Do you think Bogart, Cooper and Gable would have done TV??

Tools    





I could see all three of them doing a tongue-in-cheek appearance just for the fun-of-it on TV; something akin to John Wayne's appearance in a bunny suit on "Laugh In." As far as changing up the format and moving from movies to TV the way many movie stars of the 1980's, 1990's, and 2000's have today... not a chance. Of course Barbara Stanwyck, one of the biggest actresses of her day, went to TV in the 1960's with "The Big Valley," but that was hardly the standard back then. Of course women generally have a far shorter life-span when it comes to bankability in movies than men, largely because their "social capital" dries up around age 40 and quickly plummets unless they are a true true talent and can gracefully ease into middle age and their golden years like an actress like Julie Christie or someone along those lines. Men have an vastly longer shelf life as far as that goes, so I don't think there would be the pressures of them to move to TV back in the day the way there could be for women.

Of course today, it's entirely different, because they hardly make movies any more, at least not for the mainstream, so TV is where they have to go to earn a dollar. People like Kevin Costner with Yellowstone or Winona Rider with Stranger Things. Different times though. But I certainly can't see Bogart, Cooper, or Gable moving to the B-leagues of TV during their time and I certainly wouldn't want them to either.

But I do love the bunny outfit!

John Wayne had a sense of humor



Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain
I suppose the real answer is: since they didn't, they probably wouldn't.

They were all dead by 1961, so the 40s and 50s was the era of The Lone Ranger, The Honeymooners, Ozzy & Harriet, I Love Lucy, Lassie, Donna Reed, etc. But there were some variety shows like Burns & Allen. Red Skelton did have guests like John Wayne, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Peter Lorre.

In the 60s, there were several prestige "playhouse" type series that tried for higher brow entertainment. For example, an episode of ABC Stage 67, "The Canterville Ghost," starred Michael Redgrave and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Anyone's guess, but I think the timing was off -- they were gone before the very few vehicles that could have seriously tempted them were available.

It is sickening though to think of AI being used for Bogart to star in NCIS or Cooper to show up on Yellowstone.
__________________
Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain ... only straw. Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain? Scarecrow: I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they? Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.



If it was some high-quality show or TV movie, I think they'd do it. TV movies were considered a pretty cool concept when they first started. I've seen an interview with Bette Davis in the 70's where she's promoting her first TV movie and really selling how it's a high-quality production despite being on TV...I don't think made-for-TV had the stigma then that it got later. Many of the early TV movies were pretty impressive so I could see those guys doing them as they got older. Heck, Barbara Stanwyck had a whole second career on TV and she's one of the greats.