By insistent demand from lovers (including Ed Sicam) of Hollywood trivia, Funfare is putting out Part 3 of the broken “Are you showbiz na showbiz” series which chronicles interesting items from the book Hollywood Trivia (Over 300 Curious Lists from Tinseltown) by Aubrey Malone, which was given to me as a “no-occasion” gift by my doctor-friends Willie Ong and his wife Liza (Willie’s health column comes out every Tuesday in STAR).
• From Blink and You Miss ‘Em (10 early cameo performances):
• James Woods in The Way We Were (1973) — Barbra Streisand’s political activist university boyfriend.
• Richard Dreyfus in The Graduate (1967) — He only got one line: “Shall I get the cops? I’ll get the cops.” Say no more.
• Johnny Depp (photo) in Nightmare in Elm Street (1984) — Thankless role as a teenager who doesn’t want to fall asleep for fear of what Freddy Krueger might do. Can you blame him?
• Geena Davis in Tootsie (1982) — Briefly shares a dressing room with cross-dressing Dustin “Dorothy” Hoffman.
• Jeff Goldblum in Death Wish (1974) — A forgettable mugger who falls prey to vigilante Charles Bronson.
• Mickey Rourke in Body Heat (1981) — The unscrupulous arsonist who gives William Hurt some advice.
• Harrison Ford in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966) — A bellboy with just one line of dialogue.
• Brad Pitt in Thelma and Louise (1991) — The opportunistic hunk who makes out with Geena Davis and then does a runner with her stash of cash.
• Sharon Stone (photo) in Stardust Memories (1980) — Woody Allen’s fantasy girl. She gives him an open-mouthed kiss through the windows of a train carriage and then she’s gone.
• Sigourney Weaver in Annie Hall (1977) — “Unless you know my raincoat,” Sigourney says, “you’ll miss me.”
• From The Way They Were (30 former occupations of actors):
• Jack Lemmon — beer-hall pianist.
• Charlton Heston — nude model for an Art Student League in New York, at a rate of $1.25 an hour.
• David Lynch — garbage collector, animal dissector and deliverer of the Wall Street Journal.
• Robert Mitchum — circus horseback rider, heavyweight boxer and a spy behind the German lines during World War II.
• Anthony Quinn — shoemaker
• Gabriel Byrne — spent four years studying to be a priest, becoming addicted to drinking altar wine and eating congealed grease in the process.
• Paul Newman (photo) — picked up golf balls and cleaned them for reuse.
• Robert Redford — Parisian sidewalk artist
• Errol Flynn — was once a slave trader in New Guinea where he rounded up natives to be sold into bondage as plantation workers. He also worked on a sheep farm in Queensland, castrating lambs by biting off their testicles.
• Jack Nicholson — sorted out fan mail for Tom and Jerry
• Alan Alda — clown, taxicab driver and doorman
• Ben Kingsley — Penicillin tester
• Stan Laurel — Charlie Chaplin’s understudy
• Burt Lancaster — acrobat and lingerie salesman
• Sylvester Stallone — trainee beautician
• Warren Beatty (photo) — rat-catcher
• Michael Caine — meat porter
• Elvis Presley — Truck driver and movie theater usher
• Alec Guinness — advertising copywriter
• Alan Ladd — hotdog-stand proprietor
• Sean Connery — French polisher for coffin maker
• Cary Grant — sandwich man on stilts
• Burt Reynolds — ballroom bouncer
• Roger Moore — model for knitting patterns
• Lee Marvin — septic tank cleaner
• Harrison Ford — carpenter
• Rock Hudson — vacuum cleaner salesman
• Raymond Burr — shepherd
• Walter Matthau — filing clerk
= From School’s Out (five high-school experiences):
• Elvis Presley — When he was in the eighth grade, his music teacher said that he showed no promise as a singer.
• Marlon Brando — used to wander so much on his way to kindergarten that his sister Jocelyn eventually had to bring him on a leash.
• Jack Nicholson (photo) — was once kept in detention every day for a whole school year.
• Errol Flynn — Expelled from three schools for stealing; and a fourth, for making love to a girl in a coal heap.
• Tom Cruise — voted “Least Likely to Succeed” in high school.
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)