Leading Men in '80s Television Quiz

Answer: Alan Alda

Hawkeye was the name by which everyone referred to Benjamin Franklin Pierce, the head surgeon of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea. The conflict in which they served lasted for a much shorter time than the show! While much of the poignant humor of 'M*A*S*H' still works well, there is at times, especially in the earlier years, a distinctly derogatory opinion shown of women, who certainly don't get a fair share of the action.

Alan Alda, born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo, has had an extensive career as an actor. During the run of 'M*A*S*H' he not only starred, but also wrote and directed several episodes. After the show finished, he continued to work in film ('Four Seasons', a film in which he played a lead role, as well as being its director, was a success when it was released in 1981), and on television. He played the character of Arnold Vinnick from 2004 through 2006 on 'The West Wing', receiving a Prime Time Emmy for the part.

Answer: Michael Landon

Based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's semi-autobiographical books about her family, set between 1870 and 1894. The series focused on the time the family spent in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, with Laura (played by Melissa Gilbert) the focus of the show. But her Pa was always there to take care of everything. Michael Landin had agreed to direct the pilot for the series on the condition that he got to play Charles, which he did for the first eight seasons of the show. When he left, the show shifted to be about Laura and Almanzo rather than Laura and her family.

Michael Landon, born Eugene Maurice Orowitz, first found fame in the movie 'I Was a Teenage Werewolf' (1957) before gaining the role of Little Joe on 'Bonanza' (1959-1973). This was followed by 'Little House on the Prairie', and then 'Highway to Heaven' (1984-1989), where he portrayed a probationary angel named Jonathan Smith.

Answer: William Katt

Ralph Hinkley is on a field trip with some of the high school students from a school where he works as a substitute teacher when he meets some aliens, who give him a suit that gives him superhuman powers, and told to work with FBI Special Agent Bill Maxwell (played by Robert Culp) to fight evil. Unfortunately for Ralph, he loses the instruction manual, and has trouble getting the suit to operate properly. The humorous approach of the show is reinforced by the theme song, whose chorus goes:
"Believe it or not,
I'm walking on air.
I never thought I could feel so free-
Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
Who could it be?
Believe it or not it's just me."
While he did pretty much work out the flying part, landing was always a problem!

William Katt, the son of Barbara Hale who played Della Street, starred alongside his mother in a number of 'Perry Mason' television movies, playing Paul Drake Jr, son of the original private eye from the series. His first movie appearance was as Tommy Ross, the boy who escorted Carrie to the prom in the 1976 film adaptation of Stephen King's first published novel.

Answer: Daniel J. Travanti

The city where Capt. Francis Xavier "Frank" Furillo was in charge of an inner-city police station was carefully kept unclear - the issues they faced could have been anywhere. Frank runs a tight ship, and is respected by the men in his station, but not liked nearly as much as some others, especially, during the first four seasons, Sergeant Esterhaus (played by Michael Conrad), the desk sergeant who gave the morning briefings, and uttered the iconic line, "Let's be careful out there." Frank's more sensitive side is shown in his tolerance of the antics of his ex-wife, and his growing intimacy, leading to marriage, with Joyce Davenport, a public defender played by Veronica Hamel.

Daniel Travanti has made no secret of the fact that, like Frank Furillo, he is a recovering alcoholic, having developed a dependency on alcohol as a coping mechanism in his twenties, despite the seeming string of success he was experiencing. His first credited television role was in a 1964 episode of 'Route 66'; this was followed by a steady stream of appearances on popular shows. After 'Hill Street Blues', he continued to work steadily in television and movies, including the role of Gerald 'Babe' McGantry in the 2011-2012 serial 'Boss'.

Answer: Pierce Brosnan

Laura Holt, played by Stephanie Zimbalist, was struggling to gain clients as a female private eye, so she invented a boss for whom she told clients she worked, Remington Steele. Irish actor Pierce Brosnan played the con man who assumed the persona, his first break in the US. Laura's strong and resourceful character was a breakthrough for the time, and her developing relationship with 'Mr. Steele' was also one of the first times that dynamic was played out in a television series.

When 'Remington Steele' was cancelled after its fourth season, Pierce Brosnan was cast to play James Bond in the movie 'The Living daylights'; when it was subsequently uncancelled, the part went to Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan made his first appearance as 007 in 'Goldeneye'. After four Bond films, his career continued with some films more successful than others. His singing in 'Mamma Mia!' (2008) earned him a Golden Raspberry for Worst Supporting Actor, but 'the Ghost Writer' (2010) earned multiple nominations, and won Irish Film & Television Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Answer: Denzel Washington

Set in a run-down teaching hospital in Boston, 'St. Elsewhere' was described as "'Hill St. Blues' in a hospital" by a critic whose quote was used in an early ad for the show. It shares the same ensemble cast approach, and the same realism - characters show very human frailties as they try to do their best. One of them was the resident Dr. Phillip Chandler, a superb doctor who had changed his major from history to pre-med to satisfy his father. At the end of the series, he realised that medicine was not his dream, and despite his success at St. Eligius he resigned to go live in Mississippi, where his romantic partner (Dr. Roxanne Turner) had decided to move and practice rural general medicine.

Denzel Washington started on the off-Broadway stage in 1979, and 'St Elsewhere' was his big break, giving him a national prominence that allowed him to launch into a film career as actor, director and producer which has garnered two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Tony Award, as well as the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. If I add any more detail, I won't know where to stop!

Answer: Bruce Willis

Former model Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) finds herself in a partnership with the wise cracking private eye David Addison Jr. (Bruce Willis) when her accountant embezzles all her assets with the exception of Addison's failing detective agency. The two of them develop a relationship which is reminiscent of that between Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant in the 1938 movie 'Bringing up Baby'. The show includes comedy and mystery-drama in roughly equal amounts, and has been called the first 'dramedy' of American television.

This is the show that made Bruce Willis a star, and gave him the chance to play John McClane in the 'Die Hard' franchise, the first one of which was filmed while 'Moonlighting' was still on air. His desire to move on to films coincided with his co-star's reluctance to continue the grind of filming the television series contributed to the show's demise. His subsequent film career, however, has been impressive - 'Pulp Fiction' (1994), 'The Sixth Sense' (1999) and 'The Whole Nine Yards' (2000), along with the 'Die Hard' series, spring to mind as illustrating his range.

Answer: Richard Dean Anderson

Forget the 2016 remake, Lucas Toole isn't a patch on Richard Dean Anderson! All right, that is a personal opinion, and you may disagree. MacGyver may have worked for a secret agency of somewhat dubious provenance, but his resourcefulness in working his way out of tight spots with makeshift means was legendary. Who else could use paper clips, duct tape, chewing gum and a Swiss Army knife to such effect? As well as his engineering skills, MacGyver is a linguist, fluent in five languages, and an avid outdoorsman, rock-climbing and sky diving despite his fear of heights.

Between 1976 and 1981, Richard Dean Anderson played Jeff Webber on 'General Hospital', and appeared on a number of other television shows in minor roles, before landing the role of MacGyver which will forever be associated with him. Then again, a younger generation may make just as close an association with Jack O'Neill in several series of the 'Stargate' franchise, including ten years on 'Stargate SG-1' between 1997 and 2007.

Answer: Ken Olin

Michael Steadman (Ken Olin) and his wife Hope Murdoch (Mel Harris) are the centre of the ensemble cast of this show, which deals with the issues faced by baby boomers coping with Philadelphia life in the 1980s, a time when the American culture was changing significantly from that of their youth in the early 1970s. Major issues raised are the changing relationship dynamics between men and women (and the introduction of same-sex relationships into that mix) and the conflict between pragmatic income-earning and creative self-fulfilment, all played out in different ways across the eight major characters. Over its four-year run, the show won 13 Primetime Emmy awards.

Ken Olin's previous roles on television had included a season on 'Hill Street Blues' as well as appearances on a number of other shows. After 'thirtysomething' he went on to add direction to his CV, including directing his wife, Patricia Wettig (who played the wife of his business partner in 'thirtysomething') in twenty episodes of 'Brothers & Sisters', a series which he produced, and in which he had a recurring role.

Answer: Scott Bakula

When Dr. Sam Beckett tested out his time travel machine, he found himself thrown into the past, but appearing to everybody back then as being a person with whom he had 'leapt'. He then received instructions from a hologram of his best friend that he needs to correct something that went wrong back then, so as to be able to leap back to the present. Despite fixing the presented issue, the next leap takes him to a different time and place, and the task continued every week. He never did make it home, although there was apparently an alternate ending shot in which he did reunite with his wife- but it's not clear whether he made it to the present, or she joined him in his time travels.

Scott Bakula had performed in live theatre and appeared on a few television shows before 'Quantum Leap' turned him into a star. He later took on the starring role of Captain Jonathan Archer on 'Star Trek: Enterprise' from 2001 until 2005, and then that of Dwayne Pride on 'NCIS: New Orleans' (2014-2021).