Television Fifty Years Ago -- Who's Still Alive?

[p***@gmail.com]

Strictly out of personal curiosity, I did a little research and have assembled a list of surviving adult cast members from American TV shows that were on the air fifty years ago today. In order to keep things manageable, I have limited the list of shows to those in the Nielsen Top 30 (readily available), defined "adult" as a cast member beyond their teens (sorry, Ron Howard), and have not included regularly recurring guest performers, musicians, etc., which probably unfairly impacts variety programs, and is admittedly as arbitrary as hell.

The Andy Griffith Show -- no survivors
The Lucy Show -- no survivors
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. -- Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle), Ronnie Schell (Duke Slater)
Gunsmoke -- Buck Taylor (Newly)
Family Affair -- Kathy Garver (Cissy Davis)
Bonanza -- no survivors
The Red Skelton Show -- no survivors
The Dean Martin Show -- no survivors
The Jackie Gleason Show -- no survivors
Bewitched -- no survivors
The Beverly Hillbillies -- Max Baer, Jr. (Jethro Bodine)
The Ed Sullivan Show -- no survivors
The Virginian -- James Drury (the Virginian), many others (see below)
Green Acres -- Tom Lester (Eb Dawson)
The Lawarence Welk Show -- no survivors
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour -- Tom Smothers, Dick Smothers
Gentle Ben -- Beth Brickell (Ellen Wedloe), Rance Howard (Henry Boomhauer)
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In -- not included (see below)
The F.B.I. -- William Reynolds (Tom Colby)
My Three Sons -- Tim Consodine (Mike Douglas), Tina Cole (Katie Douglas)
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color -- no survivors
Ironside -- Barbara Anderson (Eve Whitfield)
The Carol Burnett Show -- Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner
Dragnet '67 -- no survivors
Daniel Boone -- Ed Ames (Mingo)
Lassie -- no survivors

Notes: There are only 26 "Top 30" programs listed here; the other four were movie nights (remember those?).

I have included only those performers who were regular cast members on a given show as of October 1967. Jim Nabors (for instance) had moved on from the Andy Griffith Show by that time, as had June Lockhart from Lassie, and Tim Conway had yet to join the Carol Burnett repertory company.

The Virginian had many reasonably regular cast members throughout its nearly 250 episode run, but no survivor made even half as many appearances as James Drury. Other notable survivors from 1967 include Sara Lane, Clu Gulager, Don Quine and David Hartman, just to name a few.

Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was a one-shot special in September 1967, and did not appear as a weekly series until January 1968. The only survivors from the single 1967 entry are Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson and JoAnne Worley.

Hope you enjoy this list as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Please do not hesitate to correct any errors or omissions on my part, and if anybody else wishes to dig deeper into the ratings (i.e., Star Trek) to add to this little compendium ... have at it!!

-- Doug Peterson --

[a***@sympatico.ca]

Post by p***@gmail.com
Strictly out of personal curiosity, I did a little research and have assembled a list of surviving adult cast members from American TV shows that were on the air fifty years ago today. In order to keep things manageable, I have limited the list of shows to those in the Nielsen Top 30 (readily available), defined "adult" as a cast member beyond their teens (sorry, Ron Howard), and have not included regularly recurring guest performers, musicians, etc., which probably unfairly impacts variety programs, and is admittedly as arbitrary as hell.
The Carol Burnett Show -- Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner

- Tim Conway is also still alive.

[a***@sympatico.ca]

Post by p***@gmail.com
Strictly out of personal curiosity, I did a little research and have assembled a list of surviving adult cast members from American TV shows that were on the air fifty years ago today. In order to keep things manageable, I have limited the list of shows to those in the Nielsen Top 30 (readily available), defined "adult" as a cast member beyond their teens (sorry, Ron Howard), and have not included regularly recurring guest performers, musicians, etc., which probably unfairly impacts variety programs, and is admittedly as arbitrary as hell.
The Jackie Gleason Show -- no survivors

- Surprising as it might be, Joyce Randolph (Trixie Norton) is still among the living.


By the way, nice list!


--
You know you're getting older when the songs you used to rock out to you now fold laundry to.

[c***@aol.com]

Johnny Whitaker from Family Affair is still alive. And of course he’s a main cast member which should be the only criterion

[p***@gmail.com]

To Allen:

Thanks for the kind words. As to your comments (both appreciated), Tim Conway did not join the Carol Burnett Show until 1975, which is why I did not include him in my "snapshot" from 1967. Similarly, Joyce Randolph only played Trixie Norton in the original Honeymooners (1950s), and not the later revivals. It's good to hear that she's still with us, however, and I sincerely hope that she remains off topic for a very long time to come.

To Cathy C:

Johnny Whitaker was only eight years old in 1967, and -- since I made a point of excluding child performers to keep things manageable -- was purposely left off the list. If I were to have included pre-teens and teenagers, there would have been considerably more entries, but that's a project for another time.

-- Doug Peterson --

[That Derek]

ADDENBA

The Andy Griffith Show -- Betty Lynn (Thelma Lou)

The Lucy Show -- Jimmy Garrett, Lucy's TV son; however he was sent off to military school by 1967

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. -- Forrest Compton (the Colonel) -- now in his 90s

The Jackie Gleason Show -- Soupy Sales's widow Trudy was a June Taylor Dancer

The Lawarence Welk Show -- JoAnn Castle is still with us and so are all four Lennon Sisters )grown up by 1967

My Three Sons -- Tim Consodine (Mike Douglas), Tina Cole (Katie Douglas)
AND brothers Stanley (Chip) and Barry (Ernie) Livingston

Left off original list:

The Monkees: Mickey Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork; possibly perennial villain Monte Landis.

Petticoat Junction: some of the Bradley girls are still of-topic.

Lost in Space: Billy Mumy, Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright, Mark Goddard, June Lockhart

Star Trek: William Shatner, Nichelle Nicholls, George Takei, Walter Koenig, not sure about Grace Lee Whitney

Batman: Burt Ward

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: David Hedison

The Mothers-in-Law: Kaye Ballard

Peyton Place: Mia Farrow, Ryan O'Neal

The Flying Nun: Sally Field, Shelley Morrison

I Dream of Jeannie: Barbara Eden, Bill Daily

Hogan's Heroes: Robert Clary

Get Smart: Barbara Feldon

Tarzan: Ron Ely

The Invaders: Roy Thinnes

The Man from UNCLE: David MacCallum

The Big Valley: Linda Evans

F Troop: Larry Storch

The Girl from UNCLE: Stephanie Powers

I Spy: Bill Cosby

Run, Buddy, Run: Jack Sheldo

[wboenig]

Not a top 30 show, but I believe that all six main cast members of "Please Don't Eat The Daisies" (1965-67) are still with us.

[Diner]

Post by wboenig
Not a top 30 show, but I believe that all six main cast members of "Please Don't Eat The Daisies" (1965-67) are still with us.

Good call. Wikipedia says: "To date (2017), it is the earliest television series in which the entire main cast is still alive."

[Michael OConnor]

Post by That Derek
F Troop: Larry Storch

James Hampton
Ken Berry

[Michael OConnor]

Post by That Derek
The Big Valley: Linda Evans

Lee Majors

[David Carson]

Post by That Derek
Star Trek: William Shatner, Nichelle Nicholls, George Takei, Walter Koenig, not sure about Grace Lee Whitney

She's dead, Jim.

[a***@sympatico.ca]

Post by That Derek
ADDENBA
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. -- Forrest Compton (the Colonel) -- now in his 90s

- Jim Nabors, Gomer himself, is also still alive. Turned 87 this year.

[A Friend]

Post by a***@sympatico.ca

Post by That Derek
ADDENBA
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. -- Forrest Compton (the Colonel) -- now in his 90s

- Jim Nabors, Gomer himself, is also still alive. Turned 87 this year.

Ronnie Schell ("Duke") is also alive. He's 85 now, turns 86 in
December. He has three IMDb credits this year.

[p***@gmail.com]

To That Derek --

Thank you very kindly for your contribution. Regarding your addenda (all of whom are still alive), Jimmy Garrett and the Livingston brothers were left off the list because they were in their teens in 1967, and I was only mentioning performers who were 20 years of age or older at the time. Betty Lynn's final appearance on The Andy Griffith Show was in 1966, though she did do the 1986 reunion movie. I did not attempt to include musicians (and singers/dancers), so thank you for your research there. Forrest Compton (Gomer Pyle) appeared in 41 out of 150 episodes, so I may very well have erred in relegating him to strictly guest performer status. Good catch! Finally, to answer your Grace Lee Whitney question, the Star Trek actress sadly went on topic about two-and-a-half years ago.

To WBoenig --

Thanks for the information about a well-remembered show (you are correct)!

-- Doug Peterson --

[Mr. Briggs]

Mission:Impossible - Barbara Bain, Peter Lupus,from 1967

From 1969 on: Leslie Ann Warren, Sam Elliot, Lynda Day George, Barbara
Anderson.

[c***@aol.com]

Star Trek was not a top 30 Show. You also left off It Takes a Thief which was a Top 30 Show. Robert Wagner still lives.

[p***@gmail.com]

To Cathy C:

Regarding Robert Wagner and "It Rakes a Thief," please note that -- although it was tied with "Lassie" for #30 in the official 1967-68 Nielsens -- the show did not premiere until January of 1968, thereby making it ineligible for my list. That being said, I probably should have noted the omission as I did with "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In."

And thanks to everyone for all of the additional perspectives!

-- Doug Peterson --

[e***@gmail.com]

For the Lawrence Welk show, Arthur Duncan is alive and I think still appears in shows doing his tap routines occasionally. Also Ex-Mouseketeer Bobby Burgess is still on this side of the veil and maybe his dancing partner Cissy too.

[e***@gmail.com]

Anyone remember Leigh French the hippy dippy weather girl on Smothers Brothers? She was my favorite at that time. She's still alive and it seemed to me she was a regular. Certainly not a one-shot.

[RH Draney]

Post by e***@gmail.com
Anyone remember Leigh French the hippy dippy weather girl on Smothers Brothers? She was my favorite at that time. She's still alive and it seemed to me she was a regular. Certainly not a one-shot.

I don't remember her bits having anything to do with the weather....

Bob Einstein (Officer Judy) is still with us as well....r

[e***@gmail.com]

Post by RH Draney

Post by e***@gmail.com
Anyone remember Leigh French the hippy dippy weather girl on Smothers Brothers? She was my favorite at that time. She's still alive and it seemed to me she was a regular. Certainly not a one-shot.

I don't remember her bits having anything to do with the weather....
Bob Einstein (Officer Judy) is still with us as well....r

I remember her once at a weather map and talking about "a high" coming in.

[p***@gmail.com]

The decision to leave Leigh French off the list was a tough one, but since the IMDb credits her with only 17 appearances (out of 71 episodes) on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," I reluctantly excluded her as a regularly recurring guest performer, but she is certainly deserving of a mention here.

As is Bob Einstein, although he actually made only about half as many appearances as Leigh French (coulda sworn it was a lot more)!

-- Doug Peterson --

[Victor Marino Jr.]

Post by p***@gmail.com
Strictly out of personal curiosity, I did a little research and have assembled a list of surviving adult cast members from American TV shows that were on the air fifty years ago today. In order to keep things manageable, I have limited the list of shows to those in the Nielsen Top 30 (readily available), defined "adult" as a cast member beyond their teens (sorry, Ron Howard), and have not included regularly recurring guest performers, musicians, etc., which probably unfairly impacts variety programs, and is admittedly as arbitrary as hell.
The Andy Griffith Show -- no survivors
The Lucy Show -- no survivors
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. -- Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle), Ronnie Schell (Duke Slater)
Gunsmoke -- Buck Taylor (Newly)
Family Affair -- Kathy Garver (Cissy Davis)
Bonanza -- no survivors
The Red Skelton Show -- no survivors
The Dean Martin Show -- no survivors
The Jackie Gleason Show -- no survivors
Bewitched -- no survivors
The Beverly Hillbillies -- Max Baer, Jr. (Jethro Bodine)
The Ed Sullivan Show -- no survivors
The Virginian -- James Drury (the Virginian), many others (see below)
Green Acres -- Tom Lester (Eb Dawson)
The Lawarence Welk Show -- no survivors
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour -- Tom Smothers, Dick Smothers
Gentle Ben -- Beth Brickell (Ellen Wedloe), Rance Howard (Henry Boomhauer)
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In -- not included (see below)
The F.B.I. -- William Reynolds (Tom Colby)
My Three Sons -- Tim Consodine (Mike Douglas), Tina Cole (Katie Douglas)
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color -- no survivors
Ironside -- Barbara Anderson (Eve Whitfield)
The Carol Burnett Show -- Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner
Dragnet '67 -- no survivors
Daniel Boone -- Ed Ames (Mingo)
Lassie -- no survivors
Notes: There are only 26 "Top 30" programs listed here; the other four were movie nights (remember those?).
I have included only those performers who were regular cast members on a given show as of October 1967. Jim Nabors (for instance) had moved on from the Andy Griffith Show by that time, as had June Lockhart from Lassie, and Tim Conway had yet to join the Carol Burnett repertory company.
The Virginian had many reasonably regular cast members throughout its nearly 250 episode run, but no survivor made even half as many appearances as James Drury. Other notable survivors from 1967 include Sara Lane, Clu Gulager, Don Quine and David Hartman, just to name a few.
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was a one-shot special in September 1967, and did not appear as a weekly series until January 1968. The only survivors from the single 1967 entry are Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson and JoAnne Worley.
Hope you enjoy this list as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Please do not hesitate to correct any errors or omissions on my part, and if anybody else wishes to dig deeper into the ratings (i.e., Star Trek) to add to this little compendium ... have at it!!
-- Doug Peterson --

Lassie - June Lockhart is still with us.

[J.D. Baldwin]

Post by p***@gmail.com
The Dean Martin Show -- no survivors

Nancy Sinatra was a regular, as I recall. Maybe Connie Francis, too?

Post by p***@gmail.com
The Jackie Gleason Show -- no survivors

Trixie is still with us. I believe we discussed her here within the
last few months.

Post by p***@gmail.com
The Lawarence Welk Show -- no survivors

All the Lennon Sisters are still here. Until I just looked it up, I
would have sworn Pete Fountain was still alive. (He isn't.)

Post by p***@gmail.com
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color -- no survivors

This was an anthology show and, by your criteria, never had any
"survivors" because it never had any cast members. (Even Disney
himself didn't appear in every show.) But Dick van Dyke was a pretty
regular fixture on the show, and he's still around.

Post by p***@gmail.com
Lassie -- no survivors

Cloris Leachman was a principal on this show and is still around. Not
sure whether she was active in 1967. Pretty sure Jed Allan was a
principal in 1967.

[Michael OConnor]

Post by J.D. Baldwin

Post by p***@gmail.com
Lassie -- no survivors

Cloris Leachman was a principal on this show and is still around. Not
sure whether she was active in 1967. Pretty sure Jed Allan was a
principal in 1967.

Cloris Leachman was the mom for IIRC one season (1957-58) and really didn't like it, felt she couldn't cut her acting teeth a whole lot starring on the Lassie show. She wanted out because she soon realized her main job on the show was to decode Lassie's barks to be either "Timmy fell into the well," or "Timmy fell in the abandoned mine shaft that is about to collapse," or "Timmy was climbing a very tall tree and fell and hit his head, I think he might have a concussion but I don't really know because I'm not a doctor, I'm just a dog."

[RH Draney]

Post by Michael OConnor

Post by J.D. Baldwin

Post by p***@gmail.com
Lassie -- no survivors

Cloris Leachman was a principal on this show and is still around. Not
sure whether she was active in 1967. Pretty sure Jed Allan was a
principal in 1967.

Cloris Leachman was the mom for IIRC one season (1957-58) and really didn't like it, felt she couldn't cut her acting teeth a whole lot starring on the Lassie show. She wanted out because she soon realized her main job on the show was to decode Lassie's barks to be either "Timmy fell into the well," or "Timmy fell in the abandoned mine shaft that is about to collapse," or "Timmy was climbing a very tall tree and fell and hit his head, I think he might have a concussion but I don't really know because I'm not a doctor, I'm just a dog."

"What's that, Lassie? You say Leachman fell out of the cast?"...r

[p***@gmail.com]

Thanks to everybody for the additions to the list, especially with respect to the musical/variety performers who certainly deserve acknowledgement. While I felt fairly safe relying on the IMDb for scripted series data, its listings for variety shows seem to be much less reliable ... or did the Lennon Sisters really appear just 28 times throughout the program's entire run?

To J D Baldwin:

I should probably have treated "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" in the same manner as the movie nights, since it became -- as you pointed out -- a host-less anthology series following Disney's death in 1966. That being said, I cannot find any reference to Dick Van Dyke ever appearing regularly, either before or following Walt's passing. Am I just missing something here perhaps?

To address a few other comments:

June Lockhart had left "Lassie" in 1964, while Cloris Leachman appeared in just one season in the 1950s. Jed Allan did not join the cast until 1968. In a similar vein, the role of Trixie in the 1966-70 Jackie Gleason show was played by Jane Kean, who unfortunately went on-topic back in 2013.

And I would like to thank Michael O'Connor for his invaluable translations of Lassie's dialogue. Doctor Dolittle clearly has some serious competition. ;)

[daniel anderson]

Post by p***@gmail.com
Strictly out of personal curiosity, I did a little research and have assembled a list of surviving adult cast members from American TV shows that were on the air fifty years ago today. In order to keep things manageable, I have limited the list of shows to those in the Nielsen Top 30 (readily available), defined "adult" as a cast member beyond their teens (sorry, Ron Howard), and have not included regularly recurring guest performers, musicians, etc., which probably unfairly impacts variety programs, and is admittedly as arbitrary as hell.
The Andy Griffith Show -- no survivors
The Lucy Show -- no survivors
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. -- Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle), Ronnie Schell (Duke Slater)
Gunsmoke -- Buck Taylor (Newly)
Family Affair -- Kathy Garver (Cissy Davis)
Bonanza -- no survivors
The Red Skelton Show -- no survivors
The Dean Martin Show -- no survivors
The Jackie Gleason Show -- no survivors
Bewitched -- no survivors
The Beverly Hillbillies -- Max Baer, Jr. (Jethro Bodine)
The Ed Sullivan Show -- no survivors
The Virginian -- James Drury (the Virginian), many others (see below)
Green Acres -- Tom Lester (Eb Dawson)
The Lawarence Welk Show -- no survivors
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour -- Tom Smothers, Dick Smothers
Gentle Ben -- Beth Brickell (Ellen Wedloe), Rance Howard (Henry Boomhauer)
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In -- not included (see below)
The F.B.I. -- William Reynolds (Tom Colby)
My Three Sons -- Tim Consodine (Mike Douglas), Tina Cole (Katie Douglas)
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color -- no survivors
Ironside -- Barbara Anderson (Eve Whitfield)
The Carol Burnett Show -- Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner
Dragnet '67 -- no survivors
Daniel Boone -- Ed Ames (Mingo)
Lassie -- no survivors
Notes: There are only 26 "Top 30" programs listed here; the other four were movie nights (remember those?).
I have included only those performers who were regular cast members on a given show as of October 1967. Jim Nabors (for instance) had moved on from the Andy Griffith Show by that time, as had June Lockhart from Lassie, and Tim Conway had yet to join the Carol Burnett repertory company.
The Virginian had many reasonably regular cast members throughout its nearly 250 episode run, but no survivor made even half as many appearances as James Drury. Other notable survivors from 1967 include Sara Lane, Clu Gulager, Don Quine and David Hartman, just to name a few.
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was a one-shot special in September 1967, and did not appear as a weekly series until January 1968. The only survivors from the single 1967 entry are Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson and JoAnne Worley.
Hope you enjoy this list as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Please do not hesitate to correct any errors or omissions on my part, and if anybody else wishes to dig deeper into the ratings (i.e., Star Trek) to add to this little compendium ... have at it!!
-- Doug Peterson --

As far as Lawrence Welk, Ralna English is still around, and so is Sandi and Sally. Is Bob Warren still around? He was Welk's announcer for years.

[That Derek]

According to "The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946 - Present, Ninthe Edition" (2007)by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, Ralna English did not join "The Lawrence Welk" until 1967 and Salli (Jensen) and Salli (Flynn) joined in 1968.

The operative for this dynamic is 1967.

The really sad thing about all this is that there really are no more regular scheduled TV encyclopedia/reference books. Granted, Vincent Terrace keeps issuing expensive updates of his original competing book (1976's "The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs, 1947-1976") through McFarlsnd Publications, but these are not readily available for the average TV buff. However, the Brroks/Marsh tome used to be updated every 3-4 years and there hasn't been a new iteration for the past ten years.

A blurb on the last Brooks/Marsh offering cites TV Guide who superlatively called the publication the "Guinness Book of World Records" and the "Encyclopedia Brittanica" of television. For me, it was the one-volume equivalent of what Leonard Maltin's annual guide gave us regarding movies.

But what has occurred in the foregoing ten years has doomed the concept of an accessible one-volume reference work regarding television -- the Internet, the expansion of venues (streaming, Netlix, etc.) where one can access TV series, and the sheer volume of television programmes that would never be able to fit into a single volume (the Brooks/Marsh work I've cited clocked in at 1833 pages and retailed for a whopping #29.95 -- and that's in 2007 dollars!).

[Michael OConnor]

Post by That Derek
According to "The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946 - Present, Ninthe Edition" (2007)by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, Ralna English did not join "The Lawrence Welk" until 1967 and Salli (Jensen) and Salli (Flynn) joined in 1968.
The operative for this dynamic is 1967.
The really sad thing about all this is that there really are no more regular scheduled TV encyclopedia/reference books. Granted, Vincent Terrace keeps issuing expensive updates of his original competing book (1976's "The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs, 1947-1976") through McFarlsnd Publications, but these are not readily available for the average TV buff. However, the Brroks/Marsh tome used to be updated every 3-4 years and there hasn't been a new iteration for the past ten years.
A blurb on the last Brooks/Marsh offering cites TV Guide who superlatively called the publication the "Guinness Book of World Records" and the "Encyclopedia Brittanica" of television. For me, it was the one-volume equivalent of what Leonard Maltin's annual guide gave us regarding movies.
But what has occurred in the foregoing ten years has doomed the concept of an accessible one-volume reference work regarding television -- the Internet, the expansion of venues (streaming, Netlix, etc.) where one can access TV series, and the sheer volume of television programmes that would never be able to fit into a single volume (the Brooks/Marsh work I've cited clocked in at 1833 pages and retailed for a whopping #29.95 -- and that's in 2007 dollars!).

I went to Ebay and was checking out the cost of Vincent Terrace TV books, and some of those are going for more than two hundred dollars

One thing that the internet brought an end to was the published reference book. A few of my friends and colleagues were the guys who created and edited the Baseball and Pro Football Encyclopedias. ESPN was the last company to put out sports encyclopedias, and they haven't done any in ten years and there are no plans to do any more. All that info is available online now.

I miss the giant sports encyclopedias, but in reality they were full of errors. With the internet, I will find an error on a football stats website, corroborate it with a document I have in a pdf or jpg, email it to the guy I know who runs it, and he fixes it in a day or two. With the big books, I would write up a letter with all the errors, send it along with xeroxes of the corroborating documents, and it would be two or three years before the new book came out with the information fixed and then there would be a bunch of different errors.

Do they still produce the Encyclopedia Brittanica in book form? If so, I hate to think how much they cost.

[daniel anderson]

Post by That Derek
According to "The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946 - Present, Ninthe Edition" (2007)by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, Ralna English did not join "The Lawrence Welk" until 1967 and Salli (Jensen) and Salli (Flynn) joined in 1968.
The operative for this dynamic is 1967.
The really sad thing about all this is that there really are no more regular scheduled TV encyclopedia/reference books. Granted, Vincent Terrace keeps issuing expensive updates of his original competing book (1976's "The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs, 1947-1976") through McFarlsnd Publications, but these are not readily available for the average TV buff. However, the Brroks/Marsh tome used to be updated every 3-4 years and there hasn't been a new iteration for the past ten years.
A blurb on the last Brooks/Marsh offering cites TV Guide who superlatively called the publication the "Guinness Book of World Records" and the "Encyclopedia Brittanica" of television. For me, it was the one-volume equivalent of what Leonard Maltin's annual guide gave us regarding movies.
But what has occurred in the foregoing ten years has doomed the concept of an accessible one-volume reference work regarding television -- the Internet, the expansion of venues (streaming, Netlix, etc.) where one can access TV series, and the sheer volume of television programmes that would never be able to fit into a single volume (the Brooks/Marsh work I've cited clocked in at 1833 pages and retailed for a whopping #29.95 -- and that's in 2007 dollars!).

Sandi Jensen came on the Welk show in 68, Ralna English joined in 69.

[Okiku Saji]

Did Terrace also write a TV quiz book in the 1970s? My middle school library had a bunch of extremely obsolete books in the system (some of the chemistry books apparently were published before elements above 103 were confirmed), and a TV quiz book from the 1970s was among them. Yellow(?) cover.

[Okiku Saji]

Post by Okiku Saji
Did Terrace also write a TV quiz book in the 1970s? My middle school library had a bunch of extremely obsolete books in the system (some of the chemistry books apparently were published before elements above 103 were confirmed), and a TV quiz book from the 1970s was among them. Yellow(?) cover.

Found the name and info for the book!

The Official TV Trivia Quiz Book, by Bart Andrews. 1975.

So I guess not.

[That Derek]

Post by That Derek
Ralna English did not join "The Lawrence Welk" until 1967

1969 NOT 1967.

Mea culpa.

[Will Dockery]

Post by p***@gmail.com
Strictly out of personal curiosity, I did a little research and have assembled a list of surviving adult cast members from American TV shows that were on the air fifty years ago today. In order to keep things manageable, I have limited the list of shows to those in the Nielsen Top 30 (readily available), defined "adult" as a cast member beyond their teens (sorry, Ron Howard), and have not included regularly recurring guest performers, musicians, etc., which probably unfairly impacts variety programs, and is admittedly as arbitrary as hell.
The Andy Griffith Show -- no survivors
The Lucy Show -- no survivors
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. -- Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle), Ronnie Schell (Duke Slater)
Gunsmoke -- Buck Taylor (Newly)

Probably mentioned already, but Burt Reynolds was a regular for a while on Gunsmoke.

Post by p***@gmail.com
Family Affair -- Kathy Garver (Cissy Davis)
Bonanza -- no survivors
The Red Skelton Show -- no survivors
The Dean Martin Show -- no survivors
The Jackie Gleason Show -- no survivors
Bewitched -- no survivors
The Beverly Hillbillies -- Max Baer, Jr. (Jethro Bodine)
The Ed Sullivan Show -- no survivors
The Virginian -- James Drury (the Virginian), many others (see below)
Green Acres -- Tom Lester (Eb Dawson)
The Lawarence Welk Show -- no survivors
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour -- Tom Smothers, Dick Smothers
Gentle Ben -- Beth Brickell (Ellen Wedloe), Rance Howard (Henry Boomhauer)
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In -- not included (see below)
The F.B.I. -- William Reynolds (Tom Colby)
My Three Sons -- Tim Consodine (Mike Douglas), Tina Cole (Katie Douglas)
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color -- no survivors
Ironside -- Barbara Anderson (Eve Whitfield)
The Carol Burnett Show -- Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner
Dragnet '67 -- no survivors
Daniel Boone -- Ed Ames (Mingo)
Lassie -- no survivors
Notes: There are only 26 "Top 30" programs listed here; the other four were movie nights (remember those?).
I have included only those performers who were regular cast members on a given show as of October 1967. Jim Nabors (for instance) had moved on from the Andy Griffith Show by that time, as had June Lockhart from Lassie, and Tim Conway had yet to join the Carol Burnett repertory company.
The Virginian had many reasonably regular cast members throughout its nearly 250 episode run, but no survivor made even half as many appearances as James Drury. Other notable survivors from 1967 include Sara Lane, Clu Gulager, Don Quine and David Hartman, just to name a few.
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In was a one-shot special in September 1967, and did not appear as a weekly series until January 1968. The only survivors from the single 1967 entry are Ruth Buzzi, Arte Johnson and JoAnne Worley.
Hope you enjoy this list as much as I enjoyed putting it together. Please do not hesitate to correct any errors or omissions on my part, and if anybody else wishes to dig deeper into the ratings (i.e., Star Trek) to add to this little compendium ... have at it!!
-- Doug Peterson --