Well-known movies that famous people were in when they weren't famous

[skp]

Haven't read all the replies but Nicholas Cage in Fast Times and Jeff Goldblum in Death Wish immediately come to mind. Maybe Goldblum is not so famous that most posters here would say "WTF, is that Jeff Golblum? Wow, I never realized HE was in that movie! But that's exactly what I said when I saw him in that flick.

Cage shows up at the grad party with Spicoli near the end of the movie. I don't even think he has any lines.

Goldblum is one of the guys who gang rape Chuck's wife at the start of the flick in Death Wish.

"Washington" of Welcome Back Kotter fame also has a two bit bad guy role in Death Wish but most posters here have probably never even heard of Welcome Back Kotter let alone the character named Washington.

Robert Urich (Dan Tanna in the TV show "Vegas") was in Magnum Force or some such Dirty Harry flick. He appears as a dirty cop along with David Soul ('Hutch' in Starsky and Hutch) Again, Dan Tanna and Paul Hutch are not exactly household names either. FWIW, David Soul is also a bit of a one hit wonder with a song called "Don't give up on us, baby". I digress.

Anyway, my pick overall would be Nicholas Cage.

[jester710]

A few:

-Crimson Tide was like a Hollywood farm club. In addition to the aforementioned Ryan Phillipe and Viggo Mortensen, it had James Gandolfini and Steve Zahn.

-Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bradley Whitford in Scent of a Woman.

-William Shatner in Judgment at Nuremberg.

-Sam Elliott as one of the poker players in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

-I don't know if this one counts since he was already famous at the time, but Tom Cruise was in Young Guns.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

[kyleb]

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Whoa. IMDB says Tim Robbins was Merlin in Top Gun. Is this commonly known?

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I SAID THAT ABOVE IN THIS THREADS GDHGDS_GLUSDIGNSDLIUGSDHLUDSNGSDG

[Dominic]

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A few:

-Crimson Tide was like a Hollywood farm club. In addition to the aforementioned Ryan Phillipe and Viggo Mortensen, it had James Gandolfini and Steve Zahn.

-Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bradley Whitford in Scent of a Woman.

-William Shatner in Judgment at Nuremberg.

-Sam Elliott as one of the poker players in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

-I don't know if this one counts since he was already famous at the time, but Tom Cruise was in Young Guns.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

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Top Gun was two years BEFORE Young Guns.

[jester710]

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Chris Rock in Bevely Hills Cop

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That's Beverly Hills Cop 2. Damon Wayans is the correct answer for the original.

[jester710]

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Top Gun was two years BEFORE Young Guns.

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That's why I used the qualifier "I don't know if it counts since he was already famous." I just threw it in there because it's a big star being used in such a way as to draw no attention whatsoever to his cameo.

[samjjones]

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Bradley Whitford in Scent of a Woman.



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Of course, he was also the smarmy bad guy who tries to take over Billy's father's company in "Billy Madison", but I'm sure everybody knew that.

[KaiserSose]

Hopefully these have not been said.

Mischa Barton: Child in the Sixth Sense that was poisoned.
Jeremy Piven: Trying out for the role of George in an early seinfeld episode.

[NajdorfDefense]

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Hopefully these have not been said.

Mischa Barton: Child in the Sixth Sense that was poisoned.
Jeremy Piven: Trying out for the role of George in an early seinfeld episode.

[/ QUOTE ]

Piven won the role of 'George' in the 'Show about Nothing' pilot.

[WLVRYN]

Jeremy Piven was also the checkout clerk in the drugstore in Singles when Steve was buying the pregnancy test. He talked about mixing Public Enemy and Elvis Costello, then looks at the PT and says "Of course you may be busy."