# Spotting a Familiar Actor in a Surprising Place - Part Deux **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 26, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931 "2017-06-26T19:06:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**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:** [July 9, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/121 "2017-07-09T16:24:49Z")
I was watching _ **The Reluctant Astronaut** _ (Don Knotts, 1967) on AMI last night. I recognized Pamelyn Ferdin (Mary in “And the Children Shall Lead,” _ **ST: TOS** _) immediately, and thought one of Don’s little nieces looked awfully familiar. Checking IMDB, I found she was none other than Melissa Gilbert, of _ **Little House on the Prairie** _ fame. Billy Sands, aka Harrison “Tinker” Bell on _ **McHale’s Navy** _, was also in the movie as “Airport Announcer” and “Man Mopping Floor in [a Janitor Training] Film.” ---
**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:** [July 9, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/122 "2017-07-09T16:32:16Z")
> [@jrbor76](#): > > … the episode of _Ironside_ that followed immediately afterwards featured Russell Johnson, better known from his run on _Gilligan’s Island_, and I probably would have had a similar reaction if _Ironside_ didn’t run its guest star credits at the start of episodes. I remember that one! Russell was … … the murderer the police were looking for in a televised appeal for information, and they caught him because he kept putting peanuts into his Coca-Cola, like they knew the killer did. He’d been sitting in the TV studio the whole time! ---
**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:** [July 10, 2017, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/123 "2017-07-10T04:01:49Z")
David Soul of later _Starsky & Hutch_ fame had a small _Star Trek_ appearance in heavy makeup: [Makora | Memory Alpha | Fandom](http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Makora) ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/124 "2017-07-10T12:53:54Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I saw a **dreadful** vampire movie titled _Bloodrayne_. As the heroine confronted the king of the vampires, who also happened to be her father, I looked at the guy and said to myself “Is that…it can’t be…HE wouldn’t be in a movie that sucked this badly.” > > But it was Ben Kingsley. Meat Loaf is also in there, as another vampire lord. The difference, I suppose, is that one can readily believe Meat Loaf being in a movie that sucked. 🙂 ---
**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:** [July 10, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/125 "2017-07-10T15:35:28Z")
Another recent one from American Gods, Dane Cook in a non-comedic role. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/126 "2017-07-10T15:57:03Z")
The actors that played Cooter, Enos, and Bo on Dukes of Hazzard all appeared in Smokey and the Bandit: [Login](http://transamcountry.com/community/index.php?topic=42359.0) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/127 "2017-07-10T21:21:08Z")
Michael Hall from Dexter was the narrator of a WW 2 documentary on history channel. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/128 "2017-07-11T01:11:08Z")
Dexter Dupont, who played several roles on the Twilight Zone, including an _angel_ in _Coon Hunt_, was a Mafi Hit Man on 77 Sunset Strip. Good Lord, one must have _some_ principals! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/129 "2017-07-11T01:48:20Z")
Or principles. Whatever. ---
**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:** [July 11, 2017, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/130 "2017-07-11T04:23:33Z")
A very young Ann Jillian in “Mute” on tonight’s _ **Twilight Zone** _. Wow! I \*knew \*she looked familiar! ---
**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:** [July 11, 2017, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/131 "2017-07-11T04:55:41Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > _Have Gun-Will Travel_. Episode _Genesis_. > Robert Mitchum is Richardson, a guy sent to kill Paladin. I didn’t recognize him until the very end, even though I knew that he was in the episode. His voice was two octaves higher than it was in Thunder Road. > He didn’t look old enough to drive. That’s, uh, Robert Mitchum’s _kid_. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/132 "2017-07-11T04:57:14Z")
There’s a Clint Eastwood movie called _Firefox_, in which he plays an American pilot who is secreted into the Soviet Union to steal a super-advanced new fighter jet. One of his last contacts is an engineer who works on the aircraft, played by **Nigel Hawthorne**. > [@terentii](#): > > A very young Ann Jillian in “Mute” on tonight’s _ **Twilight Zone** _. Wow! I \*knew \*she looked familiar! Keep an eye out for the episode _Caesar and Me_ with a young actress named Susanne Cupito. As an adult she took the stage nameMorgan Brittany. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/133 "2017-07-11T12:28:36Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > That’s, uh, Robert Mitchum’s _kid_. That explains much. BTW Boone played the bad guy in Robert Mitchum’s film _The Big Sleep._ ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/134 "2017-07-11T16:00:38Z")
Wow … 133 posts in and nobody has mentioned _Hell is for Heroes_, a WWII flick made in 1962, starring Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, Fess Parker, James Coburn, and [introducing] Bob Newhart! For those who don’t know, as a stand-up comedian, Bob Newhart’s schtick was to have a monologue based on one-sided telephone calls. That is, he would speak as if he were holding a phone, and all you heard was his sided of the conversation. In the movie, he pulls this off using a radio, and it is one of the funniest bits I’ve ever seen in a war movie. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/135 "2017-07-11T16:38:21Z")
> [@BobArrgh](#): > > Wow … 133 posts in and nobody has mentioned _Hell is for Heroes_, a WWII flick made in 1962, starring Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, Fess Parker, James Coburn, and [introducing] Bob Newhart! > > For those who don’t know, as a stand-up comedian, Bob Newhart’s schtick was to have a monologue based on one-sided telephone calls. That is, he would speak as if he were holding a phone, and all you heard was his sided of the conversation. In the movie, he pulls this off using a radio, and it is one of the funniest bits I’ve ever seen in a war movie. I don’t think it’s been mentioned yet (forgive me if I’m wrong), but **Fail Safe** similarly has a lot of familiar faces in it, but with the added advantage that a lot of the actors in this tense Cold War drama (basically _Dr. Strangelove_ without the dark humor) are much better known for light comedic roles: Larry Hagman, a year before _I Dream of Jeannie_ Walter Matthau, already getting well-known and in several films, but still not really famous. Sorrell Booke, ages before being Boss Hogg in _Dukes of Hazard_ Dom Deuise (known on Broadway, but not yet big on TV or movies) in an utterly humorless part as a Technical Sergeant. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/136 "2017-07-11T17:15:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t think it’s been mentioned yet (forgive me if I’m wrong), but **Fail Safe** similarly has a lot of familiar faces in it, but with the added advantage that a lot of the actors in this tense Cold War drama (basically _Dr. Strangelove_ without the dark humor) are much better known for light comedic roles: There were two movies made in 1964 about the possibility of nuclear war. One of them had Dom DeLuise and Larry Hagman. The other was a comedy. ---
**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:** [July 11, 2017, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/137 "2017-07-11T17:23:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t think it’s been mentioned yet (forgive me if I’m wrong), but **Fail Safe** similarly has a lot of familiar faces in it… Also Fritz Weaver and Dana Elcar. ---
**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:** [July 11, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/138 "2017-07-11T17:29:28Z")
> [@BobArrgh](#): > > Wow … 133 posts in and nobody has mentioned _Hell is for Heroes_, a WWII flick made in 1962, starring Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, Fess Parker, James Coburn, and [introducing] Bob Newhart! > > For those who don’t know, as a stand-up comedian, Bob Newhart’s schtick was to have a monologue based on one-sided telephone calls. That is, he would speak as if he were holding a phone, and all you heard was his sided of the conversation. In the movie, he pulls this off using a radio, and it is one of the funniest bits I’ve ever seen in a war movie. Nitpick: It was a field phone, not a radio. The Germans had tapped into the ground line, and Bob was using his shtick to feed them disinformation. I saw that movie with my dad when I was seven years old. It made a huge impression on me. ---
**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:** [July 11, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/139 "2017-07-11T17:35:57Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > There were two movies made in 1964 about the possibility of nuclear war. One of them had Dom DeLuise and Larry Hagman. The other was a comedy. Dom’s interpretation of his role was diametrically opposed to the portrayal of the sergeant in the book. In the book, he’s a big, dumb lifer who’s intent on pleasing the brass. It never occurs to him that he’s aiding the Russians and helping to kill American airmen. In the movie, he’s a conflicted whiner who gives up his information reluctantly because he knows he’s aiding the Russians and helping to kill American airmen. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/140 "2017-07-11T22:18:37Z")
I thought I had a thread winner, Gwyneth Paltrow in _1776_. I read somewhere that her mother, Blythe Danner, was pregnant with Gwyneth during filming. But I double checked and it’s not true. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931.md?page=8)