# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/121 "2016-02-15T02:54:39Z")
Just today I saw an episode of the Partridge Family with Rob Reiner as a biker. ---
**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 15, 2016, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/122 "2016-02-15T03:35:22Z")
Rob Reiner and Teri Garr were in an episode of “That Girl”. ---
**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 15, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/123 "2016-02-15T05:01:37Z")
Does Mickey Mouse Club count? Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Ryan Gosling and Christina Aguilera were all on it when they were kids. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/124 "2016-02-15T06:08:08Z")
A young John Travolta was on an episode of Emergency. A young Kurt Russel was jungle boy on Gilligan’s Island. I’ve heard thats why stars have the motto “The toes you step on today may be connected to the foot you have to kiss tomorrow”. ---
**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 17, 2016, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/125 "2016-02-17T12:01:41Z")
I think we can count Lee Van Cleef for [this](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt3415414/fullcredits/cast?ref_=m_tt_cl_sc) episode of LUKE AND THE TENDERFOOT, but even if we _can’t,_ it had a pre-I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF Michael Landon as well as a pre-You Know What Leonard Nimoy. ---
**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 17, 2016, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/126 "2016-02-17T14:14:51Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Rob Reiner and Teri Garr were in an episode of “That Girl”. As were edge-of-fame Rich Little and pre–_ **Laugh In** _ Ruth Buzzi. ---
**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 17, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/127 "2016-02-17T14:26:54Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > 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. Actually, Carrey had alreadystarred in his own primetime TV series before that – the lamentably forgotten _Duck Factory_(1984). > **[The Duck Factory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Duck_Factory)** > > The Duck Factory is an American sitcom produced by MTM Enterprises that aired on NBC from April 12 until July 11, 1984. It was Jim Carrey's first lead role in a Hollywood production. It was also the only time Don Messick appeared in a live-action role, although he also voiced a cartoon character within the sitcom as well. The show was set at a small independent animation studio, and was co-created by Allan Burns and Herbert Klynn. It won two Emmy Awards. > Burns had started his career as a writer/... But it’s true he wasn’t a _household name_, even so. A couple of years after the release of _Earth Girls are Easy_, when it was playing on Comedy Central, the promotional ads didn’t even mention Carrey or Wayans by name, but they mentioned Goldblum. ---
**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 17, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/128 "2016-02-17T16:44:38Z")
Mary Martin was a name before Larry Hagman was Major Nelson or JR Ewing, but I think we can still count him for [this](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0559323/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_91) episode of DIAGNOSIS: UNKNOWN, which also gave us Tom Bosley before he was Howard Cunningham or Father Dowling. (That is, if Bosley’s stage work in the 1950s doesn’t count.) ---
**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 22, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/129 "2016-02-22T16:50:59Z")
Back in the '80s, [this](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0706739/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_117) episode of SPENSER: FOR HIRE featured William H. Macy before he was starring in stuff and earning an Oscar nomination, as well as Patricia Clarkson before she was starring in stuff and earning an Oscar nomination, as well as Angela Bassett before she was [del]the one true Storm[/del] starring in stuff and earning an Oscar nomination. ---
**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:** [March 2, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/130 "2016-03-02T17:17:18Z")
This episode of [TAXI](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0718513/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast), “Memories of Cab 804”, featured young Tom Selleck and younger Mandy Patinkin: one as the handsome businessman charming a woman he just met, and the other as a high-strung father-to-be with a wife in labor. Casting 'em the other way around would’ve been interesting but weird. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/131 "2016-03-02T19:07:20Z")
I just started to watch all of Foyle’s War on Netflix. I’ve seen an episode or two out of order before. The first episode has both Rosamund Pike and James McAvoy. Both had worked before but were not known at the time. ETA: Episode 3 of the 1st season also has David Tennant and Sophia Miles years before they were both in the Girl in the Fireplace episode of Doctor Who as well as becoming a couple in real life. In Foyle’s War I don’t think they were on screen together. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/132 "2016-03-07T03:18:19Z")
Now in episode 3 of season 2 there is Laurence Fox (Inspector Lewis) and Emily Blunt. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/133 "2016-03-12T04:44:07Z")
The 1955 _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ episode “Safe Conduct” featured future _Hogan’s Heroes_ co-stars Werner Klemperer and John Banner. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/134 "2016-03-12T05:51:04Z")
“The Alfred Hitchcock Hour” episode, [Memo from Purgatory](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0394063/combined) (1964), was based on an autobiographical story by Harlan Ellison. James Caan starred as Jay Shaw, the Ellison character, and Walter Koenig co-starred as Tiger, the tough leader of a gang. > [@Penfeather](#): > > 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. Davison played Tristan Farnon in “All Creatures Great and Small”, starting in 1978. He was perfectly cast, of course, looking and behaving like a “debauched choirboy” (as Siegfried said). I don’t know how well-known that made him in the UK, but if it was as great as his reception in the USA, Doctor Who was just a follow-up. ---
**Author:** ![chancetx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@chancetx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chancetx)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/135 "2016-03-12T06:47:33Z")
A pre-Modern Family Eric Stonestreet and pre-Heroes/Star Trek Zachary Quinto both guest-starred on an early episode of CSI. (“Anatomy of a Lye” from season 2.) I don’t think they had any scenes together but interestingly, Quinto’s character was named Mitchell (the name of Stonestreet’s partner on MF.) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2016, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/136 "2016-03-12T15:24:43Z")
The show Powers That Be had David Hyde Pierce and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the cast, pre-Fraiser and 3rd Rock. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/137 "2016-03-14T02:08:29Z")
One of my favorite episodes of _Cheyenne_ (a 50’s Western) had him coming this close to committing adultery with Angie Dickinson, while her comatose husband was in the next room. Then they had to deal with trouble caused by three murderous Army deserters, led by James Garner (who played various roles in at least a couple other _Cheyennes_ before starring in _Maverick_). Not exactly on topic, but I remember Robert Urich (most famous for _Vega$_ and _Spencer:For Hire_) on some old talk show, complaining about the time he shot series pilot that starred him and Tom Selleck. He said the studio execs decided not to proceed, because they didn’t think the two of them together could carry a 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:** [March 18, 2016, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/138 "2016-03-18T06:25:39Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > One of my favorite episodes of _Cheyenne_ (a 50’s Western) had him coming this close to committing adultery with Angie Dickinson, while her comatose husband was in the next room. Then they had to deal with trouble caused by three murderous Army deserters, led by James Garner (who played various roles in at least a couple other _Cheyennes_ before starring in _Maverick_). Speaking of James Garner, I just saw a first-season episode of _The Rockford Files_ (titled _The Big Ripoff_) that had Jill Clayburgh and Suzanne Somers as guest stars. ---
**Author:** ![phreak9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/45deac/32.png) [@phreak9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreak9)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973/139 "2016-03-18T09:49:23Z")
Tobey Maguire from the Spiderman movies guests on an entire episode of Eerie Indiana in the early 90’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-episodes-where-two-actors-who-later-hit-it-big-guest-starred/744973.md?page=6)