 Fridays partners changed early on for various reasons:  Barton Yarborough (qv) died five days after shooting the second  episode; Barney Phillips (qv) had a habit of wetting his lips  (making reaction shots difficult); and Herbert Ellis (I) (qv), who  was never intended to be permanent, was hurried out for looking too  much like Friday. Ironically, Ben Alexander (I) (qv), who became  Fridays permanent partner, originally wanted to do only one episode  of the show (as a character actor).