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Weekend Discussion Thread: Recognizing Actors After a Long Time

Alert regular “Sitting Duck” writes:

Ever have a delayed realization that you had previously seen a particular actor in a MST3K film? Perhaps taking weeks, months, years or maybe even decades?

In my case, it wasn’t that long ago that I realized that I had seen Janet Munro (Anne Pilgrim in “The Crawling Eye”) before, as Roberta in “Swiss Family Robinson.”)

I think for me it was when I realized “Robot Monster”‘s George Nader was the agent in “Human Duplicators.” Blew my entire mind.

You?

76 Replies to “Weekend Discussion Thread: Recognizing Actors After a Long Time”

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  1. duke of puddles says:

    seeing john phillip law in Diabolik after ‘Space Mutiny’ was interesting to me in that ‘Mutiny’ he was constantly chewing the scenery while in ‘Diabolik’ he was as lively as any of the props.

       12 likes

  2. jay says:

    There are a couple of guys who come to town once a year with a big tent that they pitch in the parking lot of a closed big box store and sell used oriental rugs, etc. I was in their tent a couple of years ago and rolled up in one corner was what looked exactly like the monster from THE CREEPING TERROR. I couldn’t be sure of the colors because the movie was in black and white, however the woman’s butt hanging out of one end was a dead giveaway.

       7 likes

  3. skrag2112 says:

    In ‘Village Of The Giants’, the one girl named Red who danced for the giant kids I found out later was Toni Basil. She went on to have that famous one hit wonder song ‘Mickey’ and a long career as a dance instructor.

       15 likes

  4. mando3b says:

    I had long suspected that the “enjoy my teeth/how ’bout a hand of poker” thug in Danger: Death Ray and the main head-hunter henchman in Colossus & the Head Hunters were played by the same brawny Italian actor (whose name I can never remember), but I had no idea that he was also the snake cult priest in Cave Dwellers (“the best lookin’ man in the Middle Ages, mah mah mah!”) until Satellite News published the notice about the actor’s death a few months ago.

       4 likes

  5. duke of puddles says:

    on a slightly more serious note, i was truly shocked each time i saw Bruno Vesota in a movie. i never realized how many of the MST/CT movies he was in whether it was Chillas in ‘Daddy-O’ or Scroop in the ‘Undead,’ he was one of the more accomplished actors. i counted him in at least 5 MST movies possibly more.

       6 likes

  6. Ro-man, aka one of several possible Steves says:

    I might be wrong on this, but isn’t the actor who played the monster in “Monster-a-go-go” the same one who played Sir Not Appearing In This Film in “Holy Grail”?

       16 likes

  7. Scott Strong says:

    It took me a while to realize that the “sex for sundries” pharmacist in The Skydivers was the same guy that played Professor Ehrling in Terror from the Year 5000. He was also in Red Zone Cuba.

       7 likes

  8. majorjoe23 says:

    This summer I was surprised to see that Jeff Morrow, who played Exeter in This Island Earth, had a small part in Octaman. I don’t think I would have recognized him if I hadn’t seen it was him online.

       8 likes

  9. mst3kme says:

    I’ll take a different tack on this WDT and state that I was stunned at the time to find out that:

    Kim Cattrall, Rae Dawn Chong, Dean Devlin, and James Earl Jones were in “City Limits.”

    Phyllis Coates and Noel Neill (two Lois Lanes!) were in “Invasion U.S.A.”

    Jonathan Demme was in “The Amazing Transparent Man.”

       6 likes

  10. mst3kme says:

    Now available at Rifftrax:

    “Vacation Days,” the fourth in the Teen Agers series riffed by Bridget and Mary Jo.

    Enjoy.

       3 likes

  11. edward says:

    When I learned the martial artist guy from Future War is the badass martial arts guy in the first John Wick.

       11 likes

  12. The Grim Specter of Food says:

    Speaking of Human Duplicators, I didn’t realize until last week that the blind woman in that movie was played by the same actress as the mute woman from The Phantom Planet.

       6 likes

  13. Ray Dunakin says:

    When I realized that the cardigan-wearing stiff in “Agent For HARM” was also in “Gentle Persuasion”.

       2 likes

  14. majorjoe23 says:

    edward:
    When I learned the martial artist guy from Future War is the badass martial arts guy in the first John Wick.

    And in the recent amazing episode of Barry.

       1 likes

  15. Prez Gar says:

    Talena from Outlaw had a brief role in the first Ace Ventura movie. She was the very grateful dog owner who paid Ace with something other than money. And she still looked hot.

       3 likes

  16. Kenotic says:

    I love that Cliff McCormack (Daran Norris) from Veronica Mars was the lowly host of Club Scum on Hobgoblins. He also has done a considerable amount of voice work in cartoons and anime — my personal favorite being Cowboy Andy in an episode of Cowboy Bebop.

    It shows you can start (really) low and make a nice niche and career for yourself.

       8 likes

  17. duke of puddles says:

    seeing John Banner as Bavaro in ‘Crash or the moons.’

       5 likes

  18. Kenotic says:

    One from MST to Rifftrax: Jacqulin Cole, the scatter-brained teacher from Angel’s Revenge showed up in Star Games as the mother – aka The One with the Weird Clown AI assistant. She was the director’s wife (and I’m sorry to hear she passed away from cancer in the 00s).

       6 likes

  19. jjk50 says:

    duke of puddles: Bruno Vesota

    He also starred in and directed the movie Dementia(Daughter of Horror) which was the film the teenagers were watching in the The Blob (1958)when it attacked the movie theater.

       7 likes

  20. eegah says:

    edward:
    When I learned the martial artist guy from Future War is the badass martial arts guy in the first John Wick.

    And an agent at the beginning of The Matrix 2

       6 likes

  21. Ro-man, aka one of several possible Steves says:

    After puzzling and puzzling over who’s voice that was as Claudius in “Hamlet”, the light came on when I finally recognized it as Ricardo Montalban. Crazy, man.

    However, discovering just today that Hamlet himself was played by Maximillian Schell really was something other than else!

       5 likes

  22. My pretty mind was totally blown when after watching The Incredible Melting Man for the hundredth time I realized that Turkey Leg Perry was also Mark Houston from The Unearthly.

    Took me forever to notice the Todd Monster from Viking Women was also a Teenage Caveman.

    I’m kinda slow. Vida from Girls Town was also Sally the jilted from The Leech Woman? whoa.

    I just watched Blow again. The highlight of the movie for me is when Vadinho shows up.

       5 likes

  23. LoneZombie says:

    skrag2112:
    In ‘Village Of The Giants’, the one girl named Red who danced for the giant kids I found out later was Toni Basil. She went on to have that famous one hit wonder song ‘Mickey’ and a long career as a dance instructor.

    Toni was also in Catalina Caper as “Featured Dancer”. Gotta give her credit for such a long, varied, and successful career.

       5 likes

  24. Merritt Stone and Gene Roth

       5 likes

  25. goalieboy82 says:

    Ro-man, aka one of several possible Steves:
    I might be wrong on this, but isn’t the actor who played the monster in “Monster-a-go-go” the same one who played Sir Not Appearing In This Film in “Holy Grail”?

    that was Thomas Palin by the way who played him (Michael’s son).

       5 likes

  26. Mibbitmaker says:

    Not a long time per se, but an actor appearing in two season 1 movies (The Crawling Eye and Moon Zero Two) ended up being the lead on the British show that All In The Family was based on. I’d looked for and found the show on YouTube a few years ago, after I’d seen the MST3Ks in question already by then. The actor was Warren Mitchell, who was Alf Garnett, the original Archie Bunker, and also played Prof. Crevett in Crawling Eye and Hubbard in Moon Zero Two.

       3 likes

  27. goalieboy82 says:

    Mibbitmaker:
    Not a long time per se, but an actor appearing in two season 1 movies (The Crawling Eye and Moon Zero Two) ended up being the lead on the British show that All In The Family was based on. I’d looked for and found the show on YouTube a few years ago, after I’d seen the MST3Ks in question already by then. The actor was Warren Mitchell, who was Alf Garnett, the original Archie Bunker, and also played Prof. Crevett in Crawling Eye and Hubbard in Moon Zero Two.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0-leRNxhmg

       2 likes

  28. Joseph Goodman says:

    What, no one recognized Peter Mark Richman (Agent From H.A.R.M.) as that jerk from the Star Trek:TNG episode “The Neutral Zone”?

    One time I saw a Spanish version of Journey To The Center Of The Earth, and thought I recognized a tall, white-haired guy in it… turns out it was the Lorne Green-looking guy from Pod People. The movie even had the same director, Juan Piquir Simon.

    It never dawned on me until I was listening to just the audio that Hercules and Hercules Unchained have basically the same dub casts as several Godzilla movies.

       3 likes

  29. Yeti of Great Danger says:

    Joseph Goodman:
    What, no one recognized Peter Mark Richman (Agent From H.A.R.M.) as that jerk from the Star Trek:TNG episode “The Neutral Zone”?

    One time I saw a Spanish version of Journey To The Center Of The Earth, and thought I recognized a tall, white-haired guy in it… turns out it was the Lorne Green-looking guy from Pod People. The movie even had the same director, Juan Piquir Simon.

    It never dawned on me until I was listening to just the audio that Hercules and Hercules Unchained have basically the same dub casts as several Godzilla movies.

    Mine is also a Peter Mark Richman item. I was watching some clips from the old short-lived TV series “Longstreet” (1971-1972), trying to decide whether or not to buy the DVD set, when I realized series regular Duke Paige was “Agent from H.A.R.M.” Richman. He had a sweet ’70s ‘stache in “Longstreet” and I can remember back in the day thinking he was good-looking.

       3 likes

  30. Jason Davis says:

    I watched the classic casablanca and then i saw the head mobster guy from i accuse my parents. He has a line in the movie, and it takes place after the scene with peter lorre gets taken down. You have the old man from teenage crimewave is in the oscar winning movie marty. He plays the dad of the main woman in the film.

       3 likes

  31. Lawgiver says:

    Joseph Goodman:
    What, no one recognized Peter Mark Richman (Agent From H.A.R.M.) as that jerk from the Star Trek:TNG episode “The Neutral Zone”?

    I did, because I first saw him play Chrissy’s dad on “Three’s Company”. But it wasn’t a case of recognizing him after a long time; I recognized him right away.

    Probably one of the “recognizing later” for me is James Best in “The Killer Shrews”. I didn’t recognize him from “Dukes of Hazard”, even with the riffing, until after a couple of viewings.

       3 likes

  32. goalieboy82 says:

    duke of puddles:
    seeing John Banner as Bavaro in ‘Crash or the moons.’

    this will bring tears to your eyes:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-3eveccxns

       3 likes

  33. Leonard Maltin says:

    It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that Goiter Man from The Giant Spider Invasion was also Flanagan in The Wild World of Batwoman (*drunken Flanagan clutching a bottle of whiskey* “Hey, it’s the producer!”). Only embarrassing because, well, his name is right there in the credits.

       3 likes

  34. Phillip Terry, the smug doctor in The Leech Woman, was Ray Milland’s brother in The Lost Weekend.

       2 likes

  35. Joseph Goodman: It never dawned on me until I was listening to just the audio that Hercules and Hercules Unchained have basically the same dub casts as several Godzilla movies.

    Back in the 50’s, almost half of the entire foreign-dub voiceover industry was Marvin Miller (of Hemo the Magnificent and Robby the Robot fame) and Paul Frees…Hence the “Moose and squirrel” jokes in “Sword & the Dragon”.
    Still hard to believe that’s director Frees as the talent scout who discovers Eddie Crane, though.

    (And darn, somebody already got Toni Basil and Dean Devlin. Tough one, this week.) :)

       5 likes

  36. Terry the Sensitive Knight says:

    Joe Don Baker as Jack Wade in ‘GoldenEye’
    Although maybe this doesn’t count since M&tB actually say he was in ‘GoldenEye’ as a riff in ‘Final Justice’

    Peter “I killed that fat barkeep!” Breck was in ‘The Crawling Hand’, I never realized until just recently that he as in that. Allison Hayes, too

       3 likes

  37. Y.I. Oughta says:

    I’m 99.9 percent sure Patrick Whyte, who was Varden in “Kitten With a Whip” was also the father in “A Date With Your Family”. The IMDB credit for ADWYF lists Fred La Porta as Dad but that is incorrect. Also Patrick Whyte’s other credits include being a guard in “The Mole People.”

       2 likes

  38. IR5 says:

    I saw Margaret Lee- who played Agent Cynthia Fulton in Secret Agent Super Dragon in a TCM movie called “Our Man in Marakesh” (Written by Harry Alan Towers)- yes, she did look like a White Member of the Supremes.

       2 likes

  39. I saw Shug Fisher (the old lush in Teenagers in Outer Space) on a Beverly Hillbillies episode and I cracked up. Apparently he has been in lots of TV. :)

       1 likes

  40. eegah says:

    The Original EricJStill hard to believe that’s director [Paul] Frees as the talent scout who discovers Eddie Crane, though.

    You mean Bayliss? That’s Charles Delaney. IMDB says Frees just did some voices (and directed, of course).

       2 likes

  41. Mibbitmaker says:

    Though Rifftrax, when I finally saw Reefer Madness riffed, I was surprised to see that the actor playing the judge was also the same actor playing the judge in the Three Stooges short “Disorder in the Court”. Seems like he was being typecast by two most notable roles.

       1 likes

  42. Jake says:

    Ro-man, aka one of several possible Steves:
    I might be wrong on this, but isn’t the actor who played the monster in “Monster-a-go-go” the same one who played Sir Not Appearing In This Film in “Holy Grail”?

    Ro-Man, if you haven’t dropped the mic yet, you need to with that comment.

       5 likes

  43. jay says:

    Ro-man, aka one of several possible Steves:
    I might be wrong on this, but isn’t the actor who played the monster in “Monster-a-go-go” the same one who played Sir Not Appearing In This Film in “Holy Grail”?

    So the “Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental” disclaimer is just window dressing here?

       4 likes

  44. Cornjob says:

    I’ve been watching Longmire on Netflix. A familiar looking actor showed up as a villain. Then I realized it was General Bullbutter from Atlantic Rim.

       1 likes

  45. goalieboy82 says:

    was watching Danger Man (AKA Secret Agent in the USA) i saw Howard Marion-Crawford from The Castle of Fu Manchu in 3 different episodes (a different person in each one).

       2 likes

  46. goalieboy82 says:

    Cornjob:
    I’ve been watching Longmire on Netflix. A familiar looking actor showed up as a villain. Then I realized it was General Bullbutter from Atlantic Rim.

    i saw him too in a little known film called Dances with Wolves too.
    also go 8:00 into this:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BQCuFZ4zhM

       2 likes

  47. jay says:

    Imagine the shock when I was watching DANGER: DEATH RAY and saw President Abraham Lincoln playing one of the evil henchmen. Coming back from an 1860s assassination sure seems to beat a lieutenant in Space Mutiny coming back to life after only a few minutes.

       9 likes

  48. Ro-man, aka one of several possible Steves:
    I might be wrong on this, but isn’t the actor who played the monster in “Monster-a-go-go” the same one who played Sir Not Appearing In This Film in “Holy Grail”?

    Think William Palin might have been a little too young for the Monster role: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/montypython/images/8/82/WilliamPalinGrail.png

       2 likes

  49. duke of puddles says:

    goalieboy82: this will bring tears to your eyes:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-3eveccxns

    yes that was extremely touching, thanks for the link.

    it did get me wondering though, both men looked so serious and i guess that was part of the bit, but it got me wondering about Mike’s John Banner when he told Servo to ‘never mention that name again!’ i guess i didn’t really know about any bad blood between Banner and Klemperer.
    Banner was the show to me. Bob Crane and Richard Dawson were famous OUTSIDE (unfortunately for Bob.) people know the characters for the most part, but without Schultz, the show’s out in 1-2 seasons.

       1 likes

  50. duke of puddles says:

    Torque the Dorque:
    Merritt Stone and Gene Roth

    yes but who IS Merret Stone?

       4 likes

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