# Do actors ever use their own pictures in films? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 18, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447 "2004-12-18T00:05:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/1 "2004-12-18T00:05:53Z")
We’ve all seen them: Will Bloom (Billy Crudup)'s high school graduation picture on the wall in _Big Fish_, Melanie Ralston (Bridget Fonda)'s “roller girl” picture on top of the TV from when she was 14 in _Jackie Brown_. In both of these examples (and countless others), we see pictures of the characters dated several years before the movie takes place (not to mention all the yearbook pictures we see). But it’s always made me wonder: Do actors ever bring pictures of their own childhood to use in films? One the one hand, it seems impractical to ask Albert Finney to dig up pictures from his past. On the other hand, it seems cheaper than either faking the pictures now, or hiring younger lookalikes. So what’s the straight dope? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/2 "2004-12-18T00:08:08Z")
No cites available right now, but I know that quite a few movies and TV shows have used pictures of the actors when they were younger. They have gotten them from the actors or their families. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/3 "2004-12-18T00:19:08Z")
There’s a scene in **Ghost World** where Thora Birch’s Enid character is looking through a photo album she let Becky borrow. I believe those are real pictures of Thora Birch when she was younger. In **Contact** there’s a shot somewhere of Ellie’s graduation picture. In reality it was Jodie Foster’s graduation picture from Yale, I think (or was it Harvard that she went to?). ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/4 "2004-12-18T00:22:36Z")
I have this vague memory of seeing a “making of” special for some movie where in passing the director mentioned that his production staff had used a de-aging program (like what cops do to predict what missing children look like when older but in reverse) and Photoshop to create pictures of the leads together as children and younger adults. Can’t remember the movie or the director, how’s that for vague? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/5 "2004-12-18T00:25:27Z")
On an episode of **Babylon 5** , wherein the Earth news agency did a piece on the life of President Sheridan, they used several old photos of Bruce Boxlightner, and boy did they stick out like beaten-to-a-bloody-pulp thumbs! I recall a black and white Olan Mills shot of Boxlightner as a grade schooler circa 1960 with a little buzz cut and a very period shirt, Boxlightner on horseback from about 1970 with bell-bottom jeans, a t-shirt and long hair parted in the middle falling past his shoulders, etc. Earlier in the series they had used photos of his and Half-Pint’s wedding (when she played his “deceased” wife) with the background blurred/painted over. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/6 "2004-12-18T00:33:44Z")
I know that in _Quantum Leap_ they used pictures of Dean Stockwell (who played Al) when he was younger, for more than one episode. Of course they had a lot of pictures to choose from, since Stockwell was a [child star](http://www.geocities.com/~childactors/deanstockwellpage1.html) (and also worked as a [young adult/adult](http://members.tripod.com/dean_stockwell2/)). ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/7 "2004-12-18T01:00:39Z")
I’m sure most the pictures in ‘Being John Malkovich’ are young pictures of the actor, then again he was actually playing himself in the film. Is there a name for an acting part where the actor plays themself? ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/9 "2004-12-18T01:55:26Z")
There’s a not-so-good movie with Jamie Gertz and Martha Plimpton (well, it’s not a _bad_ movie, but it’s more of a disease-of-the-week TV sorta thing). I think it’s called _Silence Like Glass_ in which they are both cancer patients in a hospital. Plimpton refers often to her boyfriend who does NOT make an appearance in the film, and at one point shows Gertz a photo. It was a picture of Plimpton and River Phoenix, her then-boyfriend in real-life. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/10 "2004-12-18T04:33:18Z")
In the TV show M_A_S\*H the picture of Sherman Potter’s wife on his desk was Harry Morgan’s real wife. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/11 "2004-12-18T05:40:40Z")
In the film **K-PAX** , there is a shot of the Kevin Spacey character’s high school yearbook, and it’s really Kevin’s high school graduation photo that is used. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/12 "2004-12-18T05:46:44Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > In the TV show M_A_S\*H the picture of Sherman Potter’s wife on his desk was Harry Morgan’s real wife. [The same wife he was later accused of beating?](http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/Pf/0%2C1527%2C2%2C00.html) :eek: (I believe the charges were dropped after Morgan attended a domestic violence counseling program–at the tender age of 81…) ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/13 "2004-12-18T06:13:02Z")
In _In the Line of Fire_, **Clint Eastwood** plays a Secret Service agent who was on duty the day Kennedy was shot. The movie features newspaper clippings of the scene, including Eastwood. The image of Eastwood in the newspaper photos was taken from _Dirty Harry_ (or one of the sequels). ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/14 "2004-12-18T06:17:12Z")
Huh. If you look at the young adult Dean Stockwell image gallery you’ll see this image: [http://members.tripod.com/dean\_stockwell2/images/mia.jpg](http://members.tripod.com/dean_stockwell2/images/mia.jpg) (copy and paste it into browser window, I don’t think Tripod allows direct links). This is a picture from _Quantum Leap_. That’s one of the ones I was thinking of. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/15 "2004-12-18T09:34:37Z")
In **Out Of Sight** , a wanted poster for George Clooney’s bank robber character is actually taken from **From Dusk Till Dawn**. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/16 "2004-12-18T18:22:08Z")
to hijack a bit, I enjoyed that the remake of WILLARD had a portrait of Bruce Davidson (the original Willard) as Crispin Glover-Willard’s father. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/17 "2004-12-18T19:40:42Z")
This is slightly different, but in the 1999 film _The Limey_, there are flashbacks of Terence Stamp’s character which are actually scenes from the 1967 film _Poor Cow_ which Stamp was in. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/18 "2004-12-19T02:33:51Z")
In his last movie, _Terrible Joe Moran_, James Cagney played an aging former boxer. In a scene where he was supposedly watching a film of one of his fights, they used footage of a fight scene from an earlier movie where a young Cagney played a boxer. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/19 "2004-12-19T03:29:49Z")
In _Dead Poets Society_, I’m pretty sure the yearbook picture of Mr. Keating is indeed a younger Robin Williams. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/20 "2004-12-19T04:10:22Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > One the one hand, it seems impractical to ask Albert Finney to dig up pictures from his past. On the other hand, it seems cheaper than either faking the pictures now, or hiring younger lookalikes. > > So what’s the straight dope? Um, in that case, wouldn’t they just have used pictures of Ewan McGregor? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447/21 "2004-12-19T04:33:22Z")
In _Big Fish_, sure (It happened to be the movie in the DVD player when I started the thread). After I hit “submit,” I thought that may not have been the best choice. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-actors-ever-use-their-own-pictures-in-films/280447.md?page=2)