# 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:** 7
**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 29, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/121 "2004-10-29T13:13:28Z")
_Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_ has got to be the all-time King of Cameo movies. True, most of them were famous (or at least well-known) TV and vaudeville comedians, but it’s still fun to watch for them all. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/122 "2004-10-29T13:28:03Z")
Samuel L Jackson have done a lot of these. He’s the guy walking around saying “Everyone who comes to Hollywood has a dream. What’s your dream? What’s your dream?” in _Pretty Woman_, and the guy robbing McDowell’s in _Coming to America_. Clint Eastwood played a pilot in _Tarantula_. He helped napalm the eponymous tarantula to death. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/123 "2004-10-29T13:41:34Z")
A very young-looking Richard Dreyfus had a cameo in an episode of Bewitched. A very young-looking Daniel Travanti (Captain Furillo) had a cameo in an episode of the Patty Duke Show. Both of them played cameos in the series Gidget, per IMDB, though I don’t think the same episode. Helen Hunt played Murray Slaughter’s daughter (hey, that rhymes :D) in the Mary Tyler Moore Show. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/124 "2004-10-29T13:43:34Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > And has nobody mentioned Charlie Sheen in _Ferris Bueller’s Day Off_?? Unknown actor, small role, but he definitely stole the scene… Really? I thought he was well known at the time. And it was definitely a big role. (“Drugs”) Remember the girl Simone in Ben Stein’s class? Know who played her? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/125 "2004-10-29T13:51:21Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Really? I thought he was well known at the time. And it was definitely a big role. (“Drugs”) > > Remember the girl Simone in Ben Stein’s class? Know who played her? Kristy, the original Buffy, Swanson. She was also a “duckette” in Pretty in Pink. Sheen hadn’t done much big when _Ferris Bueller_ came out; his real breakthrough was _Platoon_, later the same year. He was in _Red Dawn_ a couple of years earlier, but I doubt he was a household name. Speaking of _Ferris Bueller_, didn’t Edie McClurg appear occasionally as Herb Tarlek’s wife on _WKRP in Cincinnati_? I seem to recall that but could be mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/126 "2004-10-29T14:03:12Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Speaking of _Ferris Bueller_, didn’t Edie McClurg appear occasionally as Herb Tarlek’s wife on _WKRP in Cincinnati_? I seem to recall that but could be mistaken. The woman did not age well. Remember the old lady she played in Dickie Roberts, Child Star? Remember the high school girl she played in Carrie? ---
**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 29, 2004, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/127 "2004-10-29T14:10:10Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > Sheen hadn’t done much big when _Ferris Bueller_ came out; his real breakthrough was _Platoon_, later the same year. Charlie Sheen had done _The Boys Next Door_ and _Lucas_ after _Red Dawn_. _TBND_ wasn’t particularly popular, but _Lucas_ definitely gained Sheen some notoriety. Then again, _Ferris Beuller_ only came out 2 1/2 months after _Lucas_ – Sheen’s fame probably hadn’t really reached a head yet. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/128 "2004-10-29T15:42:37Z")
> [@Max Torque](#): > > Well, I didn’t see this one anywhere, so… > > John Larroquette did the opening voice-over for **The Texas Chainsaw Massacre** , back in 1974. He reprised the voice-over role for the 2003 remake. [Englishman] _You…little…BASTARD!_ [/Englishman] Anyway, Patrick Swayze had an appearance on M_A_S\*H as a G.I. diagnosed with diabetes. Kevin Spacey is a punk burglar in the Nicholson/Streep flick Heartburn. Kathy Bates was a Tourettes patient in an ep. of St Elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/129 "2004-10-29T15:48:10Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > Ted Knight (Ted Baxter of Mary Tyler Moore fame) plays the guard who takes Norman Bates a blanket in the last scene of _Psycho_. Don’t know whether it pre-dates Psycho, but Ted Knight played a rocket-ship crewmember on one of the early Twilight Zone episodes. Minor part, (a few lines). It was the episode where a prisoner is sentenced to life on an asteroid, and his only contact is an annual re-supply visit from Earth. Anyone remember the title? ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/130 "2004-10-29T16:02:21Z")
As a child, Kurt Russell played Gerard’s son on at least one episode of _The Fugitive_. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/131 "2004-10-29T16:12:57Z")
Brad Pitt played a pothead in _True Romance_. James Gandolfini appears later in the movie as a thug who beats up Patrica Arquette. ---
**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 29, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/132 "2004-10-29T16:41:26Z")
> [@TeaElle](#): > > …who played Molly Ringwald’s father And Molly Ringwald was one of the original cast members of _The Facts of Life_. Hey, **detop** , speaking of John Goodman, does anyone besides me remember his 7-Up commercial (I think it was 7-Up, anyway). He’s sitting at a dining room table, and his wife comes in. He says (so she can hear it), “My wife…I love her.” She walks away, and he says to the camera, “I hate her. She can eat anything she wants and not gain a pound.” Oh, and Jason Alexander did a McDonald’s commercial before hitting it big. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/133 "2004-10-29T16:46:53Z")
Brad Pitt played a high school basketball player on two episodes of the soap “Another World.” Fran Dresher’s first book “Enter Whining” talks about the many, many, many movies she had bit parts in. While her agents says “It’s better to be shit in a hit than the other way around,” Fran admits she was usually “a hit in shit.” ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/134 "2004-10-29T17:34:52Z")
> [@Mama Zappa](#): > > Helen Hunt played Murray Slaughter’s daughter (hey, that rhymes :D) in the Mary Tyler Moore Show. And the boy she was dating (and who Murray thought was too old for her) was Bruce Boxleitner. One of my favorites: in the 1950’s Gregory Peck film, “The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit,” Peck’s character has traumatic memories of the war, when he shot and killed one of his men in a “friendly fire” accident. At one point, we get a flashback to this incident and, yes, it should be traumatic… except that the medic who tells Peck, “He’s dead,” is DeForest Kelley. Can anybody watch this scene, and hear the future Dr. McCoy say that line without wanting to add a “Jim!” to the end of it? ---
**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:** [October 29, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/135 "2004-10-29T17:51:58Z")
There was also an episode of “Bonanza” where DeForrest Kelly played the doctor-turned-town-drunk. When he’s asked to operate on the dying Hoss, he says “I’m a drunk, not a doctor.” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/136 "2004-10-29T17:58:44Z")
I guess I’d get the usual blank “what the hell is Eve talking about” stare if I mentioned that one of the injured soldiers tended to by Mary Pickford in [The Little American](http://imdb.com/title/tt0008188/fullcredits) (1917) was Ramon Novarro? ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/137 "2004-10-29T18:15:30Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I guess I’d get the usual blank “what the hell is Eve talking about” stare if I mentioned that one of the injured soldiers tended to by Mary Pickford in [The Little American](http://imdb.com/title/tt0008188/fullcredits) (1917) was Ramon Novarro? Of course not, Eve. He’s the guy who was beaten to death by street hustlers, one of whom was Novarro’s ‘boyfriend’. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/138 "2004-10-29T18:29:46Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Ted Knight played a rocket-ship crewmember on one of the early Twilight Zone episodes. […] Anyone remember the title? That would be _The Lonely_. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/139 "2004-10-29T18:46:32Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > A thirteen-year-old Kirsten Dunst also played the young Resi in _Mother Night_. And the irrepressible Ms Dunst did the voice for the young Anastasia in the animated movie of the same name. Clearly, she was destined for glory early. ---
**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 29, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521/140 "2004-10-29T18:57:13Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > There was also an episode of “Bonanza” where DeForrest Kelly played the doctor-turned-town-drunk. When he’s asked to operate on the dying Hoss, he says “I’m a drunk, not a doctor.” Which reminds me that James Arness, of _Gunsmoke_ fame, was the monster in _The Thing_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bit-parts-when-they-were-not-so-famous/271521.md?page=8)