What about Darren McGavin in The Natural? That one always struck me as odd – it’s a fairly big part, it’s not horribly unlike things McGavin has done before, and it wasn’t likely that a Robert Redford movie was going to be a flop. McGavin certainly wouldn’t be stealing top billing from Redford.
He didn’t receive a credit, but in the movie “Clue”, Howard Hesseman plays “The Chief”, who comes in with a squad of police to arrest the one/s who committed the murder.
He is also in Shakes the Clown as a mime instructor, but not listed in the credits under his name.
The alltime classic- Brando in [i/Superman*.
Also, just noticed an unbilled cameo in Platoon by director Oliver Stone- he is in a bunker that gets blown to bits after about 10 seconds onscreen.
Francis Ford Coppola appears in Apocalypse Now as a reporter trying to get guys to “act naturally” as he films them during a battle.
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was a terrible film, but it had one saving grace- an unbilled Sean Connery as Richard, who shows up in the last five minutes! Almost worth the price of admission, but not quite.
And my personal favorite- Thurl Ravenscroft was not credited for the singing voice of the Grinch in the original cartoon of “How the Grinch Stole Cristmas.” You may not know the name, but you know the voice- Tony the Tiger (they’re grrrrrreat). He is also familiar to fans of Disneyland as one of the pirates singing “A Pirate’s Life for Me” on the Pirates of the Carribean ride and as the broken-off head singing in the graveyard on the Haunted Mansion ride.
Wow, I need a life right about now…
As I understood it, a movie is credited to “Alan Smithee” only when the actual director renounces it and washes his hands of the whole product.
In THEORY, that’s only supposed to happen when the studio heads or editors have made huge, drastic changes to the film, so many changes that the director can legitimately argue “the film you’re releasing is NOT the movie I made. You’ve ruined it. I don’t want my name on it any more.”
A director isn’t SUPPOSED to be able to renounce a film simply because he realizes midway through filming that he’s making a piece of junk- but that DOES apparently happen from time to time (you’ll see some low-budget, exploitation films with the Smithee name).
Then, of course, there’s the opposite – actors credited, but who don’t appear on screen. Two examples are Wil Wheaton in “The Last Starfighter” (I still haven’t been able to spot him) and Philip Bruns in “My Favorite Year” (though you can spot him).
And a special case is Alec Cawthorne in “Sleuth.” 
EJs Girl:
Two of your “uncredited appearances” were actually heavily credited. Marlon Brando actually got Top Billing (and a wad of cash) for appearing in Superman.
Thurl Ravenscroft also received credit for his voice work in How the Grinch Stole Christmas There’s a Ravenscroft Appreciation Page on the 'Net, from which I learn that he was one of the “Mellomen” who sang in a lot of Disney films. One of his truly uncredited (or not heabily credited, at least) “appearances” was, I suspect, as the singing voice of Shere Khan in The Jungle Book. I’m sure that was NOT George Sanders.
According to IMDB, Brando did indeed receive top billing… and Christopher Reeves was uncredited?!?!? Could that possibly be true? If it is, then that’s the only case of an uncredited lead actor that I’ve ever heard of (any others?)
I don’t know where IMDB got its info, but Christopher Reeve was certainly credited, both in the movie credits and in the pre-release trailers for Superman.
Damn Cal, my bad, I guess. I thought it meant “not mentioned in the credits of the film”, so I guess I’ll have to pop the Grinch DVD in and look again. Same with Superdude I.
Thurl has an appreciation page?!? Address please! I have worked for the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach for 16 years, and he used to be our narrator until his health began to fail. Only a consumate professional can read 2+ hours of narration every night for eight weeks and never mess up a single word! Thurl rules!
<<RealityChuck - Then, of course, there’s the opposite… >>
Many of these probably ended up on the editing room floor. Another example is Jaime Farr (Klinger from MAS*H) in “Scrooged” received a very noticeable credit (especially at the end) but isn’t noticeable in the film.
IMDB (mentioned several times in this link) has lots of trivia, goofs, and backgound information on many movies and TV shows.
http://us.imdb.com/ ( especially their Section front at http://us.imdb.com/Sections/ )
Macaulay Culkin had an uncredited, pre-“Home Alone” appearance in “Jacob’s Ladder”, in a pivotal role as the main character’s deceased son (he appears in various dreamy sequences). I’m still not sure why he was uncredited.
Christian Slater is indeed credited in Str Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country." End credits, under Excelsior Crew listings as, IIRC, Starfleet Lieutenant. He is given the small credit as befits the brevity of the role. Perhaps those who say he is not credited mean he is not given an Opening Credit. Of course he isn’t; again, he had about three lines.
Same movie: I seem to recall that Rene Auberjonois did not receive credit as Colonel West.
Whoopi Goldberg, IIRC, is not credited anywhere in “Star Trek: Generations.”
There’s a slew of uncredited cameos in “Casanova’s Big Night.”
EJs Girl:
I’ll have to look it up. I never bookmarked it, but you ought to be able to find it on a good search engine.
Here’s the Thurl Ravenscroft Page: