# Bit parts when they were not so famous **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2004, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521 "2004-10-27T19:29:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/61 "2004-10-28T08:23:31Z")
Milos Forman’s **Ragtime** (1981) is a treasure trove of future stars in small parts. Besides early roles for Mandy Patinkin, Debbie Allen and Brad Dourif, the film also features: - Jeff Daniels as the cop that takes Coalhouse Walker’s complaint. - Fran Drescher (who seems to show up everywhere) as Patinkin’s character’s cheatin’ wife. - John Ratzenberger as the cop at Madison Square Garden. - Andreas Katsulas (of Babylon 5 and the movie version of the Fugitive) as yet another cop. - Samuel L. Jackson as one of Coalhouse’s gang. On the other hand, the cast of this movie also includes not only James Cagney (in his last role) but also Donald O’Connor and Norman Mailer as Stanford White. Quite a broad range. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/62 "2004-10-28T09:22:39Z")
> [@Dijon Warlock](#): > > Nicholas Cage had a bit part in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”. > > No lines. > > Anthony Edwards was there, too. One line, IIRC. Eric Stoltz, also. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/63 "2004-10-28T10:57:37Z")
Keanu Reeves had a substantial part in Parenthood, so I wouldn’t think that would count. **Friday the 13th** - Kevin Bacon gets knifed in the throat. **Platoon** - Johnny Depp gets killed. In that Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder deaf and blind movie, (“See No Evil, Hear No Evil”, I think), the thugs are famous guys in bit parts. Anyone know who they were? One might have been Kevin Spacey. Not bit parts, but the three headliners in **Earth Girls Are Easy** was likely the first big parts of all three, though the movie itself pinned the cheese-meter in the red. It was Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carey, and who again? Not a bit part, but very small, Bill Pullman made his debut as the dopey boyfriend in **Ruthless People**. That movie rocked. This is a fun thread. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/64 "2004-10-28T11:00:12Z")
I just remembered, **Scrubs** did a whole episode on this theme, when the doctors were convinced that The Janitor played the subway cop in the Harrison Ford/Tommy Lee Jones **Fugitive**. It was funny because, of course, the actor who plays the janitor did indeed play that bit part. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/65 "2004-10-28T11:17:21Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > Not bit parts, but the three headliners in **Earth Girls Are Easy** was likely the first big parts of all three, though the movie itself pinned the cheese-meter in the red. It was Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carey, and who again? Damon Wayons > [@](#): > > Not a bit part, but very small, Bill Pullman made his debut as the dopey boyfriend in **Ruthless People**. That movie rocked. > > This is a fun thread. Are you that wasn’t Judge Reinhold? Or am I mixing up characters? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/66 "2004-10-28T11:34:44Z")
Reinhold was the husband kidnapper, Pullman was the dopey boyfriend of DeVito’s mistress. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/67 "2004-10-28T14:16:56Z")
Ted Knight (Ted Baxter of Mary Tyler Moore fame) plays the guard who takes Norman Bates a blanket in the last scene of _Psycho_. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/68 "2004-10-28T14:20:03Z")
Damn you, **Superdude** , you stole my "Cliff Claven’s in _The Empire Strikes Back_ cite! A young David Hasselhoff (why is this guy famous?) is playing pinball in the diner in _Footloose_. Johnny Depp gets sucked into a waterbed in the first _Nightmare on Elm Street_ (not sure if this counts, tho’ - I believe he was doing \*21 Jump Street[/1] at the time. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/69 "2004-10-28T14:35:50Z")
> [@Menocchio](#): > > He’s had quite the career. it pays the rent, that is what is important=) ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/70 "2004-10-28T14:37:39Z")
Sigourney Weaver was Woody Allen’s date in the last scene of _Annie Hall._ She’s the incredibly tall woman standing next to Allen outside the movie theater. Samuel L. Jackson (again!) was in _Goodfellas_. One scene, shot in his own bed by Joe Pesci. David Duchovney played the cross-dressing associate of Special Agent Dale Cooper in “Twin Peaks.” John Candy was one of the high school kids smoking cigarettes on the steps in _The Summer of '42._ And **Shoeless** , checking [imdb.com](http://imdb.com) for your Death Wish question, yes. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs was amugger, Olympia Dukakis was a cop, and Christopher Guest was a patrolman. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/71 "2004-10-28T15:09:51Z")
**Jim Carey** as one of Nicholas Cage’s teenage buddies in **Peggy Sue Got Married**. **Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman)** as a waiter in **The Blues Brothers** and as a hotel desk clerk in **Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie**. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/72 "2004-10-28T15:45:42Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > Keanu Reeves had a substantial part in Parenthood, so I wouldn’t think that would count. It was also post _Bill and Ted_, so he was already famous, to boot. > [@](#): > > This is a fun thread. Agreed ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/73 "2004-10-28T16:23:38Z")
> [@Agrippina](#): > > Laurence Fishburn also played Cowboy Curtis on “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse”. And Phil Hartman played Captain Carl. ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/74 "2004-10-28T16:28:26Z")
Jack Nicholson was also in two episodes of The Andy Griffith Show: in 1966 as the father of an abandoned baby; and 1967, as an accused thief. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/75 "2004-10-28T16:30:46Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Johnny Depp gets sucked into a waterbed in the first _Nightmare on Elm Street_ (not sure if this counts, tho’ - I believe he was doing \*21 Jump Street[/1] at the time. No, \*Jump Street \* was a few years later. \*Nightmare \* was 1984; I don’t think \*Jump Street \* was on until 1986 or '87. Fun fact: it’s not possible for Johnny Depp’s body to contain THAT much blood. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/76 "2004-10-28T16:39:58Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > - Samuel L. Jackson as one of Coalhouse’s gang. And, speaking of Jackson, he was in Eddie Murphy’s _Raw_. During the flashback scene at the beginning, he plays Murphy’s uncle. I was going to mention Eric Stoltz as the mime in _Singles_, but he was fairly well-known and -established by then. But, of course, he was the deformed teenager in _Mask_. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/77 "2004-10-28T16:41:17Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > Samuel L. Jackson (again!) was in _Goodfellas_. One scene, shot in his own bed by Joe Pesci. He was “Stacks”, the wheelman in the Lufthansa heist, who overslept after the heist and resulted in the cops finding the getaway truck. IIRC, he was seen prior to where Tommy (Pesci) shoots him after visiting his apartment, as Henry (Liotta) narrates the set up for the heist and introduces the players. Also in Goodfellas, “Spider”, the drink schleping kid who dares to insult Tommy is Michael Imperioli, now of Sopranos fame. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/78 "2004-10-28T17:02:03Z")
Comedian Robert Townsend played an uncredited bit role in _Cooley High_. And since I saw _Scream 2_ last night: Luke Wilson had a bit part in _Scream 2_ as an actor (across from the already-famous Tori Spelling) in the fictional movie _Stab_. Jamie Kennedy was an uncredited extra in _Dead Poet’s Society_, several years before his roles in _Romeo + Juliet_ and _Scream_. Selma Blair had a small role in the 1997 Kevin Kline vehicle _In and Out_. Blair was also the voice of Cici’s friend on the phone in _Scream 2_. Sarah Michelle Gellar had a bit part (no lines) in the 1988 Chevy Chase movie _Funny Farm_, preceding her role on the soap _All My Children_ by five years. Jada Pinnkett-Smith appeared on an episode of the fifth season of _21 Jump Street_. Heather Graham played two different girls in two different episodes of the sit-com _Growing Pains_ – one episode each in the show’s second and third seasons. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/79 "2004-10-28T17:35:13Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Sarah Michelle Gellar had a bit part (no lines) in the 1988 Chevy Chase movie _Funny Farm_, preceding her role on the soap _All My Children_ by five years. Gellar had a starring role in a Burger King commercial, one that really touched off the burger wars between Burger King and McDonald’s in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/80 "2004-10-28T17:46:11Z")
Schwartzenegger played a “tough” in “The Long Goodbye” in 1973. I don’t think he says anything. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521.md?page=5)