The following will startle you: Julia Duffy's TV career began in 1951. Odd, considering that Duffy looked young playing the role of Stephanie on "Newhart," which she joined in 1983.
Duffy's next TV appearance was on "The Doctors" in 1963. She was then absent from TV and film until the 1980s. Duffy welcomed the new decade with appearances in the films "Battle Beyond the Stars" in 1980 and "Night Warning" (which also goes by the title of "Butcher Baker, Nightmare Maker," not to mention "Momma's Boy") in 1981. 1981 also saw Duffy in "Cutter's Way." Miniseries were fair game for Duffy, even those of the historical ilk, like "The Blue and the Gray" in 1982.
In 1983, Duffy was plucked from obscurity when she landed the part of Stephanie Vanderkellen on Bob Newhart's new series, "Newhart." She was a regular on the show until its close in 1990, but as with many "Newhart" regulars, being seen with Bob meant being seen just about everywhere else. Duffy showed up in "Wizards and Warriors" in 1983, "Children in the Crossfire" in 1984, "Maybe Baby" in 1988, and "The Cover Girl and the Cop" in 1989.
With the end of "Newhart" came new opportunities for Duffy, including a "Love Boat" special and a made-for-TV thriller called "Menu for Murder," both in 1990. In 1991, she played Maggie Campbell on "Baby Talk" before accepting the role of Allison Sugarbaker on "Designing Women" during the same year. She has since been seen on "The Mommies" (1993) and "Kidz in the Wood."
Vivacious, ebullient Mary Frann honed her TV acting chops first on the granddaddy of all soap operas, "Days of Our Lives," in 1965. TV appearances were sporadic for Frann early on; the next notable showings included an appearance on "Return to Peyton Place" in 1972 and two guest stints on "The Rockford Files" in 1974.
Frann stayed out of the TV fray for the next six years, resurfacing on "Portrait of an Escort" in 1980. She became Joanna Loudon on "Newhart" in 1982, and, unsurprisingly, that's when the TV work began to pour in. During the "Newhart" years, Frann appeared in "King's Crossing" (1982), "Gidget's Summer Reunion" (1985), "Eight Is Enough: A Family Reunion" (1987), and, finally getting a role that was not reunion-related, as far as we know, in "Dance 'Til Dawn" in 1988.
TV afficionados will certainly remember Frann's performance in 1989's "Single Women, Married Men"--an appearance that seemed to set a precedent for the type of stuff we'd see Frann working in shortly thereafter: "I'm Dangerous Tonight" (1990), "Jackie Collins' Lucky Chances" in 1990, and "Fatal Charm" in 1992.
One of the greatest -- and most understated -- comedians in television history, Bob Newhart's highbrow, low-key style has earned him a large following among critics and viewers alike.
Bob Newhart was born in Chicago on September 5, 1929. He began performing his unique brand of comedy on television variety shows in 1960, beginning with "The Jack Paar Show." Other programs, like "The Ed Sullivan Show," "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show" and "The Garry Moore Show," provided Newhart with most of his airtime. Then came the first inception of a Bob Newhart show-"The Bob Newhart Show," which ran from 1961 to 1962.
Newhart's next TV job as a regular came in 1964, with "The Entertainers." Though the show took off and crashed the same year, Newhart continued working on variety shows, most notably "The Dean Martin Show" and "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" in 1965, "The Jackie Gleason Show" in 1968, and his own "Bob Newhart Special: A Last Laugh at the '60s" in 1969.
In 1972, the second and most famous "Bob Newhart Show" began its run. The hand-picked cast was a study in contrasts: low-key psychologist Bob (Newhart) Hartley amidst a backdrop of therapy-group neurotics; a pesky "best apartment friend" named Howard Borden (Bill Daily); and a beautiful, sensuous wife played by Suzanne Pleshette. The combination worked beautifully, and the show ran until 1978.
The next Newhart show, "Newhart," enjoyed similar success. Critics and audiences responded well to the star's buttoned-down demeanor as a New England inn manager. Again, contrast was the key to the show's success. Newhart left the over-the-top antics to guests, employees, and local yokels, while he kept one eyebrow raised in quiet befuddlement. "Newhart" ran until 1990. Bob Newhart lives in southern California and continues to appear on television as a guest.
Tony Papenfuss is the First Darryl, aka "My brother Darryl," as opposed to "My other brother Darryl."
It would be nice to say that Tony Papenfuss has a long string of screen credits to his name, thereby introducing an ironic counterpoint to the actor's laconic character on Newhart. Unfortunately, as purveyors of truth in TV Land, we can't do that; Papenfuss' exposure has been minimal.
He does have a resume, however. The first film Papenfuss appeared in was "Escape From New York" in 1981. He showed up in another thriller a year later in "Firefox." And in 1982, of course, he became Darryl, which kept him busy until 1990.
The man who immortalized the line "I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl, this is my other brother Darryl" has nearly forty TV and film roles to his credit. A lot of the productions are pretty well known, too; Sanderson has appeared in "The Onion Field" (1979), "Coal Miner's Daughter" (1980), "Blade Runner" (1982), "Fletch" (1985), and "The Client" (1994).
Sanderson's TV roles are no less impressive. His appearances on "ER," "Babylon 5," "The X-Files," and "Batman: The Animated Series" demonstrate his versatility as an actor and voice-over artist.
Aside from Bob, Peter Scolari is perhaps the best known cast member of the entire "Newhart" ensemble. His film career took off with "Take Off" in 1978, but he switched gears toward TV in a series called "Goodtime Girls" in 1980. 1980 also brought him the role that catapulted him into the nation's collective living room: Henry/Hildegard Desmond on "Bosom Buddies." After appearances on "Missing Children: A Mother's Story" and "Remington Steele" in 1982, Scolari played Eddie Riddle on the short-lived series "Baby Makes Five" in 1983.
In 1984, Scolari ended up in Bob's universe, where he remained until the show's close. He landed himself a good deal of side work, though, with stints on "The Rosebud Beach Hotel" and "Amazons" in 1984, the film "Mr. Bill's Real Life Adventures" in 1986, and he teamed up with Tom Bosley for "Fatal Confession: A Father Dowling Mystery" in 1987. He rounded off the decade with the made-for-TV movie "The Ryan White Story" in 1989.
"Newhart" went off the air in 1990, but Scolari kept busy with a steady stream of film and TV jobs. He played Simon Tanner in the 1990 movie "Corporate Affairs" (1990) and assumed the role of David Katz in "Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin" in 1991. He also appeared in two more TV movies that year: "Perfect Harmony" and "Fire! Trapped on the 37th Floor." 1992 was a little slower, with a lone TV appearance on "The House on Sycamore Street." You could hear his voice, however, on an episode of "Batman: The Animated Series" during the same year.
Scolari was very visible in 1993, with roles in "Ticks," "Family Album," and "Fallen Angels." In 1994, he got some work on "Camp Nowhere," and 1995 brought "Dweebs." In 1996, Scolari was seen with his "Bosom Buddies" colleague Tom Hanks in Hanks' film "That Thing You Do!", as well as in the TV drama "Talk to Me." More recently, Peter was in "From the Earth to the Moon", another Tom Hanks project. He can also be found in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" the series.
"My other brother Darryl," John Voldstad, has enjoyed fairly steady acting work since the mid-1970s. His first screen appearance was in the 1977 film "Enemy of the People." In 1979, he worked with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in "1941."
The eighties brought Voldstad more comedic work, with a stint in "Midnight Madness" in 1980 and a role in the 1981 classic "Stripes." By 1982, Voldstad had become the second Darryl, a role he played until 1990.
Volstad took on only one other role during his "Newhart" years, in 1984's made-for-TV-movie "Second Sight: A Love Story." After "Newhart" went off the air, Voldstad went back to working in films, including "Why Me?" (1990), as well as "Leprechaun" and "Josh and S.A.M.", both in 1993. In 1994, Voldstad went on to perform in "It Runs in the Family" and--bet you didn't know this--"Forrest Gump."