# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/101 "2016-02-06T18:59:00Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > _The Outsiders_ has several names in early roles. C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, and Tom Cruise hadn’t done much else at the time; Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, and Rob Lowe did have some large roles on TV but weren’t really established yet. Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans, and Jeff Goldblum all play aliens in _Earth Girls Are Easy_, but only Goldblum was a household name at the time, I’ll wager. ---
**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 6, 2016, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/102 "2016-02-06T20:58:05Z")
Before she was THE BIONIC WOMAN and he was, uh, all kinds of stuff, Lindsey Wagner and Ed Begley Jr were college-age newbies on [this](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0505364/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_86) ADAM-12 episode. ---
**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 6, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/103 "2016-02-06T21:19:36Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > Are you sure about that? I guess I’m getting whooshed, but yes, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/104 "2016-02-06T23:40:06Z")
Skimming the thread I see several _Seinfeld_ episodes have been mentioned, but not the one that I first thought of. “The Pilot” deals with the pilot episode of a sitcom based on Jerry’s life. A pre-_Law & Order: SVU_ Mariska Hargitay auditions for the role of Elaine and a pre-_Ellen_ and very pre-_Entourage_ Jeremy Piven is cast as George. ---
**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 7, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/105 "2016-02-07T00:32:03Z")
Hey, remember _The George Carlin Show_, with George as a seen-it-all cabbie who expounds on topics various and sundry at the local bar? No? Yeah, it maybe wasn’t what you’d call a hit. But it did give early work to [Clark Gregg and Jenna Elfman.](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0587155/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_65) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/106 "2016-02-07T03:56:16Z")
> [@edwards\_beard](#): > > These are all great replies! Thanks! I have a lot of things to check out tonight. I’m especially interested in finding that Young Indiana Jones with Daniel Craig and Katherine Zeta Jones… Et voilà! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SqbLZJhtoY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SqbLZJhtoY) > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Good luck finding [this](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0656749/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_133) episode of NAKED CITY from '61, but it has Robert Duvall and Ed Asner before they got famous. (And they were already in their thirties even _then_, because it’s physically impossible to picture either of 'em any younger.) Only part of it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9DNhJIfzKw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9DNhJIfzKw), but it also has Martin Balsam, Robert Blake, Sylvia Sidney (before her breakout role in Beetlejuice), Judith Lowry (Mother Dexter from Phyllis), Frank Sutton (from Gomer Pyle), and Richard X. Slattery (from everything). I watched too much TV in the '60s–I recognized Paul Burke from his voice. _eek_ ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/107 "2016-02-07T04:56:59Z")
The Jon Pertwee Doctor Who story _The Time Warrior_ had both Boba Fett _and_ [Dot Cotton](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19080474&postcount=24). ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/108 "2016-02-07T05:24:15Z")
Bruce Willis was in [an episode of “Twilight Zone”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatterday) where he was the only character, but he played two different personalities which talked to each other. Does that count? Maybe if it was directed by Wes Craven? ---
**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 7, 2016, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/109 "2016-02-07T12:44:23Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Et voilà! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SqbLZJhtoY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SqbLZJhtoY) > Only part of it [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9DNhJIfzKw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9DNhJIfzKw), but it also has Martin Balsam, Robert Blake, Sylvia Sidney (before her breakout role in Beetlejuice), Judith Lowry (Mother Dexter from Phyllis), Frank Sutton (from Gomer Pyle), and Richard X. Slattery (from everything). Heh, that’s awesome: first they’re announcing the barometric pressure, then we see an already-balding Robert Duvall in a getaway car, then Ed Asner gets nostalgic? [Homer Simpson] “It’s just a bunch of stuff that happened!” [/Homer Simpson] Ever wonder what Erik Estrada was doing before starring in CHiPs? No? That’s a stupid question; I apologize for asking it. Anyhow, the answer is _“[an episode](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0518700/fullcredits/cast?ref_=m_tt_cl_sc) of BARETTA with Tommy Lee Jones.”_ (M. Emmet Walsh was in that one too, and arguably counts.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/110 "2016-02-07T13:01:58Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Richard X. Slattery (from everything). Sgt McKenna in _ **The Gallant Men** _, a much underrated and sadly forgotten show. ☹ ---
**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 7, 2016, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/111 "2016-02-07T13:11:48Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > The Jon Pertwee Doctor Who story _The Time Warrior_ had both Boba Fett _and_ [Dot Cotton](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19080474&postcount=24). I don’t think that link goes where you think it goes. ---
**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 7, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/112 "2016-02-07T14:01:34Z")
Pretty sure [this](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0636467/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_75) link goes to IMDb’s listing for a LOU GRANT episode that gave early work to up-and-comers Peter Weller and Brian Dennehy as neo-Nazis. (They’re unknown white guys in uniforms! Of _course_ you cast a lean one and a fat one!) ---
**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 7, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/113 "2016-02-07T15:26:06Z")
A 1957 “Studio One” version of the War of the Worlds titled “The Night America Trembled” had Ed Asner, Warren Beatty, Warren Oates, Vincent Gardenia and an uncredited John Astin. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/114 "2016-02-07T16:55:50Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Heh, that’s awesome: first they’re announcing the barometric pressure, then we see an already-balding Robert Duvall in a getaway car, then Ed Asner gets nostalgic? A _ **tonsured** _ Ed Asher! Who knew he was a Franciscan? ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/115 "2016-02-07T20:23:07Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I don’t think that link goes where you think it goes. [Nor it does.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Brown) :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/116 "2016-02-07T20:28:07Z")
As amends, rubbish 70s British SF series _The Tomorrow People_ once starred a pre-Doctor Peter Davison and a pre-Trillian Sandra Dickinson: [the show was gob-smackingly awful](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIDa5aX6BVQ), but it did at least give us Georgia Moffatt. ---
**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 8, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/117 "2016-02-08T14:46:57Z")
[Here’s](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069904/?ref_=ttrel_rel_tt) one of the rare COLUMBO episodes where we _don’t_ know whodunit, and so can’t tell whether our hero is innocuously rattling the killer or just irritating the hell out of some guy who wasn’t even there. Anyhow, you can see old Dabney Coleman and young Marc Singer on screen before they graduated to leading-man status. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/118 "2016-02-08T15:19:31Z")
NM ---
**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 8, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/119 "2016-02-08T17:50:02Z")
Teri Garr’s cut-off date _would’ve_ been '68, if her STAR TREK appearance had been the pilot episode of a Like-An-American-Doctor-Who-And-His-Miniskirted-Companion spinoff as intended. Still, even if that _had_ happened, she’d have beaten the deadline on [this](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0720287/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_130) episode of THAT GIRL, alongside a pre-Meathead Rob Reiner, who that very month turned a mere twenty. ---
**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 13, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/120 "2016-02-13T20:10:37Z")
> [@bup](#): > > 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)? Before that, Harmon and a pre-AIRPLANE/STARMAN/et cetera Robert Hays did an episode of [LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0629006/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_73) together. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973.md?page=7)