WHO ARE THE LONGEST RUNNING TV ACTORS?
By Barry Dutter
Which actors have had the longest runs on television?
I’m talking about actors here, not talk show hosts or game show hosts or news anchors. I’m strictly talking about performers who were hired to play characters on TV in either prime-time network TV, cable TV, late-night, syndication, or live-action Saturday morning shows.
I’m also not including animation work. If I included animation, than the cast of THE SIMPSONS would beat just about everyone. Likewise, I’m excluding voice-over work, as my list is based on performers who were hired so their faces could be shown on TV. Thus, I do not count Ron Howard’s four plus years of narrating ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT or Bob Saget’s 9 years as the narrator of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.
It’s a well-known fact that Regis Philbin holds the Guiness World Record for most hours on TV, at 17,000. But Philbin was not an actor. He was a game show host or talk show host.On this list, I'm talking about actors.
I counted only actors who were featured players on shows, not guest performers who popped up for only one episode. I did count shows that were cancelled after very short runs. My feeling is, if an actor was hired to work on a full season of a show, and the show was cancelled after 6 episodes, that still counts as a year in which that actor was featured on TV.
The late Michael Landon holds the #1 slot at 28 years in starring roles on TV. (He was about to begin work on another series when he passed away.) Tied for second place are two actors who could not be more different: Richard Belzer and Ted Danson. Belzer spent 26 years spent playing the same character -- Detective Munch -- on three different shows. Danson will be back next season for another year of CSI, which will pull him ahead of Belzer and put him within reach of the #1 slot. Others to watch out for include Julia Louis Dreyfus, Alysa Milano, and Courtney Cox, who just seem to jump from one long-running show to another. And then there are those old warhorses, Bill Cosby and Betty White, both of whom are still active in TV. Don’t be surprised of those old-timers end up outlasting everybody!
A final note: I excluded daytime soap opera actors, because those actors can often toil away for decades on a show without ever being known by the general public. I do know that Susan Lucci played Erica Kane on All My Children for a whopping 41 years (which puts her ahead of everyone on this list) and there are probably other soap actors who have got her beat. But that's a list for another day.
Here is my list of the longest running actors on TV. (Please note: This list is in no way meant to be definitive. I welcome additions and corrections.)
1) MICHAEL LANDON:
Bonanza: 14 Years
Little House on the Prairie: 9 Years
Highway to Heaven: 5 Years
Total: 28 Years
2) RICHARD BELZER
Homicide: Life on the Street 7 years
Law & Order 4 years
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 15 years
Total 26 years
(Also had a recurring role on The Flash TV series in 1990)
3) TED DANSON
Cheers: 11 Years
Ink 1 Year
Becker 6 Years
Help Me Help You 1 Year
Damages 2 Years
Bored To Death 2 Years
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: 3 Years (so far)
Total: 26 Years
(Note: Danson did 7 years on daytime soap operas, which, if those shows are included, puts him ahead of everyone on this list.)
4) HEATHER LOCKLEAR
Dynasty: 8 Years
TJ Hooker: 4 Years
Going Places: 1 Year
Melrose Place: 6 Years
LAX: 1 Year
Spin City: 3 Years
Melrose Place (reboot): 1 Year
Franklin & Bash: 1 Year (so far)
Total: 25 Years
5) CHRISTOPHER MELONI
1st & Ten: The Championship 2 Years
The Fanelli Boys 1 Year
The Boys 1 Year
Misery Loves Company 1 Year
NYPD Blue 1 Year
Leaving L.A. 1 Year
Oz 5 Years
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 12 Years
Surviving Jack 1 Year
Total: 25 Years
6) BILL COSBY
I Spy: 3 years
The Bill Cosby Show 2 years
The New Bill Cosby Show 1 year
Cos: 1 year
The Cosby Show: 8 years
You Bet Your Life 1 year
The Cosby Mysteries 1 year
Cosby: 4 Years
Kids Say the Darndest Things 2 years
Total: 24 years
7) BETTY WHITE
Life With Elizabeth: 2 Years
Date With the Angels 1 Year
The Mary Tyler Moore Show 4 Years
The Betty White Show 1 Year
Mama’s Family 2 Years
Golden Girls 7 Years
Golden Palace 1 Year
Maybe This Time 1 Year
Ladies Man 1 Year
Hot In Cleveland: 4 years (so far)
24 Years
8) DENNIS WEAVER
Gunsmoke: 9 Years
Kentucky Jones: 1 Year
Gentle Ben 2 Years
McCloud 7 Years
Stone: 1 Year
Emerald Point N.A.S. 1 Year
Buck James 1 Year
Lonesome Dove The Series: 1 Year
Wildfire: 1 Year
Total: 24 Years
9) KELSEY GRAMMER
Cheers 9 years
Frasier: 11 years
Back to You 1 year
Hank 1 year
Boss 1 year
Total: 23 years
10) TED McGINLEY
Happy Days 4 Years
Love Boat 4 Years
Dynasty 2 Years
Married With Children 8 Years
Sports Night 1 Year
Charlie Lawrence 1 Year
Hope & Faith 3 Years
Total 23 Years
11) ALYSSA MILANO
Who’s The Boss: 8 Years
Melrose Place: 2 Years
Charmed: 8 Years
My Name is Earl: 1 Year
Romantically Challenged 1 Year
Mistresses: 3 Years (so far)
Total: 23 Years
12) DAVID SPADE
Saturday Night Live 6 years
Just Shoot Me! 6 years
8 Simple Rules 2 years
The Showbiz Show with David Spade 2 years
Rules of Engagement 6 years
Total: 22 years
13) LUCILLE BALL
I Love Lucy: 9 years
The Lucy Show 6 years
Here's Lucy 6 years
Life With Lucy 1 year
Total: 22 years
14) COURTENEY COX
Misfits of Science 3 years
Family Ties 2 years
The Trouble with Larry 1 Year
Friends 10 Years
Dirt 1 Year
Cougar Town 5 Years (so far)
Total: 22 Years
15) LORNE GREENE
Sailor of Fortune 3 Years
Bonanza 14 Years
Griff 2 Years
Batrtlestar Glactica 1 Year
Galactica 1980: 1 Year
Code Red 1 Year
Total: 22 Years
16) CLORIS LEACHMAN
Charlie Wild, Private Detective 2 years
Bob and Ray 1 Year
Lassie 1 Year
Mary Tyler Moore Show 5 Years
Phyllis 2 Years
The Facts of Life 2 Years
The Nutt House 1 Year
Walter & Emily 1 Year
Thanks 1 Year
The Ellen Show 1 Year
Raising Hope 4 Years
Total 21 Years
17) JULIA LOUIS DREYFUS
Saturday Night Live 3 Years
Day by Day 1 Year
Seinfeld 8 Years
Watching Ellie 1 Year
The New Adventures of Old Christine 4 Years
Veep 3 Years (so far)
Total: 20 Years
18) JASON BATEMAN
Little House on the Prairie 1 Year
Silver Spoons 2 Years
It's Your Move 1 Year
Valerie/Hogan Family: 5 Years
Simon 1 Year
Chicago Sons 1 Year
George & Leo 1 Year
Some of My Best Friends 1 Year
The Jake Effect 1 Year
Sit Down Shut Up 1 Year
Arrested Development 5 Years
Total: 20 Years
19) SHERMAN HEMSLEY
All in the Family: 2 Years
The Jeffersons: 11 Years
Amen: 5 Years
Goode Behavior 1 Year
Clunkers 1 Year
Total: 20 Years
20) JAMES ARNESS:
Gunsmoke: 20 Years
Total: 20 Years
21) GERALD McRANEY
Simon & Simon: 8 Years
Major Dad: 4 Years
C.P.W.: 1 Years
Promised Land: 3 Years
Deadwood: 1 Years
Jericho: 1 Year
Undercovers: 1 Year
House of Cards: 1 Year
Total: 20- Years
(NOTE: McRaney had recurring roles on Fairly Legal, Mike & Molly, Southland, Justified, Women's Murder Club, The West Wing, Mister Sterling, Presidio Med, Third Watch, JAG and Designing Women, but technically he was not the STAR of any of those shows.)
22) LEE MAJORS
The Big Valley: 4 Years
The Virginian 1 Year
Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law 3 Years
The Six Million Dollar Man 4 Years
The Fall Guy 5 Years
Raven 1 Year
Too Much Sun 1 Year
Total 19 Years
23) RON HOWARD
The Andy Griffith Show 8 Years
The Smith Family 1 Year
Happy Days 10 Years
Total: 19 Years
24) ED ASNER
The Mary Tyler Moore Show: 7 Years
Lou Grant: 5 Years
The Bronx Zoo: 2 Years
Off The Rack: 1 Year
Thunder Alley: 1 Year
Working Class: 1 Year
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: 2 Years
Total: 19 Years
25) JOHN RITTER
The Waltons: 4 Years
Three's Company: 8 Years
Three's A Crowd: 1 Year
Hooperman: 2 Years
Hearts Afire: 2 Years
8 Simple Rules:: 2 Years
Total: 19 Years
26) DICK VAN DYKE
The Dick Van Dyke Show 5 Years
The New Dick Van Dyke Show 3 Years
The Van Dyke Show 1 Year
Diagnosis Murder 9 Years
Total: 18 Years
27) MARY TYLER MOORE
Richard Diamond, Private Detective 1 Year
The Dick Van Dyke Show 6 years
The Mary Tyler Moore Show 7 years
Mary (variety show) 1 year (1985-86)
Annie McGuire 1 Year
New York News 1 Year
The Mary Tyler Moore Hour 1 year
Total 18 years
28) PATRICIA HEATON
Room For Two 1 Year
Someone Like Me 1 Year
Women of the House 1 Year
Everybody Loves Raymond 9 Years
Back To You 1 Year
The Middle 5 Years (so far)
Total: 18 Years
29) SAM WATERSTON
Q.E.D. 1 Year
I'll Fly Away: 2 Years
Law & Order: 15 Years
Total: 18 Years
30) MARG HELGENBERGER
Shell Game 1 Year
China Beach 3 Years
CSI: 13 Years
Intelligence 1 Year
Total: 18 Years
31) CARROLL O'CONNER
All in the Family: 8 Years
Archie Bunker's Place: 4 Years
In the Heat of the Night: 6 Years
Total: 18 Years
32) GAVIN McLEOD
McHale's Navy: 2 Years
The Mary Tyler Moore Show: 7 Years
The Love Boat: 9 Years
Total: 18 Years
33) ANDY GRIFFITH
Andy Griffith Show 8 years
Matlock 9 years
34) BOB NEWHART
The Bob Newhart Show 6 years
Newhart 8 years
Bob: 2 years
George and Leo 1 year
Total: 17 years
Maverick 5 Years
Nichols 1 Year
The Rockford Files 6 Years
Bret Maverick 1 Year
Man of the People 1 Year
First Monday 1 Year
8 Simple Rules 2 Years
Total: 17 Years
E/R 1 year
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 15 years (so far)
Total 16 years
37) ED O’NEILL
Married… with Children 10 years
L.A. Dragnet: 1 year
Modern Family: 5 years (so far)
Total: 16 years
38) JOHN FORSYTHE
Bachelor Father: 5 Years
The John Forsythe Show: 1 Year
To Rome With Love: 2 Years
Dynasty: 8 Years
The Powers That be: 2 Years
Total: 16 Years
(NOTE: He also did 5 years as the voice of Charlie on CHARLIE'S ANGELS.)
Saved by the Bell 4 years
Saved by the Bell: The College Years 1 Year
Beverly Hills, 90210 4 years
Fastlane 1 year
White Collar 5 years (so far)
40) SANDRA OH
Arliss: 6 years
Grey’s Anatomy: 9 years
Total: 15 years
41) ICE-T
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 15 years (so far)
Total 15 years
42) OZZIE & HARRIET NELSON:
The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet: 14 Years
Ozzie's Girls: 1 Year
Total: 15 Years
(David Nelson and Ricky Nelson did 14 Years each)
43) ROBERT URICH
SWAT: 2 Years
SOAP! 1 Year
TABITHA: 1 Year
VEGA$: 3 Years
Gavilan: 1 Year
Spenser For Hire: 3 Years
Crossroads: 2 Years
Love Boat: The Next Wave: 1 Year
Emeril: 1 Year
Total: 15 Years
44) WILLIAM SHATNER
Barbary Coast: 1 Year
Star Trek 3 years
T.J. Hooker 4 Years
TekWar 2 Years
Boston Legal 4 Years
$h!t My Dad Says 1 Year
Total: 15 Years
45) GEORGE CLOONEY
E/R (sitcom with Elliot Gould) 1 year
The Facts of Life 2 years
Baby Talk 1 Year
Roseanne 3 years
Bodies of Evidence 1 Year
Sisters 1 Year
E/R 5 Years
Total: 14 years
46) TOM SELLECK
Magnum, P.I.: 8 Years
The Closer: 1 Year
Las Vegas: 1 Year
Blue Bloods: 4 Years (S0 far)
Total: 14 Years
(Also had recurring roles on The Rockford Files, Boston Legal and Friends. And was on daytime soap The Young & The Restless for 2 Years)
Not pictured
Millburn Stone:
Gunsmoke: 20 Years
Amanda Blake:
Gunsmoke: 19 Years
Ken Curtis:
Gunsmoke: 17 Years
S. Epatha Merkerson
Law & Order: 16 Years
Dann Floek:
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: 15 Years
George Eads:
CSI: 14 Years
Paul Guilfoyle:
CSI: 14 Years
