How I wish Gabriel Byrne had played Arthur instead of the dweeb they did get. That guy pretty much ruins Excalibur for me. Well, okay, except for Nichol Williamson as Merlin. He’s a hoot!
How 'bout Phil Hartman as Cap’n Carl in The Pee Wee Hermann Show (the movie, not Pee Wee’s Playhouse)
Or, Pee Wee himself in two of the masterwerks in Cheech and Chongs great repertoire, Next Movie or Nice Dreams. HAMBURGER!
[nitpick]
Billy Pilgrim, not Kilgore Trout.
[/nitpick]
How about Bill Paxton (with a blue mohawk!) in the first Terminator? He was one of the punks from whom Arnold got his clothes.
** Fran Dresher ** (sorry) was also promoter Bobby Flexman in ** This is Spinal Tap **. An 8 minute role that won her recognition and an Esquire award. She reprised the role on an episode of ** The Nanny ** that was great.
Married…with Children is another TV show where you can find a lot of stars in early roles:
Matt LeBlanc was one of Kelly’s boyfriends, and got a short-lived spinoff from that role, with Joey Lauren Adams, who also played other parts later on MWC.
Milla Jovovich was the Bundy’s French exchange student.
I looked at a cast list and found these actors also played bit parts on the show early in their career:
David Boreanaz
Renee Zellweger
Casper Van Dien
Denise Richards
Giovanni Ribisi
She also appeared on Sesame Street as a really young girl riffing with Kermit, talking about the alphabet or something.
I distinctly remember Kermit asking what her name is and she responds “tatyanaleeee!”
Jerry O’Connell was Sarah’s dinner date on “CiC” Chip Esten kidnapped the Bundys on “Married…”
john laroquette (sp?) as the leader of the army guys in ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES
** Mila Kunis ** was also on an episode of ** Don’t Shoot Me ** as a college intern. And ** Debra Jo Rupp ** was Seinfeld’s agent and Friend’s Phoebe’s sister-in-law. Phoeboe was the surrogate mother for her triplets.
I am under the impression that Teri Garr also appears as a dancer in Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made For Walking” video; I believe she’s wearing red.
IIRC, Teri Garr was a dancer in the Monkees’ movie “Head” in 1968 - just off the top o’ my head.
Another Star Trek one that wasn’t mentioned from what I could tell,
Ashley Judd as a young Ensign in a Next Generation episode.
Damn, she was (and still is!) a hottie.
Teri Hatcher was in a NextGen episode, too.
How about directors?
I was watching the first Stuart Little with Baby Kate last weekend and the screenwriting credit is shared by someone I didn’t recognize and M Night Shyamalan.
I just saw Harrison Ford in a small role in GETTING STRAIGHT, an early-1970s counterculture film starring Elliot Gould and Candice Bergen.
Harrison Ford’s first two films were Dead Heat on a Merry Go Round (1966) and Luv (1967), the latter with Peter Falk; both were bit parts, I think.
Just got reminded from another thread:
Tim Robbins had a semi-major part in Howard The Duck. He was sure young.
Three pages an no-one has mentioned Clint Eastwood as a clumsy lab tech in one of the Creature from the Black Lagoon sequals?
or as the fighter pilot in Tarantula?
Dennis Franz in Popeye.
Vanessa Angel as a Russian in Spies Like Us.
Lawerence Fishburn had a somewhat important role in his first film, Apocalypse now, in which he actually lied about his age to get the part. Got credited as Larry Fishburn.