I was just looking up John Ratzenberger on the IMDb, and I’m amazed about where he’s shown up. Of course, it’s well-known that he’s been in all the major Pixar releases (and they even made a joke about it), but I hadn’t realized he was in The Empire Strikes Back, Outland, Firefox, Superman, and ** Gandhi**.
And he’s appeared as Cliff Clavin on six TV series besidesCheers.
St. Elsewhere
The Tortellis
“Disneyland’s 35 Birthday” (And “Mickey’s 60th birthday”)
Wings
The Simpsons
Frasier
I would say that’s a record, but George Wendt beats him by appearing as Norm in all those, as well as in Family Guy.
That IS a little known fact. Anyone care to shed some light on his role in Empire? I don’t remember him at all, and the name Major Derlin isn’t ringing any bells.
I saw The Empire Strikes Back a few months ago. John Ratzenberger didn’t surprise me, but I recognized one of the rebel generals as being the same actor who played the obnoxious American who wanted a Waldorf Salad on an episode of Fawlty Towers.
George Wendt loses the crown to Richard Belzer, who has played Detective John Munch on:
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
The Wire
Arrested Development
Law & Order: Trial by Jury
The Beat
Law & Order
Homicide: Life on the Street
The X Files
Also little-known fact; John pitched his own character on Cheers. He explained that every bar has a ‘loud-mouthed know-it-all’ and proceeded to rattle off some of Cliff’s ‘shtick’, which was apparently impressive enough that he got added on.
His role in Empire is very small, I don’t think he’s in more than 1 or 2 scenes in the first 20 minutes. I was surprised when I found out he was in it.
I recognized him in A Bridge Too Far. He had a very small part (it was one of his first movies when he was still basically an extra) but now that he’s well known you’ll spot his face in a crowd. He was one of the soldiers rowing a raft across a river.
He doesn’t play cliff, but a swash-buckling plumber in House II: The Second Story. Not a big fan of that genre, but when I ran across this one day I just loved it, in a very campy sort of way. Plus the title is so stupid, yet so great.
Although he appears in the movie, his line (“Your highness, there’s nothing more we can do tonight. The shield doors must be closed”) has been dubbed by someone else’s voice.
In Superman, IIRC, he’s one of the military guys in the missile convoy that gets reprogrammed during the Luthor diversion.
Ratzenberger has been a castmember of no less than 10 Oscar-winning films that have accumulated no fewer than 22 individual golden guys. That’s more than Bette Davis, Jimmy Stewart, Katherine Hepburn, Gene Hackman, Robert DeNiro, or Anthony Hopkins.
I can’t remember if he was in that scene. But I do know that he was in Superman 2, as one of the Mission Control guys communicating with the joint US-Soviet moon mission that is attacked by General Zod and his minions.
What’s the reason for his appearances in all the Pixar movies? Was it simply that he was in Toy Story initially, and they chose to cast him again? (Now, of course, it’s something people expect.)
I’m just guessing, but he has an amazingly unique voice. There is something in it that says, “I’m a blowhard who doesn’t really know anything but I will tell you everything there is to know”.
What surprizes me is why, or how oftern, he appears in things with his voice overdubbed by someone else. Maybe he’s a really nice guy and has a lot of friends in the industry who cast him?
Having seen Empire at least a dozen times like any good little Gen Xer, while I do recall hearing a completely different voice saying they have to close the shield doors, I’m pretty sure they use his real voice after Leia dismisses the pilots following her evacuation instructions. He says something like “Ok, get to your stations! Let’s go!” or whatever. Is it possible he wasn’t the actor delivering the shield door lines? I can hear the voice, but I can’t picture the scene. Otherwise, why would they dub only half his scenes?
