Successful actors who played bit parts on television shows or in films before they hit it big.

So funny you posted this, OP. I was just watching an old episode of "Maude" this past week and guess who showed up in a small part as a lawyer: Michael Keaton.

Henry 'Fonzie' Winkler played the just-fired co-worker that Rhoda dragged along to Mary's dinner party the night she served Veal Prince Orloff to Congresswoman Geddes. Henry had to sit at a little table and eat half of Rhoda's portion as there were precisely six servings of veal.

Fran Drescher had her first bit part in Saturday Night Fever

I was watching an old Rockford Files and was surprised to see Ed Harris playing a dirty cop.

Richard Dreyfus had a teeny part in Valley of the Dolls working backstage.

Kevin Sorbo was an Extra on a Cheers episode (sitting at the back of the bar).I tried to find an image, but nothing that can be linked.

John Ritter played the minister whose eulogy of Chuckles the Clown sent Mary Richards into spasms of laughter.

"Sometimes we all fall down and hurt our foo foo."

Sigourney Weaver making a six second walk-on appearance in Woody Allen's movie Annie Hall

Others in Annie Hall:

For r1, here is a baby-faced Michael Keaton on Maude, though he seems to be a reporter here.

Note also the role of the nurse, played by the future housekeeper Pearl on Diff'rent Strokes (and Serial Mom superstar) Mary Jo Catlett, making this a Diff'rent Strokes reunion in reverse with Mr. Drummond, Conrad Bain, here as Arthur.

Actually, John Ritter married Ted and Georgette, 7.

Ritter must have been type-cast as a minuter at that time - he had a recurring role as one on the Waltons.

Wasn't Kevin Costner's first role as a briefly seen corpse in the Big Chill?

John Ratzenberger (Cliff Clavin) had a bit part in a Bridge Too Far, in which Robert Redford had a fairly small part.

R10, thank you! That's the episode I saw this week. And you're right -- he was a reporter, not a lawyer. (It was in the middle of the night and I was half-asleep, lol.)

Thanks for the correction, R11.

Kevin Costner and Rebecca De Mornay as the young parents of a newborn in Testament

I recall Lindsay Wagner in bit parts on both Night Gallery and Adam-12.

John Ratzenberger as the boy toy in The Good Soldier.

I don't know if Quentin Tarantino qualifies (he's more famous for being a director and for the bit part of explaining the homoeroticism of Top Gun to some other guy).

Speaking of Conrad Bain, he turned up on a couple episodes of Dark Shadows, which provided a few well-known actors small roles before they busted out of the soaps.

Charlie Sheen in Ferris Bueller.

Tom Skerritt as the mailman in The Real McCoys

God, Andy Garcia was so hot.

Sharon Stone in Remington Steele.

Jodie Foster as a child actress in a Christmas episode of "Gunsmoke" that also featured a young Erin Moran.

Baby-faced Pierce Brosnan had a small part in the Long Good Friday. He was used as bait to draw a gay gangster into the open.

For r16

r26, wasn't there a scene where he cruised a guy in a shower room and then stabbed the guy to death?

Didn't G have a cameo in some slasher film called Fatal Attraction? Of course, you were asking about stars. My bad.

R28, I think Daragh O'Malley (who was in the Sharpe series with Sean Bean) did the stabbing. They turn out to have been IRA members out for revenge.

For r26 and related to r24, Pierce Brosnan also appeared in the Agatha Christie film The Mirror Crack'd with Liz Taylor from 1980. I don't recall if he even had any lines.

That film does not get enough love from DL. It's both awful and wonderful.

Robert Redford was on both "The Twilight Zone" and "Perry Mason" before his film career.

Robert Redford never looked more American apple-pie handsome than he did when playing the Angel of Death come to collect Gladys Cooper's soul.

There's some 50s teleplay in which Steve McQueen plays defendant in a criminal case, Ralph Bellamy is his defense attorney and William Shatner plays the junior attorney who believes in McQueen's innocence.

R3..

R19 Tarantino was also an Elvis impersonator on the Golden Girls.

Harvey Keitel had a non-speaking role as a Navy yeoman in a made-for-TV movie called "Pueblo." Six months later, MEAN STREETS was released.

I can't find a photo, sorry.

Little Jodie Foster had a recurring role on "Mayberry RFD."

Farrah was on The Partridge Family.

They were usually full guest star roles and not bit parts - but the Twilight Zone is a great place to see actors before they became big stars or had their iconic role. Robert Redford, a non-blonde Elizabeth Montgomery and Charles Bronson in post-war Adam and Eve type story. (I think Elizabeth also killed Larry Tate in an Untouchables episode.) Agnes Moorehead in between her movie stardom and Bewitched, William Shatner, Billy Mummy both are in classic episodes.

I am not as familiar with the Alfred Hitchcock series - it was not shown in syndication repeats as much as the Twilight Zone when I was growing up - but I think that is another great place to see people at the beginning of their careers or when some of the older actors were transitioning from being movie stars to tv or character roles.

I think one of my favorite bit parts is Sylvester Stallone mugging Woody Allen in Bananas.

Lucille Ball had a tiny role as a flower shop girl in Top Hat with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Bizarre to see her as a platinum blonde.

Stallone in Bananas. Are the thugs raping an old lady?

Fuck, Woody Allen is creepy.

Ben Affleck was an extra playing basketball in the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" movie.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer the series brought out a few of DL's favorites early in their careers.

Wentworth Miller getting stalked by Angel.

I think he is on the Sunnydale swim team and wears a speedo in this one.

And Amy Adams appeared on BtVS in one episode as the religious, judgmental sister of Willow's lover Tara.

Both Leonard Nimoy and Deforest Kelly as well as the professor from Gilligan were regular villains and second level contract players in all the old fifties westerns such a Laramie and Wagon Train.

Robert Englund horror guy, he already had a movie career a bit back then, in Mac Gyver as bad-good scientist, and college mate of Mac Gyver, also as a crazy, criminal, deserting soldier in North and South II. Ed Harris as a psychopath criminal in Hart to Hart, the younger brother of Ron Howard, as a kind of good-looking villain and old women crook in Hart to Hart, Teri Hatcher as Penny Parker for a few episodes in Mac Gyver, Shannen Doherty as kid of a rough, outcast boxer in Magnum P.I.. Tate Donovan as a privileged, brash student in Magnum P.I., the Blossom girl in Mac Gyver as student in Switzerland, elite school, Till Schweiger, mainly just famous here in Germany, in 'Ebbies Bluff', looking kinda gay and hustler, Nancy Stafford from Matlock in Magnum as a B.A. literary agent-wannabe doing tours for tourists and a treasure hunt. The dad from that 70s show, in North and South as a general.

Jean Stapleton played the secretary near the end of "Klute", just as "All in the Family" began airing, making her a household name.

Dana Delaney as the withering, 30s, perky, annoying lawyer, fiancee of Magnum, Cuba Gooding jr. as a bounty hunter-wannabe in Mac Gyver, Tori Spelling's 90210 mom as a lovelorn private school teacher on excursion and a thief in Magnum PI and in another episode being Magnum's pretend girlfriend or so, Kelly Preston in Riptide, playing the spurned ex-mistress of a much older rich dentist or doctor, Sharon Stone playing the crazy lover of Magnum, hallucinating her by her killed twin sister, Jason Priestley playing the endangered, goodish guy, youngster, when he had nearly given up on his career, being back in Canada, his 90210 dad in Cocktail, sitting at a bar in the Caribbean, Trainspotting was already out, but Ewan McGregor as a thief and kidnapper in ER, helped and gabbled by hostaged Julianna Marguiles.

[quote]The dad from that 70s show, in North and South as a general.

He was a colonel. He also played a cowboy in the Mary Frann Newhart.

Alyssa Milano in rough Commando, playing Arnie's daughter, kidnapped by rich, militia Cheers' Carla's feeble exhusband, the CSI(?) redhead in Rambo I as policeman, Alf's dad as loosing, progressive, democrat politician, to cowing career woman Kate Mulgrew, snatching Sam Malone, on Cheers, Fred Dryer as Lothario, mean ex-teammate of Sam Malone, he had been considered for the role of Sam, I think he was first choice or so, Markie Post as Diane Chamber's perky, babbly, ditzy best high-school friend on Cheers, hitting on Sam Malone, and as a prostitute on Hart to Hart, Robert Englund as a villain sidekick on Hart to Hart.

Formatting, people.

Lisa Kudrow had one line in the Newhart finalie as one of Daryl's wives.

The Magnum, PI series had a couple that later became big celebs. Sharon Stone a Tyne Daly both come to mind.

I just saw Nick Nolte playing a heart surgeon on "Emergency!" the other day. I remember seeing him as a grocery clerk in a supermarket training film.

[quote]Successful actors who played bit parts on television shows or in films before they hit it big.

Wouldn't the answer be "All of them."?

Richard Dreyfuss in Valley of the Dolls.

Dana Delaney in The Fan as a record store employee.

Richard Dreyfuss also has two lines ("Should I call the cops" and "I'll call the cops" IIRC) in "The Graduate".

"Seinfeld" is the king of this. Way too many to post. It's a crazy amount of people.

Cranston Hatcher Cross Buscumei They guy who wrote "The Bridges of Madison County" K. Davis Cox Mariska

A 30 or so year old TV commercial with Stanley Tucci

GOOD LORD. Stanley!

More Bryan Cranston and more Murder, She Wrote, with bonus Linda Hamilton.

He is barely in it, however. SPOILER ALERT: He gets killed right away, and if memory serves, I really couldn't follow the mystery.

Ben Murphy had one line in The Graduate.

Lee Majors as Crawford's cheating husband in Strait Jacket.

The 1960s "Naked City" seen on several Retro channels is filled with actors (including Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton) who later became famous.

Bruce Dern makes a very early exit in Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte.

Bruce Dern's exit in HHSC.

Meryl Streep in "Julia".

Dorothy Malone in "The Big Sleep".

That 501 commercial seems to feature everything but the jeans.

Stanley....whoa!!

I was about 2/3rds the way through the Sixth Sense before I realized Haley Joel Osment was Forrest Gump's kid. It sort of detracted me from watching the Sixth Sense because I was trying to figure out why he looked familiar.

Bit part in a music video - Courtney Cox being pulled up on stage to dance with Bruce Springsteen at the end of Dancing in the Dark.

Matt Le Blanc once said he lived a long time off of his Heinz commercial. It did seem like it played for years.

Calista Flockhart and her old nose played a babysitter on Guiding Light in the spring of 1989.

Harrison Ford had an uncredited role as a bellboy in "Last Heat on a Merry-Go-Round", well before he had slightly larger part in "American Graffiti."

Rita Hayworth's debut on film

Joan Crawford at 3:05 at the start of her career, doubling for one of the Norma Shearer's in this scene.

Denzel Washington was an intern, Mark Harmon was a surgeon on St. Elsewhere.

[quote]Successful actors who played bit parts on television shows or in films before they hit it big.

Not really, a lot of actors started out in relatively decent sized roles. Not as extras and under-fives roles.

Opps, meant to quote

[quote]Wouldn't the answer be "All of them."?

Mark Harmon way before St Elsewhere:

Denzel Washington Wilma 1977

[quote]as well as the professor from Gilligan were regular villains and second level contract players in all the old fifties westerns such a Laramie and Wagon Train.

Just this week, I saw the professor as a villain in "Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki" (SUCH a distinguished film).

And, if that's not exciting enough, Mabel Albertson had a pre-Bewitched role as a stuck-up society matron. Even then, she was whining to her husband that she had to go home because "I'm getting one of my headaches." Just rehearsing for real stardom, I guess.

Michael Keaton was also on "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" as a robber who tried to hold up Mary while she was working as a ticket taker at a movie theater.

Richard Long, of 'Big Valley" and "Nanny and the Professor" fame, as the eldest son of Ma and Pa Kettle in one of their old flicks. He appeared to have just had extensive dental work, since he spoke as though doing so was very painful.

Mark Harmon on "Ozzie's Girls" makes sense, R81, since his sister, Kris Harmon, was married to Ricky Nelson, Ozzie's son. Also, Mark had graduated from UCLA and while he didn't have the stellar career the pundits thought he would, he did get a lot of attention for his good looks. He did his first commercials while in college.

I thought you might enjoy a great picture of him from what I would consider his best years. I would guess he's early thirties here?

R78, get with the program and learn the meaning of "bit part." Those roles were starring roles, as they were featured in the opening credits.

Oh R62, thank you. Stanley Tucci deserves a thread of his own. God he was such a hot guy.

Nathan Lane in the 1981 remake of Valley of the Dolls starring Lisa Hartman and Jean Simmons as Helen Lawson.

Barbara Hershey and Bonnie Franklin as friends of Gidget on the TV series Gidget.

r89, why does this frighten me so?

More Bonnie Franklin Gidget terror.

Somehow worse in b/w.

r83, I just did some quick Mabel Albertson reconnaissance and discovered that she is the sister of Jack Albertson, The Man from Chico and the Man as well as Mr. Rosen from The Poseidon Adventure.

The mysteries of the world solved through DL.

Thelma Ritter had a very short cameo appearance in Miracle on 34th Street as a harried mother in line with her kid to see Santa Clause.

[quote]The mysteries of the world solved through DL.

Yes, I know. With all the good we do here, it's shocking to realize that DL has never won a Nobel prize. Nice picture of Albertson, BTW.

She was a Cloris Leachman's mother in law.

Brad Pitt as a laughing extra in a party scene from No Way Out in 1987.

And wow, Kevin Costner had a sensuousness about him.

Billy Dee Williams on The Guiding Light in 1966.

Keanu Reeves in the forgotten Youngblood from 1986.

Here is he attempting a French Canadian accent while voyeuristically spying on Rob Lowe fucking - while a buddy appears to be pressing his hard dick onto Keanu's back as they discuss fucking the same girl.

Classic cinema beginnings.

Bryan Cranston was in Saving Private Ryan. He had several lines as an officer who finds out about the Ryan brothers deaths

Harrison Ford uncredited as a DL fantasy bellboy in the intriguingly titled Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round from 1966 - FIFTY years ago.

If you watch reruns of crime procedural shows from the last 20 years you will see some a lot of actors on guest starring gigs before they hit big in other TV shows or movies. Sometime back I watched episodes of Patricia Arquette's show Medium on Netflix. Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence appeared in episodes. JLaw was in two episodes. In one episode, she played a murder victim and in another episode she played the younger version of Patricia's character in a dream.

Jessica Chastain guest starred in an episode of Veronica Mars in 2004

I played "Subway Thief" in Heartburn with Meryl.

We also filmed a scene where we had sex on a kitchen table. For some reason, that scene was cut.

I can't understand why. I exude mid 1980's heterosexuality.

John Ratzenberger had a bit part as a Rebel soldier in the Empire Strikes Back. He's the one who told Princess Leia that the shield doors at Echo Base had to be closed for the night, when Luke was still out there missing.

Ratzenberger worked at Pinewood studios in England during the late seventies/early eighties. He also has small roles in the first two Christopher Reeve Superman films.

Tom Cruise in the Brooke Shields movie Endless Love, wearing a pair of cutoff booty shorts.

Lucy Liu in Beverly Hills 90210.

Angela Bassett as a flight attendant in Kindergarten Cop from 1990.

Michelle Pfeiffer paying her dues on Fantasy Island.

Steve McQueen and Robert Loggia in Somebody Up There Likes Me.

McQueen and Paul Newman 18 years later starred in The Towering Inferno.

Sean Connery in Tarzan's Greatest Adventure from 1959.

Spoiler Alert: He gets shot in the heart with an arrow by beefcake Tarzan Gordon Scott.

See trailer for a glimpse at 1:10.

^Oops. Apparently I could not get my fill of Fantasy Island.

Connery here:

[quote] Speaking of Conrad Bain, he turned up on a couple episodes of Dark Shadows, which provided a few well-known actors small roles before they busted out of the soaps.

He and Charlotte Rae were both in [italic]Bananas[/italic] but in separate scenes.

R100 I remember seeing that movie in the theater. It has a GREAT twist ending. Unfortunately, the leading lady (Camilla Sparv) is kind of a bore.

Michael Richards Night Court

Long before I became the star of my very own BRAVO reality series (which I also happen to produce) I gave the ratings of CHiPs a boost.

Kevin Bacon

Guiding Light

Ladies and gentlemen, Catherine O'Hara...for Dristan (1979):

Brad Pitt also had a bit parts on two P&G soaps: Another World and As the World Turns. (The latter isn't even listed on his IMDb profile.) A newspaper article written when Another World went off the air says Pitt did two episodes in May 1987 as a high school student. Actor, Michael David Palance, put this scene up on youtube.

Jack Nicholson on the andy Griffith show. Twice.

A 13-year old Mario Lopez on an episode of The Golden Girls.

A 13-year old Mario Lopez on an episode of The Golden Girls.

Marilyn Chambers as Robert Klein's girlfriend in "The Owl and the Pussycat."

The S06E13 episode of Dawson's Creek ('Rock Bottom', January 29, 2003) starred Seth Rogen, of all people.

Jake Gyllenhaal played Billy Crystal's 10-year old son in City Slickers.

Kim Richards as the youngest child in Nanny and the Professor.

George Clooney on The Fact of Life

If you check out Hill Street Blues, which was popular in the 80s, you'll see early exposure for Andy Garcia, David Caruso, Jennifer Tilly, Mimi Rogers, Linda Hamilton, Charles Fleischer (voiced Roger Rabbit) and Lynn Whitfield

Highway to Heaven was another 80s show where some actors did guest star gigs before becoming well known. -Paul Walker played a mentally challenged boy in a two episode arc and Josh Brolin played his older brother -Mark-Paul Gosselaar played a neo-Nazi's son in one episode

I saw the Pam Beesley actress in Cold Case and that 70s show.

Another vote for Naked City. Bit parts by Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford; leads by very young William Shatner, Robert Culp, and of course the ep "The Night the Angels lost their Halos", where Martin Sheen leads Peter Fonda astray. The casting agent on that show had some eye.

That rat James Woods in The Way We Were.

If Barbra and Bob knew then what they know now, his ass would've been grass!

"Hill Street Blues" poster at R128 forgot Frances McDormand as a lawyer / friend of the Joyce Davenport character who had a drug problem.

Megan Mullally in two movies filmed in Chicago, as a prostitute at Joel's house party in "Risky Business" and a bar patron in "About Last Night."

Brad Pitt as Partygoer / Preppy Guy at Party in "Less Than Zero"

Shannen Doherty in "Night Shift" as the whistle-blowing girlscout

Introducing Miss Kay Lenz...

13-year-old Daniel Day Lewis in "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" (0:19 second mark):

Jennifer Beals and Joan Cusack in "My Bodyguard"

Kevin Costner's wrists (uncredited), The Big Chill (1983)

Daniel Craig, being tortured, Elizabeth (1998)

It's often forgotten that Orlando Bloom featured in a major film pre-LOTR, as the dark-eyed rentboy taunting Oscar in WILDE (1997).

[quote]I saw the Pam Beesley actress in Cold Case and that 70s show.

I remember the Cold Case episode and another episode where Jennifer Lawrence played a murder victim's daughter.

Were William Shatner and Robert Redford considered successful when they did their respective episodes of The Twilight Zone (Shatner doing two)?

R143 Those weren't "bit parts," they were the stars of the episodes.

Jeff Goldblum as one of the guys who attacked Hope Lange and her daughter, family of Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson), which started him on his "Death Wish" path.

Winchester 73 had :

Tony Curtis as a young soldier

Rock Hudson as an Indian chief.

Bob Balaban as the closeted high-school kid who gives Jon Voight a beej in "Midnight Cowboy"

There was a third Albertson sibling who was an actor, Frank, best remembered as Sam Wainwright in "It's a Wonderful Life".

Al Pacino as an obnoxious partygoer in "Me, Natalie"

Gretchen Mol, Adrian Grenier, and Sam Rockwell as members of Leonardo DiCaprio's entourage in "Celebrity"

Jon Voigt was another one who was on The Naked City

Richard Chamberlain was on Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Bourbon Street Beat

Daniel J. Travanti was on Gidget, Route 66, and The Patty Duke Show

Bill Maher, Jim Caviezel, and Joaquin Phoenix were on Murder She Wrote

I saw Bonnie Franklin on the TV series Please Don't Eat the Daisies. It's on YouTube.

[quote] Daniel J. Travanti was on Gidget, Route 66, and The Patty Duke Show

And his most important pre-stardom role, playing a space hippie in Lost In Space.

R46, Amy Adams was also in an episode of 'That '70s Show' the same year.

tim robbins in top gun

Rock Hudson in Undertow and Fighter Squadron

Marilyn Monroe in Scudda Hoo, Scudda Hay

Ashley Judd on Star Strek: The Next Generation

Brad Pitt on 21 Jump Street

John Revolta had a small role on Emergency! I wonder if he flirted with Randolph Mantooth

Richard Dreyfuss was also in some Jenet Leigh movie about a family that lives under water.

Tom Skerritt in 12 O'Clock High

George Maharis on Mr. Peepers

Ellen Burstyn on Kraft Suspense Theater

Katharine Ross on Kraft Suspense Theater

Paul Newman on Suspense and Tales of Tomorrow

George Clooney on the Golden Girls ep, as a young cop, circa 1988.

James Marsden as Maggies boyfriend on The Nanny, circa 1998.

Megan Mullaly on Frasier, early/mid 1990s, ling before her stint as Karen Walker.

Amanda Peet, Cynthia Nixon, Laura Linney, Peter Saarsgard, tins of others, on eps of Law & Order.

Timothy Olyphant of Justified & Deadwood, on an ep of SATC, as Carries younger boyfriend

Jack Nicholson on an ep of The Twilight Zone, late 50s, early 60s

Ted Knight on Highway Patrol

Gene Wilder has a very small bit in Bonnie & Clyde.

r162 Ted Knight also had a tiny part in "Psycho."

Madeline Sherwood on Columbo

Jeff Goldblum had a tiny part as one of the attackers in the original Death Wish.

David Hyde Pierce had a teensy role in the original Terminator. Someone else who became famous, was a hoodlum at the beginning of the movie, but I cant recall who it was.

Alicia Witt was Kyle MacLachlans young sister in Dune. She must have been about 7 at the time.

The hoodlum was Bill Paxton with a bad mohawk. He turns up in almost all of James Cameron's movies.

Janet Jackson on Good Times

Jack Black on the Golden Palace, as a cab driver in the episode that Bea Arthur appeared on

Gary Coleman was on [italic]Good Times, The Jeffersons[/italic] and [italic]America 2Night[/italic] shortly before [italic]Diff'rent Strokes[/italic] began.

Rick Shroders role in The Champ led to his starring role in Silver Spoons, in the early 80s

Jeffrey Tambor was on The Ropers, decades before his recent fame as a tranny, on whatever that show is called.

Antonio Banderas had a small role in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, leading directly to his big break in Hollywood.

R171: Jason Bateman was on [italic]Little House on the Prairie[/italic] for about a year before [italic]Spoons[/italic] began.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Altman's The Long Good Bye

Thirtysomething is filled with actors in very small roles that went onto bigger success: Patricia Arquette, Brad Pitt, Stanley Tucci, Angela Bassett, Courtney B. Vance, Patricia Heaton

David Soul and Tony Geary as two WWI doughboys in "Johnny Got His Gun"

Orlando Bloom and Tobias Menzies (Outlander) were in the same episode of a Midsomer Murders in 2000.

[quote]Rick Shroders role in The Champ led to his starring role in Silver Spoons, in the early 80s

[quote]Jeffrey Tambor was on The Ropers, decades before his recent fame as a tranny, on whatever that show is called.

Those aren't "bit parts", though.

[quote] Nathan Lane in the 1981 remake of Valley of the Dolls starring Lisa Hartman and Jean Simmons as Helen Lawson.

He is to that version as I was to the original.

"The Big Valley" had many guest stars that would become famous:

Richard Dreyfus

Lee Grant (saloon girl)

Bruce Dern (appeared 5 different times)

Martin Landau (Mexican cattleman)

Katharine Ross

William Shatner (con man)

Jill St John (runs a saloon and shanghais the unwary)

Julie Harris (dressmaker)

Carol Lynley (outlaw)

Adam West

Leslie Nielsen

Cloris Leachman (saloon girl)

Regis Philbin

Ron Howard

George Kennedy

Harry Dean Stanton

Karen Black (psycho rancher's daughter who accuses Heath) and

Ellen Burstyn (nun) who doesn't believe her.

and my favorite, Charles Bronson. Trapped in a cave-in after an Earthquake Bronson runs afoul of the also trapped Victoria Barkley (Barbara Stanwyck) because of his drinking. She ends up breaking his whiskey bottle and threatening him with the broken remains of the bottle.

Tommy Lee Jones and Tom Moore AKA Berenger on One Life to Live.

Lots of soon-to-be-famous people appeared on [italic]The Wonderful World of Disney[/italic] in the early parts of their careers.

Amy Adams, Jessica Chastain on Charmed

Jaclyn Smith on an episode of The Partridge Family in 1970 (6 years before Charlie's Angels).

"James Marsden as Maggies boyfriend on The Nanny, circa 1998."

James Marsden was also on Blossom (as a guy who tries to rape Blossom!)

R185, I mistyped. Marsden was on The Nanny around 1993, not 1998.

Robert Osborne (from TCM) had a small role on The Beverly Hillbillies

Mark Hamill five years before Star Wars and Luke Skywalker plays a bit role of a delivery boy in an episode of Rod Serling's "Night Gallery"

Stephen Colbert played a murderer on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent".

Kim Cattrall was on Columbo

John Cameron Mitchell had a small role on Law and Order

Eric Stonestreet was on the city hall episode of Dharma and Greg

Anna Faris played the teen birth mother for Chandler and Monica's adopted twins in 'Friends'.

R181 I wouldn't call those "bit parts" though. The "Tim Siegel" and "Mark Toland" characters that Berenger and Jones respectively played on OLTL were contract roles with memorable storylines.

The first time I saw George Clooney was in a silly TV movie, Combat Academy. There were a lot of TV actors in that movie in co-staring roles. He looked so handsome in his mid-20s.

Combat Academy is on Youtube. The scene that starts at 1:19:30 he looks angelic.

We saw Farrah Fawcett at r39, and Jaclyn Smith at r184. There was another future-Charlie's Angel to appear on The Partridge Family: Cheryl Ladd in 1973.

Bradley Cooper - Sex in the City Scene.

R183, I remember Amy Adams on Charmed, but not Jessica Chastain. What did she play? For some reason, imdb doesn't list it, but it does list her appearance on Veronica Mars.

I loved Amy Adams in Drop Dead Gorgeous, which starred lots of once and future stars: Ellen Barkin, Kirsten Dunst, Allison Janney, Brittney Murphy, Denise Richards and Kirstie Alley. 1999, her first film. She did a lot of television before she got the role in Junebug, which put her on the Oscar race for white ladies map.

Mark Hamill also had a guest role on the Partridge Family. What a cute little twink he was!

Rita Wilson on The Brady Bunch

Tom Selleck played a character in "Myra Breckenridge" simply identified as "Stud." His scene is in the first couple minutes of this Mae West clip.

Selleck was so hot back then

Then 26-year old Jay Leno on "Good Times" as "Young Man."

Richard Gere in Kojak, 1976. (Sorry, it's in German, so it's not his voice.) He next role after this was "Tony" in "Looking for Mr. Goodbar."

John Ratzenberger as a patron of a gay bathhouse in the film The Ritz (1976).

Robert Downey, Jr. is one of the uncredited party crashers in 1985's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." You can see him at the 1:41 mark flipping over a table.

I was watching a rerun of Frasier and I saw a young Brittany Murphy playing a high schooler.

Renee Zellweger has no lines in "Dazed and Confused" but appears in a few scenes, like in the carwash and holding the beer bong for Parker Posey.

She was also in a non-speaking role in "Reality Bites" as the girl Ethan Hawkes says goodbye to at the beginning of the movie.

Sissy Spacek played one of John Boy's girlfriends on The Waltons. Tom Hanks on Family Ties Melissa Francis from Fox Business was also on Little House on the Praire when Justin Bateman was. They were the tolken replacement kids

Three years before Mad Max, Mel Gibson appeared in an episode of Aussie series, The Sullivans. He would have been 20.

From Sandy in The Happening to Mommie Dearest, that Dorothy has got a range!

DL fave Shelley Hack had a bit part in Annie Hall (1977).

A year after The Mary Tyler Moore Show ended, Moore came back as the star of a lavishly budgeted, heavily hyped, hour long CBS variety show, à la Carol Burnett. It had the perfect DL title: MARY. It was a huge flop and CBS pulled the plug after only 3 episodes. But her cast of repertory players was fascinating. Merrill Markoe, David Letterman, Michael Keaton, Swoosie Kurtz and Dick Shawn. With the exception of Shawn, they were all practically unknown then.

Never say die though. The show came back a few months later retitled The Mary Tyler Moore Hour and a different format, a sitcom/variety show hybrid. Mary played a TV star named Mary who starred in a TV variety show. Keaton was again a supporting player along with Dody Goodman and Joyce Van Patten. It too was gone before the end of the season.

There's a 1949 film noir called "Undertow" where Rock Hudson appears as an unnamed Chicago police "detective" for about one minute toward the end of the film. It was his first credited film, and he was listed as "Roc Hudson." (He'd done one other film called "Fighter Squadron" where he was not credited.)

Here he is in the uncredited Fighter Squadron ... lots of hot guys!

Lots of actors got their first parts in TV commercials, too. You can find stuff from the '60s with Dustin Hoffman and Richrd Dreyfuss, for example.

Tom Skerritt as the motorcycle cop in Harold and Maude.

Tom Selleck, Patti Deutsch, Teri Garr and Penny Marshall for Safeguard soap.

Clint Eastwood in Revenge of the Creature.

Jack Nicholson.

Alan Ladd had an uncredited bit part in Citizen Kane as one of the reporters after the opening newsreel. The lighting is so dark you can barely see him, but he's there. He also had an uncredited bit in Judy Garland's first feature film, Pigskin Parade, which she did on loan out to Fox in 1936.

DL fave Susan Richards had a bit part in American Graffitti, before being cast in Eight is Enough. So did Harrison Ford & Suzanne Somers.

Elijah Wood had a bit in Back to the Future 2 & Internal Affairs, circa 1989.

May have already been mentioned somewhere upthread, but JLo as one of the Fly Girl dancers on In Living Color, 1980s.

There's a YouTube video called "I got the Woody Allen movie" or something like that. It's an amazing collection of huge stars who had tiny parts in his films. My actress niece discovered it when she got a tiny roll in one of his films a couple years ago.

[quote]My actress niece discovered it when she got a tiny roll in one of his films a couple years ago.

Woody likes his women hungry.

[quote]DL fave Susan Richards

Oh, dear. It's come to this? Now we don't even bother to get her name right? Hasn't she suffered enough?

John Cassavetes in Fourteen Hours

James Cromwell in Daddy Long Legs

Sylvester Stallone, playing a would-be mugger who's bested by Jack Lemmon, in "The Out-of-Towners."

Sophia Loren is an extra at Robert Taylor's triumphal march, in "Quo Vadis."

(Reportedly, Elizabeth Taylor is also an extra, in a big feast scene, which she did to get away from abusive then-husband Nicky Hilton.)

James Dean is reportedly in background scenes in a Martin & Lewis comedy, "Sailor Beware."

R227 The one with James Dean is on youtube.

Conchata Ferrel [Berta on 2 1/2 Men] played Faye Dunaway's assistant in NETWORK

[quote] Farrah was on The Partridge Family.

It boggles the mind to think she did that and [italic]Myra Breckinridge[/italic] the same year.

Richard Dreyfuss played a warlock in love with Sam in a episode of Bewitched, (the earlier seasons in black and white).

Lots of young Pierce Brosnan pretending to be gay in Speedos.

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[quote] Anna Faris played the teen birth mother for Chandler and Monica's adopted twins in 'Friends'.

She was already known to people before that because of the Scary Movie franchise that started in 2000.

Candace Cameron played Eric Stoltz's younger sister in "Some Kind of Wonderful" and has some of the funniest lines in the movie.

Robert De Niro as a cabbie in Taxi Driver, years before his lead in Dirty Grandpa.

I always thought this one was kind of interesting.

"A Time for Killing" was Ford's first movie credit. He used the name Harrison J Ford. The J standing for nothing, as Ford doesn't have a middle name.

Lucky for him he quickly grew out of that bland pretty boy face.

Tyrone Power in Flirtation Walk

Lana Turner in They Won't Forget

George Reeves in Gone With The Wind

Kim Basinger was pretty unforgettable in the most famous Charlies Angels episode, Angels in Chains.

Vivian Vance - bit part as a chambermaid in "The Secret Fury" 1950.

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R229, that goes a long way toward explaining how she was able to put up with Charlie Sheen.

Marilyn Monroe started out as an extra in films. Her earliest speaking role -- a one-line bit part -- was in 1948's SCUDDA HOO! SCUDDA HAY! starring June Haver and Natalie Wood.

Ryan Gosling in Remember the Titans

Jim Caviezel in My Own Private Idaho

R244 REMEMBER THE TITANS was Gosling's second film, after FRANKENSTEIN AND ME. But before that, Gosling had had several TV credits, including THE NEW MICKEY MOUSE CLUB (with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, and Kerri Russell), But in the late '90s, he was already well-known to the Teen Beat crowd for YOUNG HERCULES, by the same people that brought us HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS and XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS.

Jeremy Piven had a small role in Lucas.

Ava Gardner in Young Ideas, DuBarry was a Lady, and lots of other films

Rita Hayworth in Dante's Inferno (when she was still Rita Cansino)

Veronica Lake in Hold Back the Dawn

William Christopher on the Patty Duke Show

Everybody loves Morgan Freeman as Easy Reader:

Matthew McConaughey had a hilarious shirtless cameo on Unsolved Mysteries

Thank you, R225. R221, my name is RICHARDSON not Richards. I am neither Kim nor Kyle. Those two are a wreck and should be ashamed of themselves. I also had a featured role in A STAR IS BORN that was supposed to be larger, but my part was shortened because Barbra Streisand was bitterly jealous of my youth and beauty and talent. I was the second female lead and suffered the same fate as Anne Francis did in FUNNY GIRL. Barbra Streisand is a tyrant and will stop at nothing to thwart a beautiful ingenue's career. Sad, really. Look at her now. Just look at her pussy now.

R252 his UNSOLVED MYSTERIES stint, where he portrayed murder victim Larry Dickens.

Lucille Ball and Barbara Pepper were two of the uncredited showgirls in the 1934's Moulin Rouge

r254, thanks for linking to that! So cheesy

Laura Dern in Foxes as a girl who crashes Jodie Foster's party.

James Dean in Has Anybody Seen My Gal? This was also an early film for Rock Hudson

Laura Dern's incredible look from Foxes.

I can't believe no one's mentioned DL's boyfriend Matt Damon in Mystic Pizza.

John Ritter was surprisingly not very memorable on MTM, aside from looking hot in his little white tennis shorts. Betty White stole the show as usual.

R236, when I was getting ready for bed last night, I was still chuckling at your sly humor. I came and found you today to give you a W&W.

Thanks R262

Both Laura and Jodie appeared in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore with Laura's mother Diane Ladd as the original Flo.

Although I like Jodie and Laura, I LOVE me some Diane Ladd!

Pam Grier was an extra in the stupendous Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

Christian Slater was one of the baby actors on All My Children, and by age 8 his casting agent Mom got him a role on One Life To Live. iirc Michael Zaslow (played David Renaldi on OLTL) is Christian's godfather.

DL fave Chad Allen was on The Wonder Years, as an evil popular kid at Kevin's school

Wow, I haven't heard the name 'Chad Allen' in over 20 years. I remember I used to watch LITTLE DOCTOR ON THE PRAIRIE and had the hots for him at age 13.

Chad Allen played the son on the short lived NBC show Our House which starred Deidre Hall and Wilford Brimley. Shannen Doherty played the older daughter.

I also remember that short lived Sister Kate show where Stephanie Beacham played a nun running a house for orphans. Jason Priestley played one of the orphans. Right after Sister Kate got canned he landed on Beverly Hills 90210.

R269 what was 20-year-old Jason Priestley doing playing an orphan?

20-year-old Jason Priestly was twink perfection in Sister Kate.

[quote]Jim Caviezel in My Own Private Idaho

Someone gay, R245?

HARRISON FORD had a small part as a hotel clerk/page in the 1966 JAMES COBURN starring film DEAD HEAT ON A MERRY GO ROUND over 10 years before he hit it big with STAR WARS.

RAQUEL WELCH had a bit as a stewardess on a 1964 episode of BEWITCHED about 2 years before she hit it big.

BARBARA PARKINS played BEAVER'S babysitter on LEAVE IT TO BEAVER a few years before she hit it big with TV's PEYTON PLACE.

SHARON TATE played 'Janet', Miss Hathaway assistant on THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES for 2 years wearing a black wig. The man who held her under contract wanted her to get used to being in front of a camera without her becoming over exposed.

TOM HANKS had a small role in the 1980 slasher flick HE KNOWS YOU'RE ALONE several years before BOSOM BUDDiES.

TERI GARR had a small bit in the ELVIS film ROUSTABOUT.

Mr Bruno Kirby and Jere Burns on episodes of Hill St Blues

Frances Conroy had bit parts in Sleepless in Seattle and A Scent of a Woman.

[quote]Alicia Witt was Kyle MacLachlans young sister in Dune.

Interesting. She also did an episode of Twin Peaks playing Lara Flynn Boyle's younger sister (because they look so much alike.) Wonder if MacLachlan got her the part.

Molly Shannon also did an episode of Twin Peaks years before getting cast on Saturday Night Live.

Leonardo DiCaprio appeared on "Roseanne" once as a classmate of Darlene's.

Jack Black played a surly bratwurst on Picket Fences.

Jessica Chastain was the daughter of a patient in ER.

Amy Adams was a Midwestern farm girl in an episode of The West Wing.

Eric Stonetreet a hotel desk clerk in Almost Famous.

In GONE WITH THE WIND, one of the girls walking down the stairs with Melanie at the Wilkes' barbecue is an unbilled Lana Turner

19-year-old Jerry Orbach plays one of the hoods in GUYS AND DOLLS; he's the one in the barber's chair who sings "Why, it's good-old reliable Nathan..." in the song "Oldest Established"

In MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI, one of the girls singing "Baby Love" on the police bus is Naomi Judd.

Here's the clip of Naomi Judd in MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITI -- she's the redhead in the gold sweater sitting across from Cindy Williams:

Stephnie Weir of Mad TV also got her start on an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries."

R24 R50 Before Sharon Stone was in Remington or Magnum, she'd done a bit part on "Silver Spoons."

Amy Adams had a speaking part as a cheerleader on 'That '70s Show.'

Queen Latifah played the judge of Elle Woods' first case in the first LEGALLY BLONDE film.

Leonard Nimoy as a soldier with one line, in the 1950s sci-fi thriller, THEM. Fess Parker had a very brief role as well.

Garrett Morris & Paul Sorvino in 1970's WHERE'S POPPA

Late 1950s/early 1960s - Charles Bronson, hot beyond belief, as a newspaper photographer on a show called Man with a Camera.

Jack Nicholson & Bruce Dern, both very briefly, in THE SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE movie, 1967.

Ellen Corby, at the savings & loan window, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, 1946

Helen Hunt as Kathleen Turner's daughter, and Sophia Coppola as KT's younger sister, in PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED. Jim Carrey, Joan Allen, Catherine Hicks & Nicholas Cage were pretty unknown then (1986) , but their parts were larger than "bit".

R281 I am sure David Lynch had never heard of Alicia Witt even though he directed her in Dune, so of course McLaughlin would have had to get her the job on Twin Peaks.

Gwyneth Paltrow had a one minute part in Malice (1993)

Jamie Dornan, as the Swedish captain Fersen, in Sophia Coppola's MARIE ANTOINETTE, 2006.

Tom Hardy also had a small part, as Raumont

Bo Derek in ORCA, 1977. Her big break in 10, wasn't until a few years later.

Matthew Rhys (The Americans, Brothers & Sisters), Emily Mortimer (and her disturbingly wonky eye), James Frain (Cromwell, from The Tudors) & Daniel Craig as a priest-assassin, ELIZABETH, 1997

Michael Imperioli in GOODFELLAS. He's the kid who gets shot by Joe Pesci at the basement card game.

Stallone in THE LORDS OF FLATBUSH (early 70s)

Both Megan Fox and Brie Larson (unaired pilot) played the same daughter character on Kelly Ripa's Hope and Faith.

r293, I consider myself served. Ultimate brain-fart on my part. Since Witt played the sister of Lara Flynn Boyle's character and Boyle and MacLachlan were dating, my mind was on him.

Darryl Hannah had a tiny part in "The Fury."

Beloved DL favorite Edie McClurg went from playing a bit part as a mean (if homely) high school girl in "Carrie" to playing middle aged roles within just a few years.

Sulky San-Fran lost-boy Jeremy (aka the ninth kid on Eight Is Enough) was played by Ralph Macchio.

Fun thread. Everyone has to start somewhere.

[quote]Charles Bronson, hot beyond belief,

Bronson also had a tiny part in The Great Escape (1963).

John Travolta's first part was in Emergency!

Teri Garr is one of the background dancers in "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'". She's the one in the red/orange sweater-dress on the right.

I've been watching episodes of Baywatch on Amazon Prime and Bryan Cranston had a guest starring spot in one of the early seasons. Mariska Hargitay also popped in one. Also, there was Madchen Amick as the creepy stalker teen in the plot.

Andy Garcia is white???

Not in my world.

Teri Garr is the queen of these. Here she is in "Pajama Party" as the second dancer. (This is a super fun number, by the way.)

I watched In and Out a couple of weeks ago and noticed Selma Blair in one of the Oscar watch party scenes. She doesn't have a speaking part.

Law & Order is the gold standard for spotting now famous film and TV series performers in bit roles.

Speaking of, here's Lt. Olivia Benson, Mariska Hargitay on "Seinfeld". When Jerry sold his idea for a show about his life, Mariska's character auditioned for the Elaine role.

Jodie Foster as Gloria Hickey in The Partridge Family.

Sandra Oh in Six Feet Under. She played a porn star eulogizing the mentor who coached her through her first double-penetration scene.

Robert Taylor in one of the MGM Crime Does Not Pay shorts

Nelson Eddy in Dancing Lady

George Chakiris in White Christmas

David Niven in Rose Marie

That Patricia Arquette psychic crime show Medium had several episodes that featured actors before they got their big breaks. I remember Rami Malek, Emma Stone, and Jennifer Lawrence appearing in episodes.

Georgina Lionidas and Riz Ahmed both shine in this UK short made in 2008, Baghdad Express.

Tyler Posey as Rachel Griffith's stepson in Brothers and Sisters. It was a few years after Maid in Manhattan but he was still a kid. He even made it into a few cast photos but was only ever in a few episodes.

[quote]Jessica Chastain was the daughter of a patient in ER.

I saw that episode recently on Hulu and that storyline was so fucked up and sad.

Amy Adams guest starred on Smallville wearing a fat suit and prosthetics to play the fat unpopular girl. Her character becomes thin after eating vegetables that were infested due to the meteror that the hit the towns years before.

Robert Redford as a pretty juvenile delinquent

[quote]r5 Richard Dreyfus had a teeny part in Valley of the Dolls working backstage.

Nathan Lane played this tiny role of the stage manager in the TV remake.

[quote]r12 Wasn't Kevin Costner's first role as a briefly seen corpse in the Big Chill?

He also has a brief walk on in FRANCES, playing her costar in a play. You see him say goodnight to her leaving the theater.

He said in an interview that that's how he got his union card. He was chosen from amongst the extras to do a little more.

[quote]r200 Tom Selleck played a character in "Myra Breckenridge" simply identified as "Stud." His scene is in the first couple minutes of this Mae West clip.

He also plays someone who goes into a coma in COMA (1978)

Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster each has a few moments of screen time in Don RIckle's big movie "Run Silent Run Deep".

Helen Lawson did a lot of chorus work at RKO, including [italic]Flying Down to Rio.

Jimmy Fallon had a small part as a photographer on an episode of "Spin City". He appears around 17:15. This was before he got hired on SNL.

Jack Black as a Festivus dinner guest.

Naked City was one of the few shows in NYC in its time and they were able to cast a lot of stage actors from Broadway--Marion Dougherty (who later cast tons of films) did the casting; she also did Route 66 for the same producer. Sandy Dennis played a typhoid Mary type character in one episode, in full tic-filled flourish.

Christopher Walken, Gene Hackman, Jon Voigt, and a bunch of others had early roles on The Naked City.

In Pat and Mike, some gangsters try to beat up Kate Hepburn, who bests them with her Jujitsu skills. One of the thugs was Charles Bronson, when he was billed as Charles Buchinsky.

I picked up HBO to watch the final season of GoT and watched True Detective season 1 again. Holy crap! Remember the Betty, the crazy woman in the final two episodes? It's Ann Dowd. When I watch the Handmaid's Tale, I thought that was the first time I'd seen her in anything.

Jennifer Lopez was in a Janet Jackson music video.

Pedro Pascal played Eddie the freshman in one episode of Buffy. His fifth (credited) acting role. Even had to wear the vampire makeup, the poor guy.

r331 That's crazy to me. Was she really not a big deal before that? On the other hand, I've always felt like she came out of nowhere and then just started appearing in everything all of a sudden.

Jane Asher, best known in the USA as Paul McCartney's girlfriend during Beatlemania, was a child actor on shows like "The Adventures of Robin Hood," shown in the US in the Fifties. One episode also featured her brother Peter, best known as half of the musical duo Peter and Gordon.

Mila Kunis is also credited as appearing on two episodes of "Baywatch" as a pre-teen.

I recently watched Philadelphia on TCM. It had been years since I had seen it and Ann Dowd was in it as Tom Hanks' sister.

Jennifer Lawrence's first credit is for "Monk." She has two lines.

r327 That isn't Jack Black. It is Colin Malone.

R338 No! Say it isn't so!

Probably already mentioned since this thread was started 3 and a half years ago but Megan Mullally did a lot of episodic TV before hitting it big on Will & Grace. She was funny on Wings as the dim town slut on a date with Tim Daly and did at least one episode of Murder, She Wrote. She was also apparently one of the call girls in the big house party scene in Risky Business.

I'm glad I fially bumped into this thread because I was wondering where to find such information.

Thanks DL!

George Clooney on the original "Roseanne Show." He played Booker, the supervisor at the factory where the women worked.

This thread should be its own webpage.

[quote]And Amy Adams appeared on BtVS in one episode as the religious, judgmental sister of Willow's lover Tara.

I thought she played that part quite well.

[quote]Mila Kunis is also credited as appearing on two episodes of "Baywatch" as a pre-teen.

In one of the episodes, she played a blind kid and it was so campy.

r344 Recently rewatched that and I agree. It's pretty surreal to imagine that any small-time actor can hit it big eventually, if only they have the right manager, choose the right projects, forge the right connections...

I watched a lot of the TV shows mentioned in this thread when they first aired and it's crazy that you didn't think much of the guest actors back then. I've rewatched a lot of the TV guest spots mentioned in this thread on streaming services or reruns on cable and it's mix of good acting/storylines, sometimes bad acting/awful storylines especially with the crime shows and a lot of camp like I mentioned with Mila Kunis on Baywatch. Amy Adams' guest spot on Smallville was campy as hell. Adam Brody

Adam Brody's Smallville guest spot was also campy and hilarious as he played psycho who developed telekensis.