Yahoo News The 13 TV characters who were recast the most
Soaps get a lot of stick for swapping out actors, but having one character played by a string of different actors isn't so unusual outside of Hollyoaks, Weatherfield and Albert Square.
We've pulled together 13 of the biggest offenders from "regular" telly – and we've put some thought into this. Yes, there are rules.
• No younger versions: only bona-fide recasts, where one actor replaces another.
• Reboots don't count – recasts have to be within the same continuity.
• Where we've doubled up on numbers, we've ranked by how damned quickly one actor replaced another.
13. Nanette Guzman in Cheers / Frasier – 3 actors (in 12 years)
Children's entertainer – and Frasier's first wife – Nanette "Nanny G" Guzman debuted in a 1992 episode of Cheers, played by Emma Thompson. She reappeared in 2001 on the spin-off Frasier as a hallucination played by Dina Waters, before Laurie Metcalf assumed the part in in 2004 for the character's third and final appearance.
Jeez. Lilith might have been tough, but at least she was consistent.
12. Jenna Wade in Dallas – 3 actors (in 10 years)
Morgan Fairchild originated the role of Bobby Ewing's first true love in 1978, before being replaced by Francine Tacker for two episodes in 1980. Most notably, Priscilla Presley played the part for five years, between 1983 and 1988, during which time Jenna had Bobby's child, and became mentally unstable after his death – later written out of Dallas history by his infamous shower scene resurrection...
11. Danny Carrington in Dynasty – 3 actors (in 7 years)
Dynasty supporting character Danny appeared in 51 episodes total and changed his face twice –played first by Matthew Lawrence, then by Jameson Sampley and finally by Justin Burnette. Given that spin-off show The Colbys had a character being abducted by aliens, we're not ruling out some sort of extraterrestrial involvement here...
10. The Mountain in Game of Thrones – 3 actors (in 6 years)
If GoT does ever bring feuding brothers Sandor and Gregor Clegane back together, let's hope that The Hound still recognises his brother The Mountain.
Last they met, Gregor was played by Conan Stevens – these days, he's brought to terrifying life by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson. Inbetween, Ian Whyte played the part. Oh, and he's totally a zombie now.
9. Hugh Beringar in Cadfael – 3 actors (in 4 years)
Derek Jacobi's mystery-solving monk had first a friend and later a foe in Sheriff Hugh Beringar – but it wasn't just shifting allegiances that made their relationship difficult to follow. Not helping matters was having Hugh 1.0, Sean Pertwee, replaced first by Eoin McCarthy (series 2-3) and later by Anthony Green (series 4).
8. Catwoman and Mr Freeze in Batman – 3 actors each (in 2 years)
Holy face-swap, Batman! Julie Newmar was the purrrrrfect Catwoman, but was unable to reprise her role for the 1966 film spin-off from Adam West's campy hit. Lee Meriweather stepped in, before Eartha Kitt replaced Newmar (who was shooting a movie) full-time for the TV show's third and final season.
We also got three different takes on Mr Freeze, with George Sanders originating the part in the first season, Otto Preminger – yes, the Oscar-nominated director – taking on the part for the villain's encore in season two and Eli Wallach replacing him just three months later!
7. Gordon Robinson in Sesame Street – 4 actors (in 47 years)
Roscoe Orman is the definitive Gordon Robinson, having played the character from 1974 to last year, when he was dropped from the series after more than 4 decades. Outrageous!
But he wasn't the first – Garrett Saunders played the part in Sesame Street's original 1969 test pilots, Matt Robinson became the go-to Gordon for the first three years of the series (1969-1972) and Hal Miller stepped in from '72 to '74. Thank goodness they settled on Roscoe, or Gordon would be a lot higher up this list.
6. Marilyn Munster in The Munsters – 4 actors (in 17 years)
The "plain" (read: "normal") one in the Munster family, Lily's sister was played by Beverly Owen for the show's first 13 episodes. Said to be unhappy on the show, Owen was replaced by Pat Priest, who played the part from 1964 until the original show's end two years later.
When the Munsters went to the movies later that year, Debbie Watson played Marilyn in the film Munster, Go Home, while Jo McDonnell was cast for 1981's TV reunion The Munsters' Revenge.
5. Allison Stark in 'Til Death – 4 actors (in 4 years)
So many different actresses played Allison – daughter of this sitcom's central couple Eddie (Brad Garrett) and Joy (Joely Fisher) – that 'Til Death eventually did a Roseanne and started referencing the changes on-screen.
Krysten Ritter – a.k.a. Jessica Jones – recurred as Ally for seasons 1-2, with Laura Clery replacing her in season 3. The fourth and final season saw the character return home from college and moved into a motorhome in her parents' backyard, with Lindsey Broad becoming a series regular as Allison the Third, only to be swapped out later that year for Kate Micucci.
4. Ginger Grant in Gilligan's Island – 6 actors
Kit Smythe was the first Ginger Grant in the pilot for Gilligan's Island, but the character was given a glamorous movie makeover for the 1964-67 series, with Tina Louise playing the new, vampy Miss Grant.
Louise, fearing typecasting, refused to return for the 1978 TV movie Rescue from Gilligan's Island and was replaced by Judith Baldwin (who returned in the sequel, The Castaways on Gilligan's Island).
Constance Forslund was the fourth Ginger in the third TV film, The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island (yep, seriously) while Jane Webb and Dawn Wells respectively voiced the character in two animated spin-offs, The New Adventures of Gilligan and Gilligan's Planet. Blimey.
3. Bobby Draper in Mad Men – 8 actors
Four actors were credited as playing Don Draper's wee boy across the seven seasons of Mad Men: Maxwell Huckabee in season 1, Aaron Hart in seasons 1 and 2, Jared S Gilmore in seasons 3 and 4 and Mason Vale Cotton in seasons 5, 6 and 7.
But Kiernan Shipka – who played Bobby's sister Sally – later revealed that four additional boys were roped in to play Bobby, at points where the character made one-off appearances (often with his face obscured).
We may never know who brought the likes of "Bucket Head Bobby" and "Pillow Face Bobby" to life.
2. Doink the Clown in WWF (later WWE) – 10 actors
Yes, it counts! Doink was a persona originated by wrestler Matt Osborne in the WWF and used there from 1992 to 1997. But nine more wrestling stars have used the Doink gimmick at various times.
In chronological order, they are: Steve Keirn, Steve Lombardi, Dusty Wolfe, John Maloof, Ray Apollo, Bubba Mackenzie, Mike Maraldo, Nick Dinsmore and Gary Withrow.
For clarity's sake, we're not including anyone who assumed Doink's persona for storyline purposes (Chris Jericho, for example, took on the persona of Doink in order to perform an ambush on William Regal). Because then things start to get silly.
1. The Doctor in Doctor Who – 13 actors
Of course our Time Lord hero takes the top spot – Doctor Who not only swaps out its lead actor every few years, it also has an ingenious in-serious explanation for doing so. Originally referred to as "renewal", the official term for the Doctor's face-swaps, regeneration, wasn't actually coined till 1974, nerdy fact fans.
William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi have all piloted the TARDIS... (with John Hurt later shunted inbetween Paul and Chris) and with Capaldi on his way out, we'll meet the 14th Doctor this Christmas.
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