Badmovies.org Forum

There Are A Lot Of Actors Who Double As Musicians And Musicians Who Double As Actors

Who Are Some Of These People That You Like Both Their Acting And Music?

For musicians that double as actors, my favorites are David Bowie, Mos Def, Cher and Tom Waits. 

I can't really think of any actors that I like as singers though.  Most of the ones whose music I've heard are pretty bad  :teddyr:

I really wish Jeff Bridges would take his character "Bad" Blake on a tour. I would go see that.

Fun fact about David Bowie and acting: In the 1970s movie version of The Who's Tommy,Tina Turner played the Acid Queen, but the only other person under consideration was David Bowie!

*facepalm*  I totally forgot about Bridges.  Good call  :cheers:

I like David Bowie much better as an actor than singer.  He was quite good in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.  Same for Cher.  I think Busta Rhymes, and to a lesser extent, LL Cool J, are pretty pathetic as actors.
I think most people could agree Elvis was not a good actor.  Of course, at the time, it didn't matter.

I remember enjoying those Matt Helm movies starring Dean Martin.  They were good when I was a kid, but I haven't seen one in years, so I can't comment on the quality of his acting. 

I think the most successful actor who was also a musician would be FRANK SINATRA.  Though I've laughed at plenty of them, I can't think of a single screen performance of his I didn't like.  And there are some portrayals of SINATRA's that are quite nuanced and surprising. 

I guess my favorites would be the guys from Spinal Tap.  Seeing as they also open for themselves in concert as The Folksmen.  Don't know if they'd count, but eh.

Jared Leto has a decent rock band, that's quite successful too.

Kevin Bacon with The Bacon Brothers. 

Beyond that, I can't think of many I like.

I would think so, Tap and the Folksmen may be satire bands but they still went on tour and all. 

To add to the musicians as actors list, I thought Jill Scott was really good on "The #1 Ladies' Detective Agency"; also, it was a smaller role, but Method Man played a character on "The Wire" and did a good job (I haven't seen him in anything else though).

Damn, I should have thought of the Tap fellows. Actors playing musicians who are actually musicians and toured as such.

I know a guy who saw when Spinal Tap and The Folksmen toured together. Imagine that. They performed a set at the Folksment, went backstange, changed into Tap, and performed again. I wish I had seen that show.

I just thought of another musician/actor: Roger Daltrey

He's not really known for acting, which makes sense because I think his only major and well-known role was Tommy in Tommy. A very fun movie by the way!

Actually, that was a good call. Roger did quite a bit of acting in his career outside Tommy. Not a highly skilled actor, but some noteworthy roles, including:

Lisztomania (1975) - as composer and virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt. Very funny early scene in which he is in bed with a woman and goes back and forth kissing her breasts in time with a metronome that he keeps setting faster and faster.

The Legacy (1978) - as Clive, a recording executive and one of the casualties of this supernatural horror.

McVicar (1980) - a pretty good gritty crime drama in which he was in the title role.

There are some others but those are the ones I'm most familiar with.

^^ McVicar, that's the one I was thinking of but I couldn't remember the name...

not mentioned yet but RUSSELL CROWE has a band called '30 ODD FOOT OF GRUNTS'. the name alone is enough to put me off listening to them frankly

oh yeah, JOHNNY DEPP played slide guitar on OASIS 'Fade In/Out', and also briefly had his own band called "P" in the mid 90s. they did an album you can check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/P/dp/B000OZ2CKC/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1285120252&sr=1-1

I really enjoyed Bruce Willis' two albums, though many people didn't.

And since Frank Sinatra got a mention, I'll add Bing Crosby.

I have also enjoyed several of Julie Brown's releases. Admittedly, she's not much of an actress, but she has been in several movies.

I've never heard them, but Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent (both from Goodfellas) at least used to be in a band together.

JULIETTE LEWIS is in a band called Juliette And The Liks. they've done a coupple of albums I think

Peter Weller and Jeff Goldblum play(ed?) jazz together (and NOT just in Buckaroo Banzai): I'd be happy to listen to them, at least once.

Did Anybody Hear About Billy Bob Thornton Starting His Own Band?

Nobody's mentioned Rick Springfield yet?  I actually liked his music pretty well.  Never watched too much of General Hospital though.