Home » Black C-Listers, Now That's Dancing!, Random Nostalgia

Obscure Black C-Listers: Don Franklin

Thembi Ford 15 September 2008 7 Comments

This is NOT – I repeat – NOT Blair Underwood. When Mya on Girlfriends cheated on her husband with that jump-off Stan, he was played by Don Franklin, not Blair Underwood. When Regine from Living Single finally met her handsome millionaire Dexter Knight, that was Don Franklin again, and not Blair Underwood. I know it’s not just me, but for at least the first thirty seconds of Don Franklin’s screen time I’m always forced to make sure that he is not Blair Underwood, but instead his less successful alter ego. I don’t know whether Franklin’s resemblance to Blair Underwood has helped or hindered his career; Don Franklin certainly gets roles that need to be cast by a “Blair Underwood type,” but it must really sting to have a more successful doppelganger floating around Hollywood taking all of that chocolate drop shine that he could very well be soaking up himself. After television roles in The Young Riders, SeaQuest DSV, and Seven Days, three shows I didn’t watch, I don’t have much of a sense of his acting style or ability. To make matters worse, Franklin guest starred on the early The Cosby Show as one of Denise’s suitors and so did Underwood. Furthermore, Blair Underwood starred in 1985’s Krush Groove while Don Franklin starred in 1985’s way less popular dance movie, Fast Forward. Please take a look at this clip from Fast Forward and do this brother a favor by memorizing his face once and for all.

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading ... Loading ...

7 Comments »

  • bourgieadventures said:

    Thembi! I loved Fast Forward. I happen to be a sucker for cheesy dance movies, though.
    That poor brother can’t get a break because he resembles Blair so much.

    “We already have a Blair and he’s good enough, so why do we need his Doppleganger?” – Random Casting Exec.

    # 15 September 2008 at 3:46 pm
  • Aaliyah said:

    I LOVE ME SOME DON FRANKLIN and have always been plagued by that initial confusion of “Underwood or Franklin? Underwood or Franklin???”…all I know is I don’t see enough of either of these FINE brothas. sigh.

    # 15 September 2008 at 5:18 pm
  • Invisible Woman said:

    Girl, you TOO funny with this post!

    And why am I so very angry that you used the word doppleganger?! After reading your Buppies post, I was gonna repost it and say that “Thembi is my doppleganger”…now I can’t use it-get outta my head, girl! You are my doppleganger for real…only you and I would even use that word, lol!

    # 16 September 2008 at 8:27 am
  • Invisible Woman said:

    And that clip…omg is that dude? He is looking tangy as hayell!

    I see him counting in his head “and 5, 6, 7, 8″ po baby…

    # 16 September 2008 at 8:33 am
  • Missy said:

    Man….I really thought those guys were Blair. He’s gotta be crying foul. They look so much alike. Darn. Gotta pay closer attention because we all DON’T look alike…well, not usually.

    # 16 September 2008 at 8:23 pm
  • DJStylus said:

    whole lotta boom kacks in this video

    # 17 September 2008 at 8:38 am
  • jazzfan360 said:

    Oh, but darling, I *have* recognized his face. He’s just not the only one who has it. He was revelatory on In Treatment. Oh wait…

    # 1 October 2008 at 5:58 pm

So what do you think? Please be respectful to other readers!

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also subscribe to these comments via RSS.

You can use these tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

This is a Gravatar-enabled weblog. To get your own globally-recognized-avatar, please register at Gravatar.