Murder, She Wrote's 5 Best Celebrity Guest Stars

When it comes to amateur sleuths, few characters in television can contend with Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) from "Murder, She Wrote." Considered by many to be one of the best detective shows ever made, the series ran on CBS from 1984 to 1996. Fans of the show fondly remember the widowed mystery novelist who can't seem to travel anywhere without a murder taking place (or a distant niece or nephew being nearby). Fletcher always employs her sharp intellect and proficiency for mystery plots to catch killers and exonerate the innocent.Of course, in her many adventures solving mysteries, she encounters a plethora of characters that built the plots of hundreds of episodes. 

Such a large blending of talent facilitated the appearances of some famous Hollywood faces, many of whom had yet to take the industry by storm. To showcase the prominent casting that came and went over the series' 12 season run, we've compiled a list of the five best celebrity appearances on "Murder, She Wrote."

Three years after he started portraying the titular young physician on "Doogie Howser, M.D.," Neil Patrick Harris was delivering groceries to Jessica Fletcher and her neighbors. In the Season 9 episode "Lone Witness," Harris plays a store delivery boy named Tommy Remsen. He tells Fletcher that he saw her neighbor Monica Evers (Liz Vassey) dead on the ground while an unknown man stood over her. After the police can't find evidence of Remsen's claim, he runs away, becoming a suspect. Fletcher gets further involved to find and exonerate him.

"Lone Witness" showcases a different side to Harris' acting, whose role on "Doogie Howser, M.D." dipped into the comedic pool. While he still carried a humorous charm into future projects like "How I Met Your Mother," his role as Remsen was a graduation for his career, which at that point had defined him as a child star. 

Long before crossovers on television were as prominent as they are now, there was the Season 3 episode of "Murder, She Wrote" entitled "Magnum on Ice." The episode not only features Tom Selleck, but it sees him in his familiar role as Thomas Magnum, the laidback private detective from "Magnum, P.I." In the episode, Jessica Fletcher is in Hawaii while Magnum is in jail, having been framed for two murders. She carries out her own investigation to uncover the truth and clear his name.

The episode is the second half of a two-parter that begins with the Season 7 "Magnum, P.I." episode "Novel Connection," which guest stars Angela Lansbury as Fletcher. She is called on by her friend Pamela Bates (Dorothy Loudon), one of several passengers in a car that was almost forced off a cliff by a truck. Bates contacts Fletcher to come down and find who was responsible, declining Magnum's offered services. Selleck's action-oriented investigator is an entertaining contrast to Lansbury's refined and assuming novelist.

It's hard to imagine Courteney Cox, who played Monica on "Friends," as a socialite bride-to-be who thinks her long-dead grandfather is secretly alive and leaving her presents. But that's exactly who the Alabama-born star played on "Murder, She Wrote."

In the two-part Season 3 opener "Death Stalks the Big Top," Cox plays Carol Bannister, a wealthy grand-niece to Jessica Fletcher. After receiving a unique wedding gift in the form of a silver leprechaun, she believes it was sent by her beloved grandfather Neil (Jackie Cooper), Fletcher's former brother-in-law. Up until this point, everyone believed he was dead for years. He is eventually found working for a nearby traveling circus under the alias Carl Schulman.

"Death Stalks the Big Top" featured one of Cox's earliest roles, and she shines in both episodes. Its concluding part features a heartfelt reunion between her and her grandfather before she walks down the aisle, and Cox puts on some great emotional flair.

Bryan Cranston is extremely versatile — effortlessly playing both a drug kingpin and a goofy suburban father of boys. But before his breakout role playing Hal on "Malcolm in the Middle," Cranston was playing with a ball and racket on "Murder, She Wrote."

Season 2's "Menace, Anyone?" sees Cranston as Brian East, a tennis player engaged to Carol McDermott (Linda Hamilton). While his role is a catalyst for the episode, it's unfortunately short-lived. He is killed after the car he borrowed from his fiancé explodes, making her the prime suspect. Jessica Fletcher soon finds that the intended target of the explosion was McDermott herself.

Cranston would later have guest roles as different characters in Seasons 6 and 12, but his appearance in "Menace, Anyone?" may be the most memorable. His character's death at the beginning kickstarts the episode's story, and his on-screen wife was famous after starring in "The Terminator" around two years prior to the episode airing.

George Clooney is no stranger to television roles, playing factory foreman Booker Brooks on "Roseanne" and favorite pediatrician Dr. Doug Ross on "ER." His voice was also unrecognizable as the first celebrity guest star on "South Park." But his extensive work in television also includes his lesser-known roles, such as Kip Howard on "Murder, She Wrote."

Clooney's character is seen in the Season 3 episode "No Laughing Murder." Howard is the son of comedian Mack Howard (Steve Lawrence), who was part of a comedic duo with Murray Gruen (Buddy Hackett) before parting on bad terms. Gruen's daughter Corrie (Beth Windsor) is marrying Howard's son Kip, and invites friend Jessica Fletcher to the engagement party.  

At this point in Clooney's acting career, he was only relatively known. His most prominent role prior to this was as handyman George Burnett on "The Facts of Life." Over a year after playing Howard, he started his recurring role in the series premiere of "Roseanne."