Brief appearance in performing art
The critically acclaimed 1945
psychological drama
film
Spellbound
features a cameo by
director
Alfred Hitchcock
in which he exits an
elevator
. Hitchcock is known for
his small cameos in his films
.
A
cameo appearance
, also called a
cameo role
and often shortened to just
cameo
(
), is a brief
guest appearance
of a well-known person or character in a work of the
performing arts
. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly either appearances in a work in which they hold some special significance (such as actors from an original movie appearing in its remake) or renowned people making uncredited appearances. Short appearances by
celebrities
,
film directors
,
politicians
,
athletes
or
musicians
are common. A crew member of the movie or show playing a minor role can be referred to as a cameo role as well, such as director
Alfred Hitchcock
who made
frequent cameo
appearances in his films.
Concept
[
edit
]
Originally, in the 1920s, a "cameo role" meant "a small character part that stands out from the other minor parts". The
Oxford English Dictionary
connects this with the meaning "a short literary sketch or portrait", which is based on the literal meaning of "
cameo
", a miniature carving on a gemstone.
[1]
More recently, in the late 20th century, a "cameo" has come to refer to any short appearance as a character.
[2]
Stan Lee
was well known for his
cameo appearances
throughout most of the
Marvel films
.
[3]
Cameos are generally not credited because of their brevity, or a perceived mismatch between the celebrity's stature and the film or television series in which they are appearing. Many are
publicity stunts
. Others are acknowledgements of an actor's contribution to an earlier work, as in the case of many
film adaptations
of television series, or of
remakes
of earlier films. Others honour artists or celebrities known for work in a particular field, such as comic book writer
Stan Lee
, who made
appearances in every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie
up to
Avengers: Endgame
.
[4]
[3]
Cameos also occur in
novels
and other literary works. "Literary cameos" usually involve an established character from another work who makes a brief appearance to establish a
shared universe
setting, to make a point, or to offer
homage
.
Balzac
often employed this practice, as in his
Comedie humaine
. Sometimes a cameo features a historical person who "drops in" on fictional characters in a
historical novel
, as when
Benjamin Franklin
shares a
beer
with Phillipe Charboneau in
The Bastard
by
John Jakes
.
[
citation needed
]
A cameo appearance can be made by the author of a work to put a sort of personal "signature" on a story.
Vladimir Nabokov
often put himself in his novels, for instance as the very minor character Vivian Darkbloom (an anagram of his name) in
Lolita
.
[5]
Cameos are also a tradition of
the Muppets
' many projects over the years.
Film directors
[
edit
]
Alfred Hitchcock
is known for
his frequent cameos in his movies
, as early as in his third film
The Lodger
(1927). In
Lifeboat
, as the action was restricted to the titular lifeboat, Hitchcock appeared in a newspaper ad.
Quentin Tarantino
provides brief cameos or
small roles
in all his movies.
[6]
Likewise,
Peter Jackson
has made brief
cameos
in all of his movies, except for his first feature-length film
Bad Taste
in which he played a main character, as well as
The Battle of the Five Armies
, though a portrait of him appears in the film. For example, he played a peasant eating a carrot in
The Fellowship of the Ring
and
The Desolation of Smaug
, a warrior of Rohan in
The Two Towers
, and a Corsair of Umbar boatswain in
The Return of the King
. All four were non-speaking "blink and you miss him" appearances, although in the Extended Release version of
The Return of the King
, his character was given more screen time and his reprise of the carrot eating peasant in
The Desolation of Smaug
was featured in the foreground in reference to
The Fellowship of the Ring
.
[7]
In addition, when he was directing
Heavenly Creatures
(1994), he appeared as a drunk person bumping into the main characters, and in the
Frighteners
, Jackson appeared as a man with piercings with his real-life son in a bouncer.
[8]
[
clarification needed
]
Director
Tim Burton
briefly appears in his films. He made a short appearance as a street thug who confronts Pee-wee in the back alley in
Pee-wee's Big Adventure
, and a visitor at the fair in Blackpool who gets a skeleton thrown at him in
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
.
[9]
Director
Martin Scorsese
appears in the background of his films as a bystander or an
unseen character
. In
Who's That Knocking at My Door
(1967), he played one of the gangsters; he was a lighting crewman in
After Hours
and a passenger in
Taxi Driver
. He opened up his film
The Color of Money
with a monologue on the art of playing pool. In addition, he appeared with his wife and daughter as wealthy New Yorkers in
Gangs of New York
, and as a theatre-goer and can be heard as a movie
projectionist
in
The Aviator
. He also appeared in his 2023 work
Killers of the Flower Moon
, in a minor role as a
radio drama
narrator.
In a same way,
Roman Polanski
appeared as a hired hoodlum in his film
Chinatown
, slitting Jack Nicholson's nose with the blade of his clasp knife.
[10]
F. Gary Gray
has made many appearances in the films he has directed including
Friday
,
Set It Off
,
Law Abiding Citizen
, and
Straight Outta Compton
.
[11]
Actors and writers
[
edit
]
Directors sometimes cast well-known lead actors with whom they have worked in the past in other films. In
Jane Eyre
(1943),
Elizabeth Taylor
makes a cameo appearance as Helen Burns, Jane's friend from school who dies from a cold.
Mike Todd
's film
Around the World in 80 Days
(1956) was filled with cameo roles:
John Gielgud
as an English butler,
Frank Sinatra
playing piano in a saloon, and others. The stars in cameo roles were pictured in oval insets in posters for the film, and gave the term wide circulation outside the theatrical profession.
[
citation needed
]
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963), an "epic comedy", also features cameos from nearly every popular American comedian alive at the time, including
The Three Stooges
,
Jerry Lewis
,
Buster Keaton
and a voice-only cameo by
Selma Diamond
.
[12]
Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood
(1976) features cameos by dozens of actors from Hollywood's golden age.
The Player
(1992) features cameos from 65 Hollywood actors.
Run for Your Wife
(2012) is filled with cameos from 80 of Britain's film and TV stars from the 1960s, '70s and '80s.
Aaron Sorkin
also had cameos in some works he wrote: as a bar customer speaking about the law in his debut film screenplay
A Few Good Men
(1992), as an advertising executive in
The Social Network
, and as a guest at the inauguration of President
Matt Santos
in the final episode of
The West Wing
.
Franco Nero
, the actor who portrayed the Django character in the original
1966 film
, appears in a bar scene of the Tarantino film
Django Unchained
. There, he asks Django (
Jamie Foxx
) to spell his name, which led to the famous promotional tagline for the film - "The 'D' is silent". Franco's character responds simply, "I know."
Many cameos featured in
Maverick
(1994), directed by
Richard Donner
. Among them,
Danny Glover
–
Mel Gibson
's co-star in the
Lethal Weapon
franchise also directed by Donner – appears as the lead
bank robber
. He and Maverick (Gibson) share a scene where they look as if they knew each other, but then shake it off. As Glover makes his escape with the money, he mutters "I'm too old for this shit", his character's
catchphrase
in the
Lethal Weapon
films. In addition, a strain of the main
theme
from
Lethal Weapon
plays in the
score
when Glover is revealed. Actress
Margot Kidder
made a cameo appearance in the same film as a robbed villager: she had previously starred as
Lois Lane
in Donner's
Superman
(1978).
[13]
Ben Stiller
,
Vince Vaughn
,
Owen Wilson
,
Luke Wilson
and
Will Ferrell
have made appearances in so many of the same films (whether as lead characters or cameos) that
USA Today
coined the term "
Frat Pack
" to name the group.
[14]
Actor
Adam Sandler
is also known for frequently casting fellow
Saturday Night Live
performers (including
Rob Schneider
and
David Spade
) in various roles in his films (as well as making cameo appearances of his own in theirs, most of which he co-produces).
Sam Raimi
frequently uses his brother
Ted
and
Bruce Campbell
in his films.
[15]
The American singer/actress
Cher
had a couple of cameos. She had two cameos in
Will & Grace
and she even had a few in the 1990s.
[
citation needed
]
Actor
Edward Norton
appeared as himself in the satirical film
The Dictator
(2012) starring
Sacha Baron Cohen
.
Al Pacino
had an extended cameo in the film
Jack and Jill
(2011) starring
Adam Sandler
, where Pacino played a fictional version of himself.
The mangaka
Shotaro Ishinomori
made many cameos in his
Kamen Rider
series.
The animated series
Adventures of Tintin
featured its author
Herge
in all the episodes.
[16]
Stephen King
is famous for making short cameo appearances in almost every movie based on his novels.
[17]
An Adventure in Space and Time
, a drama about how
Doctor Who
began, features many
actors from the show's past
, including two past companions in a party scene, another as a mother calling her children in for dinner and a fourth in a car park at the BBC as a guard.
[18]
In the movie adaptation of
Les Miserables
,
Colm Wilkinson
, who originated the role of Jean Valjean in the West End and on Broadway, made a cameo as the
Bishop of Digne
.
[19]
In the Soviet film
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears
,
Innokenty Smoktunovsky
appeared for a minute as himself.
Other
[
edit
]
Films based on actual events occasionally include cameo
guest appearances
by the people portrayed in them. In
The Pursuit of Happyness
,
Chris Gardner
made a cameo at the end.
24 Hour Party People
, a film about
Tony Wilson
, has a cameo by the real Tony Wilson and many other notable people. In the film
Apollo 13
,
James Lovell
(the real commander of that flight) and his wife Marilyn appeared next to the actors playing them (
Tom Hanks
and
Kathleen Quinlan
respectively), and
Chuck Yeager
, whose story is told in the early part of the film, appears in a cameo in the airfield bar.
Domino Harvey
made a short appearance in the credits of
Domino
, while the real
Erin Brockovich
had a cameo as a waitress named Julia in the
eponymous movie
(where her role is played by the actress
Julia Roberts
).
[
citation needed
]
Sophie Wilson
had a cameo as a barmaid in
Micro Men
, which shows her work for
Acorn Computers
. In a
flashback
sequence in
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
, Raoul Duke (played by
Johnny Depp
) runs into the real-life
Hunter S. Thompson
, upon whom the character of Duke is based, leading him to remark "There I was...mother of God, there I am! Holy fuck."
Stephen Hawking in popular culture
lists more than a dozen appearances of the scientist playing himself.
Maria Von Trapp
made an uncredited brief cameo appearance in the film version of her life,
The Sound of Music
. She appeared in the background during the song "I Have Confidence" with her daughter
Rosmarie
and stepson Werner Von Trapp.
Tom Morello
, American guitarist and musician, made an appearance in the Marvel film
Iron Man
(2008), in which he also participated in the
soundtrack
.
Elon Musk
and
Larry Ellison
, both founders of large technology companies, were featured in cameos in
Iron Man 2
(2010).
[20]
The king of Sweden,
Carl XVI Gustaf
, was in the children's program
Mika
(
Mika och renen Ossian pa aventyr
) when Mika was in
Stockholm
with his reindeer.
[21]
In
The Wolf of Wall Street
(2013), the real
Jordan Belfort
appeared as an
emcee
to introduce
Leonardo DiCaprio
, who played Belfort, in the final scene.
Boxer
Roberto Duran
and his wife Felicidad made a cameo appearance towards the end of the film
Hands of Stone
, about Duran's life.
[22]
In
The Big Short (film)
, the real investor
Michael Burry
appeared as an employee of his hedge fund "Scion Capital" while answering the phone saying "Doctor Burry's office".
An unusual example of a famous non-actor being given a small but speaking fictional role occurred in the
Star Trek: The Next Generation
episode "
Second Chances
." Dr.
Mae Jemison
, an
astronaut
, the first Black woman in space, and a long-time fan of
Star Trek
, was offered the opportunity to appear on the show. She was given the role of a Starfleet crewmember and a few lines, thus becoming the first real-life astronaut to appear on
Star Trek
.
[23]
Somewhat likewise King
Abdullah II of Jordan
appeared briefly in a non-speaking role the
Star Trek: Voyager
episode "
Investigations
".
[24]
See also
[
edit
]
Look up
cameo
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Oxford English Dictionary
, "Cameo".
- ^
"Cameo in Film topic"
. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.
Archived
from the original on 8 March 2021
. Retrieved
9 January
2017
.
a short appearance in a film or play by a well-known actor
- ^
a
b
Fussell, Sidney (16 February 2016).
"Stan Lee has made 28 cameos in Marvel movies and shows ? here they are"
.
Tech Insider
.
Archived
from the original on 8 August 2016
. Retrieved
18 February
2017
.
- ^
Polo, Susana (9 March 2019).
"Captain Marvel's Stan Lee cameo has bold implications for the MCU"
.
Polygon
.
Archived
from the original on 30 October 2023
. Retrieved
30 October
2023
.
- ^
Straumann, Barbara (2008).
Figurations of Exile in Hitchcock and Nabokov
. Edinburgh University Press. p. 114.
ISBN
978-0-7486-3647-1
.
- ^
Vincent, Alice; Saunders, Tristram Fane (10 December 2015).
"Quentin Tarantino: his 10 best cameo roles"
.
The Daily Telegraph
.
Archived
from the original on 11 January 2022
. Retrieved
15 September
2016
.
- ^
Sumra, Husain (14 December 2011).
"Did you know that Peter Jackson made cameos in the Lord of the Rings films?"
. Swiftfilm.
Archived
from the original on 20 September 2016
. Retrieved
15 September
2016
.
- ^
Pryor, Ian (2004).
Peter Jackson : From Prince of Splatter to Lord of the Rings
. 1st U.S. ed., Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press.
- ^
Barkman, Adam; Sanna, Antonio (2017).
A Critical Companion to Tim Burton
. Lexington Books.
ISBN
978-1-4985-5272-1
.
OCLC
1038627977
.
- ^
Clarke, Roger (1 May 2008).
"Story of the scene: 'Chinatown' Roman Polanski (1974)"
.
The Independent
.
Archived
from the original on 8 August 2016
. Retrieved
15 September
2016
.
- ^
"F. Gary Gray"
.
IMDb
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Archived
from the original on 1 March 2023
. Retrieved
1 March
2023
.
- ^
Sobczynski, Peter (21 January 2014).
"
"It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" Gets the Deluxe Treatment from Criterion"
.
RogerEbert.com
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
15 September
2016
.
- ^
Ebert, Roger
(20 May 1994).
"Maverick"
.
Chicago Sun-Times
.
Sun-Times Media Group
.
Archived
from the original on 11 May 2011
. Retrieved
15 September
2016
– via
rogerebert.com
.
- ^
Wloszczyna, Susan (15 June 2004).
"Wilson and Vaughn: Leaders of the 'Frat Pack'
"
.
USA Today
.
Gannett Co. Inc.
Archived
from the original on 13 October 2005
. Retrieved
23 February
2019
.
- ^
"Sam Raimi"
.
Monsters-Movies.com
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
18 February
2017
.
- ^
Talbot, John; Adams, Edmund; Winkels, Rob; Mar, Irene (27 March 2009).
"Herge's Cameo Appearances"
.
Tintinologist
. Herge/Moulinsart S.A.
Archived
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. Retrieved
15 September
2016
.
- ^
Kaye, Don (21 September 2019).
"Every Stephen King Movie Cameo: From Creepshow to It Chapter Two"
.
Den of Geek
.
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. Retrieved
16 December
2020
.
- ^
Wilson, Dan (21 November 2013).
"Doctor Who: 17 things for Who fans to spot in An Adventure in Space and Time by Mark Gatiss"
.
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.
Archived
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. Retrieved
15 September
2016
.
- ^
Ng, David (31 December 2012).
"Colm Wilkinson, original Jean Valjean, on 'Les Miserables' movie"
.
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.
Archived
from the original on 28 July 2020
. Retrieved
28 July
2020
.
- ^
Greenberg, Andy (29 April 2010).
"Elon Musk, Larry Ellison Appear In Iron Man 2"
.
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.
Archived
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. Retrieved
23 February
2019
.
- ^
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.
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from the original on 20 February 2011
. Retrieved
18 February
2017
.
- ^
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.
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- ^
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(2nd ed.). Pocket Books. pp. 249?250.
- ^
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