sylvester White, Harold Durrell, Milt Loftus, Ray Brewer

STANLEY BROCK: Arnie the Club Owner, Burgess the Barber, Bruno Bender

DON CALFA: Mr. DiLucca, Angelo Dodi, Leon Bidell, Calvin J. Kendall, Gilbert Lesco, Arthur Thompson, Edward Pratken

PHIL LEEDS: Arthur Bloom, Lou Hector, Harry Kruger, Horace Chandler, Gilbert Letier, Louis Nash, Brent LaMear

PHILIP STERLING: Mr. Buckholtz, Noel Cadey, Mitchell Warner, Judge Philip Paul Gibson, Frank Rilling, Howard Spangler

PEGGY POPE: Lonna Lane, Frances Newbound, Lois Marcum, Doris Carlisle, Ruth Bergendahl

KENNETH TIGAR: Fletcher, Stefan Koepeknie, Elliot Porter, Jesus Christ, Philip Pollock

FLORENCE HALOP: Mable Kleiner, Mrs. Pierce, Evelyn Holly, Karen Golden, Wanda LaMear, Wilma Kestner

Hell, even George Murdock, who played Lt. Ben Scanlon from 1976 to 1982, played another character (Master Sgt. J.R. Reville) in an episode from 1977. Maybe they didn't know, at that time, that Scanlon would be a recurring character.

R37 Aloma Wright was also nurse Maxine on DOOL for a couple of years. She can truly put on her gravestone, "I'm not a nurse but I played one on TV."

"The Rifleman"

John Anderson was in about 8 episodes as different characters.

Richard Anderson played in multiple episodes.

I believe Royal Dano was in several episodes also.

Patti LuPone....Penny Dreadful......played a witch in season 2 and came back as a distant relative, the psychiatrist (and a regular) in season 3

Michael Welch (from the "Twilight" movies) played two different characters (7 years apart) on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigators." In addition, he appeared on "CSI: NY" and "CSI: Miami," thus playing four different characters in the same series "universe."

[quote]Golden Girls had Meg Wyllie play 4 parts: stewardess, Millicent Kennedy, Myra and Edna.

Who was Edna? The stewardess was named "Candy", Myra was the one who kicked Freda Claxton's (empty) coffin, but who was Edna?

Myra was Roses bfs crazy wife (ex?) when Dorothy was going to remarry Stan

On Wonder Woman:

1. Ted Shackelford (AKA Gary Ewing from Dallas) played 2 characters. One was with Joan Van Ark (aka Valene Ewing his future wife) who was his enemy, and another episode as a cab driver

2. Rick Springfield (!) - he was Naida the gymnast's Olympic hopeful boyfriend in one of the gayest episodes ever "Screaming Javelins" with her gayest villain ever, Mariposa who wore a purple jumpsuit! and he was in the music themed episode "Amazon Hot Wax" where Diana Prince/LYnda Carter sings!

[quote] oh so Edna was the one at Freda Caxton's funeral?

"Murder She Wrote", my mum was a big fan and she even said that on one episode a man was shot and the next episode he was back as another character.

How many times did Frank Nelson show up on I Love Lucy?

Character actor L.Q. Jones is another actor who appeared in almost every season of Charlie’s Angels. His last role (though he’s still among the living according to IMDB) was a sweet little part in A Prairie Home Companion.

[quote]Charles Mesure played more than Michael the Archangel.

[quote]Kevin Smith played more than Aires .

Both of them were really hot.

Dennis Cole, one time husband of Jaclyn Smith played various roles on Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island and The Love Boat.

Yes r57. I was very upset when Kevin Smith died. Not only at finding out his name was Kevin Smith.

Smallville did this repeatedly over 10 seasons - spotting the recurring faces was half the fun of that aesthetically pleasing but silly show! Most notable examples:

- Tahmoh Penikett plays separate characters in seasons 3 & 6 - the actor later cast as Toyman pops up in a small role in season 3 - voice actor Elias Toufexis plays three different bad guys in seasons 3, 6 and 10

I'm embarrassed to say I know r30 was talking about Gilligan's Island, though he forgot to mention that fact.

R61 Oops! And I didn't omit it out of embarrassment, just old age.

Angela Lansbury played both Jessica and her cousin Emma on Murder, She Wrote.

Laura Leighton’s character Sydney was killed off “Melrose Place” and then Laura Leighton subsequently appeared as Sophie on “Beverly Hills 90210.”

Bonnie Urseth playing three characters on [italic]Gimme A Break![/italic], one of which was a replacement for Helen Hunt.

[italic]Punky Brewster[/italic] recast Chad Allen twice; once on NBC, once in syndication, both as different characters pretending to be in love with Punky, and both times my fledgling gaydar went "WEE-WOO, WEE-WOO, WEE-WOO".

Tricia Helfer and Grace Park pulled off playing the same trick multiple times on BSG...

Vondie Curtis-Hall played a transsexual in Season One of E.R. Years later, he played Carla’s boyfriend who goes to court with Benton for custody of Carla’s son.

Game Of Thrones did this. The gayling who played King Tommen was originally on the show as a minor character who got killed.

[quote] My favorite example of this, besides countless people on the Trek franchise, is Aloma Wright who played "Nurse Laverne Roberts" in the first seasons of Scrubs.

A nurse named Laverne? Sounds a lot like someone I know.

King of the Re-Actors, Robert Kelker-Kelly

Colombo did this a lot. In addition to Jack Cassidy, Robert Culp played two different murderers: "Columbo" Double Exposure (1973) and "Columbo" Death Lends a Hand (1971). Patrick McGoohan played FOUR different murderers in Ashes to Ashes (1998) , Agenda for Murder (1990), Identity Crisis (1975).

Charles Lane, the character actor famous for playing grumpy old men, appeared in 8 episodes of BEWITCHED: School Days, School Daze (1972) ... Mr. Roland - The Warlock in the Gray Flannel Suit (1971) ... Mr. Cushman - Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1971) ... Harold Jameson - Samantha's Magic Potion (1970) ... Mr. Harmon - Make Love Not Hate (1970) ... George Meiklejohn - You're So Agreeable (1969) ... Shotwell Mr. Lane lived to be 102! - Humbug Not to Be Spoken Here (1967) ... Jessie Mortimer - Speak the Truth (1965) ... Ed Hotchkiss

It doesn't matter with shows that have a different non-main cast every week, like L&O or Columbo.

[r73] Thanks for making up your own "rules", but the original post didn't state that. Now, let's keep playing, and a Happy New Year to you!

Alright, r74. If you want to bore us, go right ahead. And a happy new year to you.

R23 - that cunt Nancy Fox even snuck onto the set during the filming of this workout video back in the early 80s. That’s her on the left of my mistress.

STALKER.

I know this happened in the Buffy Universe but can't recall any of them offhand.

Marie Wallace was Eve, Megan Todd and the lovable crazy Jenny Collins on Dark Shadows. The regular actors played a lot of different roles on the show in different times and dimensions, but Marie wasn't one of the regular actors.

DOOL. Josh Taylor as Chris Kositchek now Roman Brady as mentioned upthread. Drake Hogestyn as Roman, then John Black. Wayne Northrop, the original Roman returned as Marlena's first husband. Judi Evans as Adrienne Kiriakis, then Bonnie Lockhart, then back to Adrienne. Thaoo Phlebitis as Tony DiMera, now Andre.

Rachel Dratch, 30 Rock

Vito Scotti played several characters on "Gilligan's Island," including a very bigoted portrayal of a Japanese soldier, in addition to a Central American dictator and a mad scientist.

American Horror Story

That roofer on Golden Girls was on a few times for sure.

[quote]"Murder She Wrote", my mum was a big fan and she even said that on one episode a man was shot and the next episode he was back as another character.

I came here to say this. Even Sheriff Mort Metzger started out in a minor role in an early season before becoming a major character after Tom Bosley left.

Tommen Baratheon on Thrones.

He played as a bastard of Robert in one of the episodes then played as grown Tommen later on.

Horsefaced Nancy Fox has been a friend of Jaclyn Smith's since they were children. Neither were much of an actress, but Jaclyn was very beautiful and became a big name because of Charlie's Angels. I'm sure she played a part in Nancy getting multiple guest spots on the show. She didn't have much of a career after that.

It looks like Nancy is still trying to get acting work. She somehow shaved a decade off of her age on IMDb. If the pics up are recent, she looks pretty good for her age and didn't get the weird work done on her face like Jaclyn unfortunately did.

Lisa Hartman played Ciji Dunne on Knots Landing, and later Cathy Geary (initials C. G.) after Ciji was killed off.

Ben Vereen played himself on [italic]Webster[/italic] before coming back to play Uncle Philip.

The original Carly (Sarah Brown-left) came back to General Hospital as a different character about 10 years ago. The 2nd Carly (Tamara Braun-middle) is back on GH playing a different character now. Laura Wright (right) is going on 13 years as Carly.

And Jennifer Bransford (3rd & most unpopular Carly) hasn't been seen in years.

R77 James "Spike" Marsters played 2 different roles on Northern Exposure (I think a bellboy & later a priest).

It was filmed in Washington state if I recall correctly.

R86 Her IMDB suggests the Jacklyn Smith workout video was shot in '94 instead of the early 80's as mentioned up above.

I wonder which is closer to the true date?

Bill Idelson. He was best known as Herman Glimscher on the Dick Van Dyke Show but he also appeared as a bellboy on the Never Bathe on Saturday Night episode. He had great comedic timing and deadpan delivery.

He was one of Ann Morgan Guilbert's closest friends for many years. They were neighbors in Pacific Palisades. Ann's comments at his memorial service are touching and very funny (on YouTube.)

Bill was a prolific screenwriter. He contributed episodes for many popular tv shows, including the co-written The Long Distance Call on The Twilight Zone; a little boy talks to his recently deceased grandmother on a toy telephone. A very young Billy Mumy plays the boy.

Character actor Johnny Silver appeared in 15 episodes of the Dick Van Dyke Show as 15 different character, but repeatedly as waiters. He was a very familiar face on tv for decades.