Tv actors playing as their characters.

[Bobby B.]

I just watched an All-Star episode of Password Plus (Kennedy) last night where there were the following celebs were playing in character & in costume:

Jon Bauman as Bowser (from Sha Na Na)
Robert Donner as Exidor (from Mork & Mindy)
One lady (I forgot her character & real name) from Harper Valley PTA
Patty Duke as both Patty AND Cathy Lane (from the Patty Duke Show).

Interesting that when Gene Wood introduced all the celebs, they did a split-screen intro for the "identical cousins" walking in and heading towards the desk.  Patty Lane was the player du jour.

I've seen another of those all-star specials with Denver Pyle in costume as Uncle Jesse from The Dukes of Hazzard.  I can't remember the other celebs/characters and I can't remember if Pyle was actually acting as his character would on his show or just dressed in costume.

[parliboy]

I'm going to jump into the shouting match by making the following observation: 

The question as asked was not, "Is their [sic] any time in game show history where tv actors played their characters?"
Instead it was, "Is their [sic] any time in game show history where tv actors played as their characters?"

That "as" changes the question; and to use one of our favorite phrases around here, "Words Have Meanings".  I read the intent of the question as celebrities in a contestant / partner role, not as a non-contestant panelist.  Granted, the question as originally asked was awkward (their/there), and we can debate whether the OP meant to write what he wrote.  I'm just pointing out what he wrote, and arguing that for the question as written, a Storybook Squares panelist would not be a good example.

[PYLdude]

I'm going to jump into the shouting match by making the following observation: 

The question as asked was not, "Is their [sic] any time in game show history where tv actors played their characters?"
Instead it was, "Is their [sic] any time in game show history where tv actors played as their characters?"

That "as" changes the question; and to use one of our favorite phrases around here, "Words Have Meanings".  I read the intent of the question as celebrities in a contestant / partner role, not as a non-contestant panelist.  Granted, the question as originally asked was awkward (their/there), and we can debate whether the OP meant to write what he wrote.  I'm just pointing out what he wrote, and arguing that for the question as written, a Storybook Squares panelist would not be a good example.

Gene and I read it the same way, then. The use of the article "as" to me left me with the distinction that he was trying for the Pyramid/Password style of play and not the Hollywood Squares style. The OP did make a second post (which was taken down) to clarify that it was his intent not to include the Storybook characters as part of the equation.

And that I felt that the Charley Weaver and Mama (and maybe, to a lesser degree, Big Bird) examples were different because they had been asked to appear in character and did so voluntarily, where as on the kids' show it was mandatory to dress in character (even if it wasn't necessarily somebody you played on TV) as it was the whole point of the show.

[JMFabiano]

I just watched an All-Star episode of Password Plus (Kennedy) last night where there were the following celebs were playing in character & in costume:

Jon Bauman as Bowser (from Sha Na Na)
Robert Donner as Exidor (from Mork & Mindy)
One lady (I forgot her character & real name) from Harper Valley PTA
Patty Duke as both Patty AND Cathy Lane (from the Patty Duke Show).

Interesting that when Gene Wood introduced all the celebs, they did a split-screen intro for the "identical cousins" walking in and heading towards the desk.  Patty Lane was the player du jour.

I've seen another of those all-star specials with Denver Pyle in costume as Uncle Jesse from The Dukes of Hazzard.  I can't remember the other celebs/characters and I can't remember if Pyle was actually acting as his character would on his show or just dressed in costume.

If it's the week I am thinking of, I believe Sue Ann Nivens, played by what's her name, was part of the quartet. 

Did Patty play as "Cathy" at all that week? 

Mama's Family and Hello, Larry on Password Plus is another example. (This can be easily sought out, I'm sure.)

Wait a minute...the second example I never heard of.

Mama of course was twice.

Nitpick: technically, that would just be "The Family" at that time.  The show didn't premiere for 2-3 more years.   

Do puppets count?  Cause that would be a whole can of worms opened anew. 

Kind of wish Super Password did the "Gimmick Celebrity Week" if for no other reason than to have "Sophia" and "Rose" (as opposed to just Betty and Estelle) teamed up that one all-star week. 

MG/HS had a very flimsy version when they had the Leave it to Beaver cast and just changed the nameplates in HS to read the characters' names.

Mama (Vicki Lawrence) and Eunice (Carol Burnett) played for a week against McLean Stevenson and Joanna Gleason playing as their Hello, Larry characters. The whole pretense was rather ridiculous in that while it was obvious Lawrence and Burnett were in character, the only way you knew Stevenson and Gleason were in character was because Allen was calling them by their characters' names. And he didn't even do that consistently, and kept accidentally calling them McLean and Joanna. They gave up the whole idea by the Thursday show.

Yes, the characters need a distinct look/accent/etc. to pull this off.  As another example, Henry Winkler appearing on PW+ as the Fonz would have been acceptable. 

/DID Winkler appear on any version of Password?

[clemon79]

MG/HS had a very flimsy version when they had the Leave it to Beaver cast

And Gallagher. Don't forget Gallagher.

/was THAT ever a non-sequitur

[JMFabiano]

MG/HS had a very flimsy version when they had the Leave it to Beaver cast

And Gallagher. Don't forget Gallagher.

/was THAT ever a non-sequitur

Some people would like to forget.


/Joel Hodgson topping the list...

[PYLdude]

Puppets...hmm...interesting.

It was only the Muppets and ALF who appeared without their puppeteers sharing the space, right? Because every time I saw ALF or Kermit they were in there without their handlers visible and Big Bird is a guy in a suit. Any time I saw Madame or Lester (did Jeff Dunham ever do Squares) they were with handler.

[BrandonFG]

Puppets...hmm...interesting.

It was only the Muppets and ALF who appeared without their puppeteers sharing the space, right? Because every time I saw ALF or Kermit they were in there without their handlers visible and Big Bird is a guy in a suit. Any time I saw Madame or Lester (did Jeff Dunham ever do Squares) they were with handler.

Yep...in the final season.

[SRIV94]

Did Patty play as "Cathy" at all that week? 

Pretty sure it was a 3-2 split--Patty three times, Cathy twice.  Could be mistaken though.

[chrisholland03]

She could have been Patty for 2 eps, Cathy for 2 eps, and Sybill for an ep.  That would have been entertaining.

[Jay Temple]

Do puppets count?  Cause that would be a whole can of worms opened anew.

Kukla and Ollie shared a seat on an episode of MGPM that's part of the DVD set. No human appeared on screen, but there was a wall of some sort behind them.

[Mr. Armadillo]

It was only the Muppets and ALF who appeared without their puppeteers sharing the space, right?

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog appeared sans handler, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were others.

[PYLdude]

It was only the Muppets and ALF who appeared without their puppeteers sharing the space, right?

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog appeared sans handler, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were others.

Oh, how did I forget Triumph? Has H2 been off the air that long?

[BrandonFG]

The puppet dragon Scorch appeared on MG90 with puppeteer Ronn Lucas on screen. I remember Gene Wood introducing Ronn "and Scorch", at which point the dragon would pop up on screen.

[ChrisLambert!]

There was at least one episode of Davidson Hollywood Squares with Tom Poston playing in-character as George Utley.  I remember wondering if they were hoping to have their own Charley Weaver.