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.
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.
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.
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.
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 for your Death Wish question, yes. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs was amugger, Olympia Dukakis was a cop, and Christopher Guest was a patrolman.
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.
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.
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.
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.
