# Highly billed actors with almost no screen time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 15, 2016, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198 "2016-02-15T10:32:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/61 "2016-02-18T18:52:27Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I was surprised by that too! Thanks for reminding me about this! When I saw the Switzerland date I turned to my wife and said “that _can’t_ be right! Switzerland?!!” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/62 "2016-02-18T19:21:08Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Morgan Freeman got top billing in \*Amistad. \*Did he even have any lines? Not all that many, but yes. I remember a scene where he’s talking to Anthony Hopkins (John Quincy Adams). > [@JKellyMap](#): > > Just yesterday I saw “Infinitely Polar Bear,” a meh little film from about a year ago starring Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana. I believe third-billed was Keir Dullea, who appears in one scene that’s maybe four minutes long, tops. > > Cool to see him, though – looking quite a bit like he did when he was “aged” with makeup for that one scene back in 1968! This might interest you: [I met Keir Dullea tonight! - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=616628) > [@RealityChuck](#): > > _Sidekicks_ had Chuck Norris prominently billed, but he appeared in a cameo at the end and in some short dream sequences. > > But, of course, Chuck Norris can star in a film without even appearing in it. It’s true. He is just. That. _Awesome_. > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > …I’d sure like to mention “Sleuth”: the fourth-billed and fifth-billed and sixth-billed actors got less screen time put together than Paquin did in that X-MEN flick, and yet got higher billing. :: golf clap :: > [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > …The biggest impact I got from the film was at the end credits, when they listed countries and the year women **finally** got the right to vote. > > Switzerland - 1971. > Seriously Switzerland? It took you that long to give women the vote??? Appalling but true: [Women's suffrage in Switzerland - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_Switzerland) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/63 "2016-02-18T19:56:43Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Appalling but true: [Women's suffrage in Switzerland - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_Switzerland) It was, at the time, one of three European countries that still denied women the right to vote. Of the remaining two, one still hasn’t yet extended the franchise to women. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/64 "2016-02-18T20:59:32Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > It was, at the time, one of three European countries that still denied women the right to vote. Of the remaining two, one still hasn’t yet extended the franchise to women. Wiki says otherwise: [1984 Liechtenstein women's suffrage referendum - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein_women%27s_suffrage_referendum,_1984). Which country were you thinking of? ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/65 "2016-02-18T21:52:51Z")
Well, Wikipedia is wrong. I was thinking of another European microstate, the Vatican City. It is an elective monarchy where women are legally prohibited from becoming electors. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/66 "2016-02-18T22:05:57Z")
Kevin Costner’s hand gets no billing in _The Big Chill_. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/67 "2016-02-19T01:44:39Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > This might interest you: [I met Keir Dullea tonight! - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=616628) Thanks – you’re right! So, from post #8, you found that, five years ago, Dullea did NOT resemble his “aged” forms from 2001. Let us know if you happen to catch _Infinitely Polar Bear_ sometime (don’t go out of your way – not a great movie), and if you agree with me that he DOES rather resemble them in that one. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/68 "2016-02-19T04:19:12Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Kevin Costner’s hand gets no billing in _The Big Chill_. Sad, since it was less wooden than the whole him was in many other movies. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2016, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/69 "2016-02-19T05:15:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > While Mark Hamil’s role in _The Force Awakens_ is surely one for the record books, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford also deserve mention here. While they both have screen time and lines, it’s much less than Finn and Rey, the real leads of the movie. I can sort of see saying that about Ms Fisher, but Harrison Ford absolutely was a lead role in the movie, even if not as big as Finn and Rey. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/70 "2016-02-20T02:54:39Z")
More of a video release. There was a 1969 jam session known as “Supershow”. When it came out of VHS in 1986, there were 17 performances, one of which was Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused” (I forget who they ripped off on that song). It was there only song on the tape. But with the massive popularity of Led Zeppelin on AOR stations, their picture and name was prominently portrayed on the cover. Farrah Fawcett was something like fifth in the credits for “Logan’s Run”. But when that was on network television in 1977 when she was battling to leave “Charlie’s Angels”, the network promos prominently mentioned “making a rare television appearance this year, Farrah Fawcett”. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/71 "2016-02-20T03:26:42Z")
Margot Kidder in\* Superman III\* was in, IIIRC, one scene, and Laura Dern was only briefly featured at the beginning and end of _Jurassic Park III_. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/72 "2016-05-30T21:14:23Z")
No Retreat, No Surrender billed, at #2, an up-and-coming martial arts phenom known as Jean-Claude Van Damme. He appears for about a minute early on, then disappears completely until the contest at the end, where he provides a few minutes of action and says roughly 6 words. Michelle Rodriguez reprised her role as Letty (#3 billing) in Fast And Furious. She…does not do very much, to put it mildly. Re. Alec Baldwin in Glenngarry Glen Ross (#3 billing): I just watched the whole movie yesterday (Go IPad! :D), and the thing that really strikes me about the Blake character was how _superfluous_ he was. He looked every bit like a pointless made-up character randomly shoehorned in to pad out the running time. First off, the salesman already have a manager, John Williamson; why wouldn’t _he_ be the one giving the speech? (IMO Kevin Spacey gave a fine performance and would’ve had no difficulty pulling it off). He was never shy about stating the terms of the contest or pushing the need to close, close, close. Second, we don’t _need_ some gold-plated corporate slimeball to pressurize the concrete or whatever. The contest is already underway (you can see the poster on the wall), we see the kind of frustrations these shady salesman have even before the meeting, and, oh yeah, _the entire goddam movie is about lying and backstabbing to get ahead in an insanely cutthroat, dirty business_. In the right kind of movie, Blake could’ve been a handy Macguffin, or provided a fun throwaway early sequence. Putting him here is like urinating into an open sewer. Can’t kill what’s already dead. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/73 "2016-05-30T21:35:12Z")
Another one I just thought of was _Heroes_ (1977). At the time it was regarded as a star vehicle for Henry Winkler, who was at the height of his fame for playing Fonzie on _Happy Days_. His co-star was Sally Field, who was also apparently poised for her breakout role in films. So the initial publicity heavily focused on the two leads. But then _Star Wars_ was released. And Harrison Ford became a mega-star. And somebody remembered that he had a supporting role in _Heroes_ (he was on screen for around ten minutes). The marketing of the movie shifted and it became _Heroes_, starring Henry Winkler, Sally Field, and **Harrison Ford - Han Solo from Star Wars**. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/74 "2016-05-30T21:46:27Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > Mid 60s’ **Operation Crossbow** is a wonderful example of this. Sophia Loren was at the top of her career when this WWII spy film was made. So in spite of having less than eight minutes on film she is the "star’ of the movie. She was featured on posters, in the previews, on radio spots, etc In reality, however, she, at best, had a bit part. There were a whole bunch of epic movies in the 50’s and 60’s with big stars with big billing who played bit parts. Think about John Wayne in _The Longest Day_, John Wayne in _How the West Was Won_, Edward G. Robinson in _The Ten Commandments_, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/75 "2016-05-30T23:28:23Z")
DKW, you do realize, don’t you, that the character played by Alec Baldwin was created for the film? He didn’t exist in the play that it was based on at all. I won’t agree or disagree with you about that scene, but let me note that I think that it’s become thought of as the most famous single scene that Baldwin has ever done. Take a look at this _Saturday Night Live_ parody: [http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/glengarry-christmas---elf-motivation/n12000](http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/glengarry-christmas---elf-motivation/n12000) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/76 "2016-05-31T00:14:52Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > Brando also got an Oscar nomination for about 10 or 15 minutes of screen time in _A Dry White Season_. And again with the Brando–top billing in _Apocalypse Now_ for about 15 minutes of screen time, and (IIRC) doesn’t make his first appearance until nearly the end. ---
**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:** [May 31, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/77 "2016-05-31T01:52:51Z")
Here’s an old one: The Maltese Falcon. Someone named Gladys George got third billing in a completely forgettable and execrably acted role as Sam Spade’s partner’s wife. She had two scenes with dialog (both awful) and one view of her face in a car. All of that could have been cut from the movie without any loss of interest. Why give her such high billing for such a nothing role? My guess is that she was so bad that they ended up editing out as much as they thought they could, but they were stuck with the billing. She had been a busy actress starting in 1937, but after this role she didn’t work for two years. ---
**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:** [May 31, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/78 "2016-05-31T01:55:15Z")
[quote=“Wendell\_Wagner, post:56, topic:746198”] Chronos writes: \> Sigourney Weaver was, at the time, a no-name. Interesting piece of trivia: Before _Alien_, Sigourney Weaver appeared in one minor movie, one minor TV show, and one minor TV mini-series, all in what were apparently small roles, and also in one other movie which was an Oscar Best Picture winner, although her time on screen was only ten seconds. That movie was _Annie Hall_. She appeared in the scene at the end where Woody Allen and Diane Keaton’s characters meet again at a showing of _The Sorrow and the Pity_. She played Allen’s date in the scene. You would never recognize her if you weren’t told that it was her: [/QUOTE] I hope there is more of her in the movie than in this clip, where you see her from across the street. I wouldn't recognize my own mother from that distance. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/79 "2016-05-31T03:57:54Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I hope there is more of her in the movie than in this clip, where you see her from across the street. I wouldn’t recognize my own mother from that distance. Nope, that’s the whole Magilla. Mark Lenard has an equally small bit earlier in the film, on a TV show. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/80 "2016-05-31T07:39:48Z")
_Annie Hall_ was full of small roles by well-known people. Even stranger than the brief appearance by Sigourney Weaver was the one by Truman Capote. He played a Truman Capote lookalike and got no on-screen credit: > **[Annie Hall (1977) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075686/fullcredits/)** > > Annie Hall (1977) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198.md?page=5)