Actors/actresses-turned-contestants

[nate80s]

Dana Kimmell was the star of "Friday The 13th Part 3" and Dennis Haskins had parts in a few episodes of "The Dukes Of Hazzard" and both were later on game shows.  Years after their roles, Kimmell was on The $100,000 Pyramid and Haskins was on Scrabble.  Now here's my question... why were they allowed to be contestants on game shows when they previously appeared in TV or movies?  Everyone knows that celebrities and famous people who appear on game shows play for charity.  I know neither of the two were famous (at the time) or celebrities.  But still, it never made sense to me why there playing as constestants on game shows.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'nate80s\' post=\'216534\' date=\'May 25 2009, 08:45 PM\']Now here's my question... why were they allowed to be contestants on game shows when they previously appeared in TV or movies?  Everyone knows that celebrities and famous people who appear on game shows play for charity.[/quote]
Actors are people too, and an awful lot of barely-working actors wouldn't be considered celebrities.  If the contestant coordinator didn't think that someone was famous enough to be distracting to the audience, there's no reason at all for them not to be contestants on a game show.

The Dahm Triplets, who had been Playboy Centerfolds and erstwhile models and actresses, appeared on the Richard Karn version of Family Feud in a non-celebrity role.

[Chief-O]

I can mention a game show host-turned-contestant: Larry Toffler, 2nd host of "Finder's Keepers", was on "Greed" [and "Debt" too, IIRC].

[Jay Temple]

ISTR a contestant on J! who was either an actor or an athlete, and Alex explained that he was allowed to participate as a regular contestant because he hadn't earned a certain amount ($75K?) in that capacity. Other shows may have had similar criteria.

Add to nate80s' list the name of Cheryl McMannis, a blind actress. She had already appeared on Simon & Simon and Scarecrow & Mrs. King before she won $25,000 during the week of blind contestants on The $100,000 Pyramid that recently aired.

[comicus]

If you want to bring semi-famous athletes into the discussion, then Steve Bryant might be a good place to start.  At least nobody knew at the time of his PYL appearances that he would wash out of the NFL.

[Craig Karlberg]

Wasn't there a member of the band Sister Hazel that appeared on TPIR as a contestant?  I thought I read something about that a few years ago.

[PYLdude]

[quote name=\'nate80s\' post=\'216534\' date=\'May 25 2009, 07:45 PM\']Now here's my question... why were they allowed to be contestants on game shows when they previously appeared in TV or movies?  Everyone knows that celebrities and famous people who appear on game shows play for charity.  I know neither of the two were famous (at the time) or celebrities.  But still, it never made sense to me why there playing as constestants on game shows.[/quote]

It doesn't make sense because you don't realize you just answered your own question. Like Matt said, it all depends on the level of fame and whether or not it's a distraction. I'm willing to bet that enough people didn't know who the hell they were. (And at least in the latter case, there's no way you could probably get away with it nowadays...)

(It also depends on your definition of fame, i.e. pro boxer Monte Barrett, who I believe was set to fight for one of the heavyweight titles at the time, and pro wrestler Ox Baker on TPIR. Boxing or wrestling fans might know these guys well, but whether or not the general public will is another story and a decision that the coordinators have to make.)

[Allstar87]

At least two actors from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory were later game show contestants.

Leonard Stone played Violet Beauregard's father. He appeared on Wheel of Fortune in 2000, and his role in the film was mentioned in his contestant interview.

Paris Themmen played Mike Teevee; he later appeared on Wink's Trivial Pursuit in '93 & Duel in '08. Paris' acting career was never mentioned on TP. (I didn't see his Duel appearance, so I don't know if it was brought up there at all.)

[gsgalaxy82]

Michael Cedar, who was the first champion on TJW '90, actually appeared on Mama's Family three years earlier as a thief.

[davemackey]

Henry Beckman, who played the security guard on the Don Adams sitcom "Check It Out", was a contestant later in the 80's on "Scrabble" - Robair has a clip from the Scrabble appearance up on YouTube.

[Jimmy Owen]

Matt Ottinger who hosted...um never mind.  If the've spent all the money they've earned in their acting career it should be okay,  I think it would be better if there was some mention during the "tell us about yourself" portion of their acting work and where eagle-eyed viewers may have seen the contestant before.

[calliaume]

Wikipedia notes former Mouseketeer Lonnie Burr has appeared as a contestant on both The Big Showdown and Wordplay.  His own web site mentions neither; IMDB does say he won over $5,000 on TBS.

[Jimmy Owen]

I do remember seeing Lonnie on TBS, as MMC had just made a big splash in re-syndication in 75.  It was mentioned on the show, but I don't remember the outcome of the game.

[Jay Temple]

Not an actor or actress, but noteworthy nonetheless: Walter Egan, who had the 1978 hit "Magnet and Steel", was a regular contestant on Scrabble around 1987. I think he won the day but little else.

[Ian Wallis]

Henry Beckman, who played the security guard on the Don Adams sitcom "Check It Out", was a contestant later in the 80's on "Scrabble" - Robair has a clip from the Scrabble appearance up on YouTube.

Beckman was in the business forever but never really had a series of his own.  He was also on a couple of episodes of Bewitched in the late '60s, and did commercials in his native Canada.