History Main / LivingProp

* Lieutenant Leslie in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. So much a prop that in one episode, he is killed off and later reappears in the background in the assumption that no-one would notice. Despite (or perhaps because of) this, he has his own [[http://www.eddiepaskey.com/ fan site]]. Leslie appears in more episodes than Sulu or Chekov, though you could count the number of episodes he has lines in on one hand.

** One background character who fit the stereotype of a butch lesbian earned the FanNickname "Alex Sapphic." Eventually she was scene standing with another random extra, deemed her girlfriend "Leslie Bean."

** Because the Doctor Who production team used the same stuntmen repeatedly in those days, you would get a recurring group of silent uncredited redshirts. Pat Gorman was one who got bits of dialogue and graduated to credited status near the end of the UNIT era, but even then he was still known as "UNIT Corporal" or "Soldier." One of them, Max Faulkner, appeared in a small capacity as a redshirt UNIT soldier in 1970, but by his next appearance in 1975, had gotten a rank and a last name "Corporal Adams." I wouldn't say Corporal Bell was much of a living prop. In her two appearances, the character had lines and was credited, and also advanced the plot somewhat.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' uses many of the same background characters, but except for a few, like the surfer fish, they have a different voice every time.
* In ''{{Spider-Man The New Animated Series}}'' (the short-lived CGI MTV series), the budgetary limitations forced the animators to reuse certain character models as extras over and over again, sometime in very different context. Lampshaded in the DVD extras.

* AlfredHitchcock loved to do this. [[CreatorCameo To himself.]]

* Jeff, Louie's assistant on ''{{Taxi}}'', and sadly, the only black character on the show. NickAtNite once chronicled his rise from just lurking in the background, to getting a couple of lines here and there, to having the occasional subplot and a single episode in the limelight.

* In ''Anime/Pokemon'', there are many minor background characters who go on to make appearances throughout the years, or seemingly minor one shot guests that can be seen in the background of later episodes. This happens even across entire regions. There's a long haired male trainer with a hoodie and a baseball cap who appeared in episodes from the original Pokemon anime up to Black & White, and he was even in the first movie and the later Mewtwo tv special. All that without ever receiving a name or interacting with the show's main cast.

* While he manages to keep basic parts of his personality intact (albeit with heavy {{Flanderization}}), Gourry Gabriev the [[IdiotHero dim-witted]] swordsman from ''{{Slayers}}'' became this in the anime, and many manga and games that followed it turned him into this. His foremost function is the fact that he's the [[BadassNormal non-magic wielding]] swordsman, and the sword he owns happens to be a powerful weapon that many in the 'verse would kill to get their hands on it. The most egregorious case of this is the third season of the anime, where Gourry's role is limited to both trying to keep the Sword of Light away from the main antagonist and his [[ThoseTwoGuys henchmen.]], and [[DumbBlonde being clueless]]. Even during the breather episodes that normally allow for CharacterDevelopment, he remains static - notable because the main group gets separated, and he winds up alone with [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Amelia]], whom he usually does not interact with on a casual level. While he gets the worst of this trope in the anime, he's a bit better off in other places, but not by much - at most, he's the brawn of the group who shows sporadic insight and has [[OfficialCouple romantic feelings]] for [[RedHeadedHeroine Lina]].
** It gets worse when one realizes that ''all'' of Gourry's background is limited to interviews given by the author in the magazine the light novels were initially published in - and this is all despite of the more colorful characterization Gourry has in that medium (ObfuscatingStupidity and having a clever sense of humor, for one).
** All of Lina's companions were poorly tacked onto the plot of the ''Slayers Premium'' NonSerialMovie, making it seem as though they were put there to appease fans as Lina initiates most of the movie's action. Xellos stands out because his screen time is somewhere around four minutes of him mentioning the situation to Zelgadis and Amelia, then noting how amusing the entire incident was. In contrast, ''Premium's'' manga adaptation integrated everyone equally and well.

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', there are a lot of kids in Madoka's class, but most of them don't even have lines except for indistinct background chatter. One of them, however, is nicknamed [[FanNickname "Poorfag"]] for being seen without a laptop in a scene where everyone in the class had their laptops out, and has an entire book's worth of {{Fanon}} about her.

* A common criticism of the Johto arc of ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' is Brock and Misty being reduced to "moving background."

* ''TheBill'' calls such characters "Totally Reliable Extra Veterans" ([=TREVs=]).

* In ''Manga/GakuenBabysitters'', it's almost as if Midori exists purely to show that Usaida is not a complete LazyBum and can take care of at least one of the kids. Granted, a lot of this comes from the fact that she's a baby who can't communicate amongst a group of toddlers with basic speech skills, but even the one chapter that's ostensibly about her is actuallymore about her mother.
* Invoked in the first chapter of a Manga/LupinIII manga. Lupin has disguised himself as one of the guests in a mansion. Zenigata (and the reader) spends most of the chapter trying to figure out who Lupin is, only to find out at the end that he was that glasses-wearing background character who had, like, two lines of dialogue up to that point.

* Most of the other Greenshirts and Nerd Herd staff at the Buy More on ''{{Chuck}}'' are effectively Living Props. Although a few get lines and names, (Skip, Fernando and Bunny) they rarely get significant characterization or screen time. There are nonetheless several who appear throughout the series. This is {{Lampshade}}d in season 4, when the CIA gets the idea of [[InvokedTrope Invoking]] this trope by buying, rebuilding and fully staffing the Buy More with CIA agents to take advantage of the anonymity of big box chain store employees. Unfortunately, the CIA agents end up ''standing out'' instead, but that's what you get for expecting people to believe OliviaMunn, SummerGlau, and Advertising/TheManYourManCouldSmellLike would actually work at the Buy More...
* In some episodes of ''EverybodyLovesRaymond'', Ray and Debra's kids come off as living props. There often are entire episodes where they have no lines. Even when they do have parts in the show, they usually only are to start the main plot with the adult cast.
* In ''TheInbetweeners'' Carli D'Amato's best friend is a girl name Rachel who plays a small part in one episode and gets one line in the movie ("stalking you abroad") but who otherwise simply hovers silently at Carli's side to show she actually has a friend.

* Invoked in the first chapter of the original LupinIII manga. Zenigata (and the reader) spends most of the chapter trying to figure out who Lupin is, only to find out at the end that he was that glasses-wearing background character who had, like, two lines of dialogue up to that point.

* Thanks to [[CreatorsPet the producers forgetting they had other players]] in ''Series/{{Survivor}}: Samoa'', several people who weren't outright OutOfFocus were more or less living props. Mick gets this the hardest.
** Vecepia Trowley in ''Marquesas'' may also count.
** Recently, Purple Kelly was treated as one - chances are this was revenge by the producers.
** One of the sequels, [[CreatorsPet The Rob and Phillip Show]] cast a couple of these.

* Likewise, ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' has also had this happen in seasons with [[SpotlightStealingSquad very]] [[CreatorsPet poor]] [[OutOfFocus editing]]. In ''Samoa'' and ''One World'', the ''season winner'' could have been called a LivingProp.
* Most of the other Greenshirts and Nerd Herd staff at the Buy More on ''{{Chuck}}'' are effectively {{LivingProp}}s. Although a few get lines and names, (Skip, Fernando and Bunny) they rarely get significant characterization or screen time. There are nonetheless several who appear throughout the series. This is {{Lampshade}}d in season 4, when the CIA gets the idea of [[InvokedTrope Invoking]] this trope by buying, rebuilding and fully staffing the Buy More with CIA agents to take advantage of the anonymity of big box chain store employees. Unfortunately, the CIA agents end up ''standing out'' instead, but that's what you get for expecting people to believe OliviaMunn, SummerGlau, and Advertising/TheManYourManCouldSmellLike would actually work at the Buy More...

* Sienna Cammeniti (played by model and ''2006 Miss Australia'' ''[=Erin McNaught=]'') was added to {{Neighbours}} for the sole purpose of [[BestKnownForTheFanservice sexing-up the cast]] and helping boost ratings. It didn't work.

* ''Series/DadsArmy'': the seven main characters make up only about a third of the troop. The rest are just props.

* [[Series/{{Batman}} Batman TV series]]: In a CrowningMomentOfFunny, LargeHam King Tut madly screams his dialogue to the ear of one of the beautiful mute LivingProp slave girls of his harem. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTQ0RHE8ZhA She tries her best to do not change her indifferent expression]].

* In Dale Messick's comic strip ''Brenda Starr'', most of the scenes in the newsroom featured a lot of anonymous characters in the background while Brenda was the center of attention. For several years, Messick included in background panels a female staffer with a distinctive topknot and glasses, but this character was unnamed and had no dialogue. Abruptly, Messick wrote a continuity in which this character — suddenly identified as Lucy Fixture — won a fortune in the sweepstakes and had an adventure of her own before vanishing from the strip.

* {{Subversion}}: Whilst everyone you don't know may seem like this at first, they are actually [[HeroOfAnotherStory heroes of different stories]]. Though, the HeroOfAnotherStory gets averted by people who [[VillainProtagonist just plain bad]], [[DesignatedHero alleged good guys]] (read: Politicians, [[AbusiveParents family members you are less than fond of]], [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking door-to-door salespeople]]) and people who are [[ShrinkingViolet too shy for their own good]].
* Invoked in Japanese theatre. The stagehands in western theatre would normally be offstage most of the time, only showing up if there was a SpecialEffectFailure. In contrast, Japanese theatre had the stagehands be visible a lot more, and they would dress in a black suit and wear a mask that only showed their eyes...[[{{Ninja}} sound familiar?]] Thus, the audience was trained to ignore the people in black suits...and then would jump in shock when one of those living props draws a weapon and "kills" one of the characters.

* ''Series/{{Buffy|the Vampire Slayer}}'' did this a few times. SethGreen was just scenery for quite a while before his character Oz was given a name and a bigger role.

* Walter Harriman in ''{{Stargate SG-1}}''. Originally [[FanNickname nicknamed]] "Chevron Guy" because his only role in the series was to announce EngagingChevrons, he got a proper name and some involvement in the plot in later seasons.

** ...and Miles O'Brien in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', who went from being an unimportant helmsman in the shows pilot to a recurring secondary character as a transporter chief and then on to be a major character in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.

* In ''Series/MissionImpossible'' an in-universe example - when Phelps needed to introduce the mark to a phony place of business or hospital, he would often recruit the Hartford Repretory Players to serve as background workers or doctors.

** The full names of [[http://danbooru.donmai.us/post/show/657065/ all the girls in the class are now known]](Ads NSFW). While classmates with speaking lines in the show are still ahead in regard to the amount of fanart they have, every girl in the class is now getting her own fanart.

* In ''Series/MissionImpossible''An in-universe example - when Phelps needed to introduce the mark to a phony place of business or hospital, he would often recruit the Hartford Repretory Players to serve as background workers or doctors.