# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/21 "2016-02-02T20:17:07Z")
Dave Chappelle and Jim Breuer made an appearance together on an episode of Home Improvement, 3 years before Half-Baked. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/22 "2016-02-02T20:24:52Z")
How about an episode of _ **Police Story** _ with [Mark Harmon and Lauren Tewes](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0676374/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast)? ---
**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, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/23 "2016-02-02T20:27:37Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > 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. That’s the one. They’re both Marines according to Wikipedia. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2016, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/24 "2016-02-02T20:35:59Z")
The Law & Order episode [Skin Deep](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0629425/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_33) featured guest stars Claire Danes, Lauren Ambrose _and_ Gina Torres, all at the very beginning of their careers. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/25 "2016-02-02T20:46:57Z")
[This](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0629466/fullcredits/cast?ref_=m_tt_cl_sc) LAW & ORDER episode had Samuel L. Jackson and Philip Seymour Hoffman. (Oh, and future Emmy winner Gil Bellows.) ---
**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:** [February 2, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/26 "2016-02-02T21:08:03Z")
I saw an episode of _Emergency_ recently that fits the bill. The paramedics tended to a young couple injured in a car crash; they were played by Donny Most and Audrey Landers. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > 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. “Demon with a Glass Hand” wasn’t bad; Robert Culp and Arlene Martel both went on to long careers. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/27 "2016-02-02T21:16:20Z")
[ER](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108757/) must have numerous examples. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/28 "2016-02-02T21:22:45Z")
Fry and Laurie were in the Bambi episode of The Young Ones. Are they big? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/29 "2016-02-02T21:26:15Z")
Before they were Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams were in [this](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0553691/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_117) episode of **Dan August** – featuring Gary Busey as “Hippie #2”. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/30 "2016-02-02T21:34:56Z")
Ed Harris, Sean Penn and Madeleine Stowe appeared in a “Barnaby Jones” episode called “School for Terror.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/31 "2016-02-02T21:40:57Z")
As per IMDb, Martin Sheen’s first TV credit was a Route 66 episode with young unknown Jimmy Caan (yes, that’s how he was [credited](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0690425/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast)); the next year, Sheen was doing his thing on an episode of [Armstrong Circle Theatre](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0514707/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_245) with young unknown Dabney Coleman. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/32 "2016-02-02T21:51:48Z")
Here a post I made a few years ago and about an A-team episode I had just seen. > [@](#): > > SO I couldn’t sleep last night, and was flipping through the channels, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but The masterpiece of the 80’s the A-Team, with some masterful plot about taxi companies in full scale war in California somewhere. > > I was watching it without my contacts so I couldn’t see who anyone was, But I kept hearing familiar voices. > > I couldn’t take it anymore so I finally put them in, man what an all star cast of badass for one episode of a show. > > Mr T. of course, but also. > > Michael Ironside > Ernie Hudson > Donald Gibb > Brion James > > All in one A-team! It is one of the greatest achivements in the history of mankind. I don’t know if any of them got big by your standards, nor can I remember where they were in their popularity arcs, but still it was pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/33 "2016-02-02T22:08:45Z")
Here’s an episode of [Mr. Lucky](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0652001/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_72) from 1960 with a gang of young toughs including Jack Nicholson and Richard Chamberlain. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/34 "2016-02-02T22:17:11Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Oh, MASH has a lot. Patrick Swayze played a soldier with leukemia. > [@ivylass](#): > > All right, I’ll bite. Who did I miss? I dunno. Who else starred in the Swayze episode and went on to be famous? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/35 "2016-02-02T22:18:29Z")
I recall an episode of the Untouchables with Gavin MacLeod and Cloris Leachman. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Doremro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Mr.Doremro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Doremro)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/36 "2016-02-02T22:29:19Z")
Laurence Fishburne as ‘Cowboy Curtis’ in Peewee’s Playhouse…wonder if Morpheus cringes when remembering the good ol’ days… ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/37 "2016-02-02T22:36:44Z")
Helen Hunt and Dana Plato in a [1976 episode of _ **Family** _](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0577440/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_21). And damn the OP for wasting my afternoon! ---
**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, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/38 "2016-02-02T22:55:13Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > 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) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697733/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_75) > > I can’t actually think of any others right now. Sorry, I misunderstood the OP that the later-to-be-famous actors had to be in the _same episode_. There were tons of later-to-be-famous actors popping up in Seinfeld but usually not in pairs. I’ll have to see if I can think of any other examples. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/39 "2016-02-02T23:00:10Z")
Dunno if [this](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0752181/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_32) episode of YOUNG INDIANA JONES CHRONICLES counts, but I’d never heard of Daniel Craig or Catherine Zeta-Jones back then, and I’ll wager you hadn’t either. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/40 "2016-02-02T23:16:07Z")
> [@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. One of the episodes of Murder She Wrote with Bryan Cranston also had a young Bill Maher. [Good Bye, Charlie.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0653519/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_34) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973.md?page=3)