Yeah, I mangled him up with his character Bobby Wheeler. And I also gave the name of the movie as “Man in the Moon” instead of “Man on the Moon.”
On “Sanford and Son,” Redd Foxx appeared as himself in the episode called “Fred Meets Redd.” And Mork met Robin Williams in an episode of “Mork & Mindy” called “Mork Meets Robin Williams.”
Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons in The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Jerry Seinfeld in Seinfeld
Tom Mix in any of his movies
Stan Lee in Mallrats and Iron Man
Larry King and Jay Leno on the TV screens of dozens of movies I can’t remember right now
Elton John in Will and Grace; Melissa Etheridge on Friends
Randy Travis, Wynonna Judd, Harry Winkler and Gov. Ann Richards on King of the Hill
Jack Kirby and Sergio Aragones on Bob
Cesar Romero has apparently been on lots of sitcoms and variety shows as himself
James Woods in Family Guy is possibly my favorite in this category. I love the episodes he has been in. I think it’s particularly hilarious because he’s a rather obscure actor.
Also, a bunch of the cast from Star Trek TNG played fictionalized versions of themselves and fictionalized versions of their fictional characters as well! Meta.
In the TV pilot Heat Vision and Jack, Jack Black plays an astronaut fugitive who is pursued by bounty hunter Ron Silver. Not a bounty hunter played by Ron Silver, but Ron Silver, who explains how he does bounty hunting as a hobby when he’s between roles.
In the years since this post, Van Der Beek has of course moved on to working this schtick on Don’t Trust The B---- in Apartment 23; one episode had him struggling to stage a Dawson’s Creek reunion with Busy Philipps (and even Frankie Muniz) until Mark-Paul Gosselaar showed up to talk some sense into the guy.
Bill Murray plays Bill Murray in Zombieland
Everyone, including Bill Murray, plays themselves in Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes
And Jim Jarmusch plays himself in an episode of Bored to Death
James Woods ain’t exactly obscure.
In an episode of “Charlie’s Angels” Sammy Davis Jr played himself and the winner of a look alike contest who hired the Angels to protect him from being kidnapped, no doubt by someone whose mind snapped listening to “Candy Man”. Davis also played himself on “All in the Family”.
Al Jolson wanted to play himself in “The Al Jolson Story” and was filmed in blackface for the “Swanee” number that used long shots.
Sophia Loren played herself and her mother in a 1980 movie.
He is to the average audience member of Family Guy.
Let’s not forget Mayor Adam West, voiced by Adam West. Of course, he’s not really playing himself.
James Van Der Beek plays himself on Don’t Trust the B---- in Apt 23.
Wayne Newton in Vegas Vacation.
Wil Wheaton has a recurring role as “Wil Wheaton,” Sheldon’s arch-nemesis and later buddy, in The Big Bang Theory. There’ve been several other celebrity cameos on the series, including Wil’s TNG castmates Levar Burton and Brent Spiner.
Also Maria Shriver. This one was pretty awesome, since it involved Arnold-as-Arnold attempting to convince his double (also played by Arnold), who is a character from a fictional world who is played by Arnold in the movies and therefore resembles Arnold, to go to work for him as a body double.
In “The Al Jolson Story”, as I mentioned earlier, Jolson plays himself in one scene.
In the sequel “Jolson Sings Again”. at one point Larry Parks (who played Jolson in both films), in makeup as an older Jolson, is introduced to “the young actor, Larry Parks, who will play you”. Parks is seen in a split screen shot with no aging makeup
Billy Dee Williams played himself on an episode of Modern Family.
Billy Ray Cyrus pretends to be Billy Ray Cyrus in an episode of Hannah Montana. And since his character is the father of his daughter Miley’s character, he’s essentially playing himself the whole time anyway.
Thanks - I’d managed to forget that gawdawful clunker of a movie.
Zoolander had several celebrities playing themselves: Tyson Beckford, David Bowie, Cuba Gooding, Tommy Hilfiger, Paris Hilton, Lenny Kravitz, Natalie Portman, Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Donald Trump, Billy Zane, and others.
And how could I have forgotten Warwick Davis in Life’s Too Short?
Huh! The first example I thought of immediately was Carl Reiner playing Alan Brady on The Dick van Dyke Show.
In Space Jam, Michael Jordan, Bill Murray, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Shawn Bradley, Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues, Ahmad Rashad, Vlade Divac, and Jim Rome all play themselves.