From Welcome Back, Kotter to The Waltons, these actors were in living rooms across America every week in the 1970s. Here is how 30 of them looked back then, and where life has taken them since.
John Travolta – Welcome Back, Kotter
In a striped T-shirt, Ron Howard played Richie Cunningham on Happy Days, years after starring as little Opie on The Andy Griffith Show. He moved behind the camera and won two Academy Awards for A Beautiful Mind. At 72, he is still directing films.
Ron Howard – Happy Days
In a striped T-shirt, Ron Howard played Richie Cunningham on Happy Days, years after starring as little Opie on The Andy Griffith Show. He moved behind the camera and won two Academy Awards for A Beautiful Mind. At 72, he is still directing films.
Alan Alda – M*A*S*H
This smiling portrait was taken in 1979, when Alan Alda had been playing Hawkeye for seven years Pierce on M*A*S*H, a show he also wrote and directed for. He won six Emmy Awards over his career and earned an Oscar nomination for The Aviator. He turned 90 in January.
Carol Burnett – The Carol Burnett Show
This 1974 publicity photo shows Carol Burnett at the height of her variety show, which ran on CBS from 1967 to 1978. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, and the Golden Globes named an award after her in 2019. She is 93.
Cher – The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
With her long dark curls, Cher was one of TV’s biggest stars in the 1970s, first beside Sonny Bono and then on her own variety show. Since then she has won an Oscar for Moonstruck and kept touring well into her 70s. She turned 80 in May.
Lee Majors – The Six Million Dollar Man
This 1973 portrait is from the year Lee Majors first played Colonel Steve Austin on The Six Million Dollar Man. In the 1980s he jumped straight into another hit, The Fall Guy, playing stuntman Colt Seavers. He is now 87.
Lindsay Wagner – The Bionic Woman
Lindsay Wagner played Jaime Sommers on The Bionic Woman, and this NBC photo came out when the show moved to that network in 1977. That same year, she won the Emmy for lead actress in a drama. Now 77, she has kept acting for more than five decades.
Jaclyn Smith – Charlie’s Angels
With long brown waves, Jaclyn Smith played Kelly Garrett on Charlie’s Angels, and she was the only original Angel who stayed for the whole run. Since the 1980s she has run her own clothing and perfume brands, and she made a cameo in the 2019 Charlie’s Angels film.
Tony Danza – Taxi
In a plain dark T-shirt, Tony Danza smiles in this 1978 ABC photo for Taxi, where he played boxer and cab driver Tony Banta. He was a real professional boxer before acting. He then starred in Who’s the Boss? for eight seasons and later hosted his own daytime talk show.
Valerie Bertinelli – One Day at a Time
This photo is from the 1975 premiere of One Day at a Time, where Valerie Bertinelli played younger daughter Barbara Cooper. The role brought her two Golden Globes. Later she starred in Hot in Cleveland and won two Daytime Emmys hosting cooking shows on Food Network.
Jimmie Walker – Good Times
Wrapped in a towel and wearing his bucket hat, Jimmie Walker plays J.J. Evans next to Esther Rolle in this 1974 Good Times photo. His catchphrase, Dyn-o-mite!, became one of the most quoted lines of the decade. Now 79, he still tours with his stand-up act.
Erik Estrada – CHiPs
In his California Highway Patrol uniform, Erik Estrada played Officer Frank Poncherello on CHiPs from 1977 to 1983. He later became a star of Spanish-language telenovelas and a regular on reality shows. This recent photo was taken at a comic convention in Virginia in February 2026.
Larry Wilcox – CHiPs
Larry Wilcox rode beside Estrada as Officer Jon Baker, the calmer half of the CHiPs motorcycle team, in this 1977 NBC photo. The two still appear together at fan events, nearly 50 years after the show premiered. Wilcox is now 79.
Patrick Duffy – Man From Atlantis
Before Dallas, Patrick Duffy played a water-breathing hero on NBC’s Man From Atlantis, seen here in 1977. A year later he became Bobby Ewing on Dallas, a role he returned to from 2012 to 2014. In between, he starred in the sitcom Step by Step.
Shirley Jones – The Partridge Family
Shirley Jones played singing mom Shirley Partridge on The Partridge Family, alongside her real-life stepson, who played eldest son Keith. She had already won an Oscar for Elmer Gantry in 1960. She turned 92 in March.
Richard Thomas – The Waltons
Taken by a Los Angeles Times photographer in 1973, this picture shows Richard Thomas during his years as John-Boy on The Waltons, a role that won him an Emmy. Decades later he joined The Americans and Ozark, and in 2026 he earned a Tony nomination for The Balusters on Broadway.
Barry Williams – The Brady Bunch
Barry Williams played eldest son Greg Brady, and this 1972 ABC photo shows him in a ringer T-shirt on the set. He has kept the Brady connection alive, helping redo the show’s famous house for HGTV’s A Very Brady Renovation in 2019. In 2023 he competed on Dancing with the Stars.
Maureen McCormick – The Brady Bunch
Seated next to her TV sister in this 1972 photo, Maureen McCormick played Marcia Brady from 1969 to 1974. She later starred as Rizzo in a 1994 stage production of Grease, recorded country albums and appeared on several reality shows.
Eve Plumb – Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway
After five seasons as Jan Brady, Eve Plumb took on a much darker role in the 1976 NBC TV movie Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway, which this photo promoted. She is now also a painter, and she made her New York stage debut in 2010.
Melissa Gilbert – Little House on the Prairie
With her braids and a shaggy dog at her side, Melissa Gilbert was Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie from 1974 to 1983. She later served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 2001 to 2005 and has written several memoirs and a cookbook.
Lou Ferrigno – The Incredible Hulk
Heavy makeup, a wild wig and a torn shirt turned bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno into The Incredible Hulk on CBS, seen here in the 1977 TV movie that launched the series. A two-time Mr. Universe, he later voiced the Hulk in animated versions. He is now 74.
Tom Wopat – The Dukes of Hazzard
In a plaid shirt and feathered hair, Tom Wopat posed for this 1979 CBS photo as Luke Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard. Since then he has worked mostly on Broadway, recorded country and pop albums, and played Sheriff Wilkins on Longmire.
Catherine Bach – The Dukes of Hazzard
Under a cowboy hat, Catherine Bach poses for the same 1979 Dukes of Hazzard cast photo, where she played Daisy Duke. Her denim cutoffs were so famous that people still call them Daisy Dukes. In 2012 she joined the soap opera The Young and the Restless.
Donny Osmond – Donny & Marie
In a white embroidered outfit with a guitar, Donny Osmond performs with his brothers in this 1973 concert photo, a few years before hosting Donny & Marie with his sister. He later won season 9 of Dancing with the Stars, and the pair headlined in Las Vegas until 2019.
Anson Williams – Happy Days
With his grin and letterman jacket, Anson Williams played Potsie Weber, Richie’s best friend on Happy Days. He went on to direct TV, with episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place and Lizzie McGuire among his credits.
Ted Lange – That’s My Mama
Before he poured drinks as Isaac on The Love Boat, Ted Lange played Junior on That’s My Mama, shown here in a 1974 photo. The Love Boat ran for nine seasons, and Lange later reunited with the cast at events. He is now 78.
Jamie Farr – M*A*S*H
In a checked jacket, Jamie Farr smiles in this 1976 photo from the game show Stumpers, taken while he was playing Corporal Klinger on M*A*S*H. Klinger famously wore dresses to try to get discharged. Farr received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1985.
Mike Farrell – M*A*S*H
Mike Farrell joined M*A*S*H in 1975 as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt, the year this CBS photo was taken. After the show, he produced Patch Adams and starred in Providence. He has led the group Death Penalty Focus since 1994.
Henry Winkler – Happy Days
Leather jacket, perfect hair and that famous smile made Henry Winkler’s Fonzie the coolest guy on Happy Days. Decades later he won an Emmy for the HBO series Barry in 2018, and he has written dozens of children’s books.
Lynda Carter – Wonder Woman
This 1977 CBS portrait shows Lynda Carter as Diana Prince, the everyday name Wonder Woman used on the show. Crowned Miss World USA in 1972, she later made a cameo in the 2020 film Wonder Woman 1984 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018.
