TV's greatest servants, butlers, nannies, maids, housekeepers etc..

[Bennyboy]

What say you?

[haele]

1. Mrs.Livingston, "Courtship of Eddie's Father".

When I was 6-10 years old, living up in Santa Maria (near Lompoc/Vandenberg AirForce Base), she was just like one of the neighbor kid's mom, a naturalized "deployment wife" of an Air Force retiree. Consistantly strict about keeping to "the rules of the house", but seemed to be closer to the moms on TV than the other moms in the neighborhood (including my working mom).
The sort of nanny-housekeeper a kid would dream of having come in.
Haele

[Bennyboy]

3. I think my attraction for asian females stems from her...

So cool, so calm and that long black hair...

[CreekDog]

14. My first thought was that this poll was an epic fail without her

:grr:

:rant:

[mycatfred]

2. Niles from The Nanny n/t

[Bennyboy]

6. He was funny for sure..

His picking on CeeCee was hilarious.....

[hamsterjill]

72. Niles and Cee Cee

Hilarious interchanges! I loved his put downs!!!

[BurtWorm]

4. Here are few more nominees: Hazel (Shirley Booth), Lurch (Addams Family), Florida Evans (Maude)

Mrs. Naugatuck (Maude), Carlton the Doorman (Rhoda), Rosie the Robot (The Jetsons)...

[LeftinOH]

5. Alice (the only person in the Brady household who didn't have to share a bathroom with anyone).

[CreekDog]

17. only person in the Brady household with comic timing

Well, maybe Bobby had his moments.

[bif]

7. Jeeves. Hands down.

As played by Stephen Fry

[handmade34]

27. !!! ditto

[Deep13]

54. +1

[joeybee12]

62. Yup...I would have voted for him had he been on the list...slipped my mind...n/t

[Kali]

8. Alfred

of Wayne Manor

(and the Bat Cave)

[slay]

18. +1

[flvegan]

9. Berta, from Two and a Half Men

She cracks me the hell up.

[CreekDog]

15. + 2 1/2

:hi:

[A HERETIC I AM]

41. The Best of Berta;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On1w9yuAzrg




...

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. LOL...in German, no less. Hee hee.....it was the first result on a search on YouTube!


Berta fuckin' kills me. Even in German.

[Kat45]

43. Yes. n/t

[Mad_Dem_X]

70. I forgot about her! Definitely

She and the mom are the best characters on that show.

[carlyhippy]

10. Mr French!

Carly

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. Other: Kato.

Thread over.

[Soylent Brice]

26. FTW

[LynneSin]

12. How could you miss putting Alice on that list

She's like the quintessential housekeeper in TV time!

[Bennyboy]

13. How could I indeed!

There are so many and only ten spots and "I gotta blank space where my mind should be"....

[CreekDog]

16. You left out Brocktoon!

:wtf:










:grr:












he shall be writing about this omission tonight. tsk tsk. but at least a valuable lesson was learned by all!

[Bennyboy]

19. LOL...

[BlueJazz]

20. Hirsch from WKRP

[cordelia]

38. The best!

[WillParkinson]

21. Mr. Belvedere!

[CreekDog]

28. clearly not in the fan club

doesn't even know his secret name. :wtf:

:eyes:

[WillParkinson]

49. It was a TV show in the 80's...

The character of Lynn Belvedere was originally created by Gwen Davenport in her 1947 novel, Belvedere. The following year, the title character was portrayed by Clifton Webb in the film Sitting Pretty. Webb's performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Sitting Pretty told the story of an arrogant genius who answers an employment ad for a baby sitter for three bratty kids. He accepts such employment because he is secretly writing a novel about a community filled with gossips and busybodies. Clifton Webb reprised his role as Mr. Belvedere in two more movies, Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949) and Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell (1951).

As early as the 1950s, attempts were made to adapt the character to television, with three pilots made during the '50s and '60s, including a 1965 version starring Victor Buono in the title role. All efforts, however, were unsuccessful until 1985, when ABC was finally able to get the show up and running with British actor Christopher Hewett playing Lynn Belvedere.

<snip>

Several episodes dealt with Belvedere and Wesley, with whom he shares a close, if often adversarial, relationship. In one of many very special episodes, one of Wesley's classmates contracts HIV via Factor VIII, like Ryan White. When all of Wesley's classmates shun him for still associating with his friend (due to believing the stereotypes of AIDS being mainly associated with drug addicts and gay men), Belvedere is there for him and the child, and he helps the other students befriend the boy. In another episode, Wesley confronts a scout leader who had touched him inappropriately. Mr. Belvedere serves as a mentor of sorts to Wesley any time he has trouble, and also helps the other children when needed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Belvedere

[CreekDog]

66. until you call him Brocktoon

I'll never be able to discern whether your posts are in admiration or for mockery. :shrug:

[WillParkinson]

69. Apologies, I don't get the reference...

I liked the TV show, I'm not certain what Brocktoon refers to.

[CreekDog]

71. .

Mr. Chairman: Well, I guess we can vote.. but we really shouldn't have to, people.. alright.. all those in favor who want to kill Mr. Belvedere, say Aye.

Group: Aye!

Mr. Chairman: All those who don't think he should be killed, say Nay.

Group: Nay!

Mr. Chairman: The Nays have it. He lives. But the vote shouldn't have been that close. Which brings me to an area I think we need to discuss. Now, I got a letter from Mr. Belvedere's publicist. It seems somebody has been killing his housepets again. Now, I'm not gonna ask which one of you is doing it, but I do think we need to do our exercises.

:rofl:

[dropkickpa]

22. Higgins from Magnum PI!!!

We named a cat after him.

[Doeed]

23. Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth

You may remember him as Bruce Wayne's (Batman) butler.

[grasswire]

24. Agador Spartacus

From "Birdcage"

There's even a facebook fan club for him


http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26634109928

oh wait --- that's a movie.

[csziggy]

25. He should get his own show!

Then he would have been my second choice after Benson.

[WolverineDG]

52. omg, he was hysterical

especially when they made him wear shoes. :rofl:

dg

[Ilsa]

74. Great name, too! I loved the scenes with him! nt

[Ilsa]

75. Hobson from Arthur (1981, Sir John Gielgud, Dudley Moore)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Arthur: Hobson?
Hobson: Yes.
Arthur: Do you know what I'm going to do?
Hobson: No, I don't.
Arthur: I'm going to take a bath.
Hobson: I'll alert the media.
Arthur: Do you want to run my bath for me?
Hobson: That's what I live for.

Hobson: Perhaps you would like me to come in there and wash your dick for you, you little shit


Hobson had many other great lines in that movie.

[kentauros]

29. Jeannie

Well, you didn't say it had to be a paid "servant" :D

[Doeed]

30. OH Hell yeah...

Barbara Eden is the hottest woman ever on TV

[kentauros]

37. "It pleases me to please you."

[GoCubsGo]

31. Daphne from "Frasier"

[Doeed]

34. Another hottie

and that accent

[Sanity Claws]

32. Hazel

I don't remember the show well but it deserves mention

[Kali]

33. Race Bannon

Johny Quest (from the husband)

[Doeed]

35. Race wasn't a servant

He was more hired muscle and technical skill.

[Kali]

36. "he did a lot of serving"*

*husband's retort - "I know I used to watch that show a lot - he was always brionging drinks and cooking and stuff"


me===>>> :rofl:

[Doeed]

40. Race Bannon could

fly, drive, or ride anything. Plus, he was pretty smooth with the ladies.

HEY! I just realized. I'm like Race Bannon in the flesh. :rofl:

[Sebastian Doyle]

45. Race wasn't a servant.

He was Dr. Quest's partner. TV's first gay couple

[begin_within]

39. No mention of the greatest series in TV history?

[Bennyboy]

42. OMG! You are so right!

How did I forget Upstairs/Downstairs?

[begin_within]

44. Sadly, it is too often forgotten these days.

I happen to think it is the best TV series produced so far, of any type. And specifically to your question of greatest servants, butlers, maids, etc., Upstairs, Downstairs was jam-packed with memorable characters in that line of work. Two that stand out particularly were the rebellious Sarah Moffat (Pauline Collins), the parlourmaid who never accepted her "servant" status and eventually became part of the "upstairs" class in her own mind if not in the minds of the others; and the butler Angus Hudson (the late Gordon Jackson) who played the part of Hudson so well that the word "butler" produces an image of him in my mind. Hudson was the ideal employee: a believer in the class system even though he was of the "servant class," an expert manager of the household, handling a constant stream of crises both upstairs and downstairs with discretion, tact and impeccable judgement, always loyal to his employer, yet not without his own personal demons: in one episode he is forced to confront his prejudice against Germans when the household takes in a refugee family during an air raid, only to find out they are German refugees. So if he was in your poll I would vote for Angus Hudson, though there are other likely candidates from the same show.

[Lord Tredegars Macaw]

50. Absolutely

Gordon Jackson's 'Mr Hudson' was, in my opinion, the finest portrait of a butler on TV (Jeeves, of course, was a gentleman's personal gentleman). He was superb, as was the whole series. They are currently filming a movie version of 'Upstairs Downstairs' which should be interesting.

The series also spawned a spoof version by those British sit-com writing veterans Croft and Perry - the under-rated 'You Rang M'Lord?' which starred Paul Shane as a far more intimidating butler. Good stuff.

[begin_within]

56. Thanks

I had heard a mention of the movie version but I'm wondering if they could keep up the same quality as the series. I had not heard of 'You Rang M'Lord?' until your post. I'll take a look for it.

[Bennyboy]

46. How could we forget AUNT BEE?

"Why, I'd love another piece of pie Aunt Bee"....

[Gidney N Cloyd]

60. self-deleted

oops! wrong place

[IcyPeas]

47. Bette Davis in the Nanny (evil nanny)

[dmr]

48. Lurch

[woo me with science]

73. Excellent. nt

[Lord Tredegars Macaw]

51. Edmund Blackadder

Butler to HRH the Prince Regent.

More information can be found in the following volume:

"Edmund: A Butler's Tale." (1811) A huge, roller coaster of a novel in four hundred sizzling chapters. A searing indictment of domestic servitude in the eighteenth century, with some hot gypsies thrown in.

[bif]

55. Or Baldrick

[peekaloo]

53. Carlton the Doorman

I think he was on 'Rhoda'. Pretty sure he was a stoner. }(

[Gidney N Cloyd]

57. Hop Sing

[joeybee12]

58. Florence! Marla Gibbs was great! n/t

[Richardo]

59. Rosie

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Y8m29ZLX5ag/STD63NkC1fI/AAAAAAAAB1Q/Ckpp-8ieYro/s400/JETSONS+COLOR+6.jpg

[Renew Deal]

61. How is Alice from the Brady Bunch not an that list?

The poll is irrelevant without her.

[uncommon]

64. Srsly. Poll fail.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

63. "Parker"

Like friends, good ones help you move but great ones help you move bodies.

[msu2ba]

65. "Nosey" Parker

A splendid choice! I wonder what his job interview was like.

[applegrove]

67. The actress who was Florence on the Jefferson was quick on her feet.

There was once a scene where somebody knocked on the door. The actress waited a bit and then said "you want me to get that?" to 'Weezy'. It was hilarious and completely improvised.

[LearnedHand]

68. Dude. Jeeves has them ALL hands down!

If you've never seen the BBC production of "Jeeves & Wooster" (starring Hugh Lauri of "House" and Steven Fry of every wonderful movie I can think of), get thee immediately to Netflix and rent a series.