It might be stating the obvious, but actors are just like the rest of us. Just because an actor is famous for a role he or she played in the past doesn't mean that, when a job comes along in the present, they won't take it. Work is work, and for those in the acting community that are pragmatic, the paycheck is always welcome.

Still, it's disconcerting to see a familiar star of the past in a random ad in the present. This has been the case with a Pup-Peroni ad I've been seeing the last few weeks. In it, a woman takes a photo of her dog getting fluffed up at the groomers, and we see what the dog is really thinking: "This better not end up on Facebook."

The woman's face and voice were unmistakable to any fan of '80s TV: it was Erin Gray, who was the object of many a pre-teen crush when she starred in 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century' and 'Silver Spoons.' The ad and more are after the jump.



Realize that this is not an ad featuring "TV's Erin Gray" endorsing a product. She's just appearing as a random dog owner who wants to take a picture of her adorable dog getting a very adorable haircut. The second half of the ad has a different woman playing a different owner taking a picture of her dog doing something adorable.

Why would she do it? Why not? While Gray has scaled back her acting career a bit -- she's done some voice over work, and has appeared in a few low-rent TV movies like 'Ghouls' in the last few years -- it seems like she's keeping busy. She not only makes appearances at fan conventions, but she teaches Tai Chi and runs an agency that books genre celebrities on speaking engagements. It might be a product she uses, and, as I said, Pup-peroni's checks cash just as easily as anyone else's.

As far as why the Pup-Peroni folks would cast a recognizable face in the role, well, this post might be one reason. No one but pet owners would be talking about the product otherwise. But it could also be that the casting directors, who may not be old enough to remember Erin's previous TV fame, got the audition of an attractive, mature woman, and just thought she fit well in the role.

Commercial casting directors tend not to cast recognizable faces in roles, mainly because audiences are supposed to be able to identify with people in the ads as if they're anonymous, regular folks. It's why you tend to see the same actor in a lot of ads at once then not for a while, or why an actor tends to stop doing ads after doing series TV, even if the series is unsuccessful.

Felicia Day of 'The Guild' said as much a couple years ago when people found her in a random Sears ad after her starring role in 'Dr. Horrible' and a memorable guest turn on 'House.' "In fact, being recognized is NOT good for commercials," she said back then. "They want anonymous faces instead of people they know, so cross fingers that ad people don't watch web video!"

It's one of the reasons why seeing familiar faces in ads can be so strange. Elisabeth Moss in an Excedrin ad? Sure, Excedrin resurrected it because of 'Mad Men,' but it was still odd. Richard Fancy in a random Comcast commercial? All I can think of when I see it is Elaine's pre-Peterman boss, Mr. Lippman, on 'Seinfeld.' And when I see Mark DeCarlo play a random business owner in a bank commercial, I don't think of him as a business owner; I just see the host of the oh-so-early-'90s game show 'Studs.'

Of course, all of this could just mean that I'm too damn old and remember way too much about the TV of the past, and considering most people don't watch ads anymore, it probably doesn't matter who is in them, anyway. But it's just interesting to see some good actors taking advantage of what seems to be the ad industry's institutional memory loss and making some money.

(Follow @joelkeller on Twitter.)