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Fame is an American musical drama television series based on the 1980 film of the same name. It followed the lives of the students and faculty at New York City's High School of Performing Arts. Most interior scenes were filmed in Hollywood, California. In all seasons except the third, the show filmed several exterior scenes on location in New York City. The popularity of the series around the world, most notably in the United Kingdom, led to several hit records and live concert tours by the cast. Despite its success, few of the actors maintained high-profile careers after the series was cancelled. Several of the cast members were seen again briefly in Bring Back...Fame, a reunion special made for Channel 4 in the United Kingdom in 2008. Episodes Cast Faculty Debbie Allen as Lydia Grant Albert Hague as Benjamin Shorofsky Michael Thoma as Greg Crandall (season 1) Carol Mayo Jenkins as Elizabeth Sherwood (seasons 1–5, final episode of season 6) Ann Nelson as Mrs. Gertrude Berg (seasons 1.07–6) Morgan Stevens as David Reardon (season 2; recurring seasons 3–4) Ken Swofford as Principal Quentin Morloch (seasons 3–5.09) Graham Jarvis as Principal Bob Dyrenforth (seasons 5.10–6) Eric Pierpoint as Paul Seeger (season 6.03) Students Carlo Imperato as Danny Amatullo Gene Anthony Ray as Leroy Johnson P. R. Paul as Montgomery MacNeil (season 1, final episode of season 6) Lori Singer as Julie Miller (seasons 1–2) Erica Gimpel as Coco Hernandez (seasons 1–3.08, episode 19 of season 4, final episode of season 6) Lee Curreri as Bruno Martelli (seasons 1–3, final episode of season 6) Valerie Landsburg as Doris Schwartz (seasons 1–4, final episode of season 6) Billy Hufsey as Christopher Donlon (seasons 3–6) Cynthia Gibb as Holly Laird (seasons 3–5.10, final episode of season 6) Janet Jackson as Cleo Hewitt (season 4) Jesse Borrego as Jesse Velasquez (seasons 4–6) Nia Peeples as Nicole Chapman (seasons 4.02–6.10) Page Hannah as Kate Riley (season 5.10-5.24) Loretta Chandler as Dusty Tyler (seasons 5–6) Carrie Hamilton as Reggie Higgins (seasons 5.10-6) Michael Cerveris as Ian Ware (season 6) Elisa Heinsohn as Jillian Beckett (season 6.02) Olivia Barash as Maxie Sharp (season 6.12) Recurring characters Carmine Caridi as Angelo Martelli (seasons 1–2) Judy Farrell as Charlotte Miller (seasons 1–3) Michael DeLorenzo as Michael (seasons 1–3) Bronwyn Thomas as Michelle (seasons 1–4) David Greenlee as Dwight Mendenhall (seasons 2–5) Connie Needham as Kelly Hayden (season 2) Stephanie E. Williams as Stephanie Harrison (season 2) Jimmy Osmond as Troy Phillips (season 2) Phoebe Yardon-Lewis as Alicia Morgan (season 3) Sam Slovick as Cassidy (season 4) Dick Miller as Lou Mackie (seasons 4–6) Robert Romanus as Miltie Horowitz (seasons 5–6) Caryn Ward as Tina Johnson (seasons 5–6) Carolyn J. Silas as Laura Mackie (season 6) Denny Dillon as Corky (season 6) Guest appearances Notable guest roles include Paul Bartel, Frances Bay, Carol Burnett, Art Carney, John Carradine, Nancy Cartwright, Keith Coogan, Elizabeth Daily, Fran Drescher, Dominique Dunne, Fionnula Flanagan, Randee Heller, Tuesday Knight, Kevin McCarthy, Donna McKechnie, Dermot Mulroney, Bebe Neuwirth and Betty White. Production The show was produced by MGM Television and aired Thursday nights at 8:00–9:00 on NBC beginning on January 7, 1982. NBC promoted its Thursday line-up (Fame, Cheers, Taxi [later Night Court], and Hill Street Blues) as "The Best Night of Television on Television!" Despite glowing reviews from critics, ratings were less than impressive, and NBC cancelled Fame after only two seasons. However, by special arrangement with LBS Communications, MGM revived the series for first-run syndication in the fall of 1983, where it continued for four more seasons, with the last first-run episode airing in the US on May 18, 1987. Four cast members from the original movie appeared in the television series. Lee Curreri portrayed the character Bruno Martelli, an introverted musical genius. Gene Anthony Ray portrayed Leroy Johnson, a tough hood from the projects with a natural talent for dance, who muscles his way into an audition and wins. In the film, Leroy is also semiliterate, but this was dropped in favor of him having "fourth-grade reading level" in the television series. Albert Hague played teacher Benjamin Shorofsky, a German music teacher who constantly battled with Bruno Martelli over musical styles. The final cast member from the film was Debbie Allen, who portrayed Lydia Grant. Allen only appeared briefly in the movie, but her character was expanded in the series. She also became the show's original choreographer, in addition to directing several episodes and co-producing one season. Several characters were carried over from the movie, played by different actors. Irene Cara portrayed Coco Hernandez in the film, but the part on TV was played by Erica Gimpel. Actor Paul McCrane played gay student Montgomery McNeil in the film, but P.R. Paul portrayed Montgomery for TV and the character was no longer gay. English teacher Elizabeth Sherwood was played in the film by actress Anne Meara, but in the series was played by actress Carol Mayo Jenkins. The character Doris had her name changed from Doris Finsecker (portrayed by Maureen Teefy) to Doris Schwartz (Valerie Landsburg). The character of Ralph Garci (Tommy Aguilar inheriting the role played in the film by Barry Miller) appeared only in the pilot. Also, two new characters were introduced in the TV series: cello player Julie Miller (Lori Singer), and actor-comedian Danny Amatullo (whose last name is named after the associate producer, Tony Amatullo) played by Carlo Imperato. Ira Steven Behr wrote 12 episodes of the series. He recalled: "I did three years on Fame, which was a lot of fun and was also in syndication. We had no one looking over our shoulder. We got to do some wonderfully bizarre things on the show, and the only time they gave us any trouble was the last show I was going to write after I knew we were cancelled. It was going to be Road Warrior meets Fame. It was a show that takes place in the future, and you could only sing for the state. It was a fascist society, and we were going to have motorcycles going through the school and have Iggy Pop as the guest star. It was great, and I was in the midst of writing the episode when somehow MGM read somewhere that we planned to burn down the sets, which was a lie. We were going to trash them a bit, but it wasn't the last episode. We had one more after that, and they stopped me from writing it." Following its cancellation, two versions of the series were syndicated in reruns: the original hour-long episodes, which usually contained a primary plot, a subplot, and two or more musical numbers; and a second version, stripped of the musical numbers and the subplot and reduced to 30 minutes in length. The show's theme song was a pop hit for singer Irene Cara, having been featured in the motion picture. A re-recorded version of th.... Discover the Ann Gimpel popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Ann Gimpel books.