TopBilled Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 I have a feeling Sammy Davis Jr. holds some sort of record as the star who most often played himself in movies and on television. And I'm not counting variety show appearances, but comedy and drama series where there would be a fictional plot that involved him as himself. He guest-starred in a 1970 episode of Here's Lucy. He was in a very memorable episode of All in the Family in 1972. In 1984 he appeared on The Jeffersons though there was no reference made to Louise having already met Sammy at Archie Bunker's home years earlier. Oh, and he even turned up in a season 2 episode of Charlie's Angels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted July 10, 2019 Author Share Posted July 10, 2019 Sammy Davis also played himself in episodes of: The Danny Thomas Show The Jack Benny Program The Patty Duke Show Batman I Dream of Jeannie Chico and the Man Sanford (two episodes)Archie Bunker's Place (another run-in with Archie)Gimme a Break! (that time he played himself and a lookalike) And he played himself in the movies PEPE (1960) and MOON OVER PARADOR (1988). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewhite2000 Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 You may have already found the winner! There are plenty of celebrities who have played themselves at a least once, but I doubt you're going to find many (or any) who did it that many times! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyCronin Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 I would bet too that Sammy is hard to beat. One that came to my mind quickly was not really an actress, but the performer Charo, although she did portray some fictional characters closely built on the Charo characterization. Maybe she could be a top female contender. Roles where she played herself, not variety and talk show appearances: Jane the Virgin Don't Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 Las Vegas That '70s Show The Naked Truth The Tortellis The Facts of Life The Jeffersons The Naked Truth TV Movie: Charo and the Sergeant TV Movie: Charo (apparently this is a movie structured as a variety show. I'm not familiar!) She made appearances as a character obviously based upon her persona: Chico and the Man as Aunt Charo Characters on Fantasy Island Yolanda Morales, Maria Diaz, Dolores DeMercia The Love Boat as April Lopez and Lupe Zapata De Vega Valdez 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewhite2000 Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 Say, what about Jack Benny? While multiple stars got radio and/or TV shows where they would play a character who had the same first name as themselves but a different last name, Jack Benny usually played Jack Benny (same thing with George and Gracie, I think). He probably played himself on a lot more total episodes than Sammy, but it was always his own show, so I don't know if that's quite the same. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 Zsa Zsa Gabor At least 9 feature films, and at least 10 TV shows or TV movies. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 42 minutes ago, LawrenceA said: Zsa Zsa Gabor At least 9 feature films, and at least 10 TV shows or TV movies. AND, at a particular Beverly Hills Municipal Court appearance of some note. Don't forget that one too, Lawrence! (...I'm sure the BHPD officer involved, hasn't) LOL 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGGGerald Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 2 hours ago, TopBilled said: Sammy Davis also played himself in episodes of: The Danny Thomas Show The Jack Benny Program The Patty Duke Show Batman I Dream of Jeannie Chico and the Man Sanford (two episodes)Archie Bunker's Place (another run-in with Archie)Gimme a Break! (that time he played himself and a lookalike) And he played himself in the movies PEPE (1960) and MOON OVER PARADOR (1988). His scene in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) was deleted 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGGGerald Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 Frank Sinatra played himself quite a few times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyCronin Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 One of my favorite Here's Lucy episodes has Lucy sharing a hospital room with Eva, who I think was playing herself. The plot involved jewels....Lucy gets into trouble....hilarity ensues. At least I think it was Eva, not Zsa Zsa. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted July 10, 2019 Author Share Posted July 10, 2019 12 minutes ago, RoyCronin said: One of my favorite Here's Lucy episodes has Lucy sharing a hospital room with Eva, who I think was playing herself. The plot involved jewels....Lucy gets into trouble....hilarity ensues. At least I think it was Eva, not Zsa Zsa. Yes, it was Eva Gabor and she was playing herself in the Season 5 episode "Lucy and Eva Gabor Are Hospital Roomies" from 1972. After Green Acres had ended. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0600041/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted July 10, 2019 Share Posted July 10, 2019 1 hour ago, TopBilled said: Yes, it was Eva Gabor and she was playing herself in the Season 5 episode "Lucy and Eva Gabor Are Hospital Roomies" from 1972. After Green Acres had ended. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0600041/ So, she was there for her bouts of depression after the cancellation of her sitcom then, right?! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted July 10, 2019 Author Share Posted July 10, 2019 15 minutes ago, Dargo said: So, she was there for her bouts of depression after the cancellation of her sitcom then, right?! Probably! It's been awhile since I've seen the episode, so I can't remember why Eva Gabor was supposedly in the hospital with Lucy. Incidentally, Lucille Ball had broken her leg skiing in Colorado during a short hiatus from the show. So they had to write Lucy's injury into the scripts. And that's why they created this scenario for Lucy to be in the hospital with Eva Gabor. This was supposed to be right after her character (Lucy Carter) had also broken her leg and just got out of surgery. Ball and her character would remain in a cast for the next half dozen episodes. In this episode, she is mostly in the hospital bed then we start to see her in a wheelchair. She continues to use the wheelchair in the next episodes when she is home from the hospital. Then we see her hobbling around, no longer using the wheelchair. It was either do this or temporarily suspend production of the series. In a way it was good that they wrote the injury into the show and kept going, because it sort of humanized Lucy more. And they did get some funny episodes from this scenario, including this particular one with Eva Gabor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted July 10, 2019 Author Share Posted July 10, 2019 Eddie Albert appeared on Here's Lucy in 1973, playing himself. This is from the episode called "Lucy Gives Eddie Albert the Old Song and Dance"-- Of course Lucy and Eddie had previously costarred in a film together (THE FULLER BRUSH GIRL) in 1950. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 OK..... So how many stars appeared as themselves in MOVIES? Off the top, I can only think of the parade who showed up in THE PLAYER('92) There were supposedly 65 of 'em, so I ain't gonna TRY to list them..... Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted July 11, 2019 Author Share Posted July 11, 2019 40 minutes ago, Sepiatone said: OK..... So how many stars appeared as themselves in MOVIES? Off the top, I can only think of the parade who showed up in THE PLAYER('92) There were supposedly 65 of 'em, so I ain't gonna TRY to list them..... Sepiatone Are you talking about recent films, or any film? The star-studded PARAMOUNT ON PARADE (1930) had a large cast of celebrities appearing as themselves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_on_Parade Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryGH Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 Better yet - how about non-comedy silent film stars who played themselves? Tom Tyler played Tom Tyler in "Terror Mountain", 1928. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 Okay, I think I've got the ACTUAL winner of this thing here! Now, how many movies did John Wayne appear in? Well over a HUNDRED of 'em, RIGHT?! (bet ya know already know where I'm goin' with this, don't ya pilgrim) AND, it is often said that in almost EVERY movie the big guy ever starred in, "he just appeared to be playing himself", RIGHT?! Yep, and so THERE'S ya the winner here, folks!!! (...oh and btw, a little assist with my comin' up with this should be credited to - OR maybe "blamed on" might be more apropos here - Mary up there for bringin' up the name of her favorite old western movie cowboy star) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedracer5 Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 There's the celebrities who have cult followings and basically make their living being themselves. Chuck Norris comes to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scsu1975 Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 If you consider Hedda Hopper a star (and she was an actress at one time), she did appear as herself several times. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewhite2000 Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 Don't bother with the rewrite, man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 22 hours ago, TopBilled said: Are you talking about recent films, or any film? The star-studded PARAMOUNT ON PARADE (1930) had a large cast of celebrities appearing as themselves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_on_Parade Any would do. And sure, those GOLDIGGERS flicks often had a bevy as themselves, as well as STAGE DOOR CANTEEN('43). Sepiatone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted July 12, 2019 Author Share Posted July 12, 2019 1 hour ago, Sepiatone said: Any would do. And sure, those GOLDIGGERS flicks often had a bevy as themselves, as well as STAGE DOOR CANTEEN('43). Sepiatone Yes, STAGE DOOR CANTEEN is a good example. So is HOLLYWOOD CANTEEN. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougieB Posted July 13, 2019 Share Posted July 13, 2019 On 7/10/2019 at 3:02 PM, RoyCronin said: I would bet too that Sammy is hard to beat. One that came to my mind quickly was not really an actress, but the performer Charo, although she did portray some fictional characters closely built on the Charo characterization. Maybe she could be a top female contender. Roles where she played herself, not variety and talk show appearances: Jane the Virgin Don't Trust the B**** in Apartment 23 Las Vegas That '70s Show The Naked Truth The Tortellis The Facts of Life The Jeffersons The Naked Truth TV Movie: Charo and the Sergeant TV Movie: Charo (apparently this is a movie structured as a variety show. I'm not familiar!) She made appearances as a character obviously based upon her persona: Chico and the Man as Aunt Charo Characters on Fantasy Island Yolanda Morales, Maria Diaz, Dolores DeMercia The Love Boat as April Lopez and Lupe Zapata De Vega Valdez Charo also appeared as herself on The Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special along with Zsa Zsa, Frankie and Annette, and Cher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts