Bit roles before they were "famous"

Discussion in 'TV & Media' started by The Borgified Corpse, Jan 15, 2009.

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  1. Aragorn

    Aragorn Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    That gets promoted heavily when the movie airs on NBC.

    "Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr. and ER's Noah Wyle... star in a Few Good Men."
     
  2. ToddPence

    ToddPence Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Here's some other TOS regulars before TOS:

    George Takei from "The Twilight Zone". This episode has not been seen on TV since it first aired, although it has been released on video and DVD.

    [​IMG]

    Here's a couple from "The Fugitive". The first with Jimmy Doohan. The second with DeForest Kelley.

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    And, of course, we can't forget that Shatner was on "The Fugitive", too.

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    Here's a couple of more with Kelley, from separate episodes of "Route 66" . . .

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    [​IMG]

    . . . which, incidentally, was ANOTHER series that the ever-present Shatner was on.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHRC6YlmqPw&feature=channel_page

    Three more youtube clips - these are from separate episodes of the 1960's high school drama "Mr. Novak", a series with a lot of Star Trek connections, and each features Walter Koenig:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKTyLfGoSEU

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhJCvewqpGg

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHsVLk1E4sI

    Koenig's full-length Alfred Hitchcock episode, "Memo From Purgatory", can also be seen at hulu.com (as can Shatner's).
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2009
  3. Finn

    Finn Bad Batch of TrekBBS Admiral

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    Gywenth Paltrow in Hook
     
  4. NCC1701

    NCC1701 Commodore Commodore

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    He also plays a pilot in Waterworld, which was 3 years before Enemy of the State. I wasn't quite sure it was him until I saw the credits, he didn't seem to have gained weight til after that, though it's been a while since I saw Waterworld.
     
  5. Skywalker

    Skywalker Admiral Admiral

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    Jack Black also plays a minor role in the rollerblading film Airborne, which was two years before Waterworld, along with Seth Green. Speaking of Seth Green, he was also in Ticks.
     
  6. Sephiroth

    Sephiroth Vice Admiral Admiral

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    and as I noted earlier, he was also on Tales from the Darkside
     
  7. Aragorn

    Aragorn Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Tales from the Darkside: The Movie

    Christian Slater was the known commodity, but in his segment were also Steve Buscemi and Julianne Moore.
     
  8. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Commodore Commodore

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    Quantum Leap -

    I know that Jennifer Aniston was mentioned already

    Both future Trek cast members Terry Ferrell and Robert Duncan McNeill appear in separate episodes.

    The same for future Desperate Housewives Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher.

     
  9. The Borgified Corpse

    The Borgified Corpse Admiral Admiral

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    A pre-Bones Emily Deschanel has a bit role as a secretary at the beginning of Spider-Man 2.

    John Ratzenberger seemed to pop up all over the place in the late 1970s/early 1980s. He has one line as a Rebel Alliances deck officer on Hoth in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. He's one of the military guys tracking the nuclear missiles in Superman: The Movie. And he's one of the NASA mission control guys in Superman II.

    Before he was Captain Hollister on Red Dwarf, Mac Macdonald had a bit role as a colony administrator on LV-426 in Aliens. Ironically, his role was cut from the theatrical version and didn't resurface until the special edition came out in the early 1990s, after Red Dwarf premiered.
     
  10. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Commodore Commodore

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    All of those films were made in England. Ratzenberger was living there in the mid to late 70s. He got a lot of bit roles which called for American actors. Often military men.
     
  11. Aragorn

    Aragorn Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    And now he probably gets asked more questions about his three-second role in Star Wars than his 11 years on Cheers.
     
  12. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Emmy Rossum was on Law & Order when she was a kid. About 11, I think.
     
  13. Aragorn

    Aragorn Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Emmy Rossum played a young Audrey Hepburn in the movie starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.

    Tom Noonan was Frankenstein in The Monster Squad, but that came after F/X and Manhunter, so maybe he wasn't unknown anymore.
     
  14. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    John Spencer (Leo from The West Wing) was in the movie WarGames. He played one of the military guys in the bunker at the beginning. He had great lines like this:

    "SCREW the procedure. I want somebody on the (#%*^ phone before I kill twenty million people!"

    He was also in the first L&O episode ever broadcast (not the first one made; they weren't aired in production order in the first season). He was the victim's father.
     
  15. KeptinChris

    KeptinChris Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Jack Black as an arcade attendant in The X-Files.
     
  16. Hermiod

    Hermiod Admiral Admiral

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    Mac MacDonald has had loads of similar roles - he's an American but he lives in the UK so whenever an American movie was produced in Britain, chances are there would be a part for him.

    The Superman movies had a lot of American ex-pat actors too. MacDonald himself is in Superman IV.
     
  17. rafterman1701

    rafterman1701 Commodore Commodore

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    Quentin Tarantino as an Elvis impersonator in an episode of the Golden Girls.
     
  18. The Borgified Corpse

    The Borgified Corpse Admiral Admiral

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    I recently saw an old rerun of Law & Order: SVU with a very young Hayden Panettiere. She played the emotionally neglected daughter of a famous singer. Eventually, the little girl becomes totally obsessed with Olivia Benson.
     
  19. Luckyflux

    Luckyflux Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    BRAINS!!!! BRAINS!!!!

    Another early Jack Black, he played a mechanical engineer of sorts in The Jackal
     
  20. propita

    propita Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    For the same reason he was singing--along with Lee Marvin--in "Paint Your Wagon."

    Robert Duvall's debut was as Boo Radley in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Important character who appears on screen only in the last scene.

    Bill Pullman in "Ruthless People." Actually a funny movie. Think 1980s--totally 1980s.

    Brent Spiner had been in a number of things before his recurring role on "Night Court"--but it's that character I recognized him from: "Bob," said with a kind of abrupt drawl.
     
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