# TV Episodes where two actors who later hit it big guest starred **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973 "2016-02-02T18:43:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/1 "2016-02-02T18:43:20Z")
As a fan of Breaking Bad, I listened to a lot of interviews people gave surrounding the show. While listening to one interview, **Bryan Cranston** mentioned that he had guest starred three different times on Murder, She Wrote. Since the show was on Netflix, I thought it would be fun to see what he looked like way back then, and while watching the episode I thought it was funny that the woman playing his girlfriend was **Linda Hamilto** n (from Terminator fame) This was right around the the first Terminator came out. At the time I thought it was funny, but maybe just a rare occurrence. So FFWD to last weekend, and I’m watching the X Files, and an episode comes on and I immediately recognize a young\*\* Jack Black\*\* and **Giovanni Ribisi** , so maybe it isn’t as rare as I first thought? What other shows have featured two or more actors early in their career as guest starts (So Facts of Life with George Clooney, Growning Pains with Leo and Golden Palace with Don Cheadle don’t count) I’m assuming there will be a lot of Twilight Zone’s listed. Thanks! ---
**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:** [February 2, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/2 "2016-02-02T18:47:35Z")
> [@edwards\_beard](#): > > As a fan of Breaking Bad, I listened to a lot of interviews people gave surrounding the show. While listening to one interview, **Bryan Cranston** mentioned that he had guest starred three different times on Murder, She Wrote. Since the show was on Netflix, I thought it would be fun to see what he looked like way back then, and while watching the episode I thought it was funny that the woman playing his girlfriend was **Linda Hamilto** n (from Terminator fame) This was right around the the first Terminator came out. > > At the time I thought it was funny, but maybe just a rare occurrence. So FFWD to last weekend, and I’m watching the X Files, and an episode comes on and I immediately recognize a young\*\* Jack Black\*\* and **Giovanni Ribisi** , so maybe it isn’t as rare as I first thought? > > What other shows have featured two or more actors early in their career as guest starts (So Facts of Life with George Clooney, Growning Pains with Leo and Golden Palace with Don Cheadle don’t count) > > I’m assuming there will be a lot of Twilight Zone’s listed. Thanks! A pretty famous case is “The Project Strigas Affair” from _The Man from U.N.C.L.E._ (1964) that guest starred William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, well before \*Star Trek \* Another is the 1961 episode “Two” of _The Twilight Zone_, starring Elizabeth Montgomery and Charles Bronson. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/3 "2016-02-02T18:55:44Z")
Seinfeld had a ton of these (including Bryan Cranston). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/4 "2016-02-02T19:07:17Z")
I’m sure there were plenty on [Miami Vice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Miami_Vice_guest_appearances). ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/5 "2016-02-02T19:12:10Z")
The other day I watched a “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” episode “The Hot Line” where two of the minor guests later made it big. John Banner was the Russian Prime Minister and James Doohan was an aide to the U.S. President. Rather interesting, they do call it the Soviet Union, not a fictitious country. The main guest stars were Michael Ansara and Everett Sloane, who probably peaked with “Citizen Kane” (although he did write lyrics for the Andy Griffith show). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/6 "2016-02-02T19:15:07Z")
Lots of shows in the 50s and early 60s did this, especially anthology shows. _The Twilight Zone_ did it often. So did the original _Outer Limits_. From the latter: “The Sixth Finger”: David McCallum, David Mulhare, Jill Haworth as a bonus “Controlled Experiment”: Ed Asner, Barry Morse, Grace Lee Whitney “The Invisibles”: Richard Dawson and Neil “Commissioner Gordon” Hamilton “The Bellero Shield”: Martin Landau, Sally Kellerman, and Chita Rivera (her first TV role, though she was big on Broadway). “The Invisible Enemy”: Adam West and Ted Knight. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/7 "2016-02-02T19:18:22Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Seinfeld had a ton of these (including Bryan Cranston). Okay, but on which of his episodes was another future-famous person also guest starring? I found “The Mom and Pop Store” with Bryan Cranston and Debra Messing, but Ms. Messing had already starred as a lead in her own failed sitcom before later becoming a big star in Will and Grace. Maybe she was already so famous before her Seinfeld appearance that she doesn’t count. > **["Seinfeld" The Mom and Pop Store (TV Episode 1994) ⭐ 8.1 | Comedy](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697733/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_75)** > > 23m | TV-PG I can’t actually think of any others right now. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/8 "2016-02-02T19:22:11Z")
I recently saw a 1962 episode of _The Naked City_ which costarred Martin Sheen and Peter Fonda. > **["Naked City" The Night the Saints Lost Their Halos (TV Episode 1962) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0656857/)** > > The Night the Saints Lost Their Halos: Directed by Elliot Silverstein. With Paul Burke, Horace McMahon, Harry Bellaver, Jo Van Fleet. A middle-aged neighborhood doctor faces a moral dilemma after a young man, Joey (Peter Fonda), who is like a son to... ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/9 "2016-02-02T19:25:15Z")
Not a TV show, but in 1955, Alfred Hitchcock cast an unknown actress named Shirley MacLaine in her first role, which was a huge role for a new actress-- she played the lead across from John Forsythe in _The Trouble with Harry_. Her son was played by a little boy about six named Jerry Mathers, two years before he became Beaver Cleaver. Also interesting, along the same lines, Michael Moriarty and Sam Waterston appeared together in a stage production of _The Glass Menagerie_, with Katharine Hepburn as Amanda. There’s a video of it which at one point was available on Netflix. They were both very young. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/10 "2016-02-02T19:25:44Z")
“M_A_S\*H”: Andrew Dice Clay as a wounded soldier and George Wendt as a Marine with a pool ball in his mouth. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/11 "2016-02-02T19:29:59Z")
Oh, MASH has a lot. Patrick Swayze played a soldier with leukemia. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/12 "2016-02-02T19:33:26Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Oh, MASH has a lot. Patrick Swayze played a soldier with leukemia. Yeah, but no other famous names were with him in that episode. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/13 "2016-02-02T19:35:13Z")
All right, I’ll bite. Who did I miss? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/14 "2016-02-02T19:40:06Z")
The OP appears to be looking for guest actors appearing in the same episode and became famous later. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/15 "2016-02-02T19:40:09Z")
I just found out that pre-fame **Michael Keaton** was on a couple of episodes of **Mister Rogers Neighborhood** ---
**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:** [February 2, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/16 "2016-02-02T19:47:16Z")
I just saw a biography of Mary Tyler Moore on TV last night. In one of her two post-Mary Tyler Moore Show variety shows\* two of her co-stars were **Tom Hanks** and **David Letterman**. It was 1979, and neither had yet achieved wide fame. They weren’t guest stars, though – they were regulars. Even so. > **[Young Michael Keaton and David Letterman’s appearance on Mary Tyler Moore...](https://wgntv.com/morning-news/young-micheal-keaton-and-david-lettermans-appearance-on-mary-tyler-moore-variety-show/)** > > David Letterman is continuing winding down his run on late night TV. His old friend Michael Keaton stopped by ‘The Late Show’ Tuesday night, and was talking about their days as young co… > **[The Mary Tyler Moore Hour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mary_Tyler_Moore_Hour)** > > The Mary Tyler Moore Hour is an American sitcom-variety show starring Mary Tyler Moore, Dody Goodman, Michael Keaton and Joyce Van Patten that aired on CBS from March 4, 1979, to June 10, 1979, with a total of 11 episodes spanning over one season. > In the spring of 1979, nearly five months following the negative reception of her first venture in a variety show entitled Mary which CBS pulled from its schedule after only three broadcasts, Mary Tyler Moore returned to CBS with this new short-lived s... [http://splitsider.com/2013/08/america-meets-letterman-and-keaton-on-a-failed-mary-tyler-moore-variety-show/](http://splitsider.com/2013/08/america-meets-letterman-and-keaton-on-a-failed-mary-tyler-moore-variety-show/) \*I have to admit, I don’t recall either of these. ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/17 "2016-02-02T19:51:29Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > “M_A_S\*H”: Andrew Dice Clay as a wounded soldier and George Wendt as a Marine with a pool ball in his mouth. Nice! This one I’m looking for tonight after work! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/18 "2016-02-02T20:02:57Z")
Billy Mumy and Marta Kristen appeared in a 1962 episode of _Alfred Hitchcock Presents,_ three years before being cast as Will and Judy Robinson in _Lost in Space_. > **["Alfred Hitchcock Presents" Bang! You're Dead (TV Episode 1961) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0508131/)** > > Bang! You're Dead: Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. With Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen Dunne, Biff Elliot, Lucy Prentis. A 5-year-old boy finds his uncle's revolver, partially loads it with bullets, and plays with it in public, unaware of its deadly power. Big names as far as pop culture is concerned. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/19 "2016-02-02T20:12:28Z")
edwards\_beard: > [@](#): > > Nice! This one I’m looking for tonight after work! I can help you there - it’s in the final season, I think the second episode. Winchester gets in some really choice lines with Wendt as his victim. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/20 "2016-02-02T20:12:40Z")
My guess would be the Law & Order franchise has lots of this. Idris Elba was saying at the SAG awards that he got his SAG card to guest on L&O. StG [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973.md?page=2)