Tonight I watched the movie "Shampoo" again for the umpteenth time. And I noticed for the first time Howard Hesseman's name in the opening credits. I don't know how I missed that before. If he had any major scenes or dialogue, they ended up on the cutting room floor. He was in one scene very briefly at a loud and crowded party sitting next to Julie Christie. With music blaring the whole time. It was literally only a few seconds long. I just find it odd that this quick non speaking cameo received a credit at the beginning of the film.

One that comes to mind is Keith David in "Roadhouse," who literally has a single line and ended up on the cutting room floor too.

https://seantcollins.com/2019/07/192...in-road-house/


Usually the reason people like this are still in the credits probably has something to do with their contracts - even if the material is cut, they're still entitled to a credit.

Brent Briscoe and Robert Forster in Mulholland Drive.

Kevin Costner, The Big Chill.



I heard around the time this was released Costner was pretty upset that all of his scenes had been cut. And Lawrence Kasdan specifically wrote his part in "Silverado" two years later to make up for it. Which made him a star. Leading to starring in "The Untouchables" as his next big film.

Speed-Glenn Plummer (I haven't watched this in a while, but I'm sure that any of the bus-passengers had WAY more screentime than he did)

The Lost Boys-Kelly Jo Minter. All her scenes were deleted, but you can spot her in the background in one sequence (She worked at the video store)

Batman Returns/Lord of Illusions-Vincent Schiavelli. Barely a full minute of screentime in BR & only 1 scene in Lord/Illusions...Yet got HIGH billing in both.

Adrian Brody in The Thin Red Line. He was the lead in the film, but was cut out almost completely by Terrence Malick.
He didn't even know until he saw the film at the premiere.

James Karen is listed during the title sequence of Superman Returns but his scenes were all deleted, save for one fleeting shot of him waving and saying "bye, Martha" as he drives away from the Kent farm. His character is Ben Hubbard and he was supposed to be Martha Kent's boyfriend.

​​​​​EDIT: I just recalled he is also seen in the background when Martha Kent with the crowd is in front of Metropolis General, after Superman crashes down after sending the kryptonite island into space.

Back when pre-credits scenes started to catch on with Hollywood (1960s), an actor who got killed in the pre-credits would sometimes get listed in the credits despite not being in a single frame in the rest of the movie.

Tsai Chin is the Chinese girl in bed with James Bond in the pre-credits sequence of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967). She has two lines before setting up Bond to be trapped and disappearing from the scene and the rest of the movie. But she's in the credits.

Ryan Reynolds in Life

I just watched the made-for-TV movie Sarah T: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic. Larry Hagman is second billed in the movie right after lead actress Linda Blair, yet he has just two scenes in the movie that add up to less than 10 minutes. Mark Hamill (can't think of any other movies he did) is buried in the credits yet he has the second most screen time after Blair. Old TV movies like that are fun; in one party scene Linda sings along with a guitarist, and anyone who ever saw Phantasm would immediately recognize him: It's Bill "Jody" Thornbury. Name doesn't appear in the credits, but IMDb verifies it was him. He does not perform "Sitting Here at Midnight" with Reggie Bannister as an encore though.

Not sure if I did this in a thread here before, but that's also a fun game: Actors who are listed in the opening credits even though their characters are already killed on-screen in a pre-credits sequence. Michael Parks in From Dusk Til Dawn immediately comes to mind.

Joan Allen in The Bourne Legacy. While she's billed fifth and name on the poster, she's briefly in one scene (this does not include archive footage from The Bourne Ultimatum, which Legacy takes place during that film). Same for Albert Finney who's name is fourth and also only had one scene. Both were more or less credited cameos.

Not sure if he was in the opening credits or even if there were opening credits but Bryan Cranston in Godzilla. He did have a good amount of screen time at first but disappeared rather early in the movie.