# Great/career-making movie debuts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 25, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164 "2013-12-25T20:16:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/1 "2013-12-25T20:16:10Z")
Just found out that \*Body Heat \*was Kathleen Turner’s first movie. Then thought of Brando/_Street Car_. Any others? Leads or supporting or movie-stealing roles. Ie, not the first appearance of so-and-so in a bit part, who you realize was great in that and it makes sense I know who he is now. Also, “debut” can be pretty lax. Perhaps Turner was in some student film. Even not so famous films; I’m thinking of ex-marine Harvey Keitel in one of Scorcese’s pre-\*Mean Streets \*movies, which I can’t remember :)… ---
**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:** [December 25, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/2 "2013-12-25T20:28:49Z")
Woody Allen’s first film appearance in **What’s New Pussycat?** got a lot of attention. Hell, his first appearance in the film was memorable (he’s playing chess and he casually throws one of his opponent’s pieces away when the opponent isn’t looking). Yul Brynner’s first film performance (not counting an obscure B-film) was in **The King and I.** James Cagney was cast as the second lead in **The Public Enemy** ; he had made three small films previously. During shooting, they gave him the lead, and he was a sensation. The Marx Brothers became instant stars with their first feature, **The Coconuts** , but they were established Broadway stars before that. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/3 "2013-12-25T20:31:55Z")
Edward Norton in Primal Fear. And deservedly so. He was brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/4 "2013-12-25T21:13:39Z")
To be fair, both Brando and Brynner were big Broadway hits in the plays that were the sources of their first movies. So the casting choice was not particularly surprising, nor was it surprising that they were good in those roles. I’ll vote for Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins. She was already a Broadway star but not in that role (and her famous Golden Globes acceptance [speech](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPmVf6HPz00) certainly pointed up that fact). There was no stopping her after that. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/5 "2013-12-25T21:59:50Z")
Robert Duvall’s first film role was as Boo Radley in _To Kill a Mockingbird_. It might not have made him a star, but it was certainly memorable. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/6 "2013-12-25T22:08:14Z")
Tom Cruise in _Risky Business_. Michelle Pfeiffer in _Grease 2_, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/7 "2013-12-25T22:14:22Z")
Orlando Bloom in _Fellowship of the Ring._ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/8 "2013-12-25T22:50:06Z")
Dustin Hoffman in _ **The Graduate** _. Gene Wilder as Leo Bloom in _ **The Producers** _. Natalie Wood in _ **Miracle on 34th Street** _. John Wayne in _ **Stagecoach** _. Humphrey Bogart in _ **They Drive by Night** _. Claudette Colbert in _ **It Happened One Night** _. Clark Gable in _ **It Happened One Night** _. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/9 "2013-12-25T22:56:57Z")
Eddie Murphy’s first three were his best three IMO. 48 hours Trading Places Beverly Hills Cop. Those three gave him enough momentum to coast through three decades of mostly shit and still get jobs. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/10 "2013-12-25T23:17:22Z")
It seems unfair to say Natalie Portman in **Leon** , but, c’mon. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/11 "2013-12-25T23:35:04Z")
**terentii** ’s obviously played this before. 😉 ETA: He also gets extra credit for my namesake. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/12 "2013-12-25T23:41:00Z")
John Houseman “The Paper Chase” Kirstie Alley “Star Trek II” ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/13 "2013-12-25T23:43:20Z")
Not a movie, but Nick Nolte in the TV miniseries **Rich Man, Poor Man**. The kid had something. Burt Lancaster in **The Killers**. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/14 "2013-12-25T23:49:56Z")
Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar for her premier in Roman Holiday. ---
**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:** [December 26, 2013, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/15 "2013-12-26T00:11:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Dustin Hoffman in _ **The Graduate** _. > > Gene Wilder as Leo Bloom in _ **The Producers** _. > > Natalie Wood in _ **Miracle on 34th Street** _. > > John Wayne in _ **Stagecoach** _. > > Humphrey Bogart in _ **They Drive by Night** _. > > Claudette Colbert in _ **It Happened One Night** _. > > Clark Gable in _ **It Happened One Night** _. Wilder and Hoffman, sure, but the rest were far fro their first roles. Gable was a big star before **It Happened One Night** , Bogart was an established actor, if not a star, and Wayne had been the star of dozens of films (though they were B pictures). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/16 "2013-12-26T00:18:27Z")
Warren Beatty, **Splendor In The Grass**. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/17 "2013-12-26T00:53:38Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Wilder and Hoffman, sure, but the rest were far fro their first roles. Gable was a big star before **It Happened One Night** , Bogart was an established actor, if not a star, and Wayne had been the star of dozens of films (though they were B pictures). Gable was well-known, but he really took off after winning the Best Actor award for _ **IHON** _ in 1934. Bogart was still playing second fiddle to actors like George Raft when he made _ **TDbN** _ in 1938. Wayne became an American icon with the full-length body shot of him stopping the stagecoach in the movie of the same name in 1939. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/18 "2013-12-26T01:30:42Z")
Keannu Reeves in Speed but he had several tv roles as a juvenile. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/19 "2013-12-26T01:53:48Z")
Ben Kingsley had his first film role, outside of television, in Gandhi, and he won the Oscar for it! ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164/20 "2013-12-26T01:54:04Z")
Cameron Diaz in _The Mask_. I remember seeing it and looking her up to see what she had been in before since I was sure she was already a star. Grace Kelly in \*High Noon \*(although she may have had bit parts and been on television before). Elizabeth Taylor in _National Velvet_. Lauren Bacall in _To Have and Have Not._ Tom Cruise had been in multiple movies before Risky Business. Audrey Hepburn had also been in multiple movies before Roman Holiday [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-career-making-movie-debuts/677164.md?page=2)