Do You Remember These Famous ‘Emergency!’ Guest Stars?
Emergency! ofans, is there anything more fun than tuning into our favorite show and discovering — or rediscovering — that the person in need of Roy DeSoto, Johnny Gage and Rampart General Hospital’s help has a very familiar face? Whether they were already famous or their star had just begun to rise, see if you remember these celebs, soon-to-be celebs and sports stars in this walk down memory lane that’s sure to make you smile.
Classic Kids: Melissa Gilbert, John Travolta & more
Melissa Gilbert
Before Little House on the Prairie, an overalls-and-pigtail-sporting Gilbert played little Jenny, who was comforted by Roy DeSoto when her dad is injured in the Season 2 episode “Dinner Date.” Two other former child stars also appear in this episode — My Three Sons‘ Dodie (and sister of Leif Garrett) Dawn Lyn and The Bad Seed’s Patty McCormack.
Tony Dow
Sporting a leather jacket, loads of facial hair and bushy curls, a post-Leave It to Beaver Dow still sounded every bit Wally Cleaver, but got to be a bad guy this time. Dow played a motorcycle-riding bandit (called “Motorcycle rider” in the credits) who injures himself when he tried to take advantage of a destructive wildfire to score some stuff.
John Travolta
He’s stayin’ alive! Stayin’ alive! The 18-year-old future Grease and Saturday Night Fever star played 16-year-old Chuck Benson, who suffers serious injuries from a fall in the Season 2 episode “Kids.”
Kim Richards
After she played Nanny & the Professor’s Prudence but before she became famous in the Witch Mountain movie franchise and infamous with a Real Housewives stint, Richards played Melissa in the Season 3 episode “How Green Was My Thumb?” Little Melissa suffered a fall and a dog bite, but her hyper-religious parents refuse to allow treatment, causing Dixie (Julie London) to take action.
Grant Goodeve
In his first-ever TV role, and before he became big brother David Bradford on Eight Is Enough, Goodeve played a young man named Larry in the Season 5 episode “Above and Beyond … Nearly,” which also guest-starred soap royalty Linda Dano.
Comedy Kings and Queens
Jamie Farr
In the truly must-see Season 2 episode “Boot,” a pre-M*A*S*H Farr plays Alan Austen, a young cult member who insists one hand and arm have been paralyzed by a curse. Though the episode is intentionally more comedic than most, some unintentional chuckles come from the 38-year-old Farr (complete with touches of silver in his sideburns) being passed off as a 24-year-old fella.
Ruth Buzzi
The Rowan & Martin‘s Laugh-In star scored major laughs in the Season 5 episode “Grateful.” Buzzi played Amy Merkle, half of a middle-aged couple who show their gratitude to Squad 51 by visiting them — all the time — at the firehouse. Buzzi’s doting spouse was played by Eight is Enough dad Dick Van Patten.
Wolfman Jack
Everyone’s favorite howling, follicularly blessed DJ and Midnight Special host appears as an unnamed radio DJ with whose idea for a stunt goes horribly wrong in the Season 5 episode “The Inspection.”
Crime Fighters
Adam West
Everett Collection
TV’s legendary Batman played movie star Vic Webster, who gets more than he bargained for from a surly, four-legged costar in the Season 4 episode “Bash.”
Erik Estrada
Before he became studly motorcycle cop Frank “Punch” Poncherello on CHiPs, Estrada, just a few years into his career, played “Man with Eye Injury” on the Season 4 episode “Details,” which concerns a pair of car accidents.
Mark Harmon
Before he became a star on St. Elsewhere and NCIS, Harmon appeared as animal control officer Dave Gordon in the Season 4 episode “905-Wild.”
Soap Stars
Linda Dano
Before she earned Daytime TV legend status on One Life to Live and Another World, Dano star guest starred as Lora Gibson in the Season 4 episode “The Firehouse Four” and Joyce in the Season 5 episode “Above and Beyond … Nearly.”
Jeanne Cooper
The Queen Bee of The Young and the Restless played Evelyn Fennady, the paranoid wife of a heart transplant patient, in the Season 5 episode “The Inspection.”
Deidre Hall
Before she became Dr. Marlena Evans on Days of Our Lives, Hall recurred as nurse Sally Lewis throughout the first two seasons.
Susan Seaforth Hayes
The venerable Days of our Lives star, then credited as Susan Seaforth, guest-starred as the illness-faking Nancy Dickson in the show’s second episode.
Leslie Charleson
General Hospital‘s beloved Monica Quartermaine, Charleson played Christy Todd, spunky cub reporter who sparred with a skeptical Gage in the Season 2 episode “Women.”
Singers and Movie Stars
Nick Nolte
Just a few years into his career, the soon-to-be movie star played Fred, a young doctor helping out when Dr. Early undergoes a bypass in the Season 3 episode “The Hard Hours.”
Cicely Tyson
Robert Fuller (left) and Cicely Tyson (right) on “Emergency!”
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman star plays Mrs. Johnson, mother of a young football star (future St. Elsewhere star Eric Laneuville) who takes a savage hit in the Season 1 episode “Crash.”
Bobby Sherman
The shaggy-haired teen heartthrob plays arrogant resident Dr. Ken Donaldson in the Season 3 episode “Fools.” Donaldson’s smug ways with the paramedics and the patients (the “fools” in question) lead Dr. Brackett to order him to ride shotgun with Johnny and Roy for a day. The experience moved Sherman so much that he eventually became a real paramedic and sheriff’s deputy for San Bernadino County.
These Happy Days
Marion Ross
Before she became Happy Days‘ beloved matriarch, Mrs. Cunningham, Ross played Margaret, the devoted secretary of a workaholic stockbroker in the Season 3 episode “Inheritance Tax.”
Donny Most
The year before he stepped in Ralph Malph’s penny loafers, Most played Fred Wilson, a young expectant father who injures his spinal cord in a car crash in the Season 3 episode “Computer Error.”
Sporty Types
Dick Butkus
The Chicago Bears star became the first pro athlete to appear on Emergency! when he played “The Animal,” a pro footballer who breaks his ankle when he’s tackled by his own kid in the Season 3 episode “The Hard Hours” — the same episode that featured Nick Nolte.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Though he’s best known for his brief but brilliant cameo on Airplane!, the great big NBA star got stuck in an itty-bitty car on the Season 4 episode “Foreign.”
Larry Csonka
The Miami Dolphins fullback, sporting his Super Bowl ring, played Al, a pro painter taken down by paint fumes in the Season 4 episode “The Screenwriter.” Csonka followed up that appearance by playing a football player named Larry Bronco on The Six Million Dollar Man, in an episode that also costarred Mike Ditka — then mostly stuck to playing himself
Mark Spitz
Mark Spitz (right) with his wife Suzy Spitz. Photo: Everett Collection
The nine-time champion Olympic swimmer played Pete Barlow, whose pregnant wife Dora — played by Spitz’ real-life wife Suzy — accidentally suffers a gunshot wound in the Season 4 episode “Quicker Than the Eye.” Critics were quick to point out that Spitz should probably stick to swimming and he seemed to agree, only playing someone other than himself one more time, in the 1985 TV movie Challenge of a Lifetime.
Who was your favorite famous Emergency! guest star? Let us know in the comments below?
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