I’m thinking about people who are best known for movie or TV roles, but who, you’ve actually seen perform live.
In my case, most were back in the 60s and early 70s, when I went to some shows on and off Broadway. Some I saw back then included (asterisks indicate those who were unknown at the time I saw them)
Bette Midler* (Fiddler on the Roof)
Christopher Lloyd* (Red, White, and Maddox)
Linda Lavin*, Joanne Worley* (The Mad Show)
Linda Lavin*, Jack Cassady (It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman)
Valarie Harper* (Story Theatre)
William Daniels*, Howard DeSilva (1776)
Yvonne De Carlo (Follies)
Gilda Radner, Sam Waterston (Lunch Hour)
Then there was a long gap until:
Petula Clark (Sunset Boulevard)
In the past couple of years:
Tony Shaloub, Anthony LaPaglia (Lend Me a Tenor)
Chris Rock (The Motherfucker with the Hat)
It’s probably a pretty meager list compared to people who live in LA or New York.
Who have you been able to see live on stage?
I saw Tim Curry in Me and my Girl in Los Angeles
Patrick Stewart in A Christmas Carol, also in Los Angeles
I saw Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway in Hello Dolly in New York and Peter O’Toole in Macbeth in London.
I saw Charlton Heston in Love Letters, and Alan Thicke in Chicago.
I saw Rip Taylor in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (1997ish). I heard that he had replaced JoAnne Worley in the role of Pseudolus (Myrtle Beach SC).
I also happened to see Rip Taylor in a Houlihan’s restaurant in DC in 1988. He was in some play by or about Cole Porter, I think. Oddly, I think he’s the only notable celebrity I’ve ever seen twice in person.
I saw Bernadette Peters in “Annie, Get Your Gun” (1999).
Brian Dennehy is a much smaller man than I imagined. He does hulking so well.
I can’t recall what I saw him in, but it was at The Goodman, and it was undoubtedly something by an Irish playwright.
Saw Kate Mulgrew in Major Barbara in Seattle, sometime in the 80’s.
Went to a bookstore when John Lithgow was reading one of his children’s books (and he sang a couple songs), does that count?
Morgan Freeman in Gospel at Colonus, late 1980s. (He was still “The Electric Company guy” to my wife.)
Ian McKellen in Richard III, early 1990s I think. Awesome.
Michael York in Camelot, 2009 or 2010. Horrid, horrible, unspeakable.
Tom Bosley in On Golden Pond. Not bad.
I waited in line on the NYC sidewalk in the rain for 8 hours overnight to get tickets for Shakespeare in the Park’s The Tempest, starring Patrick Stewart. Amazing. Worth every moment of waiting. There was a great moment at the end, Stewart signaled to the sound guy to cut his mike, and he delivered Prospero’s final speech un-amplified, filling an open-air amphitheater with just his voice. So awesome.
Oh, and I also saw Andre Braugher as Henry V as SitP a year before or after that. He was awesome too.
Lauren Bacall in Sweet Bird of Youth
Cate Blanchett in … I forget ! Damn
Tom Conti, Hugo Weaving and David Wenham in Art (a French play translated to English)
Rowan Atkinson in his stage comedy show
my partner and her son saw Kevin Spacey as Richard III, I missed that
Yul Brynner in The King and I
Richard Harris in Camelot (awful)
Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight (several times and a mostly different show each time)
Vincent Price in a one man show about Vincent Van Gogh (before I really knew who either was, to be honest)
Burt Reynolds in a one man autobiographical show
Chris Sarandon: Two Gentlemen of Verona in 1971 or 1972
Christopher Reeve: The Fifth of July Early 80s
Leonard Nimoy: Equus Late 70s
Denzel Washington and Paul Winfield: Checkmates 1988
Valerie Harper: The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife in 2002 or 2003
Julia Sweeney: Her own one-woman show Letting Go of God in 2006, I think
Malcolm Jamal Warner and S. Epatha Merkerson: Three Ways Home 1988
I saw various cast members of the cult hit movie (and TV series) Sordid Lives at a stage show in Atlanta, but it wasn’t a play so much as a few sketches and comedy bits.
Many, many years ago, I saw Robert Sean Leonard as Edmund in Long Day’s Journey into Night
I saw Alan Alda, Alfred Molina and Vincent Garber performing in the Tony-winning *Art *on Broadway in 1998. It was pretty good.
I saw Richard Harris in Camelot a really long time ago.
Recently, I saw John Malkovich in The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer.
Just saw Matthew Brodrick in Nice Work If You Can Get It !!!
I was lucky enough to see Cate Blanchett in last year’s production of “Big and Small” at the Sydney Theatre Company. She was simply spectacular, much more intense than a movie could ever be.
I’ve seen both Patrick Stewart and Avery Brooks play Othello at the National Shakespeare Theater.
Tim Curry, Ian McKellan and Jane Seymour in Amadeus.
James Earl Jones, Colleen Dewhurst and Kelly McGillis in The Seagull.