Am I just a Cameo?

Am I just a Cameo?

Alfred Hitchcock in The Birds

Yeah, but what's exactly a Cameo?

Originally, a cameo-role was a famous person playing himself in a movie. It could be a very short appearance (few seconds), or a bit longer (few minutes). 

Cecil B. DeMille playing himself in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard

Sean Connery as King Richard in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”

Nowadays the Cameo is becoming more and more important, is like a signature, a kind of "hey I was there"!!! 

A cameo-role could be quickly recognizable to emphasize a particular moment in the movie, or hidden on purpose, so the funniest is for the director to try to hide important personalities with make up, wings or mustaches, the harder is to find it for the public.

One of the greatest examples of Cameos in a movie is Around the World in Eighty Days (1956). Director Mike Todd' vision was to introduce more than 40 famous performers in his movies, for which he won the Academy Award  in 1957. Some of the most remarkable cameos are those of Marlene Dietrich, Frank Sinatra, José Greco and Buster Keaton, and some of them are also presented at the end of the movie.

Frank Sinatra in Around the World in Eighty Days

For sure the most famous cameos in movie history are those of Alfred Hitchcock, but other Directors like Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg love to take part in their movies. 

Quentin Tarantino in Django Unchained

Others like John Landis in The Blues Brothers chooses personalities and friends as an enrichment. In Blues Brothers, Director Frank Oz is seen at the very beginning of the movie while he's checking out John Belushi from the Prison, and also Spielberg had a little part in the Movie.

 Frank Oz in Blues Brothers

There are also writers and singers who love cameos! An example could be Stan Lee, the father of many great Marvel characters. Stan Lee appeared in Captain America, Iron Man (2), Hulk, The Avengers, Thor, X-Men, Fantastic Four and Spider Man. 

Stan Lee in Iron Man 

And here come the Answer of yesterday's post...

Guess Who... 

That's Martin Scorsese in Taxi Driver... 



Stay Tuned 
Uncleoscar