14:38Classic TV · 1977Mork & Mindy Cast Then and Now
Episode: Mork & Mindy (1978): Cast Then & Now 2026 — 48 Years Later… Who’s Still With Us?
From Hollywood Legends Era · 20 min ·
About the Mork & Mindy Cast Then and Now
The Mork & Mindy cast then and now is a story of one bright, unusual sitcom and the people who brought it to life. The ABC series premiered on September 14, 1978, and ran for four seasons until May 27, 1982.
Set in Boulder, Colorado, it followed Mork, a visitor from the planet Ork, and Mindy McConnell, the young woman who took him in. It made Robin Williams a household name almost overnight.
Forty-eight years after the premiere, six of the ten actors who were series regulars have passed away. Of the two stars, Pam Dawber is still with us. Here is what became of them, plus two familiar guests.
How Robin Williams Became Mork
Mork first appeared on Happy Days, in the February 1978 episode "My Favorite Orkan." The producers needed an actor for the spaceman on short notice.
Accounts differ on who first suggested Robin Williams. Several 2015 obituaries credited Al Molinaro, who played Al Delvecchio on Happy Days and knew Williams from an improv class. When Williams was asked to take a seat, he famously sat on his head instead.
The episode went over so well that ABC gave Mork his own series that fall.
Where Is the Mork & Mindy Cast Now?
Robin Williams as Mork
Robin Williams was born in Chicago on July 21, 1951. He studied at Juilliard under John Houseman and was 26 when he first played Mork.
In January 1979, he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Comedy or Musical for the role. He later won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting.
Robin Williams died on August 11, 2014, at his home in Marin County, California, at age 63. The coroner ruled his death a suicide, and an autopsy later found he had been living with diffuse Lewy body disease. His wife, Susan Schneider, asked people to remember the joy and laughter he gave to millions.
Pam Dawber as Mindy McConnell
Pam Dawber, born in Detroit on October 18, 1951, had very little acting experience when Garry Marshall cast her. Earlier in 1978 she had played a young nun in the TV movie Sister Terri. She was 26 when the show premiered.
She later starred in My Sister Sam from 1986 to 1988. Mark Harmon has told People that he skipped a planned group date and called her himself, and they went out that same night. They married on March 21, 1987, a year to the day later, and raised two sons.
In 2021 she appeared on NCIS alongside her husband as journalist Marcie Warren. She turns 75 on October 18, 2026.
Conrad Janis as Fred McConnell
Conrad Janis played Fred McConnell, Mindy's father and the owner of a music store. His father, art dealer Sidney Janis, gave 103 works, including a Picasso, to New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1967.
Music was his lifelong passion. In 1949, he put together a jazz band with greats James P. Johnson and Baby Dodds, playing trombone himself. In the late 1970s he formed the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band, which appeared on The Tonight Show and played eight sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall.
Fred was written out in season two and returned in season three. Conrad Janis died on March 1, 2022, at age 94.
Elizabeth Kerr as Cora Hudson
Elizabeth Kerr played Cora Hudson, Mindy's spirited grandmother. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1912, she began acting at the Pasadena Playhouse.
In 1947 she founded the Glendale Civic Theater. In the episode "Old Fears," which aired November 30, 1978, Mork used his Orkan age machine to become a friend her own age, and Cora learned his secret.
Elizabeth Kerr died on January 13, 2000, at age 87.
Tom Poston as Franklin Bickley
Tom Poston played Mr. Bickley, the grumpy downstairs neighbor who wrote greeting cards. Born in Columbus, Ohio, on October 17, 1921, he flew as a pilot in the Army Air Forces during World War II, then made his Broadway debut in 1947 in José Ferrer's Cyrano de Bergerac.
He won a 1959 Emmy as the forgetful "Man in the Street" on The Steve Allen Show. Later, as handyman George Utley on Newhart, he earned three more Emmy nominations.
He and Suzanne Pleshette had dated briefly in 1959, reconnected in 2000 and married in 2001. Tom Poston died on April 30, 2007, at age 85, and Pleshette died less than nine months later.
Jay Thomas as Remo DaVinci
Jay Thomas, born Jon Thomas Terrell in Kermit, Texas, joined the show in 1979 as Remo DaVinci, who ran the local deli with his sister. He later played Eddie LeBec on Cheers and won two Emmys for his guest role as Jerry Gold on Murphy Brown.
On Late Show with David Letterman in December 1998, after Letterman and Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde failed to knock a meatball off a Christmas tree with footballs, Thomas walked on and did it with one throw. He came back every Christmas season for the rest of the show's run.
Jay Thomas died of cancer on August 24, 2017, at age 69.
Gina Hecht as Jeanie DaVinci
Gina Hecht played Jeanie DaVinci, Remo's sister and partner, in seasons two and three. She made her film debut in Ron Howard's Night Shift in 1982 and played Judith in St. Elmo's Fire in 1985.
Seinfeld fans know her as Dana Foley, Jerry's therapist, in three episodes. Her recent work includes Dave and a 2024 episode of Grey's Anatomy. She is 72.
Jim Staahl as Nelson Flavor
Jim Staahl played Nelson Flavor, Mindy's strait-laced cousin with political dreams, in seasons two and three. In his first episode, "Mork vs. Mindy," Nelson hired both Mork and Mindy for his city council campaign.
Staahl began at Chicago's Second City and was also a writer. He earned the story credit on the 1981 episode "I Heard It Through the Morkvine," wrote for Disney's Teacher's Pet and helped develop the cartoon Bobby's World for Howie Mandel. He has received two Emmy nominations.
Crissy Wilzak as Glenda Faye Comstock
Crissy Wilzak played Glenda Faye Comstock, Mindy's widowed friend and Nelson's love interest, in season three.
On Broadway, she appeared in Seesaw in 1973 and played Vicki in A Chorus Line. In 1980 she received a Drama Desk nomination for her role as Ginger Brooks in The 1940's Radio Hour.
Jonathan Winters as Mearth
In "Three the Hard Way," which aired October 29, 1981, Mork laid an egg that hatched into a fully grown man. Since Orkans age backward, the baby, Mearth, was played by 55-year-old Jonathan Winters, while Robin Williams was 30. Winters had appeared earlier that year as Mindy's Uncle Dave.
Williams called Winters his idol, and later his mentor and friend. Winters won an Emmy for Davis Rules in 1991 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 1999. In 2008, Williams presented him with a TV Land Pioneer Award. Jonathan Winters died on April 11, 2013, at age 87.
Robert Donner as Exidor
Robert Donner, a recurring guest rather than a regular, played Exidor, the self-proclaimed prophet who led "The Friends of Venus" and insisted Mork was an alien. He first appeared in "Mork Runs Away" in September 1978 and played the role in 22 episodes.
Before that, he played Boss Shorty in Cool Hand Luke and Yancy Tucker on The Waltons. Robert Donner died on June 8, 2006, at age 75.
Ralph James as the Voice of Orson
Each episode ended with Mork reporting to Orson, his unseen superior on Ork. Ralph James gave Orson his booming voice from 1978 to 1982.
He was also the voice of Mr. Turtle in the Tootsie Pop commercials of the 1970s. Ralph James died on March 14, 1992, at age 67.
Why Mork & Mindy Still Brings a Smile
Mork & Mindy worked because of a simple idea: an outsider looking at ordinary life with fresh eyes. Mork's reports to Orson often turned a silly week into a gentle lesson about kindness.
It also brought together very different talents, from a young comic on fire to veterans of Broadway, jazz clubs and early television. Where were you when Mork first landed on your television, and which of his reports to Orson do you still remember?
Sources and Further Reading
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