8. Jeffrey Tambor
Underrated comedic talent Jeffrey Tambor has quietly carved out a niche for himself as a television institution. Before he was George and Oscar Bluth or ("Hey Now") Hank Kingsley, though, he appeared on The Golden Girls as a doctor one called upon to deal with a potentially serious health situation for Dorothy. In the two-part season five opener, Dorothy is a wreck; for months, she's been feeling tired, weak, and afraid. The inept Dr. Stevens (Tambor) blows her off, telling her there's nothing wrong with her and dismissing her as lonely and depressed. When a specialist in New York tells her the same thing, she checks in with her friend, Dr. Harry Weston (synergy!). Weston gives her the name of a better doctor, who finally diagnoses her with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Problem identified (and subsequently ignored). Tambor's character sounds like (and was) a jerk, but he plays it with an understated comedy that works perfectly especially when he tries to get Dorothy to guess which famous patient he just finished treating before her. After all, if she guesses, it's not a confidentiality breach, right?