It may be Hollywood PR BS, but over the years I’ve heard of a few actors who, supposedly, out of the blue, for a lark, decided to walk in off the street and audition, and “the rest is history.”
IIRC, Michael Landon always asserted, back when he was Eugene Orowitz, that he drove a friend to an audition, his friend wasn’t cast, but the director spotted young Gene, and said something like, “Hey, kid, you wanna give it a shot?”
So, does this happen, did it happen, and who are some of the bigger names just to “walk in off the street?”
I’ll also add William Obanheim and Nick Apollo Forte, who were cast in movies and, despite their inexperience, gave fine performances. Obanhiem (aka “Offier Obie”) went back to his day job as a cop and Apollo Forte (from Broadway Danny Rose) went back to lounge singing.
Eddie Egan turned to acting when they fictionalized him as “Popeye Doyle” in The French Connection.
Dennis Farina was also a cop. He acted as technical advisor on a film and ended up an actor.
He didn’t go on to become famous, but Craig Warnock, the kid who starred in Time Bandits hadn’t gone to the tryouts to audition. His brother was the one who wanted the part, and he was just tagging along.
One of Terry Gilliam’s first lines in the DVD commentary was “I hate children’s movies, and I hate child actors.” He then goes on [paraphrased], “When Craig’s brother was auditioning, he was the typical smiling child actor that I couldn’t stand. I happened to notice Craig off in the corner playing quietly by himself, and I decided he was the perfect one for the part.”
Say…is that where that part on the Radioactive Man Movie ep. of The Simpsons comes from?
(Raplh just finished auditioning)
Director: (spots Martin) Wait a minute, who is that boy, he’s perfect!
Assistant: I don’t know, he just came in with one of the other kids.
Director: Oh, nevermind then, it wouldn’t be fair to all the kids who filled out their audition forms.
Hmm… could be, but I think there are a bunch of “a star is born”-type movies where a nobody who didn’t even audition gets picked for a big movie. Simpsons is probably referring to that.
She came in for moral support for her sister who was auditioning for The Piano. She only auditioned because she happened to be there at the time. I imagine they gave her a form to fill out, and the rest, as they say, is a cliche.
Mr. T was basically a bouncer and a bodyguard launched into rarified superstardom after Stallone spotted him, built up Rocky II around him in what was supposed to originally be a small part with a few lines.
His first role in a movie was playing himself. There was a scandal in the Governor’s office here in Tennessee in the early 1980’s. He was an attorney for a whistleblower. When the film was made, he was asked to play himself.
It wasn’t his first time before the cameras though. In 1974 he served as Watergate Counsel to Senator Howard Baker (R. TN) (currently Ambassador to China). It was Thompson who discovered that there were tapes made of conversations in the Oval Office.
He later became a U.S. Senator himself until he resigned.
Damn. Another story down. Tell me he did at least get the part in Full Metal Jacket after having been brought in as a consultant, rather than specifically for the part itself…
Another for the not-really-famous file: Christine “Moose” McGlade, host of You Can’t Do That on Television, only went to the show’s auditions to keep a friend company. The exec producer told her if she didn’t audition, she had to leave; she auditioned, and won the part.
According to some stories, Susan Sarandon went along to an audition for a part in the movie Joe that her then-husband Chris Sarandon was trying for. She was only there to read the other lines in his audition performance. The producers decided to cast her and not Chris.
Elaine Miles, who played the rotund Tlingit receptionist Marilyn Whirlwind on Northern Exposure, accompanied her mother to the audition for the role but was cast in the role herself. (The producers wanted an older woman but fell in love with Elaine’s laid back attitude.) Her co-star, the late Peg Philips, was a retired accountant with several grandchildren (and a survivor of the raid on Pearl Harbor) when she auditioned as a lark (she had taken acting courses in an Elderhostel) because the show was filmed close to her home in rural Washington. Her one guest appearance turned into a “name in the credits” roll and she created, imo, one of the best and most believable vibrant seniors in the history of television (i.e. not just another bitchy old grandma continually harping about sex).
One of the most ubiquitous character actors of the fifties, sixties & seventies was John McGiver. He specialized as butlers, bankers and snooty clerks. In real life he was a public high school English teacher who entered film as an extra during the summers, largely to help support his enormous family (he was the father of 10 children eventually) and moved into character roles in Broadwayfilm & TV .
Rick Dial is a middle aged good-ol-boy furniture store owner in Arkansas who has become increasingly invisible as a character actor since his debut in Sling Blade.
