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Trek guest actors in maybe surprising roles

Christopher said:
It was already an old technique by that point. I used to think that TNG: "Datalore" was innovative in doing a split-screen shot of Lore putting a glass down and Data picking it up (or was it vice-versa?), but since then I've seen similar "interactive" split screen shots done in 1940s-50s productions.
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As soon as that ep aired, my friend Frank, who was an editor and commercial producer at a cable station at the time, called me up, dying to try it himself. A bunch of us gathered at his studio to try that trick, and it turned out to be pretty easy, electronically. The actor puts the glass down, the tape is rolled back, the actor moves to the other side, the video split screen edge is moved over with a simple dial, and the actor picks it up from the other side. It only took a few minutes to get it right. I may even still have a copy on VHS somewhere! :lol:
 
ZapBrannigan said:
I never knew Linda Hamilton had an identical twin. That's fascinating.

So T2 was a case where twins played one role, and in The Parent Trap one actor played twins.

There's another permutation: when twins play twins. No camera tricks required. Double Trouble was one of my favorite shows, so naturally it was canceled in a flash. Identical Sagals Jean and Liz are the sisters of Katey Sagal (Futurama).
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That was a fun show, and those two were cuties.
 
ZapBrannigan said:
I never knew Linda Hamilton had an identical twin. That's fascinating.

So T2 was a case where twins played one role, and in The Parent Trap one actor played twins.

There's another permutation: when twins play twins. No camera tricks required. Double Trouble was one of my favorite shows, so naturally it was canceled in a flash. Identical Sagals Jean and Liz are the sisters of Katey Sagal (Futurama).
Click to expand...
The director Boris Sagal is their father. He's the man behind the camera directing Charlton Heston in The Omega Man
 
ZapBrannigan said:
I never knew Linda Hamilton had an identical twin. That's fascinating.

So T2 was a case where twins played one role, and in The Parent Trap one actor played twins.

There's another permutation: when twins play twins. No camera tricks required. Double Trouble was one of my favorite shows, so naturally it was canceled in a flash. Identical Sagals Jean and Liz are the sisters of Katey Sagal (Futurama).
Click to expand...

In "I, Mudd," it was a combination of, I don't know, all three. They used identical twins and split screen, but mostly twins shot together, to play different models of the same android series all in the same frame.
 
I just realized that
CorporalCaptain said:
In "I, Mudd," it was a combination of, I don't know, all three. They used identical twins and split screen, but mostly twins shot together, to play different models of the same android series all in the same frame.
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I just realized the fifth season episode of the Twilight Zone 'Number 12 Looks Just You' uses the same technique to depict multiple versions of the same three actors.
 
Split screens are easy enough on film, with no post-production work required. You put a black card/whatever over the lens, covering the part of the scene you'll shoot second. Roll the film and shoot the take. Stop. Roll it back exactly as many frames as you shot. Cover the other part of the lens with black, remove the first black, and roll again. The real trick is getting the timing right, especially if the actor is playing both parts.

EDIT: I should add that Trek did their splits using optical printers. But that the in-camera method is ancient and well-established.
 
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CorporalCaptain said:
I don't have any clips, but it's fun to see Ian Wolfe (Septimus and Mr. Atoz) in WKRP in Cincinnati, as Mama Carlson's butler, Hirsch. He has a deadpan comedic delivery, plus great jabbing lines, that help him steal almost every scene he's in.
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WKRP holds a special place in my heart: “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!” — Mr. Carlson
 
EnsignHarper said:
Between Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley and Doohan, you will have just about most major TV dramas of the early to mid 60's covered.
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I cannot tell you many times my grandfather, who saw every Western movie ever made, would walk by the TV as my 10-year-old self watched TOS in the 70’s and tell me that almost all the guest stars were in some old western or cowboy or war movie at one point or another. Of course, he pegged McCoy as “that really bad guy from those westerns” each time Kelley appeared on screen.
 
DarrenTR1970 said:
You could say the same of John Hoyt. I just saw him playing a judge in a Western on television and the prosecuting attorney was Paul Carr.
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Oh absolutely. Those guys were everywhere.

I always find it fun when I see an actor cross the pond to a career change.

I just saw Karl Held (Lindstrom from Return of the Archons) in an episode of ITC's Strange Report. He went back and forth, possibly due to being married to fellow Trek guest Sarah Marshall, who was British.

He did a Space:1999 as well.
 
DarrenTR1970 said:
You could say the same of John Hoyt. I just saw him playing a judge in a Western on television and the prosecuting attorney was Paul Carr.
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Someone once joked with his wife they actually watched two movies in a row without seeing Whit Bissell.
I used to think the same thing about Jared Leto in the late '90s.:cool:
 
I looked him up on Wikipedia. The only thing he's been in that seems to ring any bells is Tron: Ares, and I'd already given up on new installments of the Tron franchise after Legacy. (I found that wishing for a Tron sequel turned out to be an exercise in "Be careful what you wish for.")
 
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