# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/141 "2017-07-12T13:51:23Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Keep an eye out for the episode _Caesar and Me_ with a young actress named Susanne Cupito. I was watching an old Dinah Shore program on JLTV, and one segment had a number of ballet students with their mothers. I thought one of them looked a lot like Suzanne Cupito (who was also in the classic “Inheritors” ep of the original “Outer Limits”). Sure enough, when they introduced her, they introduced her as “Suzanne.” And looking at IMDB, that was the same year \*(1960) that she got her first known acting jobs. My contribution: I saw the name “Renee Zellweger” in the movie “Reality Bites.” She’s at the bottom of the credits list, so I figured her part had to be pretty small, so I rewound it. She has the briefest of scenes with no lines where she is holding a cup (of coffee?) seeing Ethan Hawke out of her apartment (where he throws away her name and number). And one other possibility. . . In “The Loved One” (1965), I think Miranda Richardson plays a fussy toddler on the airplane at the beginning of the movie. Can’t corroborate it, but her day (director Tony R.) had done the same thing with her three years later in “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” She has a brief, but very noticeable scene in it, that does nothing to advance to plot, but as if Tony is saying, “Look at my beautiful daughter!” ---
**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 12, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/142 "2017-07-12T16:47:11Z")
Mariska Hartigay (of _ **Law and Order** _ fame) was on _ **Seinfeld** _ last night. She played “Melissa,” one of the actresses who auditions for the role of Elaine in “The Pilot, Part One.” I didn’t recognize her with long hair. ---
**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 12, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/143 "2017-07-12T18:00:32Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > 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. Yes, you are correct. I have whipped myself with a wet noodle and am paying penance. ---
**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 12, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/144 "2017-07-12T18:31:21Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > …And one other possibility. . . In “The Loved One” (1965), I think Miranda Richardson plays a fussy toddler on the airplane at the beginning of the movie. Can’t corroborate it, but her day (director Tony R.) had done the same thing with her three years later in “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” She has a brief, but very noticeable scene in it, that does nothing to advance to plot, but as if Tony is saying, “Look at my beautiful daughter!” Peter Jackson did the same with his daughter in the _LOTR_ movies. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/145 "2017-07-12T18:52:21Z")
^^Eh. . . sorry. Natasha, not Miranda. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/146 "2017-07-12T18:53:45Z")
Susan from Seinfeld as a pimp in Quantum Leap. ---
**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 12, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/147 "2017-07-12T20:07:11Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > Along with James Gandolfini, aka “Tony Soprano,” playing some other officer. Ganolfini was also the hit man in _ **True Romance** _. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/148 "2017-07-12T20:27:13Z")
> [@jrbor76](#): > > Seriously, MeTV? Decades? Whatever retro digital subchannels you have in your market? Absolute _goldmines_ for this kind of thing. Yeah, I would always get a kick seeing Lt Worf in CHIPS, looking more like Neil DeGrasse Tyson. ---
**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 13, 2017, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/149 "2017-07-13T03:26:34Z")
Sheree North, aka “Charlene,” Mr Grant’s girlfriend on _ **MTM** _, was Babs Kramer, Cosmo’s mother, on _ **Seinfeld** _. ---
**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 13, 2017, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/150 "2017-07-13T11:52:59Z")
Sorrel Booke (Boss Hawg) also appears, to my surprise, in the Peter Bogdanovich/Barbra Streisand-and-Ryan-O’Neal comedy **What’s Up, Doc?**. The movie has a lot of familiar faces, but most of them were already known. Several showed up together again a couple of years later in **Young Frankenstein** (Kenneth Mars, Liam Dunn, Madeline Kahn ) Another now-familiar face (and voice) is that of John Hillerman. ---
**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:** [July 13, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/151 "2017-07-13T15:12:27Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Sheree North, aka “Charlene,” Mr Grant’s girlfriend on _ **MTM** _, was Babs Kramer, Cosmo’s mother, on _ **Seinfeld** _. Ms North also blew up a military base in [a Charles Bronson film](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076804/?ref_=nv_sr_7). In her house coat, yet. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > Sorrel Booke (Boss Hawg) also appears, to my surprise, in the Peter Bogdanovich/Barbra Streisand-and-Ryan-O’Neal comedy **What’s Up, Doc?**. The movie has a lot of familiar faces, but most of them were already known. Several showed up together again a couple of years later in **Young Frankenstein** (Kenneth Mars, Liam Dunn, Madeline Kahn ) Another now-familiar face (and voice) is that of John Hillerman. Can you fix a hi-fi? ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/152 "2017-07-14T02:20:53Z")
Was watching an old episode of _Monk_ recently–from one of the early seasons. Adrian and Sharona go to a theater to see a play starring Sharona’s sister. She was played by… Amy Sedaris! Then Sharona’s sister is framed for murder, and her understudy in the play is played by… Melissa George! ---
**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 14, 2017, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/153 "2017-07-14T13:49:12Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > 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. She was in “Valley of the Shadow” last night. James Doohan, with a head of thick hair and a Canadian accent, was her father. She was also in the first season episode “Nightmare as a Child.” ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/154 "2017-07-14T14:41:20Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Ganolfini was also the hit man in _ **True Romance** _. James Gandolfini was also a gay, conflicted mob hitman in _The Mexican_, opposite Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. Pretty sure that was the performance that won him the role of Tony Soprano. J.K. Simmons and Bob Balaban were also in the film, playing mobsters. ---
**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:** [July 14, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/155 "2017-07-14T15:35:59Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > She was in “Valley of the Shadow” last night. James Doohan, with a head of thick hair and a Canadian accent, was her father. > > She was also in the first season episode “Nightmare as a Child.” James Doohan has a minor part in Richard Harris’s, “Man in the Wilderness,” and good luck spotting him; no (Scot) accent, heavy make-up/hair. Good film. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/156 "2017-07-14T18:34:19Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > 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) You want “Familiar actor in an unusual role”? How 'bout Cooter (Ben Jones) as a real-life Congressman? He represented my district for two terms in the early 90s, not badly. > [@terentii](#): > > Ganolfini was also the hit man in _ **True Romance** _. Gandolfini played a gay, conflicted mob hitman in _The Mexican_, opposite Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. That’s the performance, I think, that won him the role of Tony Soprano, as it was basically the same character. J.K. Simmons and Bob Balaban were also in the movie, playing mobsters. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/157 "2017-07-14T20:36:35Z")
James Gandolfini was also a gay, conflicted mob hitman in _The Mexican_, opposite Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. I also remember him from **Get Shorty** , as the stuntman henchman that Chili throws down the stairs, and then asks him later is his ankle is OK. ---
**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:** [July 15, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/158 "2017-07-15T14:37:14Z")
Dan Castellaneta, best known for his many voices on The Simpsons, including Homer himself, has twice appeared on Married with Children–the second time as a very creepy funeral director, but the first time as Pete, a man who complains to Al that Peg is going dancing with his husband: Al: Your husband? Pete: Yes Al: Your husband? Pete: Yes Al: You do know you’re a guy? Pete: Yes. Al: Well, you know what that means? Pete: What? Al: Now there’s three guys who don’t want to have sex with Peg. ---
**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 15, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/159 "2017-07-15T16:36:13Z")
Dennis Hopper was an American Nazi on last night’s **Twilight Zone** , “He’s Alive.” Of more interest was Howard Caine (aka “Major Hochstetter” on _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _) and Paul Mazursky (“Sunshine” on _ **The Sopranos** _) as two of his minions, and Bernard Fein (one of the creators of _ **Hogan’s Heroes** _) as a heckler. ---
**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 15, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931/160 "2017-07-15T16:46:16Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Dan Castellaneta, best known for his many voices on The Simpsons, including Homer himself,… Castellaneta was on an episode of _L.A. Law_ as a client. He was suing his employer for wrongful termination; his job was to dress up as a cartoon character at a theme park and on a hot day he’d removed the head of his costume and been fired. His character was Homer Simpson. When he wears the costume, or is off camera, he does the voice. It’s [fabulous](https://youtu.be/4dhffVGnQGc) (fast forward to 13:05 for a good part). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spotting-a-familiar-actor-in-a-surprising-place-part-deux/789931.md?page=9)