# Early bit parts by actors famous later. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2002, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434 "2002-08-05T14:09:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Doubting\_Robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@Doubting\_Robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubting_Robert)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/21 "2002-08-05T22:53:05Z")
Tom Hanks played Uncle Ned in three episodes of “Family Ties.” In one of these episodes, he is revealed to be an alcoholic. It is an impressive performance. Sylvester Stallone appears in one scene in “The Prisoner of Second Avenue.” He gets attacked (successfully!) by Jack Lemmon, who thinks Stallone has picked his pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Doubting\_Robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@Doubting\_Robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubting_Robert)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/22 "2002-08-05T22:58:23Z")
**Lee Van Cleef** is the soldier who fires the radioactive rifle grenade at the end of “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms.” ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/23 "2002-08-05T23:07:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KneadToKnow \* > \*\* > :D:D:D:D:D > > Full points, dude[.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=125063) \*\* :D. Search kept timing out, otherwise I would have included the link… One more: The hooker hired to blow Charlie Sheen in the Limo at the beginning of _Wall Street_ was none other than [Andrea Thompson](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Thompson,+Andrea), she of NYPD Blue fame, who later had a brief stint as an anchorwoman for CNN… ---
**Author:** ![Doubting\_Robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@Doubting\_Robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubting_Robert)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/24 "2002-08-05T23:08:17Z")
Before he played Superman, **George Reeves** had a number of movie roles. I think the only one of these I have seen is in “Gone with the Wind.” During the run of “Adventures of Superman,” he also had a small part in “From Here to Eternity.” After seeing him so many times in the Superman costume and Clark Kent’s suit, it is strange to see him in an Hawaiian shirt. ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/25 "2002-08-05T23:12:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Minor Irritant \* > \*\*I was somewhat surprised to see Billy Bob Thornton in Tombstone. He’s the ranch hand who gets into an argument with Doc Holliday, IIRC. \*\* He ran the crooked Faro table in the Oriental, and gets slapped around by Wyatt Earp. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/26 "2002-08-05T23:54:43Z")
I enjoy watching credits from 70’s and 80’s movies to see if I can recognize famous actors when they were just starting out. However, now that the credits go so fast and are compressed, it’s quite hard to do. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/27 "2002-08-06T00:05:27Z")
Marilyn Monroe is seen in a canoe on a lake in **Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!** (1948), and as one of the chorus girls in **A Ticket to Tomahawk** (1950). Clark Gable is a ballroom extra in **The Merry Widow** (1925). James Dean is a youth who orders a chocolate malt at a soda fountain in **Has Anybody Seen My Gal?** (1952). ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/28 "2002-08-06T04:03:50Z")
The old Perry Mason show is great at spotting future famous actors. Like a very young Robert Redford giving testimony in “The Case of the Treacherous Toupee,” looks like his 7th TV role. Then there was an eternally young Dick Clark, who it turns out, committed the murder (“Yes! Yes I did it! And I’m glad!”). I guess by 1966 he was already a familiar figure with Bandstand, but it was still weird to be watching reruns and suddenly see him pop up. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/29 "2002-08-06T08:22:09Z")
> [@](#): > > “Excalibur” features two knights who were then relative unknowns: Liam Neeson and Captain Jean-Luc Picard himself! Patrick Stewart played Guinevere’s father. And Gabriel Byrne played the Duke of Cornwall. ---
**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/30 "2002-08-06T11:59:57Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Doubting Robert_ > During the run of “Adventures of Superman,” he also had a small part in “From Here to Eternity.” The part was originally much larger, but they cut it after preview audiences were distracted by seeing Superman in another role. It effectively ended his film career. So sayeth _Biography_ on A&E. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/31 "2002-08-06T12:28:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*Watching **The Graduate** yesterday for the first time in years, I was struck to see two familiar faces in small bit parts. > > In the scene where Katharine Ross is in Hoffman’s boarding house room and he tells her the details of his seduction by her mother, Ross screams, bring Norman Fell and other boarders running. The underclassman that exhuberantly offers to call for the police was none other than a very young **Richard Dreyfuss**. > > Near the end of the movie, Hoffman goes to the frat house trying to learn the name of the church where Elaine is to be married. There, **Ben Murphy** from Alias Smith and Jones tells him to “Save me a piece… of cake”. > > Any other obscure sightings you’ve discovered recently in classic movies? \*\* When Benjamin & Elaine are in the hotel, watch for the first man who calls him Mr. Whatever (the name he registers at the hotel for trysts with her mother). It’s Mike Farrell. I once saw a very old episode of Andy Griffith with Jack Nickelson in it. Debra Jo Rupp (That 70’s Show) played Tom Hank’s secretary in \*\* Big [/b}, Jerry Seinfeld’s manager, and Lisa Kudrow’s sister-in-law on \*\* Friends \*\*. (Phoebe was a surrogate mother for her). ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/32 "2002-08-06T12:50:53Z")
M_A_S\*H is a goldmine for seeing actors before they were stars. In watching the old re-runs, I have seen Ron Howard, George Wendt, John Ritter, Patrick Swayzee, and Shelly Long to name a few. It’s always fun spotting them with the double take that inevitably accompanies it. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/33 "2002-08-06T14:21:19Z")
_“…none other than Andrea Thompson, she of NYPD Blue fame…”_ I thought she was of **Babylon 5** fame…which shows where MY loyalties lie. 😃 In “Coming to America,” Samuel L Jackson is the robber who tries to rip off McDowell’s. And apparently the little kid in the barber chair is Cuba Gooding, Jr. Nicolas Cage is one of Judge Reinhold’s character’s buddies in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” And I used to love “Quarterback Princess” starring…Helen Hunt. I was **such** a geek. (“was?”) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/34 "2002-08-06T14:32:07Z")
Gary Cooper has a bit part as a reporter in the silent Clara Bow film, _It_. ---
**Author:** ![tetsusaru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@tetsusaru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetsusaru)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/35 "2002-08-06T15:05:36Z")
A very young Benicio del Toro played a knife-wielding henchman in License To Kill, the last Timothy Dalton Bond movie. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/36 "2002-08-06T15:35:46Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Linus Van Pelt \* > \*\*M_A_S_H is a goldmine for seeing actors before they were stars. In watching the old re-runs, I have seen Ron Howard \*\* Ron Howard was a star long before M_A_S\*H. A ltitle thing called _The Andy Griffith Show_ (1960-68) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/37 "2002-08-06T15:35:52Z")
**Leonard Nimoy** has a tiny part in **Them!** **Forrest Whittaker** is the football player whose car gets trashed in **Fast Times at Ridgemont High**. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/38 "2002-08-06T16:02:49Z")
Boy was I surprised to see the most excellent Laurence Fishburne in the excerable **Cherry 2000**. Samuel L Jackson played the DJ in **Do the Right Thing**. I guess that’s not a bit part, but I didn’t realize it was him for a long long long time. And he’s credited as “Sam Jackson.” ---
**Author:** ![Mystery\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Mystery\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mystery_Dog)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/39 "2002-08-06T16:02:57Z")
**Jeff Goldblum** is one of the hoodlums who kill Charles Bronson’s wife in _Death Wish_. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434/40 "2002-08-06T16:19:06Z")
Oh, since you mentioned _Death Wish_, I believe Marina “Deanna Troi” Sirtis plays a rape victim in _Death Wish III._ And as long as we’re mentioning Star Trek actors, check out Denise Crosby as the bat-wielding girlfriend in _48 Hours._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/early-bit-parts-by-actors-famous-later/122434.md?page=3)