How Famous Fans Got a Role in Their Favorite Thing
Stars- they’re just like us! In that they’re fans of a TV show, movie, actor, singer or album.
One of the many ways they’re not like us though is that they sometimes use their star power, influence and connections to get a role in their favorite TV show or movie.
This story is one that most Star Trek fans know. Whoopi Goldberg had been a fan of the Original Star Trek series since she was young. After Denise Crosby left at the end of the first season of The Next Generation Goldberg believed there was room for a new female character on the show. She approached her friend LeVar Burton, who played Geordi on the series, to set up a meeting between her and the producers.
They already had the idea of a lounge on the ship & suggested that Goldberg be a bartender who was eventually named Guinan. They were not planning to feature the lounge every week which allowed her to appear occasionally in the series so she didn’t have to commit to a full time TV acting role.
She appeared in 29 episodes of TNG, 2 theatrical movies Generations & Nemesis and 5 episodes of Star Trek: Picard.
Whoopi Goldberg would later help get Dwight Schultz (mostly known as Murdok in the ‘80s series The A-Team) a role in the series playing Lt. Reginald Barclay. Schultz was hoping to play an alien and was disappointed to find out he was playing a human nerd.
He would appear in 5 episodes of TNG, the TNG movie First Contact and 6 episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. Schultz and others saw Barclay as a tribute to the average Star Trek fan (as in he's more of a regular guy), the producers said that was unintentional.
Speaking of VOY, did you know the King of Jordan, Abdullah bin al-Hussein, back when he was a prince had a non-speaking role in the second season episode Investigations? He appears as a Science Officer talking with Ensign Kim in the opening as the scene fades in.
Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac is a long-time Star Trek fan who was willing to not only have a non-speaking role, but become completely unrecognizable as an alien just to appear in the series. He even shaved off his beard in order to have prosthetic makeup done for his role as an Antedian ambassador in the TNG second season episode Manhunt.
Another long-time Trek fan Christian Slater had a cameo in the 6th TOS movie The Undiscovered Country. Slater got the part because his mother, Mary Jo, was the casting director for the film. Proving once again it’s not what you know, but who you know.
His role was the night duty officer who wakes up Capt. Sulu with an urgent message from Starfleet. The character is not named in the dialogue or script but is credited as Excelsior Communications Officer.
One of Frank Sinatra’s last acting roles was on the ‘80s Magnum P.I. as a retired NYC cop looking for the men who kidnapped and killed his young Granddaughter in the season 7 episode Laura.
According to Larry Manetti, who played Rick, this is how Sinatra got on the show;
“Well Frank came into Honolulu to do a concert and his secretary called Tom [Selleck]and I and invited us to come to the concert. We were in the concert, he introduced us, everything was great. And then a man walked up to the two of us and said, ‘Frank wants you two to go to this restaurant and meet him for dinner right after the show.’ Who’s gonna say no to Frank?”
“So, we went to the restaurant and we sat down with Barbara Sinatra and Frank, and we were eating dinner and he was saying ‘Well I love this show,' so I said, ‘Frank, why don’t you do the show with us?’ He said ‘Kid, I thought you’d never ask,’"
Richard Dean Anderson (mostly known as the original MacGyver) is a big fan of The Simpsons. On his other well-known show Stargate: SG-1, Homer voice actor Dan Castellaneta had part in an episode & RDA took the opportunity to get a role on The Simpsons. He appeared as himself in the season 17 episode Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore.
On the topic of SG-1 Wayne Brady was a huge fan of the series and had some of the actors on his short-lived talk show in the early 2000s. Shortly thereafter he got a guest spot as a Jaffa in the season 8 episode It’s Good to be King.
Soap opera fans probably know this one; Elizabeth Taylor was a big fan of General Hospital and of the wildly popular couple Luke & Laura, she called up then Executive Producer Gloria Monty in 1981 to ask for a part in the series. The character of Helena Cassadine was created for her & Taylor appeared in 5 episodes. Including the episode featuring Luke & Laura’s wedding, which is the highest-rated episode of a Soap Opera ever.
Tony Geary, who played Luke, admitted on the Wendy Williams show in 2010 that he and Taylor had an affair during that time. There was a post here about it (OP recalls he said this on Oprah’s show around the same year too). She was married to husband number 6 (7 if you count Richard Burton twice) U.S. Senator John Warner at the time.
Sources: Me, Myself & I
Wikipedia 1, 2, 3 Memory Alpha 1, 2, 3 NBC
Simpsons Fandom Wiki IMDB ONTD Post
One of the many ways they’re not like us though is that they sometimes use their star power, influence and connections to get a role in their favorite TV show or movie.
This story is one that most Star Trek fans know. Whoopi Goldberg had been a fan of the Original Star Trek series since she was young. After Denise Crosby left at the end of the first season of The Next Generation Goldberg believed there was room for a new female character on the show. She approached her friend LeVar Burton, who played Geordi on the series, to set up a meeting between her and the producers.
They already had the idea of a lounge on the ship & suggested that Goldberg be a bartender who was eventually named Guinan. They were not planning to feature the lounge every week which allowed her to appear occasionally in the series so she didn’t have to commit to a full time TV acting role.
She appeared in 29 episodes of TNG, 2 theatrical movies Generations & Nemesis and 5 episodes of Star Trek: Picard.
Whoopi Goldberg would later help get Dwight Schultz (mostly known as Murdok in the ‘80s series The A-Team) a role in the series playing Lt. Reginald Barclay. Schultz was hoping to play an alien and was disappointed to find out he was playing a human nerd.
He would appear in 5 episodes of TNG, the TNG movie First Contact and 6 episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. Schultz and others saw Barclay as a tribute to the average Star Trek fan (as in he's more of a regular guy), the producers said that was unintentional.
Speaking of VOY, did you know the King of Jordan, Abdullah bin al-Hussein, back when he was a prince had a non-speaking role in the second season episode Investigations? He appears as a Science Officer talking with Ensign Kim in the opening as the scene fades in.
Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac is a long-time Star Trek fan who was willing to not only have a non-speaking role, but become completely unrecognizable as an alien just to appear in the series. He even shaved off his beard in order to have prosthetic makeup done for his role as an Antedian ambassador in the TNG second season episode Manhunt.
Another long-time Trek fan Christian Slater had a cameo in the 6th TOS movie The Undiscovered Country. Slater got the part because his mother, Mary Jo, was the casting director for the film. Proving once again it’s not what you know, but who you know.
His role was the night duty officer who wakes up Capt. Sulu with an urgent message from Starfleet. The character is not named in the dialogue or script but is credited as Excelsior Communications Officer.
One of Frank Sinatra’s last acting roles was on the ‘80s Magnum P.I. as a retired NYC cop looking for the men who kidnapped and killed his young Granddaughter in the season 7 episode Laura.
According to Larry Manetti, who played Rick, this is how Sinatra got on the show;
“Well Frank came into Honolulu to do a concert and his secretary called Tom [Selleck]and I and invited us to come to the concert. We were in the concert, he introduced us, everything was great. And then a man walked up to the two of us and said, ‘Frank wants you two to go to this restaurant and meet him for dinner right after the show.’ Who’s gonna say no to Frank?”
“So, we went to the restaurant and we sat down with Barbara Sinatra and Frank, and we were eating dinner and he was saying ‘Well I love this show,' so I said, ‘Frank, why don’t you do the show with us?’ He said ‘Kid, I thought you’d never ask,’"
Richard Dean Anderson (mostly known as the original MacGyver) is a big fan of The Simpsons. On his other well-known show Stargate: SG-1, Homer voice actor Dan Castellaneta had part in an episode & RDA took the opportunity to get a role on The Simpsons. He appeared as himself in the season 17 episode Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore.
On the topic of SG-1 Wayne Brady was a huge fan of the series and had some of the actors on his short-lived talk show in the early 2000s. Shortly thereafter he got a guest spot as a Jaffa in the season 8 episode It’s Good to be King.
Soap opera fans probably know this one; Elizabeth Taylor was a big fan of General Hospital and of the wildly popular couple Luke & Laura, she called up then Executive Producer Gloria Monty in 1981 to ask for a part in the series. The character of Helena Cassadine was created for her & Taylor appeared in 5 episodes. Including the episode featuring Luke & Laura’s wedding, which is the highest-rated episode of a Soap Opera ever.
Tony Geary, who played Luke, admitted on the Wendy Williams show in 2010 that he and Taylor had an affair during that time. There was a post here about it (OP recalls he said this on Oprah’s show around the same year too). She was married to husband number 6 (7 if you count Richard Burton twice) U.S. Senator John Warner at the time.
Sources: Me, Myself & I
Wikipedia 1, 2, 3 Memory Alpha 1, 2, 3 NBC
Simpsons Fandom Wiki IMDB ONTD Post