# Seeing famous actors before they were famous **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2011, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516 "2011-03-13T09:59:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**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:** [March 20, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/141 "2011-03-20T00:52:21Z")
[Jeremy Renner](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0719637/), Oscar-nominated actor for [The Hurt Locker](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887912/) (and who is scheduled to play Hawkeye/Clint Barton in the _Avengers_ movie), was a patient on an episode of _House_. Renner’s had other roles before then, but nothing quite as high-profile as _The Hurt Locker_. ---
**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:** [March 20, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/142 "2011-03-20T01:33:38Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Marg Helgenberger appears really quickly in a party scene in “Tootsie.” She had a bigger part in “The Cowboy Way,” (1994) starring Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland. > [@Superdude](#): > > I’m not familiar with when they became famous…was it before _This Is Spinal Tap_ that Fran Drescher, Bruno Kirby, Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey became well-known? I didn’t know Fran until _UHF_, and Dana Carvey from _SNL_. Fran Drescher said, “Are you as good in bed as you are on the dance floor?” to John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. > [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > If **Excalibur** get a shout out, how about [The Bounty (1984)](http://www.cinemagia.ro/trailer/the-bounty-revolta-de-pe-bounty-853/)? Okay, Sir Laurence doesn’t count, but then you have Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day-Lewis, Bernard Hill, and Liam Neeson. Mel Gibson was already widely-known by 1984, having already starred in Mad Max,The Road Warrior (a.k.a. Mad Max 2), Gallipoli, The Year of Living Dangerously, Mrs. Soffel, and The River. I would say he was a major star by then. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/143 "2011-03-20T01:44:17Z")
I once saw Burt Reynolds in an episode of _Flipper_. Or was it _Sea Hunt_? It had water in it. ---
**Author:** ![MsChilePepper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MsChilePepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsChilePepper)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/144 "2011-03-20T02:20:35Z")
During a spate of insomnia a while back, I saw Julia Roberts in an ep of Miami Vice, which was showing on the Sleuth channel. I feel slightly dirty for admitting I watched it purposefully. The wardrobe on the show is hiLARious now, though. Wayne Newton was one of the multitude of guest stars on Bonanza. He was in a couple of eps in 1966, which would have made him about 24 at the time, but he looked approximately 14. And yes, he sang in both eps. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/145 "2011-03-20T02:23:34Z")
A series of coffee adverts that ran in the UK in the 80’s [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igi9u6X4y-s) ---
**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:** [March 20, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/146 "2011-03-20T02:36:59Z")
I saw De Forrest Kelly in an episode of Bonanza. He played, guess what, a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/147 "2011-03-20T04:42:17Z")
Before Robert Englund became Freddy Krueger, he played Whitey in the Jan Michael Vincent movie [_Buster and Billie_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071258/) in 1974. One of my favorite old tearjerkers, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/148 "2011-03-20T07:28:06Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > Before Robert Englund became Freddy Krueger, he played Whitey in the Jan Michael Vincent movie [_Buster and Billie_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071258/) in 1974. One of my favorite old tearjerkers, BTW. Same here. A surprisingly powerful little movie. I haven’t seen it since it first came out. Is it even in print? ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/149 "2011-03-20T09:16:06Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > It never came out on VHS or DVD (I have a copy I recorded off HBO in the mid 1980s) but Jay Leno plays one of Alan Freed’s sidekicks in 1978’s “American Hot Wax”. Not that Leno was that young, maybe 28, but it is disconcerting to see that chin as an actor when you are used to him as a talk show host. I’ll see your _American Hot Wax_, and raise you [Good Times](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdn5hzOtF84), 1976. I’ve been seeing a lot of old _Outer Limits_ episodes lately, and it’s surprising who pops up on there. Ted Knight and Robert Duvall to name just a few I’ve noticed recently. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/150 "2011-03-20T09:27:25Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I’m not familiar with when they became famous…was it before _This Is Spinal Tap_ that Fran Drescher, Bruno Kirby, Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey became well-known? I didn’t know Fran until _UHF_, and Dana Carvey from _SNL_. Billy Crystal was in [Soap](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075584/). What about Bruno Kirby? > > I mean, I was born in 1973. Soap was first aired in 1977, so I only have vague recollections of its start. Billy Crystal could have been well-known in the stand-up comedy circles before then. Billy Crystal was pretty famous solely because of Soap, because his character was one of the first (if not the first) openly gay characters on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/151 "2011-03-20T10:28:39Z")
While looking up something for another thread, does anybody remember Haley Joel Osmet playing Forrest Gump Jr.? ---
**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:** [March 20, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/152 "2011-03-20T15:14:58Z")
Adam Sandler played a friend of Theo’s on _The Cosby Show_ for a few episodes. [Dule Hill](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0384211/), before being on _The West Wing_ and _Psyche_, was on an episode of _Cosby_, and also had a part in [Men of Honor](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203019/). ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/153 "2011-03-20T17:14:32Z")
The TV series Bracken’s World was about a TV networld headed by John Bracken, who was never seen in the first year of the series. In the second year, the role was played by Leslie Neilsen. It didn’t help, as the series was cancelled mid-season. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/154 "2011-03-20T17:26:21Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Same here. A surprisingly powerful little movie. I haven’t seen it since it first came out. Is it even in print? Regarding _Buster and Billie,_ I don’t believe it is in print. I rented the VHS and made a DVD a few years back. They never broadcast it and nobody rents VHS anymore. It’s on Amazon ranging from $75 for used VHS up up to $155 new(?). Agree that its a great flick. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/155 "2011-03-20T18:20:37Z")
> [@Linty\_Fresh](#): > > _cough_ Lance Hendrickson _cough_ > [@Superhal](#): > > Lance was mistakenly added as being killed by an alien. Actually, he survived the Alien in Aliens. In Alien3, the beginning of the film said he was one of the survivors on the escape pod/ship (along with newt, Micheal Biehn, and Sigourney Weaver,) but when it crashed on the prison planet, only Weaver survived. Besides surviving the Aliens attack (he made Ripley turn him off even though he was functional), he also survived the police station raid in The Terminator. Cameron was going to bring him back in T2 all disfigured, but didn’t end up filming the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/156 "2011-03-20T19:33:34Z")
_Stay Hungry_, 1976, directed by Bob Rafelson (5 Easy Pieces,) stars Jeff Bridges and Arnold Schwarzenegger long before either of them were famous. This is a great and very quirky film with a lot of local color from the city of Birmingham. (Sally Field is also naked in it - though, unfortunately, from the rear only.) It was based on a novel by Charles Gaines, an eccentric genius and adventurer (who I have corresponded with repeatedly) - he invented the game of paintball, competed in the first international fly-fishing tournament, and launched Arnold Schwarzenegger to stardom with his documentary “Pumping Iron”, based on a photo-essay that he had co-authored. Great guy. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/157 "2011-03-20T20:10:49Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > While looking up something for another thread, does anybody remember Haley Joel Osmet playing Forrest Gump Jr.? I do! (one of my favorite movies, BTW) ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/158 "2011-03-20T20:12:09Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > I do! (one of my favorite movies, BTW) I can’t remember the kid at all, like everybody else, I was blown away by Forrest’s line, “Is he normal?” ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/159 "2011-03-20T20:22:23Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I saw De Forrest Kelly in an episode of Bonanza. He played, guess what, a doctor. “Damn it, Ben, I’m a doctor, not a cowboy!” ---
**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:** [March 20, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516/160 "2011-03-20T23:06:32Z")
Who could forget Tom Hanks in [Mazes and Monsters](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084314/)? And he was on episodes of _Taxi_ and _Happy Days_. And _The Love Boat_. And he played Merideth Baxter Birney’s’ brother on 3 episodes of _Family Ties_. Some of those were after _Bosom Buddies_, but before he became extremely famous with films like _Splash_. And Geena Davis was also on 3 episodes of _Family Ties_ before she moved onto _Beetlejuice_. And George McFly himself, _Crispin Glover_ was on an episode of _Family Ties_ the year before _Back to the Future_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-famous-actors-before-they-were-famous/574516.md?page=9)