Actors who played dual roles on popular TV shows
Patty Duke portrayed identical cousins, Patty and Cathy, in "The Patty Duke Show."
When “Fargo” returns for its third season (Wednesday, April 19, at 10 p.m., FX), Ewan McGregor will play dual roles: brothers Emmit (the Parking Lot King of Minnesota) and Ray Stussy (a parole officer). TV has a rich history of actors taking on dual rules, like these five:
PHOEBE AND URSULA BUFFAY (Lisa Kudrow) Phoebe, of course, was one of the six mainstays on “Friends,” while twin sister Ursula, a waitress, was introduced on “Mad About You” and later crossed over to the other NBC sitcom.
PATTY AND CATHY LANE (Patty Duke) “The Patty Duke Show’s” identical cousins: Patty, a typical teenage girl from Brooklyn Heights (“a hot dog makes her lose control”), and Cathy, an urbane, intellectual Scot (“who’s been most everywhere”).
SAMANTHA STEPHENS AND SERENA (Elizabeth Montgomery) The “Bewitched” leading lady was often vexed by her free-spirited, dark-haired cousin. (When playing Serena, Montgomery was credited under the pseudonym “Pandora Spocks.”)
JEANNIE AND JEANNIE II (Barbara Eden) On “I Dream of Jeannie,” the show’s star had to contend with her much-less-nice, dark-haired sister who coveted Jeannie’s master, Major Nelson (Larry Hagman).
MORTICIA FRUMP ADDAMS AND OPHELIA FRUMP (Carolyn Jones) As revealed on the two-part season 2 opener of “The Addams Family,” Morticia’s younger, lovelorn sister was originally supposed to marry Gomez (John Astin). But she got cold feet on her wedding day because she had fallen instead for . . . Cousin Itt.
Andy Edelstein, Newsday's entertainment editor, supervises coverage of TV, celebrities, movies and pop music. He has written three books on popular culture, including "The Brady Bunch Book."
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