# Cases of Retrognition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489 "2005-02-23T05:44:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [February 23, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/21 "2005-02-23T17:32:30Z")
> [@TV time](#): > > **Benny Hill** in one of the early James Bond films (Moonraker?). Well, a movie based on an Ian Fleming novel, at least - he was the Toymaker in _Chitty Chitty Bang Bang_. The one that immediately comes to my mind is John Goodman as Louis in _True Stories_. He sings the last song “People Like Us” at the festival at the end of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/22 "2005-02-23T17:45:02Z")
> [@vinryk](#): > > That was actually Jennifer Tilly, not Renee Zellwegger. [Emily Litella]Never mind.[/Emily Litella] ---
**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:** [February 23, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/23 "2005-02-23T18:02:19Z")
I only saw it last night, but if you’ve ever watched, **Leaving Las Vegas** , watch it again. It includes small roles for Richard Lewis, Stephen Weber, Emily Proctor, French Stewart, Ed Lauter, Mariska Hargatay, R. Lee Ermy, Laurie Metcalfe, Shawnee Smith, and Lou Rawls. When I first saw **Miracle on 34th Street** , I didn’t recognize Thelma Ritter and Jack Albertson. Albertson wasn’t credited, but each year I saw the film, he became more recognizable. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/24 "2005-02-23T18:10:52Z")
Remember the sequence in _The Sure Thing_ where John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga are riding with a couple of squeaky-clean dorks who like to sing show tunes? The guy driving is a pre-_Bull Durham_ Tim Robbins! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/25 "2005-02-23T18:26:54Z")
Do TV actors count? I was just checking the listing for _Wings_ at IMDb after a reference in the “good added characters” thread, and realized that Lowell’s wife Bunny was played by Laura Innes – later Weaver on _ER_. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/26 "2005-02-23T20:11:20Z")
Probably the king of this (in my house anyway) is John C. McGinley from Scrubs. I don’t know how many times I’ve been watching something and will suddenly say, “Hey, that’s Dr. Cox” I can think of Office Space, Car 54 Where Are You? and Se7en off the top of my head. And for TV. I was once watchng a rerun of Star Trek:TNG and standing in Worf’s place was Diedrich Bader (Oswald from the Drew Carey Show). He had now lines. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/27 "2005-02-23T22:07:27Z")
I had a really strange Retrognition event once. I had watched “The Faculty” and knew I recognized the blonde chicky from somewhere, but couldn’t think of from where. (This was before I knew about IMDB, but not long before.) Every time she’d show up on screen, I would rack my brains trying to thing of where I’d seen her before, but came up empty. This was such a true “thunderbolt” moment that it’s permanently etched into my memory - I was standing in the kitchen, making dinner. For whatever reason I was reflecting on old TV shows that I had seen, and began to remember some crazy kids’ soap opera that had been on Nickelodeon briefly. Light, as they say, dawned on Stonehenge. I stood there, jaw dropped, as it suddenly occured to me that I knew where the Faculty chick was from - she was an actress in “Fifteen!” Luckily, by then I did know about IMDB so I raced to the computer to verify the revelation, and it was indeed her. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/28 "2005-02-23T22:21:59Z")
My personal favorite is Bill Paxton as “Punk Leader” in _Terminator_ from whom the naked Arnold requests his clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/29 "2005-02-23T22:43:09Z")
The guy who plays Marshall on Alias is one of the tourists trapped in a prison cell in the movie The Rock. My wife spotted him as he flashed on the screen for about 2 seconds. We looked it up and it is him. He has no lines. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/30 "2005-02-24T04:28:31Z")
> [@Miss Mapp](#): > > As a student in the UK in the mid-'80s, I used to watch _The Young Ones_ on TV. One of the first episodes I ever saw was “Bambi,” in which the boys are on a university-challenge type quiz show against some students from a posh school. > > Seeing it again a few years later, I was astonished to recognize the posh students as Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, and Hugh Laurie. Stephen Fry uniquely made three appearances on University Challenge for 3 different teams. He appeared in 1979 with his real university team. In 1993 current college team took on a team of celebrities who had competed while at university. This episode also featured Robbie Coltrane who at the time was little known. The same is probably true of Ben Elton who is in the episode. ---
**Author:** ![Flipstrip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f6c823/32.png) [@Flipstrip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipstrip)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/31 "2005-02-24T04:48:40Z")
Bitty Schram, who played Monk’s assistant Sharona on the TV show “Monk” was the gal that Tom Hanks screams “There’s no crying in baseball!” at in “League of Their Own”. (Probably quit the show because she got sick of “There’s no crying…” jokes.) ---
**Author:** ![Leroy\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Leroy\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leroy_Brown)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/32 "2005-02-24T04:55:08Z")
Paul “Pee Wee” Reubens plays a waiter in _The Blues Brothers_. I think his only line is “Very good, Sir” after Jake orders the most expensive bottle of champagne in the house. I didn’t recognize him until I watched it on DVD a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/33 "2005-02-24T05:23:56Z")
Jim Carrey plays a rock star in _The Dead Pool_. On Sunday, TV Land aired an episode of _Gunsmoke_ with William Shatner as a bad guy. Nimoy was also in one episode. John Larroquette plays a Klingon in Star Trek III. His only line is, “I deserve to die.” The dad on 7th Heaven played Decker in ST: TMP and his wife on the show was Kirk’s “love interest” in ST IV. ---
**Author:** ![bclouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@bclouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bclouse)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/34 "2005-02-24T10:21:41Z")
I don’t know if this really counts. When NBC aired the making of Seinfeld recently, they showed clips from **Fridays** , the skit show from the early 80’s. It started Michael Richards (which I remembered) but also a very wacked out looking Larry David (which I didn’t). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/35 "2005-02-24T13:30:32Z")
“Weird Al” Yankovic’s only movie, **UHF** , features a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards and a pre-Nanny Fran Drescher. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/36 "2005-02-24T19:33:59Z")
I just realized that Anthony Hopkins’ wife in _84 Charing Cross Road_ was Dame Judi Dench and that Prince Albert from _Blackadder’s Christmas Carol_ was Jim Broadbent. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/37 "2005-02-24T19:42:54Z")
Seeing Helen Hunt and recalling all the roles she played in TV as a juvenile. Kevin Spacey, too - re watching films and not seeming to remember him in them the first time - which is odd seeing he always plays basically the same character! Oh Oh and Vincent whatshisface from Criminal Inent - he was Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket! mm ---
**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:** [February 24, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/38 "2005-02-24T21:13:00Z")
In **Bonnie and Clyde** , the pair pick up a hitchhiker and ditch him once he reveals he’s an undertaker. That was Gene Wilder. His first role, I believe. ---
**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:** [February 24, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/39 "2005-02-24T21:17:41Z")
Meryl Streep had a small part as Woody Allen’s ex-wife in **Manhattan**. You also spot Sigourney Weaver in **Annie Hall** as Woody’s date at the end, but even knowing that, it’s hard to recognize her. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489/40 "2005-02-24T22:22:38Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Sylvester Stallone shows up as a thug in Woody Allen’s **Bananas**. He was unknown then, but today you watch the film and everyone gasps when you get thatr unmistakable full-face shot of Stallone. He also shows up (with other familiar faces) in **Mean Streets**. > I was surprised to see Ted Danson playing the philanderer who gets drowned by betrayed husband Leslie Nielsen in **Creepshow**. He was also the guy who gets beatup in the original _The Out-of-Towners_. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-of-retrognition/291489.md?page=3)