# Stars unrecognizable in movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175 "2006-10-27T21:40:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/21 "2006-10-28T07:05:26Z")
It took me a few minutes to recognize Samuel L Jackson in _Kill Bill_. Also, Jon Gries in _Real Genius_. ---
**Author:** ![Plastic\_Soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@Plastic\_Soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plastic_Soul)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/22 "2006-10-28T07:22:19Z")
Didn’t recognize **Brittany Murphy** in The Devil’s Arithmetic until the checked the credits. And to think I just saw Sin City a few days before I watched this on DVD. \*So-so film but she was wonderful in this one. \* ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/23 "2006-10-28T12:25:52Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Anthony Michael Hall in _Edward Scissorhands._ [/QUOTE] Yeah, that surprised me too! ---
**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:** [October 28, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/24 "2006-10-28T12:54:03Z")
A beardless Richard Dryfess in The Graduate (Should I call the cops?). ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/25 "2006-10-28T15:25:45Z")
It seems a lot of people are surprised to find out that’s David Bowie as Tesla in “The Prestige”. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/26 "2006-10-28T18:51:42Z")
Might not have been a surprise to some people, but I kept wondering who the hired gunman was at the end of **Shane** until IMBD told me it was a young Jack Palance, who I’ve actually met. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/27 "2006-10-28T22:20:35Z")
Spoilers for the late-80s movie **Made In Heaven** , which starred Timothy Hutton and Kelly McGillis follow. Again, if make-up counts, I would have never known that Debra Winger played that weird angel Emmett had someone not told me much later. In the movie Emmett is credited coyly as “Himself.” Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/28 "2006-10-28T22:36:10Z")
A pleasingly built (i.e., non-anorexic) Lara Flynn Boyle in _How I Got Into College_. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/29 "2006-10-28T23:06:53Z")
I sure didn’t recognize Cameron Diaz or John Cusack in _Being John Malkovich_. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/30 "2006-10-28T23:18:04Z")
Somewhere in _Zombies Of The Stratosphere_, a young Leonard Nimoy stalks about in a cheesy costume, & I simply cannot pick him out of the crowd. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/31 "2006-10-29T00:32:01Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] I also didn’t recognize William Forsythe in _The Waterdance,_ having seen him previously in _Raising Arizona._ I had a lot more respect for him as an actor after that. [/QUOTE] William Forsythe, then aged 40, played a 20something so convincingly in [Palookaville](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117284/) that it never even occurred to me that it might be him, even though I knew he was in it. “Who’s that young guy? And where’s William Forsythe?” And Mel Gibson was near-unrecognizable in [The Singing Detective](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314676/); my wife finally caught on that it was him by recognizing his voice. Nutjob or no, he was terrific in that movie. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/32 "2006-10-29T01:28:02Z")
If makeup counts- Daryl Hannah in \*Steel Magnolias \* as “Anelle” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/33 "2006-10-29T01:50:20Z")
Just had one tonight – Willem Dafoe on **American Dreamz**. That’s definitely a makeup example though. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/34 "2006-10-29T02:18:47Z")
I did not recognize Tim Curry in Legend. I had only really seen him in Clue until then. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/35 "2006-10-29T11:16:46Z")
[QUOTE=Malienation] Ever see a star in a movie that features them so much younger/skinnier/different than you are used to you that you don’t even recognize them? Well, if you ever get a chance to see “My Best Friend is a Vampire”, watch closely for a very short scene with a _much_ skinnier Kathy Bates. Any other stars unrecognizable in a movie? [/QUOTE] Angie Dickinson in “Pay It Forward”. VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/36 "2006-10-29T21:44:31Z")
Sean Penn in Carlito’s Way- I watched this entire thing, knowing he was in it, and at the end couldn’t tell you what character he played (Pacino’s lawyer- btw). ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/37 "2006-10-30T01:01:34Z")
Alec Baldwin in _Beetlejuice_. It was on cable tonight, and I had forgotten all about him in it. [He was about half the size he is now](http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800012507/photo/528559). ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/38 "2006-10-30T06:12:18Z")
It took me a few viewings of **This is Spinal Tap** to recognize Dana Carvey. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/39 "2006-10-30T06:23:19Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] I sure didn’t recognize Cameron Diaz or John Cusack in _Being John Malkovich_. [/QUOTE] Cusack stood out pretty quickly to me (same voice and mannerisms as in most of his other films), but Diaz completely disappeared. I remember seeing her name in the opening credits, looking around a bit for her, then forgetting she was in the film until the ending credits. “Holy crap, _that_ was her?!” ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175/40 "2006-10-30T14:45:04Z")
Gary Oldman is often hard to spot. I missed him completely in [Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0304141/). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-unrecognizable-in-movies/378175.md?page=3)