As I kid, I knew my favorite actors by their screen names. In most cases, I didn’t even know their real names. I grew up in a tough neighborhood and dreamed of getting out. When I watched TV, I transported myself to places with laughs, adventure, magic and super powers.
Granny of The Beverly Hillbillies, played by Irene Ryan. I liked her because she didn’t need to be like everybody else. No pretensions – just honest down home goodness. She knew who she was and let everybody know it. She was small but had a big personality, just like my Texan grandmother.
I liked Bob Denver first as the beatnik Maynard G. Krebs in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and then as Gilligan. He seemed so full of wonder and innocence. Not a mean bone in his body. The Howells and Ginger never corrupted him.
Superman, the TV show version with George Reeves, was my favorite show as a kid. I always wanted to fly and leap skyscrapers in a single bound. I loved how Superman always saved Lois Lane and cub reporter Jimmy Olsen. When I heard the actor had died, it made me realize that there were real life people behind my screen heroes.
Samantha of Bewitched was mesmerizing – Elizabeth Montgomery played the role with such grace and strength. I dreamed of having her magical twitch. She was too good for Darrin; he was lucky guy. Many years later, even the Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman, whom I also adore, could not hold a candle to Montgomery in playing Sam.
Deputy Barney Fife of The Andy Griffith Show, played by Don Knotts. He was a dope who got into lots of trouble because he was always in his own imaginary world, but he made me laugh. And I longed to live in a little town like Mayberry. I also liked him when he played a man who turned into a cartoon fish in The Incredible Mr. Limpet.
I had a crush on Barbara Eden of I Dream of Jeannie. I was a pre-teen in love. I just couldn’t take my eyes off her Arabian costume. I figured Captain Tony Nelson (Larry Hagman) must have been the luckiest man in the whole world. I loved it when she folded her arms and nodded her head to work her spells.
Col. Wilhelm Klink of Hogan’s Heroes, was my favorite guy to hate, but in a good way. The actor, Werner Kemperer, played Kink with such over-the-top schmaltziness that I enjoyed seeing him get bested by Hogan at the end of every episode. But strangely, sometimes I felt sorry for Klink, since he could never win, even the smallest battles.
Captain Kirk of Star Trek, the original 60s TV series – I never missed this show. I didn’t even know it was William Shatner, but I loved how Kirk always figured out a way to get out of trouble by the end of the show, and that he held his own against Mr. Spock, even though Spock had special Vulcan powers. Chalk another one up for the human race.
