I frequently read movie reviews which state that this or that actor made an unbilled appearance in the film. What exactly does this mean? Does his name not appear in the credits?
Yes. That’s what it means.
Right.
e.g. Gary Oldman appears in Hannibal as the grusesomely deformed…uhhh… dude who’s name escapes me.
Anyway, he’s certainly a big name actor, would have gotten one of the top billings after the principal players but for some reason asked that his name not be featured as part of the credits.
What’s more is you’d hardly be able to recognize him beneath that ghastly make-up.
This is not all that uncommon. Sometimes it’s due to a contract issue. Other times it’s that the actor requests not to be mentioned.
It might be a fun follow-up thread to list movies where it’s happened.
IIRC Robin Williams gets no credit for the Baron Munchausen (sp?) role.
Williams also was unbilled for his role in Dead Again.
Actors sometimes appear unbilled because billing can affect your career. If you aren’t a star and make a small appearance in a film, producers will try to pay you less. Appearing unbilled prevents this.
Bill Murray wasn’t credited for Tootsie because he didn’t want people to think it was a “Bill Murray” movie.
James Earl Jones wasn’t Originally credited in the Star Wars trilogy because he didn’t think he’d done enough work to justify a credit.
IIRC, Williams couldn’t contractually be billed for the role because he was then under contract for another movie and was appearing in Munchausen in his spare time as a favor to Gilliam.
Bruce Willis has had two unbilled roles that come to mind: Four Rooms, and his small part in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.
Another actor that was unbilled was Kevin Spacey in…
(SPOILER SPACE)
… Seven, because it would have revealed to audiences who the killer was. When I saw Seven, I was stunned to learn not only that Spacey was John Doe, but that he was even in the movie. It seemed doubly-surprising because he had just played the evil mastermind in another movie…
(SPOILER SPACE)
…The Usual Suspects.
I’ll tell you an interesting unbilled appearance, although not by a big name actor:
Arliss Howard played Kenneth Parnell in the made-for-TV movie “I Know My First Name Is Steven,” based on the Steven Stayner kidnapping.
He’s basically in the whole movie, and his name is not in the credits! He’s the reason for the whole story. I remember reading his name as appearing in it when the movie was first shown, but I don’t know for a fact that it was listed in the credits. It could have just been a write-up on it.
Or. . . Maybe he was credited at first, then later removed. Don’t know, but he was definitely not credited the last time I saw the movie a year or so ago.
Robin Williams was also uncredited in To Wong Foo…
Wasn’t Sean Connery unbilled in one of the Highlander movies?
John Houseman was unbilled in the Naked Gun. Strange because this was his final movie appearance.
I believe Alec Guinness was unbilled in “The Empire Strikes Back” (Episode 5) (However, he DID get billing in episode 4 and 6). I believe he hated the role of Obi-Wan and thought the dialog a little silly.
Sissy Spacek’s voice is unbilled in “Man With 2 Brains”
IIRC, Charlton Heston is not billed in Burton’s Planet of The Apes.
I don’t think Whoopi Goldberg received on-screen credit for Star Trek: Generations.
Another thing that I see frequently is in order to maintain surprise for whatever reason, an actor will only be billed in the ending credits, i. e., Leonard Nimoy in The Search For Spock.
Sir Rhosis
Robin Williams is not credited in To Wong Foo…
Don Cheadle was unbilled in Ocean’s Eleven
In a slight digression, I thought it was great how they included “And introducing Julia Roberts as Tess” in “Ocean’s Eleven”!
Jason Robards was uncredited in the classic based on Bear Bryant’s legendary football program at Alabama, Crimson Tide.
Madonna was unbilled in Die another Day.
I think he goes uncredited in quite a few movies actually.