Actors you were surprised to see in an old tv show or movie

[trekgeezer]

I've been watching the old Kojak ('73-'78) series and have noticed a lot of guest starring actors who later became fairly well known in films and tv. I am assuming that a lot of them started in New York on the stage since the show was actually shot there.

I like the show because it was really shot in New York and it has that kinda grimy look that a lot of 70's movies have. se

Here are some of the actors I have seen on Kojak

Sylvester Stallone - a despondent cop who accidentally shot a kid. Kojak has to talk him out of suicide.

James Woods - a burglar ripping off pawn shops in Kojak's precinct who happens to be a student in Kojak's criminology class.

Harvey Keitel - can't remember what his character was.

William Hurt - a garage attendant who gets killed when he tries to blackmail a couple of hitmen he saw stashing a body in the trunk of a Rolls.

Robert Picardo - the kid of someone Kojak owes a favor. He's in trouble with the guy he runs numbers for.

F. Murray Abraham - local punk who grows up to be the neightborhood wise guy. Leads  Kojak's namesake god-child astray and gets him killed.

Brian Dennehy - a very small part as the chief of security at a diamond exchange.


What actors have you been surprised at seeing in some old tv show or movie?

[odinn7]

Trek, where have you seen Kojak? You have Directv, right?

[LH-C]

If any of you have seen 'The Sentinel' (1977 movie) - There are so many familiar faces - practically the whole cast - that you could have a drinking game.

[Derf]

I was watching Challenge of the Tiger, also known as Gymkata Killer, the cheeseball movie that came with For Y'ur Height Only, and was surprised to see Jack Klugman and Jane Seymour in it. Of course, they'd probably be surprised to see that they were in it, too: The filmmakers obviously attended a function where the pair were appearing and filmed them (they even filmed the star of the movie, Bruce Le, greeting the pair), without telling them that a feature was being shot.

[trekgeezer]

I have Directv, but Kojak is on a local station we just got about six months ago. It's one of those low power UHF stations that I probably couldn't pick up if I didn't have local stations on the satellite. Anyway they run the RTN (Retro Televisvion Network) package of shows.

During the day they run Rockford Files, The A-Team, Magnum PI, and Kojak. At night they show comedies like Laverne & Shirley, Happy Days , Hogan's Heroes, The Beverley Hillbillies, and Family Ties.

They run some really old grainy commercials too. You haven't lived until you see Boris Karloff hawking A-1 Sauce, or Mike Farrell pitching some big mouth beer, or William Conrad voicing one the strangest commercial I've ever seen for a beer called Grain Belt.

Anyway RTN is a package of programs offered by a company called Equity Broadcasting right here in Little Rock. They own a bunch of WB, UPN,  ABC, and Univision stations all over the country.

Here are the RTN stations.

# KDEV - Denver, CO
# KRRI - Reno, NV
# KQUP - Spokane, WA
# KTVY - Las Vegas, NV
# KYPX - Little Rock, AR
# WNGS - Buffalo, NY
# WPXS - St. Louis, MO

[Mr_Vindictive]

LH-C,

The sentinel is one of my favorite horror films from the 70s.  Right off the top of my head, I can name Chris Sarandon, John Carradine, Jose Ferrer, Beverly D'Angelo, and a very very very early performance from one of my favorite actors: Christopher Walken.

Very overlooked, very good film.

[BoyScoutKevin]

My favorite example of a surprise is Joseph Wambaugh's "The Onion Field" which starred John Savage and James Woods. I was surprised to see Ted Danson and Christopher Lloyd in the film, whom I recognized. Then years later, checking the cast list, I was surprised to see Pat Corley, who played Phil on "Murphy Brown," and John de Lancie, who played Q on "Star Trek: the Next Generation," were also in the film, as I didn't recognize them, when I first saw the film.