1944–1951 on radio · ABC, then NBC

The Life of Riley

William Bendix as Chester A. Riley — twice over, and once with Jackie Gleason.

This is the crossover at its most literal: the same character, in production simultaneously, played by two different men because of a contract. Gleason's television Riley lasted a single season and won an Emmy; Bendix kept the radio version going, then took over the television role himself in 1953 and ran it to 1958. Few series demonstrate as plainly that in these years radio and television were parallel businesses rather than a succession.

On radio

Radio from 16 January 1944

On television

Television from 4 October 1949

The overlap

Radio and television versions ran concurrently, with different leads

60 recordings · Hollywood

Network broadcasts, 1946–1951, held by the Internet Archive. Public domain (US network broadcast, copyright not renewed); no Creative Commons or non-commercial terms apply.