I find it interesting that the show would utilize the same actor for different characters. Yan Feldman (Out of the Past, Light of Truth, After Life and Death) played a bad guy, a good guy and a guard. Btw, that man is too damn hawt!!! My high school fantasies about him were, and still are, filthy ;)
shareI also recently became aware of this tendency (of re-using the same actor for different characters on the same show) as I've been re-watching television shows from the 80s-90s. A stand-out to me was Murder She Wrote, where one actor who had a minor role in one episode ended up becoming a lead character later on (two totally different characters). I'm not sure why this was done...I can't imagine that they'd be short on actors...and frankly, I dislike this practice because it's awkward seeing the same character reappear as someone else.
shareDiane Neal played a criminal before becoming an ADA on L&O: SVU.
share@wesward7
No, it's cool because you get to see how much range an actor has in one show.
I don't mind it. These actors who are only in minor roles probably make a living this way. I quite like being able to recognise minor actors in different episodes of a show, or in different shows. Sometimes they get a break and they get a regular part on a different show, and I like that too. It's amazing how many of the people who played small parts on Relic Hunter show up on other shows that I like or have gone on to have very active careers. James Callis had a small (speaking) part in Faux Fox (Relic Hunter Season 3) and later played Gaius Baltar on Battlestar Galactica. Roger Cross had a small (speaking) part in Hunting with the Enemy (also Relic Hunter Season 3) and later played Number Six in Dark Matter. Barbara Mamabolo, who played the teenager Sam in Treasure Island (also Season 3) is still an actress and has been in a number of things.
It happened so much in the 50s and 60s with the same actor playing different characters ... even in the same season - happened a lot on Western series like Bonanza, Wagon Train, Rawhide etc - seems they had a pool of about 6 "go to" actors
It was a time when the actors were under contract to studios and those studios using their assets as much as possible
Half Irish, Half German - hated by all. But at least I'm not Welsh
That's interesting! I had forgotten about the contract system. I haven't seen many tv shows from that era, especially not Westerns, so I didn't realize that the practice of re-using actors as different characters on the same program was even more common back then.