# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/81 "2016-05-31T22:52:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Oh, another one: In _Alien_, the characters die in reverse order of their prominence. Sigourney Weaver was, at the time, a no-name. A no-name? The niece of Doodles Weaver a no-name? Not in my universe! ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2016, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/82 "2016-06-01T01:28:30Z")
[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] But, once you knew who she was, it's easy to spot her - standing a foot taller than anyone else in the scene! ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/83 "2016-06-01T02:40:31Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > But, of course, Chuck Norris can star in a film without even appearing in it. yes > [@erysichthon](#): > > Michael O’Donoghue’s execrable [Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079583/) was advertised with a star-studded cast, including Carrie Fisher, Teri Garr, Margot Kidder, Debbie Harry, and several SNL stars including Bill Murray. Nearly all of these actors were onscreen for, at most, a few seconds. Yeah one or two of them got a couple minutes, at best, along with Dan Ackroyd, explaining his webbed toes, which was about the only thing _remotely_ holding my interest in what was otherwise, yeah - execrable. A bring down for this Mr. Mike fan. \< (from early SNL, which he also wrote for). Surely the greatest sci-fi ever - “Star Crash” - teases us, cruelly (or at least their ad campaign does) with the munificent promise of the venerable, not-quite-inestimable Christopher Plummer, but we sure don’t get a whole shitload of’im. Cruel.☹ ---
**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:** [June 3, 2016, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/84 "2016-06-03T05:20:31Z")
Wendell Wagner - Yes, I knew that, that was my point exactly. Completely underwhelmed by the parody, though that’s no surprise from SNL these days. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/85 "2016-06-03T13:31:05Z")
Here’s one : Beetlejuice He appears in only 17 1/2 minutes of a 92 minute film in which he’s the title character. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/86 "2016-06-03T14:50:23Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Jack Nicholson was second-billed in _A Few Good Men_ but only appeared in four scenes. There probably should be some sort of exception for actors in roles without much screen time, but whose time is integral or part of the climactic scenes. Nicholson in “A Few Good Men” was a main character, and pivotal to the story. Hell, the most quoted lines from the movie come out of his mouth. Four scenes or not, he \*\*\*should \*\*\*have been top billed for that movie. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/87 "2016-06-04T00:22:11Z")
> [@SykoSkotty](#): > > Here’s one : Beetlejuice > > He appears in only 17 1/2 minutes of a 92 minute film in which he’s the title character. I’m not sure, but I think that’s longer than Nimoy appears in Search for Spock. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2016, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/88 "2016-06-04T02:06:45Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The VCR version of _The Devil’s Rain_ shows John Travolta as one of the six actors mentioned on the box. Travolta had a single line and was in the film for less than a minute. He was not billed originally, but after his career took off, he was listed. HA! That reminds me…“Caveman” used to be “Starring Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach” then later on TV viewings it became “Starring Dennis Quaid and Shelley Long”! ---
**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:** [June 4, 2016, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198/89 "2016-06-04T08:22:56Z")
> [@SykoSkotty](#): > > Here’s one : Beetlejuice > > He appears in only 17 1/2 minutes of a 92 minute film in which he’s the title character. If we’re going to allow characters rather than actors, then there’s no shortage of productions where the title character dosen’t appear on screen at all. The various televised performances of _Waiting for Godot_ come to mind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/highly-billed-actors-with-almost-no-screen-time/746198.md?page=4)