Remembering: Early Roles of Famous Actors

[LynneSin]

I'll start off with 2 early roles of famous actors

Laurence Fishborne:

Who would have thought that badass from the Matrix series actually started off as a Jerri-Curl Cowboy in Pee Wee's Playhouse. One of Laurence Fishborne's first roles:

Cowboy Curtis

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And who can forget one of Morgan Freeman's earlier roles? He taught me how to read on the Electric Company as Easy Reader. I can't find a good picture of him, but he was kinda this groovy guy that helped teach kids how to read

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Post some of the 'memorable' early roles of famous actors!!

[GOPisEvil]

1. Laurence Fishburn was also in "Apocalypse Now"

:-)

Edit - he was in Fast Break, too. I think he got his start on a soap opera as a child.

[GCP]

5. He must have been about 16 in AN

He was SO young.

[GOPisEvil]

12. I think he was about 18.

I seem to recall his appearance on "Inside the Actor's Studio".

[Parrcrow]

52. He was 14 when they began filming.

I got that information from Eleanor Coppola's documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now. It was called Hearts of Darkness.

[LynneSin]

6. Cowboy Curtis does Nam

"I love the smell of Jericurl in the morning"

:eyes:

[terrya]

2. Who could forget Tom Hanks in "Bosom Buddies"?

I loved that show! It was just goofy fun...and I could see Tom going on to bigger things in that series.

:-)

Terry

[GCP]

3. I saw him in a Mork and Mindy before that

he stole the show!

[Burma Jones]

9. David Letterman was in a Mork and Mindy

Playing an EST type. Or as we called them, ESTHOLES

[blondeatlast]

22. He was on the original "Mary Tyler Moore" show, too. nt

[underpants]

32. Helen Hunt was Maury's daughter on MTM

NT

[CanuckAmok]

56. She was also on Angel Dust on an ABC Afterschool Special!

Standing on the roof of her high-school, muttering "I can fly...I can fly...I can fly-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y........." As she leapt to her doom.

[MrBenchley]

21. Hanks was in Taxi as well

Inn a "flashback" episode that revealed how Jim (christopher Lloyd) first tried drugs, Hanks played a pothead obsessed with a lava lamp.

[blondeatlast]

4. I LOVED the electric Company! Easy was the coolest.

I couldn't believe I was watching Cowboy Curtis beating the hell out of Tina Turner.

[BlueEyedSon]

10. It's a word.... it's a plan... it's LETTERMAN!

Animated, with the voices of Gene Wilder and Joan Rivers!

[BurtWorm]

54. And what about...Naomi?

[Burma Jones]

7. Jack Nicholson in "Little Shop Of Horrors"

1960, Directed by Roger Corman. Jack plays a masochist dental patient

[terrya]

11. Nicholson was also on an episode of "The Andy Griffith Show"...

Believe it or not!

:-)

Terry

[BurtWorm]

51. He was on trial for a crime Aunt Bea alone thought he didn't commit.

Because he had such a nice face. She hung the jury for Jack.

[kskiska]

43. Nicholson in Cry Baby Killer (1958)

He played a screwed up kid holed up in a diner with hostages.

Tagline: YESTERDAY a Teenage Rebel... TODAY a mad-dog slayer!

Plot Outline: Nicholson makes his film debut as a juvenile delinquent, who panics when he thinks he's committed murder.

[Skittles]

8. Laurence and Morgan are both scene stealers

they both can make bad movies watchable

[underpants]

13. The guy on Oz was in "Lidsville" last night on Classic TV

I redcognized him as soon as it came on. Horrible show (Lidsville) bu the first time I saw him on Oz I knew I recognized him.

[underpants]

19. Never mind says here it was Eddie Munster

&imgrefurl=http://www.fau.edu/~jdennis/gaytv/1971.htm&h=160&w=100&sz=5&tbnid=U3fYvgjffvEJ:&tbnh=91&tbnw=57&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlidsville%26start%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN

[mobuto]

James Earl Jones in Dr. Strangelove

n/t

[mobuto]

14. Double post

Weird. I pressed "post" but once.

[commander bunnypants]

15. Billy Barty

as Sigmund.

Did some acting. But is known more for founding the LPA.

Little People Of AMerica

DDQM

[peekaloo]

16. Kevin Spacey as Mel Proffit on 'Wiseguy'

"only the toes knows".

International crime figure with a nasty drug habit and a thing for his sister.

[Bertha Venation]

48. even before that . . .

Spacey played a smarmy, coke-sniffing, misogynistic businessman in "Working Girl." Melanie Griffith sprayed champagne all over him in the back of a limo when she learned they weren't really discussing his needing a new assistant.

[MrPrax]

17. Here's a couple...

The Late Great Raoul Julia (Romero, Spider Woman, some great roles!) started in Gumball Rally!!!

Who can forget Sly Stallone in Death Race 2000!! ("This is a victory for hate...one man's victory for hate")

Oh yeah...Kevin Costner was the dead guy in The Big Chill!! (he got cut)

[LynneSin]

25. He got cut - literally speaking

weren't those his wrists in the movie? They showed where he killed himself

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

18. Russell Crowe as an android bad guy (Sid 6.7) in Virtuosity (nt)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

20. Ian McKellen as Death in "Last Action Hero"

Not exactly "early" given this particular fellow's background but amusing nonetheless.

Edit: McKellan -> McKellen

[Richardo]

23. Robert Redford as Death in an early Twilight Zone...

tres charming, n'est pas?

[MrBenchley]

24. Outdoor TV was showing "Sea Hunt" re-runs last year

Guest stars in some of the episodes I saw included Beau Bridges (natch), Leonard Nimoy, Bruce Dern and, of all people, Jack Nicholson..

[mobuto]

26. Humphrey Bogart in Up the River?

Not promising at all.

[MrBenchley]

34. One of Bogart's first roles on Broadway

took him years to live down...he made his entrance with the line "Tennis, anyone?" and even though the play wasn't a comedy, audiences howled with laughter.

One of his first Hollywood roles was a horror movie called The Return of Doctor X.....he plays Doctor X and has a white streak up his hair like a skunk.

[terrya]

35. Is this a rumor? That Humphrey Bogart, when a baby, was the "Gerber Baby"

Correct me if I'm mistaken on that. But I'd heard something to the effect that he was the model of the "Gerber Baby" on the jars. Kind of hard to believe, I know.

[Beaker]

40. Nope. Snopes shoots it down.

his baby likeness was used on baby food, but not Gerber's. His mother was a commercial artist.

http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/bogart.htm

[terrya]

27. There are actresses who have been on soaps...

Meg Ryan, Demi Moore and Susan Saradon to name three.

Terry

[Anaxamander]

28. Johnny Depp in "Nightmare on Elm Street" (nt)

[LynneSin]

31. Johnny Depp in 21 Jump Street

[kcwayne]

29. Jennifer Connoly in Once Upon A Time In America

She was about 12 or 13 and played the childhood sweetheart of Robert DeNiro (portrayed as a 13 year old). The character in maturity was played by Elizabeth McGovern.

[lovedems]

30. John Travolta as Vinny Barbarino!

I just loved Welcome Back Kotter!

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

33. Dennis Quaid

Breaking Away



(Great movie for cycling fans!)

[underpants]

36. Burt Reynolds as "Quint Asper" on Gunsmoke

Yikes look at that ad on the top
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-4742

[underpants]

37. Gary Busey died TWICE on Gunsmoke too (last to die on show)

now THERE is a trivia question for ya.

[Beaker]

39. and then he got his own show- Dan August.

one of the many many private eye shows from the day.

[kcwayne]

38. Susan Sarandon in Joe

as the hippie daughter of a Repuke that mistakenly kills her when he is on a rampage killing a bunch of hippies in a commune.

[mobuto]

41. An amazing movie, btw

Very powerful.

[kskiska]

57. I love Joe

I've got the tape. It really brings back the aura of the 70s and the hippies. Joe was a nastier version of Archie Bunker. Peter Boyle was perfect.

[mobuto]

60. But more importantly

Archie Bunker was a one-dimensional carictature. Joe is a real person, a tragic anti-hero. You hate what he's saying, but you can sympathize with him as a human being.

You can move the plot to almost any time period and it still works.

[kcwayne]

42. Don Johnson in "A Boy and His Dog" from 1975

A post-apocalyptic tale based on a novella by Harlan Ellison. A boy communicates telepathically with his dog as they scavenge for food and sex

An underground society that revels in band music circa 1900 needs topsiders sperm in order to procreate. Sex in this society (being a Republican nirvana) is of course forbidden, and they have marriage ceremonies with sperm vials.

Don is the protagonist.

[MiddleRiverRefugee]

44. Another Twilight Zone episode - "Two" with..

Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery (Bewitched). They play the last two members of opposing armies after the Big War sometime in the future.

Bronson has more dialogue in that half hour show than in nearly all of his later movies. Awesome.

[LynneSin]

45. How about George Clooney's Early Acting Career!

1984: Played a goofy Doctor on a sitcom named "E/R" (no, not ER, E/R)
1985: Played a love interest for Nancy McKeon's Jo on "Facts of Life"
1987: Played Laurie Metcalf's goofy boyfriend/boss on Roseanne

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

46. Ben Affleck

Does anyone else remember seeing this in elementary school (may only have been available in Canada)? Not only is Ben a decent actor, but he can trap and skin rabbits like nobody's business!

[argyl]

47. Geena Davis in "Family Ties".As was Tom Hanks.He played Meredith

Baxter's alcolohic younger brother.

[Bertha Venation]

49. Dustin Hoffman sold VW Fastbacks on T.V.

:shrug:

[BurtWorm]

50. Warren Beatty was Dwayne Hickman's rich nemesis on Doby Gillis

Both were vying for Tuesday Weld, I think.

Jody Foster played a lot of tough little girls on shows like Family Affair.

[LynneSin]

53. Anyone remember "Lifestories: Families in Crisis" Flockhart & Affleck

They show them on HBO once in awhile. The 2 I remember was

"The Secret Life of Mary Margaret: Portrait of a Bulimic" - the star was none other than Calista Flockhart (who folks still accuse her of Anoexeia).

There was another story where Ben Affleck plays an enraged football player on steroids.

[CanuckAmok]

55. Robert Blake was one of the "Little Rascals"

It's okay though. It doesn't seem to have had any adverse effects on him.

[Westegg]

58. Blake as the kid in "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" 1948

[Westegg]

59. An early Jim Carrey role (quite interesting)...

...was in a serious drama, a made-for-TV movie called "Doing Time On Maple Drive," in which he played the alcoholic son of a dysfunctional WASP family. He was very good, actually.