Comical Co-Stars of Television

Although some scholars credit Shakespeare with creating in Henry IV’s Falstaff the first “second banana” character (reviving him for Henry IV Part Two), most television historians agree that the popular co-star was born in 1955 when Art Carney, as Ed Norton, first addressed Jackie Gleason with a “Hey, Ralphie-boy,” on The Honeymooners. The phenomenon has proved to be one of the most enduring achievements of the American sitcom, and oftentimes so popular that the co-star becomes the star.
Twenty-nine of those popular co-stars get all of the attention in this work. Each chapter focuses on one television character and the actor or actress who brought him or her to life, and provides critical analysis, biographical information and, in several instances, interviews with the actors and actresses themselves. It includes people like Art Carney of The Honeymooners, Don Knotts of The Andy Griffith Show, Ted Knight of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Max Baer of The Beverly Hillbillies, Vivian Vance and William Frawley of I Love Lucy, Ann B. Davis of The Brady Bunch, Jamie Farr of M*A*S*H, Ron Palillo of Welcome Back, Kotter, Jimmie Walker of Good Times, Tom Poston of Newhart and Michael Richards of Seinfeld, to name just a few.

Robert Pegg has written about television and pop culture for a variety of publications over the past twenty years. He lives in London, Ontario.

Robert Pegg
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 393
Bibliographic Info: photos, filmographies, index
Copyright Date: 2002
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1341-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1024-5
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction     1

The Co-Stars     7BR>

Index     375

“succeeds flawlessly in writing snappy tributes to these unsung heroes of comedy…significant”—Classic Images; “recommend[ed]”—Scene; “impressive…infectiously interesting…Pegg is a canny interviewer”—The London Free Press.