A couple of months ago I was watching Ocean’s Eleven, and noticed that Don Cheadle is nowhere in the credits–it’s like Basher Tarr’s character didn’t exist in that movie. It’s not on IMDB, either. This doesn’t make much sense to me–it would be one thing if Basher wasn’t a high profile character, but he’s got just as many lines as the Mormon brothers, and they’re both listed.
Is there a story behind this? And can anyone come up with other actors/roles who didn’t make the credits of a movie in which they had a good-sized speaking role?
In “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” Robin Williams is listed in the credits as “Ray D. Tutto”. His agent discouraged him from appearing in the movie, and the pseudonym was a compromise.
Sean Connery in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robert Duvall in The Conversation
Alec Guinness in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi
Gene Hackman in Young Frankenstein
Glenda Jackson in The Boyfriend
Raul Julia in Havana
Bill Murray in Tootsie
Jack Nicholson in Broadcast News
Elizabeth Taylor in Winter Kills
Not true. He doesn’t appear until the end credits (and was also omitted from all posters, trailers, and publicity material), but he does appear in the closing credits.
Not a movie but Ron Howard was never credited for his narrations on Arrested Development. I also wonder why uncredited parts exist… Something to do with the pay or actor’s guild regulations perhaps?
IIRC, Kathleen Turner’s role as the voice of Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? went uncredited at her request.
Not sure as to the “why” in the OP’s post. I don’t think Ms. Turner was concerned about being typecast or saddled with an embarrassing entry on her CV, as it was seemingly part of the publicity campaign during the film’s original release that she was the voice.
Judson Scott for Star Trek II: TWOK. Aside from him and Ricardo Montalban, none of the villains have any dialog at all.
And he closes his eyes after he dies.
This is definitely not true (he’s in the closing credits of both), and I’m inclined to believe IMDB over Wiki/EW, so I’m going to assert that Hackman is also credited in YF.
Victor Killian, who played the lead in the horrible SF film Unknown World*, was not credited. While the film was in post-production, he was blacklisted (this was the McCarthy era), so the producers removed his name.
Robin Williams in Dead Again.
There are several general reasons why big names aren’t credited. Most often, it’s at the request of the actor. If he’s a big star, but took a small role, he refuses credit so his agent doesn’t have to explain why he took so much less money in that movie than his usual fee.
*Sort of like The Core, but with worse science.
According to IMDB, Meercedes McCambridge had to sue to be credited as the voice of the demon in The Exorcist. That squares with my memory that she wasn’t credited at all when the film came out, and it was something of a surprise to find out that an Academy Award winner a) did the voice and B0 didn’t get credit.
Similarly, neither Debra Winger nor Pat Welsh received screen credit for their voice work on E.T..
James Earl Jones refused credit for doing the voice of Darth Vader in the three original Star Wars films, although I believe he is credited in the Special Editions.
There was some speculation that Linda Blair might have lost the Supporting Actress Oscar because of McCambridge’s fight for recognition after the film was out. Originally, people thought that part of Blair’s acting arsenal was the voice, which was later revealed to be MM’s. Another juvenile (Tatum O’Neal) won instead, though the Exorcist did win the Sound Oscar, in part for the effective vocal distortions on display.
John Wayne is not mentioned in the credits of Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven. However, since he had been dead for 13 years and, for this reason, took no part in the movie, this is not all that surprising.