My Name is Anybody Texas cowboys knew their stars & constellations, despite the well-trampled trail and the compass in the trail boss' pocket. Likewise, fans know the lead actors of a cowboy show and the characters they play. Minor actors and lesser roles, however, can get lost in the crowd. Being storekeepers, blacksmiths, and hotel clerks, they don't get to wear spurs and walk down Main Street as much. The audience only has a passing acquaintance with their names; worse yet, sometimes the main characters plumb forget what to call them in mid-dialogue. Shows are supposed to have a continuity expert or assistant who stands around making sure everyone stays consistent, and no discrepancies are begat. Yet as the tv seasons move on, and the show's characters multiply, the names that come out of the stars' mouths don't quite match those in the credits and cast of characters. Gunsmoke had Doc Adams as a resident. Bonanza, not having a doctor as one its lead characters, went through several seasons with assorted guests who cured once and were never seen again. Sometimes, an actor would return as a practitioner who generally remained nameless or would simply not remain. Addison Richards, who had been the regular Doc in both Trackdown and The Deputy, played a couple of different bonesawyers in Bonanza but never hung up a shingle. Finally, Grandon Rhodes became something of a regular, credited generically as 'Doctor' and once as Dr. Brown, before finally becoming Dr. Martin. Mantle or shingle or stethoscope, the title of Dr. Martin was not for the next actor, Harry Holcombe, to assume easily. Like an intern, he too was put through the obligatory ordeal-- playing the generic Doctor, trying out other names such as Dr. Lewis or Dr. Harris, and only then was he given the name tag of Dr. Martin. Even then, it was not solely his, because Roy Engel got to play Dr. Martin once during Holcombe's practice. (As though inviting the switching of babies at a maternity ward, in an episode where Holcombe played Dr. Martin, two guest characters were named Mr. and Mrs. Holcombe!) Defying confusion, Bonanza played a game of chairs, toying with musical actors, musical doctors, and musical names. It would seem that multiple actors didn't necessarily add up to a confusion in names: in five seasons of The Rifleman, six different actors played the Doc--Edgar Buchanan, Robert Burton, Jack Kruschen, Ralph Moody, Fay Roope, Rhys Williams-- and yet no one got addled about the fact that they were all playing Doc Burrage. Perhaps it was the use of six prominent character actors that prevented any confusion. It would certainly explain The Rifleman's baffling blacksmith bender: Basically, the blacksmith was named Nels Svenson, because that is how he started out in both the town's signs and in the credits. However, as western klieglight time went on, the name morphed in different ways: The show's set designer or signmaker inexplicably switched to a new spelling--Nils Svensen; and before long, they resorted to yet another one--Nils Swenson. At the same time (although not necessarily with any correspondence), the actors were pronouncing his names in very creative variations: Nels, Nils, Niles, Nile, or Nial. It's tempting to theorize that all these subtle shape-shifts were caused by the fact that six different actors played the character. However, remember that six different actors also played Dr. Jay Burrage, yet his name never reconstituted itself. If anything, the answer may lie in the fact that Doc Burrage was portrayed by six largely recognizable actors, whereas the blacksmith was played by only two well-known faces, the others far from familiar. May 18, 2007 Copyright © 2007 E. A. Villafranca, Jr. All Rights Reserved