Fred McCarren was Andy Kaufman's human "owner" in a bizarre 1977 pilot, "Stick Around." Both of them are quite good, but script just didn't work.
While watching "Hill Street Blues" recently, there was a guy who looked VERY familiar... and it was Fred McCarren! The story arc at the end of season 4 (1983-84) -- after Sgt. Esterhaus dies -- introduced Ken Olin as Det. Garibaldi. Not a replacement for Esterhaus, but I think the writers were trying things out to see how to structure the show for season 5 (for which Olin returned).
They also introduced McCarren as a reporter, Stuart Casey. Did not catch on. And as someone in the biz, I can tell you that nothing in those episodes was realistic: no reporter was going to be allowed access to a major, dangerous stakeout while police are trying to find a cop killer. No reporter gets unlimited access to the station house. No reporter is just basically "in the way" and the officers are fine with that. Not buying it! Also, if you look at the pic above, that's basically McCarren's expression in every scene: incredulous. I'm not blaming Fred (he was a fine performer) but the writers and directors could have given him more to work with.
Incidentally, after this, HSB would occasionally have Richard Brestoff come in to play reporter Stu Hanley when the story warranted. His stories were more realistic, as was the way he interacted with police. Not sure why the writers kept naming their reporters "Stu" unless.... oh, I get it.
Anyway, back to Fred McCarren, he sadly passed away in 2006. He was also in "The Goodbye Girl," "Free Country" (with Rob Reiner), "The Rag Business" (with Dick O'Neill), and The American-ized Fawlty Towers, "Amanda's" (with Bea Arthur).
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