In an early episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Christian Slater turns up at the door of Captain Picard’s office, says “Sir…” and is promptly told to f*** off unless he has something important to say.
That was one of the movies…“Generations” I believe. And Christian Slater was already quite famous, so I’d say this one would be considered a cameo rather than a bit part by an actor who was famous later.
Jack Nicholson was also in a couple of episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, one of them being the episode called “Aunt Bea the Juror”; he plays the guy accused of theft.
Umm…no. That was John Larroquette, dude.
Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders (1983) featured a treasuire trove of soon-to-be major star hunks: Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, and Rob Lowe, long before ANY of them were popular.
I was also surprised to see Ed O’Neill (aka Al Bundy) in a small role in the 1980 movie Dogs of War.
By the way, I totally do not get the Jerry Seinfeld/Sharky’s Machine reference…
It was a movie, but it was Undiscovered Country.
And it was Captain Sulu’s quarters, not Picard.
Follow the link at the end of my “full points” post.
Even better than just a cameo:
Dick Clarkwas the killer in the very last of the original Perry Mason episodes. Though, admittedly, he was already famous by then.
Erle Stanley Gardner also appeared in that episode. Though, of course, he too was already famous by then. 
John Larroquette also played a cop in an episode of Three’s Company.
Hey, at least I knew it was one of the movies…
<bashes self repeatedly in forehead> I’m losing my geek cred, aren’t I.
Golly, almost everyone started out as an extra or bit player, or in short subjects: Garbo, Harlow, Dietrich, Gable, Valentino, Swanson, Grable, Garland . . . It’s harder to name stars who started out as stars in their first film: Katharine Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, Theda Bara and Mae West come to mind.
Hmm, off the top of my head:
K. Hepburn: * Morning Glory * (1933)?
M. West: She Done Him Wrong (1933)
C. Colbert: It Happened One Night (1934)
Don’t know Theda Bara, though.
Redford also appeared in a Twilight Zone episode playing a policeman who is shot and cared for by an elderly woman who is afraid of Death. Guess who is really Death in disguise?
Buck Henry played the desk clerk in The Graduate.
The Man Who Has No Name (that I can remember) played the following characters: the young guy who gives Jon Voight head in the movie theater and then throws up in “Midnight Cowboy,” the pilot that paddles to Sweden in “Catch 22,” one of the scientists who translates for Jean Luc Goddard in “Close Encounters,” the slimy Assistant District Attorney who leaks the story to Sally Fields in “Absent Malice,” Mr. Dalrymple (head of Programming at NBC) in “Seinfeld” (he throws up in that episode, too, and later falls for Elaine), and Mr. Weisbaum, the producer with the young male lover in “Gosford Park.”
And his other buddy was a young Anthony Edwards, of ER fame. (And Revenge of the Nerds, Northern Exposure, etc).
John Laroquette was also one of the racists in the episode of Twilight Zone: The Movie where Vic Morrow goes through time enduring the worst racism events in history. He was in the lynch mob, and says “We got you now - n_____!!”
Another great source for seeing actors before they were stars: Hill Street Blues. Just last night I saw an episode with the Mother from Six Feet Under in a small role.
Wrong on all counts, Dan, but kudos for trying:
Kate Heburn: A Bill of Divorcement (1932)
Theda Bara: A Fool There Was (1915)
Mae West: Night After Night (1932)
Claudette Colbert: For the Love of Mike (1927)
Ah, see. I haven’t seen any of those, but I guess I was thinking more of the movies in which they starred for the first time - was Hepburn the “star” of Bill of Divorcement? IMdB has her listed as the fourth billed (and second female). Same with West, she’s billed fourth. Guess it depends on whether you define “star” as the lead role or as the person’s first “big” role.
Either way… damn!
Well, true, not the star, I’ll give you that . . . But not a bit player or extra.
“Buck Henry played the desk clerk in The Graduate.”
Yep, he also was one of the writers and in fact wrote the famous line “Plastics” and refused to allow it to be cut out by Nichols.
You people have put some great stuff down that I’m definately going to be looking for.
How about Gene Wilder in Bonnie and Clyde? Also, Estelle Parsons had a part in that - she later went on to play Roseanne and Jackie’s mom in Roseanne.
Sheri
Someone mentioned John Larroquette - how about him as the narrator in a little horror movie called The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?
What part was Gene in B & C? I never noticed that, and I’ve seen that movie a gazillion times.
How 'bout Sly Stallone, Henry Winkler, and Perry King from “The Lords of Flatbush”?