Recently I started rewatching Star Trek: DS9 on Netflix. At the beginning of S2 there is a three-episode arc involving an opposition movement against the Bajoran provisional government. One of the major characters in this arc was a Bajoran minister played by Frank Langella. I thought it was odd that his part was uncredited in all three episodes - I never saw his name in either the opening or end credits.
Why would an actor or actress appear in a major role (not a cameo) and not be credited? And what are some other TV or movie examples where this has happened?
Sometimes it’s a favor, in either direction. These won’t be people y’all have ever heard of so I won’t bother with names, but recently I watched about 10 minutes of the pilot of a horrid American TV series where the family of the protagonist are all big name comics in Spain, and all uncredited; by being in that irrecoverable piece of trash they were able to join the actors’ union, so whomever gave them those roles did them a big favor.
Robin Williams had a major role in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen but was credited only as “Ray D. Tutto” (a pun on Rei di Tutto - “King of Everything”).
Not sure why; in fact, looking at IMDB Williams has a few roles either uncredited or using a blatant pseudonym. In Shakes the Clown he was credited as “Marty Fromage”.
There might be some kind of payment thing too. If you’re uncredited you may not have to be paid what your minimum standard rate might normally be, and instead do it for scale or 10% of the usual or whatever.
Sometimes it’s ego: A major star in a supporting role may think that fourth billing is beneath him, so he’ll choose to be uncredited instead (see F. Murray Abraham in Bonfire of the Vanities.)
Sometimes, as others have said, it’s a favor to other actors in the movie. Bill Murray played a significant role in Tootsie as Dustin Hoffman’s roommate, but chose to be uncredited so the film wouldn’t be marketed as a Bill Murray vehicle.
In general, if you’re a star and you take a small role, it becomes a point when you negotiate your next role. By not being credited, the studio can’t argue you took a small role so shouldn’t get a star’s salary. If you aren’t credited, you have a comeback, since your name isn’t being used to draw an audience.
Robin Williams did this a lot, including his role in Dead Again.
IIRC, Jack Nicholson was uncredited in his role as the network’s Walter Cronkite proxy in Broadcast News (starring Albert Brooks, Holly Hunter, and William Hurt).
Important voice roles in live-action films are often uncredited:[ul]
[li]Mercedes McCambridge as the voice of Pazazu in The Exorcist[/li][li]James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader in the first two Star Wars films (he was credited in the third film and in later re-releases of the first two)[/li][li]Laurence Olivier as the narrator (and probably also dubbing the voice of Lord Montague because of the Italian actor’s heavy accent) in Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet.[/ul][/li]
I seem to recall one of the actors from Caligula (John Gielgud, I thought) demanded his name be removed from the credits because the movie was so bad. I can’t confirm that now. Maybe he just wanted his name removed and didn’t get his way.
When it was first released, Gene Hackman was not listed in the credits for being the Blind Man. I understand he just wanted a role in the next Mel Brooks film and didn’t care about credits. It’s pretty clear even to me that Gene enjoyed playing that one scene.
Mae Marsh was a major star in silent films. If you don’t watch them, you won’t have any idea how huge she was, but she was huge. She was huge like Meryl Streep, and there weren’t as many big stars then.
Anyway, around 1935, she “retired.” She had small children, and wanted to be a mother to them. Actually, she continued to work steadily for the rest of her life, just in uncredited cameos until her children were grown. Once her children were grown, she took a few major roles. A couple of times she was credited under another name, and a couple of times uncredited (it was 30 years after the height of her fame, and people no longer recognized her). It was all to keep up the appearance that she was retired. She worked harder and longer when she was a star, but she probably has more total films in her “uncredited” list. She’s in almost every John Wayne film, albeit, only for about five minutes each.
IIRC, there’s a film that was re-released with her correct name in the credits. I have no idea why it was changed. I don’t think she was trying to stage a comeback, or anything.
One controversial case involving uncredited performers was Flashdance. Jennifer Beals performed all the dance scenes but they were also performed by dancer Marine Jahan. The footage was then edited together and most of the dancing you seen onscreen is Jahan. But there was no mention of Jahan in the movie’s credits when it was first released and it was implied Beals had done all the dancing in the movie.
Joseph Cotten made an appearance in “Touch of Evil” because he visited the set one day and Orson Welles sent over a make up man for grins and giggles. They also raised the fee Marlene Dietrich got for so they could advertise her appearance.
Kevin Spacey in Se7en, so that people wouldn’t figure out from the advertising that he must be the heavy.
Dustin Hoffman in an episode of The Simpsons, playing Lisa’s wonderful teacher, for whom she develops a huge crush. He was credited as “Sam Etic” (Semetic i.e. Jewish).
When his secret was exposed, he wrote a mock obit, mourning Bachman’s death from “cancer of the pseudonym.”