And David Duchovny guested as a version of himself with a crush on Gary. Or maybe it was Larry (see post above mine).
Oh, Bruce Campbell in “My Name is Bruce.”
It’s strongly suggested that Tom Petty is portraying himself in The Postman.
This one drove me crazy. Bruce Campbell’s real-life persona (that of a devoted husband and a hardworking nice guy who loves his fans) clashed so greatly with his movie persona (a divorced horndog who was lazy and hated everybody) that I had a really hard time watching My Name is Bruce. Of course, the fact that the rest of the movie was pretty much a failure didn’t make it any easier.
Oh, and if we’re counting novels, Bruce Campbell wrote Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way starring a fictionalized version of himself as a B-movie actor working on a movie with A-list co-stars.
My mistake. It was a sitcom about a sitcom. Garry the actor played Garry the narrator who talked about Garry the sitcom character.
Kareem Abdul-Jabar on Airplane!
KISS in KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park. Also Raquel Welch and Keith Hernandez on Seinfeld.
One I’ve wondered about on Curb Your Enthusiasm is Wanda Sykes. Is she playing herself or just a character named Wanda? Even with a lot of the bit parts on that show the actors use their real first names.
Ray Liotta played a fictionalized version of himself in Bee Movie.
Oh yeah, and Bob Barker hilariously played himself in Happy Gilmore.
In Wayne’s World 2, during the parody of The Graduate, Wayne stops at a gas station to ask for directions, but the attendant is a “bad actor” who messes up his lines. The bad actor gets pulled away by some stagehands, and gets replaced by “good actor” Charlton Heston, who gives the directions flawlessly.
Recently, Mike Tyson played himself in The Hangover.
Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Ralph Houk all played themselves in Safe at Home.
Mets outfielder Bernard Gilkey played a Mets outfielder in Men in Black (the guy who sees the alien ship and misses the fly ball).
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).
OK, now I’m going to have to rent this movie. I love Chuck Heston. One of my favorite actors, warts and all.
I believe Wanda Sykes on Curb is playing herself, but I’m not positive.
Michael Jackson shows up in Men in Black II as himself.
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.
Jackie Robinson played himself in The Jackie Robinson Story.
Red Skelton in the original Ocean’s Eleven.
Larry Miller on Law & Order SVU.
Robert Vaughan on Law & Order (Not the ones where he’s Adam Schiff’s nemesis, the one where he posts bail for a murder suspect in LA).
Matt Damon, Sarah Silverman in “I’m Fucking Matt Damon.”
Jimmy Kimmel, Ben Affleck and a cast of dozens in “I’m Fucking Ben Affleck”
Cesar Romero on every variety show ever made in the 60s and 70s.
Babe Ruth played himself in “The Pride of the Yankees,” the film that starred Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig.
Drew Carey starred as a fictionalized version of himself in his namesake sitcom.
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.”
Arrested Development had Carl Weaters, Andy Richter and a few others.
Obviously they’ve both been mentioned already, but for both **Extras **and Entourage, famous actors playing characters of themselves is a very big part of the show, them being comedies about the movie industry.
Bob Saget also plays a sort of lunatic version of himself in Entourage. I have no idea what the actor is like in real life, but in the show he is a coke head sex maniac who will agree to hire E’s management company if he can have sex on his bosses desk.
Other characters who have played fictionalized versions of themselves in Entourage (as in more than a pop-in “hey good to see you again Jessica Alba” cameo):
Gary Busey
Mandy Moore (Vince’s love interest for several episodes)
Pauly Shore (has an ongoing feud with Johnny Drama)
Vanessa Angel (former love interest and Viking Quest co-star of Johnny Drama)
Ed Burns (director of Drama’s show)
Actually one of my minor complaints with the show is that you never who who is supposed to play themselves and who is supposed to be an actual character.
Jerry Seinfield plays a fictionalized version of himself in Seinfield
Mike Tyson has plays himself in fictionalized settings in the film The Hangover and Black & White.
Stephen Speilberg, Tom Cruise, Gwenyth Paltrow, Kevin Spacy and Danny Devio play themselves as director/actors in an Austin Power movie in Austin Powers: Goldmember.
Mark Hamill, Ben Afleck, Matt Damon, Gus Van Sant, Shannon Doherty, James Van Der Beek and Jason Biggs in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back.
Oddly enough, she’s probably the closest to playing herself in a part that big. She’s actually dating the guy who plays Turtle.
Now that’s spooky.
I just discovered Annually Retentive from Britain, in which Rob Brydon plays Rob Brydon the comedy quiz host. The real Rob is a regular on shows almost exactly like this one, so it also is a bit spooky. The fake Rob is the permanent host, and is self-absorbed, inelegant in almost every way, boorish, and creepily interested in the life of his gay producer. The show is badly run and the insults between the guests start to become real.