# Person that's been in the most movies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 10, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223 "2003-08-10T17:22:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mrbuddylee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@mrbuddylee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrbuddylee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/1 "2003-08-10T17:22:29Z")
Ok, I’ve been wondering this for a while. Does anyone know who’s been in the most movies in their career. I’d figure it’d probably be a stunt man or someone like that, but if anyone knows who can claim the most movies under their belt, please share. Thanks for the help! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/2 "2003-08-10T17:41:59Z")
IMDB has such data. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/3 "2003-08-10T17:42:39Z")
I recall reading that it’s one of the women who posed with the torch in the Columbia Pictures logo ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/4 "2003-08-10T17:43:24Z")
Since this is about films, I’ll move this thread to Cafe Society. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![mrbuddylee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@mrbuddylee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrbuddylee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/5 "2003-08-10T18:02:53Z")
Sorry about posting on the wrong board. I can’t find anything on imdb. I’ll look a bit harder and see what I can find. ---
**Author:** ![mrbuddylee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@mrbuddylee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrbuddylee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/6 "2003-08-10T18:09:03Z")
I did find this at IMDB: [http://us.imdb.com/Prolific/](http://us.imdb.com/Prolific/) So thanks for pointing me there. I wonder which actors that are currently acting would have the highest number… ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/7 "2003-08-10T18:10:08Z")
**mrbuddylee** , sorry for the terse reply earlier, but look into [this page](http://us.imdb.com/Prolific/) to help answer your question. I have looked before and it’s not that helpful in finding people you’ve heard of! But if you poke around, maybe make your own sublist of those “prolific” types, you can build your own version. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/8 "2003-08-10T18:27:47Z")
According to the Internet Movie Database, the most prolific [actors](http://us.imdb.com/Prolific/actors) are: 1. [Mel Blanc](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Blanc,+Mel) (905 acting credits) Almost all of Blanc’s credits are for voices in Warner Bros. cartoons. 2. [Adoor Bhasi](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Bhasi,+Adoor) (549) 3. Tom London (533) 4. Bud Osborne (525) 5. Edmund Cobb (515) 6. Prem Nazir (506) 7. Lee Phelps (502) 8. Oliver Hardy (442) 9. Lee Moran (I) (437) 10. Irving Bacon (436) The most prolific [actresses](http://us.imdb.com/Prolific/actresses) are: 1. [Bess Flowers](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Flowers,+Bess) (489 acting credits) Almost all of Bess Flowers’ work was as an unbilled extra over several decades in Hollywood. She became known as the Queen of the Extras. 2. [Mae Questel](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Questel,+Mae) (330) Questel was the voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl from the 1930s to the 1950s. 3. Lalita Pawar (323) 4. Sharada (306) 5. [Florence Lawrence](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Lawrence,+Florence) (293) Lawrence was one of the first movie actors to get screen billing, in 1910. 6. Pandharibai (278) 7. Mary Pickford (277) 8. Claire McDowell (268) 9. Mary Gordon (I) (260) 10. Sridevi (259) The Hollywood actor who has _starred_ in the most feature films is John Wayne. He acted in 153 movies; in all but 11 he had leading roles. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/9 "2003-08-10T18:43:39Z")
Ron Jeremy has 739 individual on-screen credits and a couple hundred more off-screen. If you count repeat clips in compilations, he has over 4000. Most of these are porn, but some aren’t; he has an uncredited role in 1973’s _Jesus Christ Superstar_. I wouldn’t want to share a water fountain with the guy, but give him his due. Oh, and the woman holding the torch in Columbia openers: Is there any chance that that’s Shirley Temple? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/10 "2003-08-10T18:50:00Z")
[The History of a Logo: The Lady with the Torch](http://www.reelclassics.com/Studios/Columbia/columbia-article-logo.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/11 "2003-08-10T19:29:15Z")
Wow. I would have bet money that John Carradine was the one with the most screen appearances… guess I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/12 "2003-08-10T20:10:28Z")
Christopher Lee has appeared in the most movies of all seriously famous people I know. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/13 "2003-08-11T02:27:53Z")
According to the Original Posting, the question is “who has been in” the most movies. Isn’t it possible a key grip, a gaffer or even a clapper loader was in 1,000 films? ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/14 "2003-08-11T02:37:24Z")
Well, clapper loaders tend to be removed in the editing process, unless you’re watching a very poorly made film. 😉 Re: Mel Blanc. There are probably a bunch of now-forgotten newreel announcers who could match his record. Though I’m not really sure if the OP was thinking about short subjects … or porn, for that matter! ---
**Author:** ![richardb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/96bed5/32.png) [@richardb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/richardb)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/15 "2003-08-11T03:07:46Z")
I know this wasn’t really the question, but if you want to know which **current major** actor or actress has been in the most movies, the answer is: Gene Hackman, with 76 credited roles. This is a list of the top 91 actors (based on box office grosses), which can be sorted by Number of Films Starring, Average Box Office Gross of those films he starred in, Average B.O. Gross of all movies they made, Average B.O. Gross of all movies they made in the 1990’s, Average B.O. Gross of their last 10 movies, Total gross of all movies they’ve been in, Number of all movies they’ve been in, and number of movies they’ve been in grossing over 100 million dollars. [The Movie Times: Actors](http://www.the-movie-times.com/thrsdir/actors.mv?actors+ByTM) The major Actress with the most credited roles is: Susan Sarandon, with 47 credited roles [The Movie Times: Actresses](http://www.the-movie-times.com/thrsdir/actors.mv?actress+ByTM) ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/person-thats-been-in-the-most-movies/194223/16 "2003-08-11T03:22:34Z")
Newsreel announcers may have been at the movies, but they weren’t in many films, were they? Otherwise the clear winner would be DON ‘THUNDER THROAT’ LAFONTAINE … the guy who does movie trailers. 80 studio sessions a week! More than 3500 films, television shows and other projects!