# Authors Who've Acted in Movies Based on their Books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091 "2008-01-26T15:49:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/1 "2008-01-26T15:49:56Z")
James Dickey played the sheriff in the movie version of his novel “Deliverance.” Stephen King has played small roles in “Pet Sematary” and in the miniseries “The Stand,” among many others. Any other examples of authors who have acting roles in movies based on their own work? I don’t count things like Kurt Vonnegut doing an appearance in Rodney Dangerfield’s “Back to School,” or Salman Rushdie appearing in “Bridet Jones’ Diary.” ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/2 "2008-01-26T16:10:03Z")
Kurt vonnegut has a very brief appearence as “sad man in street” at the end of _Mother Night_. IMDB lists him as appearing in _Breakfast of Champions_, which I haven’t seen. (Appparently it’s terrible.) ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/3 "2008-01-26T16:12:53Z")
Although there are debates still about the role he played in writing many of the original stories, Stan Lee (one-time editor in chief and author for Marvel Comics) has cameoed in most/all movies based on Marvel properties. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/4 "2008-01-26T16:19:54Z")
Peter Benchley has a line or two in **Jaws**. Robert Benchley was fairly successful author and and actor. He starred in a movie version of his humor article, **The Treasurer’s Report**. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/5 "2008-01-26T16:30:00Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] I don’t count things like Kurt Vonnegut doing an appearance in Rodney Dangerfield’s “Back to School,” or Salman Rushdie appearing in “Bridet Jones’ Diary.” [/QUOTE] 😕 Kurt Vonnegut didn’t write **Back to School**?!? Todd MacFarlane appeared in **Spawn**. Hunter S. Thompson appears in\*\* Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas\*\*. ---
**Author:** ![bufftabby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bufftabby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bufftabby)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/6 "2008-01-26T16:32:07Z")
Hunter S. Thompson had a cameo in **Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas** , right about the time the people turn into giant lizards, I do believe. ETA:Damn, beaten to the punch. At least I got to mention the giant lizards. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/7 "2008-01-26T16:35:59Z")
The face of Douglas Adams shows up in the movie **Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy**. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/8 "2008-01-26T16:50:21Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] … Stephen King has played small roles in “Pet Sematary” and in the miniseries “The Stand,” among many others. Any other examples of authors who have acting roles in movies based on their own work? … [/QUOTE] Have you seen Stephen King in these roles? I think that really stretches the term “acted” perhaps you should just go with “Authors who’ve appeared in movies based on their books”. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/9 "2008-01-26T16:57:55Z")
Augusten Burroughs is in the end credits for _Running with Scissors._ ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/10 "2008-01-26T17:01:54Z")
Does Harvey Pekar in “American Splendor” count? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/11 "2008-01-26T17:07:01Z")
John Irving has had a couple of cameo roles in movies made from his books (wrestling ref in _The World According to Garp_, train station agent in _The Cider House Rules_). ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/12 "2008-01-26T17:18:53Z")
Merian C. Cooper was listed as an author for the book, **King Kong** (1933), and he apparently did appear in the movie itself. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/13 "2008-01-26T17:33:05Z")
Robert B. Parker appeared in several of the made-for-TV _Spenser_ movies. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/14 "2008-01-26T17:37:25Z")
Mary Higgins Clark was a newspaper reporter in the movie of “Where Are The Children?” ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/15 "2008-01-26T17:51:51Z")
Arthur C. Clarke has a nonspeaking cameo as a man sitting on a bench outside the White House in **2010**. Plus his photo is used as that of the U. S. President. Richard Matheson appeared as a passerby who says, “Astounding” (I think that was his sole word of dialogue, maybe it was “Astonishing,” I can’t remember) in **Somewhere in Time**. On the TV front, novelist Erle Stanley Gardner appeared in the final episode of the **Perry Mason** TV series. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/16 "2008-01-26T18:22:45Z")
[QUOTE=Sir Rhosis] Arthur C. Clarke … in **2010** … Erle Stanley Gardner … in the final episode of the **Perry Mason** … [/QUOTE] I can’t believe I forgot those two. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/17 "2008-01-26T18:26:19Z")
JK Rowling was offered a cameo in the Philosopher’s Stone movie as Lily Potter in the Mirror of Erised scene, but she declined. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/18 "2008-01-26T18:34:10Z")
Maybe doesn’t qualify, since Audie Murphy didn’t really write _To Hell and Back_; or maybe it does, since he couldn’t really act, either. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/19 "2008-01-26T19:03:48Z")
Mickey Spillane starred as Mike Hammer in [The Girl Hunters](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057102/fullcredits). ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whove-acted-in-movies-based-on-their-books/435091/20 "2008-01-26T19:29:05Z")
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