The Evolution of Television Acting

In the early 1900s, acting in motion pictures was scorned by the elite.  True actors ‘walked the boards’, that is, appeared on stage.

This prejudice existed until ‘movie stars’ began to earn a lot of money and people flocked to motion pictures.  By the 1930s and 1940s the respect given to film actors rose until it dwarfed that given to stage actors.  Further, everyone knew the names of those who appeared in films.   Many of those stage stars were unknown.

This attitude of stage actors to those in movies was one of those transmitted bigotries, as motion picture actors looked down on those who performed on television.

The opinions and attitudes were such that there was a kind of ‘apartheid’ where those who appeared in motion pictures did not act on television. Those who acted in television dramas and serials were not considered good enough for motion pictures.

This created a cadre of television actors.   These were those who appeared in the various dramas and serials presented on television in the 1950s and 1960s.

Consider three different stations, and ‘Prime Time’, which was between 7 pm and 11 pm.   Consider four ‘hour’ length dramas, or eight ‘half hour’ dramas, or the usual mix of half and hour shows so that each evening there were about six or more different shows, the number of actors required meant a lot of ‘overlap’.

Just to take one show;  Twilight Zone.   William Shatner went on to Star Trek, as did Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, James Doonan.

To take one actor, Martin Landau; he began in a Western called Sugarfoot, appeared in Gunsmoke in the same year, 1958, went onto (among others) Twilight Zone and Wells Fargo in 1959,  in 1960 he was in Johnny Ringo and Wagon Train, (more Westerns) as well as other shows,  in 1961 he was in Bonanza,  The Rifleman, The Tall Man, three more Westerns, (among other appearances) and was given a full role on the Tall Man in 1962.

His history of appearances is not unusual.   The television actors made the rounds, going from one show to another to another.

These ‘television actors’ were making money, getting fame, getting work.

Eventually the prejudice began to wane, for many television actors could go into movies, though few went successfully.

The borders between being a Stage/Motion Picture/Television actor have been smudged, so that many can go back and forth without being ‘penalised’.

Some stay in television.  They are on a hit serial, they will have real work for years, a steady pay cheque and a regular life.

A show shot in New York City means the actor and his/her family can live in that city, and just like the chap who works at the office over there, and comes to work at 9 and leaves at 5, the actor on the serial has pretty much a ‘standard’ working day.

Movies can be shot all over the world and take months, years.   The schedules are erratic, and having a life isn’t often possible.

Today, being a permanent member of a cast on a serial is pretty good work.   No longer the flick away second prize.