# The Most Disparate IMDB Credits **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2026, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251 "2026-04-13T20:16:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251/21 "2026-04-13T22:41:35Z")
Bob Clark directed both Porky’s and A Christmas Story. That would be quite the double bill. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2026, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251/22 "2026-04-13T22:47:29Z")
Plus, Black Christmas, Baby Geniuses, Ransom of Red Chief, Rhinestone — the man was all over the map with some respectable work. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251/23 "2026-04-13T23:33:17Z")
Good info! I was not aware of that whole story. But yeah Spielberg’s involvement was obvious. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2026, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251/24 "2026-04-14T03:51:27Z")
In the '90s, there was a sketch comedy show in Seattle which launched the careers of Bill Nye and Joel McHale. One of the cast members was **Bob Nelson** , who played a bitter children’s show host. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/nfgFF1js_Z4/maxresdefault.jpg "Uncle Fran - On Expressing Feelings") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfgFF1js_Z4) That’s the same Bob Nelson who was nominated for an Oscar for writing the screenplay for _Nebraska_ in 2013. **Peter Jackson** made some movies of questionable taste early in his career, like _Meet the Feebles_, which was an R-rated take on a troupe of theatrical puppets, very much like _The Muppet Show_. If it wasn’t done with puppets, it would have been rated X. Then he came to Hollywood and made the _Lord of the Rings_ films. For disparate in time, there’s Harold Russell. He won two Academy Awards for his first role in 1946’s _The Best Years of Our Lives_, then didn’t appear in another movie until 1980. ---
**Author:** ![GrunthosTheFlatulent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grunthostheflatulent/32/21319_2.png) [@GrunthosTheFlatulent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrunthosTheFlatulent)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2026, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251/25 "2026-04-14T04:03:39Z")
Orson Welles did the voiceover for a fundamentalist Christian documentary in 1978 (for the money, not out of conviction) and was the voice of Unicron in the 1986 Transformers movie. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2026, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251/26 "2026-04-14T05:00:14Z")
Marilyn Chambers: Soap Box Mommy Model, Porn Star ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2026, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251/27 "2026-04-14T11:48:44Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > That’s the same Bob Nelson who was nominated for an Oscar for writing the screenplay for _Nebraska_ in 2013. But NOT the comedian Bob Nelson who became fairly well known in the 80s and 90s. I had to check. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2026, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251/28 "2026-04-14T12:44:34Z")
Harlan Ellison wrote TV scripts for Star Trek and Outer Limits, and for the offbeat detective series Burke’s Law. But he also wrote an episode of The Flying Nun. In addition, he wrote a piece praising the children’s comic book _Jingle Jangle Comics_ from the 1940s that is so completely unlike his other work that it blows you away. Ellison was a comics geek with a huge collection. It’s not surprising that he wrote a two-parter for Marvel comics, spanning The Avengers and The Incredible Hulk (and with a one-eyed character named _Psychlop_), but that’s what you’d expect from him. Not a Funny Animal appreciation. It’s in the Dick Lupoff’s anthology _All in Color for a Dime_. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251/29 "2026-04-14T13:40:14Z")
At least three directors known for gritty crime dramas also directed one musical comedy: - Carol Reed: _Oliver!_ - Sidney Lumet: _The Wiz_ - John Huston: _Annie_ ---
**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:** [April 14, 2026, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251/30 "2026-04-14T13:51:06Z")
Robert Wise still fascinate me. He was assistant to Orson Welles for _The Magnificent Ambersons._ He did classic science fiction like _The Day the Earth Stood Still (!!)_ _The Andromeda Strain_ _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_ He directed musicals _West Side Story_ _Sound of Music_ _Star!_ He did historical dramas _The Sand Pebbles_ _The Hindenburg_ _Run Silent Run Deep_ _Helen of Troy_ He did horror _The Haunting_ _Curse of the Cat People_ _Audrey Rose_ ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251/31 "2026-04-14T21:49:41Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > One of the cast members was **Bob Nelson** , who played a bitter children’s show host. My wife’s parents went to high school with him. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2026, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251/32 "2026-04-14T23:55:15Z")
**Sheldon Leonard** is probably most famous for playing Harry the Horse in _Guys and Dolls_ and bartender _Nick in It’s a Wonderful Life_. He had a long acting career, playing many tough guys and henchmen. In the 50s he started producing, directing, and writing for TV shows, often working with Danny Thomas. He was the producer of the following shows: The Danny Thomas Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle: USMC, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and I Spy plus many others. He’s also credited for inventing the spin-off, and the characters of Leonard and Sheldon on _The Big Bang Theory_ were named after him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-disparate-imdb-credits/1029251.md?page=1)