# Familiar actors you did not realize were in a movie you saw until someone told you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381 "2014-04-04T23:42:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/1 "2014-04-04T23:42:42Z")
For me it was Dan Aykroyd playing Liberace’s business manager Seymour in [Behind the Candleabra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behind_the_Candelabra). I had no idea it was him until I read a review weeks alter. He was completely immersed in the character and unrecognizable to me. Any familiar actors have you missed in films you watched and only found out they were there after the fact? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/2 "2014-04-04T23:44:54Z")
Mel Gibson is a chameleon in ‘The Singing Detective’. ---
**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:** [April 4, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/3 "2014-04-04T23:46:25Z")
I was surprised by, but eventually recognized, Mike Myers as a British General in **Inglourious Basterds**. But I didn’t realize until looking at the IMDb afterwards that the actor that played Winston Churchill in the same scene was Rod Taylor. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/4 "2014-04-04T23:55:46Z")
My SO had to point out Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones in _ **Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End** _ as I didn’t recognize him. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/5 "2014-04-05T00:09:13Z")
It took several viewings of **This Is Spinal Tap** before I identified Anjelica Huston as the designer who built the Stonehenge set which is odd because I spotted Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey right off the bat (and they were playing mimes). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/6 "2014-04-05T00:16:26Z")
Cate Blanchett in **Hot Fuzz**. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/7 "2014-04-05T00:19:00Z")
I was in the theater watching _Tropic Thunder_ when I heard someone whisper “It’s Tom Cruise.” I honestly don’t know how long it would have taken for me to figure it out on my own. I guess I probably would have wigged to it before the end of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/8 "2014-04-05T00:24:29Z")
Not a movie, but for ages I’ve been saying “I like ze black ghostbuster” from SNL. Only today did I realize that was Julia Louis-Dreyfus. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/9 "2014-04-05T01:20:55Z")
The first secretary from Monk is the baseball player with the kid in A League of their Own. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/10 "2014-04-05T01:30:07Z")
[Ed Truck](http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060703233048/theoffice/images/3/32/Edtruck.jpg) and [Hank Hooper](http://dealbreaker.com/uploads/2014/02/hankhooper.jpg) are the same guy?! ---
**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:** [April 5, 2014, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/11 "2014-04-05T01:56:52Z")
> [@astro](#): > > For me it was Dan Aykroyd playing Liberace’s business manager Seymour in [Behind the Candleabra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behind_the_Candelabra). I had no idea it was him until I read a review weeks alter. He was completely immersed in the character and unrecognizable to me. > > Any familiar actors have you missed in films you watched and only found out they were there after the fact? Dan Aykroyd was also in [Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087469/), as the guy who shows Indy and Willie to their plane at the beginning. He speaks with a British accent, and says “you WILL be riding on a cargo full of live poultry.” ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/12 "2014-04-05T11:40:19Z")
Hank Azaria in Along Came Polly. I don’t think I was the only person that missed that one. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/13 "2014-04-05T15:39:51Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > [Ed Truck](http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060703233048/theoffice/images/3/32/Edtruck.jpg) and [Hank Hooper](http://dealbreaker.com/uploads/2014/02/hankhooper.jpg) are the same guy?! And [Thomas Jefferson](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ll7gz7zLlh1qzzp59o1_500.jpg) and [The White Shadow](http://media.jinni.com/tv/the-white-shadow/the-white-shadow-1.jpeg)! ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/14 "2014-04-05T16:37:10Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > My SO had to point out Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones in _ **Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End** _ as I didn’t recognize him. Huh. The only thing I knew about this movie going in was that Keith Richards was in it. It was well-known Johnny Depp had based his character on Richards and his mannerisms. ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/15 "2014-04-05T17:10:46Z")
Paul Reubens in Batman Returns. He was the Penguin’s father, who sent baby Penguin floating down the river. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/16 "2014-04-05T17:40:33Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Cate Blanchett in **Hot Fuzz**. 😉 That’s a new one for me. I remember thinking I recognized her voice, but I suppose it never crossed my mind it would be anything more than a minor celebrity in the role. Watching it again, the eyes are _obviously_ Galadriel’s. Gary Oldman in Hannibal for me, although the someone who told me probably did it through the medium of Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![Mattie\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@Mattie\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mattie_Blue)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/17 "2014-04-05T17:54:55Z")
I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but it took me several years to realize that the blind hermit in _Young Frankenstein_ was Gene Hackman. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/18 "2014-04-05T18:04:28Z")
Speaking of pirates, [Glenn Close](http://showbizgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/glenn-close.jpg) in **Hook**. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/19 "2014-04-05T18:40:54Z")
Top Gun was on TV. I wasn’t really watching it except for any scenes with planes on it, until my brother said “isn’t that Mad Martigan?” ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381/20 "2014-04-05T18:59:17Z")
I recently watched _Prisoners_, starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal. I didn’t realize one of the other main characters was played by Melissa Leo until I saw the credits at the end. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/familiar-actors-you-did-not-realize-were-in-a-movie-you-saw-until-someone-told-you/685381.md?page=2)