# Celebrities who played a fictionalized version of themselves **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911 "2009-08-27T14:54:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/61 "2009-08-29T00:51:00Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Sportscaster Heywood Hale Brown plays himself in **The Odd Couple**. The scene shows the Mets getting a triple play, but Oscar misses it because Felix calls him. The players who made the triple play were actual members of the team (Ed Charles, Bud Harrelson, Ed Kranepool, and pitcher Jack Fisher) and Bill Mazeroski is the one who hit the ball (after Roberto Clemente refused to). I seem to recall **Howard Cosell** playing himself at last a couple of times on _The Odd Couple_, too. in story lines involving Oscar’s job as a sportswriter. Back in the early days of MTV, one of the original veejays, **Martha Quinn** , played herself in a cameo on _ER_. She had to come into the emergency room for some ailment or other, and she was brought in via her personal chauffeur-driven limousine and carried herself like Queen Elizabeth. Lots of celebrities played themselves in [Silent Movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075222/) (1976). ---
**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:** [August 29, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/62 "2009-08-29T02:52:01Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I seem to recall **Howard Cosell** playing himself at last a couple of times on _The Odd Couple_, too. in story lines involving Oscar’s job as a sportswriter. Cosell also played himself in Woody Allen’s **Bananas**. The final scene is fun to watch him – evidently Woody was ad libbing, and Howard keeps losing it, ducking his head down so his arm disguised the fact he was laughing. Bing Crosby played a fictionalized version of himself as a cameo in **My Favorite Brunette**. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/63 "2009-08-29T05:19:52Z")
Bill Cosby played himself in the live-action Fat Albert movie. In addition, Cosby’s brother Russell and Cosby’s other surviving friends upon whom the Fat Albert characters were based, made cameo appearances at the end of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/64 "2009-08-30T01:18:45Z")
Frank Sinatra in _Cannonball Run II_. Ed Koch in a whole lot of stuff. Check out his imdb page. Most professional actors would give their eyeteeth for a resume that long! ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/65 "2009-08-30T04:22:23Z")
“Is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a bitch?” ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/66 "2009-08-30T13:01:14Z")
Stephen Hawking appeared as a holodeck version of himself playing poker with Newton, Einstein and Data on _ST: TNG_. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/67 "2009-08-30T17:14:07Z")
Larry Thomas (the Soup Nazi) played himself on Scrubs once, and wouldn’t admit it was him. JD knew it was him and finally tricked him into saying “No soup for you!” There was also an episode where everybody thought the Janitor had appeared in The Fugitive. That would have meant that Neil Flynn was playing himself as a janitor. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/68 "2009-08-30T17:58:32Z")
Tori Amos played a version of herself in **So NoTORIous** which was actually a pretty funny show. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/69 "2009-08-30T19:32:41Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Johnny Cash played a guy a lot like Johnny Cash on an _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ episode–guy dressed in black, plays guitar, sings, has some trouble with drugs. He diverged by having a micromanaging religious wife, who he wanted to get rid of, so he staged a plane crash. That wasn’t _AHP_, that was _ **Columbo** _. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/70 "2009-08-30T20:23:47Z")
> [@pepperlandgirl](#): > > Tori Amos played a version of herself in **So NoTORIous** which was actually a pretty funny show. That should be Tori **SPELLING** obviously. I’m apparently dumb today. ---
**Author:** ![Godinama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e95f7d/32.png) [@Godinama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godinama)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/71 "2009-08-31T02:12:06Z")
Seth Green on **Entourage** plays a hyper-douchebaggy version of himself. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/72 "2009-08-31T02:35:26Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > John Malkovich in _Being John Malkovich_. Not to mention Charlie Sheen in the same film. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/73 "2009-08-31T11:37:56Z")
Mayor Adam West in Family Guy is voiced by Adam West. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/74 "2009-08-31T16:12:57Z")
Lots of celebrities played themselves over the years on the old Lucille Ball shows. I can remember Milton Berle and Bob Crane off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/75 "2009-09-01T07:14:26Z")
Another: Peter Falk plays Peter Falk, former Columbo star in Wings of Desire/Der Himmel über Berlin. Except that he became an actor after he stopped being an angel. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/76 "2009-09-01T19:34:40Z")
Arnold in _The Last Action Hero_? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/77 "2009-09-02T01:04:44Z")
Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding is part of a brother and sister dance act that breaks up because the sister marries a European aristocrat. Just like Fred and his sister. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/78 "2009-09-02T01:52:42Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > Merv Griffin played himself as a genial serial killer in Steve Martin’s _The Man with Two Brains_. Hilarious. That was a wonderful part, one of the best examples of this type of thing: **Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr:** You. You’re the elevator killer. Merv Griffin. **Merv Griffin:** Yeah. **Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr:** Why? **Merv Griffin:** I don’t know. I’ve always just loved to kill. I really enjoyed it. But then I got famous, and - it’s just too hard for me. And so many witnesses. I mean, _everybody_ recognized me. I couldn’t even lurk anymore. I’d hear, “Who’s that lurking over there? Isn’t that Merv Griffin?” So I came to Europe to kill. And it’s really worked out very well for me. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/79 "2009-09-02T02:02:19Z")
Missed the edit window: [Clip of the scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n30mh6bhDs&feature=related#t=4m57s) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911/80 "2009-09-03T05:21:18Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > **Ray Liotta** played a fictionalized version of himself in **Bee Movie**. And a Christmas obsessed version of himself in an episode of Just Shoot Me. Recurring character Kevin (Brian Posehn) was retconned into being his cousin. > [@cochrane](#): > > Lou Ferrigno was a semi-regualar as himself on “The King of Queens” playing the Heffernans’ neighbor. They almost always made some Hulk reference when he appeared. One line I remember is Doug telling him, “Don’t make me angry, Lou. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” He was also in some recent comedy the name of which escapes me at the moment. Maybe it’s called I Love You Man? Anyway, in the commercials he chokes out one of the main characters who’s barely able to spit out “HE’S SO STRONG!” Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top occasionally plays himself (as Angela’s dad) on Bones. And bandmate Dusty Hill turned out to be Hank (King of the) Hill’s cousin. Pro wrestler Vader played himself as one of the character’s dads on Boy Meets World. There’ve been a lot of these on the Simpsons, but the one where Homer hangs out with Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, and Ron Howard stands out to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-who-played-a-fictionalized-version-of-themselves/507911.md?page=5)