Iconic '70s Sitcom Stars Who Are Still Working Today

The 1970s were an incredible time for sitcoms. The formulaic television comedies of the 1950s and the more over-the-top sitcoms of the 1960s had fused into a new version of the genre that found a perfect balance between the everyday and the absurd. During the 1970s, classic shows such as "Welcome Back, Kotter," "Happy Days," "Taxi," "All in the Family," and "One Day at a Time" all graced the airwaves. These shows knew how to make viewers laugh, how to make them cry, and inspired numerous people to do their best impressions of Vinnie Barbarino.

Many of the stars from these hilarious shows moved on to bigger and better things. Interestingly, many of them are still working. Some of them have moved into the director's chair. Some of them have become legends of animation. Some of them are now working for Disney. Regardless, each one of these actors has had an interesting career since the '70s. Let's take a look at what these icons are doing today.

John Travolta is so famous that it's almost difficult to remember that he originally broke through as a television actor. He initially became famous for playing Vinnie Barbarino on "Welcome Back, Kotter." During the show's run, he also had a small but pivotal role as a bully in Brian De Palma's film adaptation of "Carrie" (the first Stephen King book everyone should read). Afterward, Travolta starred in two of the most beloved movies of the 1970s: "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease." At that point, he was a movie star, and his influence on the world of music was almost unparalleled for an actor. With "Saturday Night Fever," he helped define the disco era, and with "Grease," he proved he could sing.

After the success of 1980's "Urban Cowboy," Travolta's filmography took a downturn with a series of big-screen flops. He had a career revival in the 1990s thanks to 1994's "Pulp Fiction" and 1995's "Get Shorty," but that resurgence died when he starred in the 2000 box-office failure "Battlefield Earth." He continued to act for the next two decades, but he took a sabbatical from the industry following the death of his wife, Kelly Preston, in 2020. More recently, he announced he will direct his first film, "Propeller One-Way Night Coach," based on his children's book of the same name. Travolta is a Renaissance man, so we can only imagine the film will be delightful.

Ron Howard has dedicated himself to show business. He first gained recognition for playing Opie on "The Andy Griffith Show," one of the most popular sitcoms of the 1960s. When he starred as Richie Cunningham in "Happy Days," he began a wave of nostalgia for the 1950s that lasted for a decade or so. During his time on the show, Howard directed a B-movie for Roger Corman titled "Grand Theft Auto." Since then, he has directed important movies in all genres, such as "Splash," "Cocoon," "Willow," "Apollo 13," and the Oscar-winning "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." His upcoming directorial effort is "Alone at Dawn," a biopic about John A. Chapman.

During a 2025 interview with Vulture, Howard discussed his legacy. "Sometimes parents will want to introduce me to their kids and are kind of perplexed because they can't really put it together," he said. "'Oh, he was Opie when he was your age.' Well, that doesn't mean anything to them. 'He directed "The Grinch."' 'Oh, okay. "The Grinch."' They keep fishing for some degree of connection."

Similar to John Travolta, it's difficult to remember a time when Christopher Lloyd was primarily known as a television actor. Regardless, he first became famous through the influential sitcom "Taxi," in which he played the Rev. Jim "Iggy" Ignatowski. He had a positive view of the show from its earliest stages. "I dug the role just reading it," he told Variety in 2024. "I thought, 'These guys [actors] are great.' In New York, you're always hearing about the ideal theater [which] is to create an ensemble. And I thought, 'It's before my eyes right here. It's ideal.'"

After "Taxi," Lloyd became one of the big screen's great character actors. He played a villain in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," Doc Brown in the "Back to the Future" trilogy, Professor Plum in "Clue," Judge Doom in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and Uncle Fester in the first two '90s "Addams Family" movies. He made us laugh, he made us scared, and in some movies, he did both. He's still working today, playing the role of Professor Orloff in Tim Burton's "Wednesday," the latest screen iteration of "The Addams Family." Like Ron Howard, he's had such a long and varied career that members of different generations can recognize him for different projects.

Some 1970s sitcoms were popular because they felt edgy. On the other hand, "The Brady Bunch" was popular precisely because of how wholesome and homey it was. During a 2026 interview with ReMIND magazine, "Brady Bunch" star Barry Williams discussed the show's appeal. "This was a show asking, 'If there was a functioning family, what would it look like?'" Williams explained. "And so there's kind of that idealistic role model for people to see, okay, that's a functioning family. The dad is helpful, and mom listens to the kids, and the kids, they have arguments but try to get along. In fact, the whole show is about how do you get along? Coming from different places, the girls meeting the boys and the parents getting married, how do you make that work? And so we were 'all for one and one for all.' We had very good morals."

"The Brady Bunch" became the cornerstone of Williams' life and career. He even dated his on-screen mom Florence Henderson! Since the show ended, he's appeared in spin-offs such as "The Brady Bunch Hour," "The Brady Girls Get Married," "A Very Brady Christmas," "The Brady Bunch 35th Anniversary Reunion Special: Still Brady After All These Years," and "A Very Brady Renovation." More recently, he's become a reality TV star, participating in "The Masked Singer," "Dancing with the Stars," and "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!"

It's difficult to tell if Henry Winkler made Arthur Fonzarelli famous or if Arthur Fonzarelli made Henry Winkler famous. Regardless, Fonzie became the breakout character of "Happy Days." An episode of the show where Fonzie jumps over a shark on water skis inadvertently introduced the phrase "jumping the shark" into the lexicon. During a 2019 interview with NPR, Winkler discussed the infamous episode. "When I hit the beach at the end — when I've jumped the shark — I land on the beach, and I step out of my skis. And I'm smiling. I'm thinking, 'Hey, this is great.' Half the smile is Henry going, 'Oh, my God, I can't believe you just did that.' And the other half is the Fonz going, 'All right, here I am. I did it. I'm very cool.'"

Winkler was asked why the shark scene upset fans so much. He couldn't understand why it was such an issue for some people. "[W]e were No. 1 for years after that," he recalled. "So it didn't much matter to anybody." Regardless of what viewers thought of the shark in "Happy Days," Winkler never jumped the shark himself. 

Though Winkler lost John Travolta's role in "Grease," he still appeared in a number of notable movies, such as "Heroes," "Night Shift," "Scream," "The Waterboy," and "The French Dispatch." He also had roles in the classic TV shows "Arrested Development," "Royal Pains," and "Parks and Recreation." For his role in "Barry," Winkler won the Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series.

To 1970s sitcom fans, Valerie Bertinelli will always be most associated with "One Day at a Time." During a 2026 interview with "The Drew Barrymore Show," Bertinelli discussed her first day playing the role that made her famous. "Whenever I think of 'One Day at a Time,' I can smell it," she revealed. "I can smell the stage because it was my first big job.

"I'm holding the doorknob and I can see the audience because I'm right here and I'm about to go in. I have my basketball, I'm 15 years old and I'm saying my line over and over: 'Mom, mom I made the team, mom, mom I made the team,' because I wanted to make sure I got my first line right.'" Bertinelli anticipated that she would show "One Day at a Time" to her children; however, she doesn't believe her one child, Wolfgang Van Halen, has ever watched the show.

Bertinelli appeared in many television shows following "One Day at a Time." Those shows include "Sydney," "Touched by an Angel," "Hot in Cleveland," "Valerie's Home Cooking," and "Kids Baking Championship." Currently, she has a voice-over role in the animated Disney show "RoboGobo." After spending years in children's television, Bertinelli finally joined the House of Mouse.

Another one of the actors who became famous through "Taxi" was Tony Danza. Thanks to his role as Anthony Mark "Tony" Banta, Danza's character was a pivotal part of the show. After the success of "Taxi," Danza had roles in "Cannonball Run II," "She's Out of Control," and "Angels in the Outfield." He also had a secondary career as a professional boxer.

More recently, Danza appeared in the 2025 comedy "Re-Election." The film is a political satire about a grown man who returns to high school so he can run for class president again. In a Mama's Geeky interview from 2025, writer-director Adam Saunders described the movie as a throwback to films from the 1980s and 1990s. For Danza, that was no problem at all. "['Re-Election'] sits somewhere in that lexicon of older movies," he told Us Weekly in 2026. "It's a movie that's funny, but has a message. It has something to say."

Marilu Henner first became famous across the country for bringing the character of Elaine O'Connor Nardo to life on the show "Taxi." During a 2021 interview with "Call Me Adam," Henner discussed her admiration for "Taxi" creator James L. Brooks. "Some shows have a closed set," she said. "You have to get written permission to bring a relative to the set, but not at 'Taxi.' The rehearsals at 'Taxi' were open. We had all kinds of people there. Jim would ask the crowd, 'What do you think of this?'" Brooks would learn from the audience's reactions so he could improve his work. Henner said Brooks made a huge impression on her. Notably, he went on to co-create "The Simpsons."

To date, Henner is most known for her role in "Taxi." However, she has had roles in other productions. For example, between 2015 and 2024, she appeared in a staggering 21 television films about the fictional detective Aurora Teagarden. Henner is one of the reigning queens of television mysteries.

Linda Purl played two roles in "Happy Days." First, she played Gloria, a love interest of Richie Cunningham. Then, she gained more recognition for playing Fonzi's girlfriend, Ashley Pfister. It seems that, for all their differences, Richie and Fonzi had something in common — Purl!

Purl also had a major role in the 1982 horror film "Visiting Hours." That movie was part of the post-"Halloween" slasher boom of the early 1980s. Many of these films used the same basic structure but made themselves distinct through their settings. What made "Visiting Hours" stand out was that it took place in a hospital.

Since 2020, Purl and actor Patrick Duffy have been in a relationship. Both actors have appeared alongside each other in the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful." It's interesting that Purl made her name through a light comedy like "Happy Days" and yet she feels perfect in a more dramatic role in "The Bold and the Beautiful."

"The Jeffersons" is one of the 1970s sitcoms that revolutionized the way Black characters were portrayed on television. Marla Gibbs was one of the main actors on the show. With her role as Florence Johnston, the Jeffersons' maid, she added an extra punch to the show and stole scene after scene. During a 2026 interview with AARP, she confessed she didn't think the role would guarantee stable employment. "It felt good, but you never know what's going to happen with a TV show," she said. "I had been a reservation agent at United Airlines for more than 10 years at that point. I got unlimited passes, and I thought, 'I'm not giving them up.' So I stayed at United a couple more years."

After "The Jeffersons" was canceled, she appeared on a spin-off called "Checking In," as well as other shows such as "227," "Station 19," "Grey's Anatomy," "Days of Our Lives," and "The Thundermans." In 2026, she had a guest role on "Chicago Med." Gibbs revealed why she's still active. "As long as I'm working, I'm feeling like 30," she explained. "I hope there's never a point where I stop working. If I do, it'll be time for me to make the transition."

If you are a fan of 1970s sitcoms, you know Sally Struthers from her role as Gloria Stivic in "All in the Family," one of the most influential sitcoms of the decade. During a 2024 interview with Next Avenue, Struthers asked what she thought of when she reminisced about the show. "A naivete, an innocence, a lack of knowledge of what this was going to do to my life, and being constantly surprised how everything changed," she said. "I became a face and a name that became so well known that I think that's why I work constantly."

Since "All in the Family" came to an end, Struthers primarily focused on theater. However, starting in 2024, she has appeared on the Netflix series "A Man on the Inside," which is based on the documentary "The Mole Agent." All these years later, Struthers is still making us laugh — and she doesn't even need Archie Bunker's help to do it!

The character of Rhoda from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was so popular she became the center of her own self-titled spin-off. Julie Kavner first received recognition as an actor for playing Brenda Morgenstern on "Rhoda." During a 2009 interview with the East Bay Times, Kavner said the cast of "Rhoda" treated her with respect even though she was relatively new to acting. "I think a big part of that was almost everyone had worked in theater," she opined. "And like it is in theater, it was always about the work. All you had to do was concentrate on making the best show you could. We shot the series in front of a studio audience. So, that helped me a lot."

However, Kavner is not primarily known for playing Brenda Morgenstern. Rather, she is mostly known for providing the voice of Marge Simpson. She played Marge in animated segments of "The Tracey Ullman Show," which became the springboard for "The Simpsons." "The Simpsons" premiered in 1989, and it's been Kavner's main show ever since. In addition to voicing Marge, Kavner had roles in seven Woody Allen movies: "Hannah and Her Sisters," "Radio Days," "Oedipus Wrecks," "Alice," "Shadows and Fog," "Don't Drink the Water," and "Deconstructing Harry." Her comic talent and her East Coast accent made her perfect for Allen's movies.

It's interesting when an actor is most known for a role he did not originate. The first actor to play "Hawkeye" Pierce was Donald Sutherland in Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H*." While the film was a hit, it was nowhere near as ubiquitous as its television adaptation. On the show, Alan Alda played Hawkeye. The TV show had a much gentler tone and broader humor than its predecessor, which might explain why it was one of the most popular 1970s sitcoms. After playing that beloved character, Alda appeared in films such as "Crimes and Misdemeanors," "The Aviator," and "Tower Heist."

Today, he hosts a podcast named "Clear+Vivid With Alan Alda," which repeatedly features scientists as guests. "I'm interested in how scientists communicate," Alda told Forbes in 2024. "I try to make each show a model of communicating. If I don't get it, don't understand it, I keep after the guest until I do. The hope is that at least some of the podcast listeners will be on that same hunt for understanding, get somewhere they hadn't been before."

Alda discussed the eclecticism of the guests on his podcast. "It's not only scientists, by the way," he explained. "I've done more than 300 of them. Scientists are only a small part of those I have on." He has also spoken with musicians, actors, and politicians.