Star Debuts

[Neutral Corner]

The first time I saw JLaw was "Winter's Bone", and she punched her ticket to better things with it. She was 19, and she flat carried that movie. Oscar and Golden Globe noms.

 

[MTM]

I wonder whatever happened to Jennifer Lawrence and Brie Larson from the "Bill Engvall Show" and "Raising Dad"? They had so much promise.

Kat Dennings is Saget's other daughter in "Raising Dad." Not a huge star, but she's done well for herself.

 

[nietsroob17]

The first time I saw JLaw was "Winter's Bone", and she punched her ticket to better things with it. She was 19, and she flat carried that movie. Oscar and Golden Globe noms.

From playing second fiddle to one of the Blue Collar rednecks to becoming one of the A-list of Hollywood actresses ... not a bad leap.

 

[micropolitan guy]

I remember seeing JL in a "Cold Case" episode. I really liked that show. And a very young Jena Malone in an episode of "Homicide" about bikers that concluded with closing music from the Pretenders.

 

[mpcincal]

The Garry Marshall special had a great bit on Mork. They hired another actor (John Byner) who just wasn't making the character work, Marshall said he only wrote the episode because his son was really in to Star Wars o he figured a space man would do the trick. He said Williams was spotted by an agent ON THE STREET in downtown LA busking/miming whatever -
"You want me to hire a guy who is passing a hat on the street?" Marshall said. The agent said "It was a very full hat."
Williams improvised 90 percent of his lines, the rest is history.

This man was the original Mork from Ork but walked away from the role

I never knew that Byner was the original choice for Mork on that "Happy Days" episode. I've been familiar with Byner's work for years and, if you take Williams out of the equation, he's one guy I think could have been good in that role. Of course, not nearly as good as Williams and it probably wouldn't have led to a spin-off, but Byner would have been OK.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Don't know what else to call it - but when you first see a performer on screen, or hear a song, or watch them play and KNOW you will be hearing about them for a while. A couple off the top of my head.



Ed Norton in Primal Fear

When I first saw Ed Norton in this movie I was stunned. To see him dominate Richard Gere was amazing.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Not even sure stand-ups are fair. Kinison on the Dangerfield special, Roseanne on Carson.
I remember seeing Seinfeld on Merv Griffin's show - one of his first national appearances.

Exclusive Clip: A Young Jerry Seinfeld's 1981 Stand-Up Appearance on 'The Merv Griffin Show'

Stephen Wright on Carson was very big for Boston comedians.

 

[User 150927]

Julia Roberts in Mystic Pizza.

 

[Scout]

I have said this before, but this scene was the moment that I realized that someone finally decided to do it right.

Watching super hero movies my entire life was like watching Robbie Benson play point guard or some other actor play an athlete in a movie - it just never looked right. It was always off.

Then there was this scene. I knew that someone finally decided to make a decent super hero movie.

 

[User 150927]

Robby Benson was EVERYTHING as a point guard!

 

[Starman]

He can play anywhere he wants. And about the scholarship ...

 

[User 150927]

With a red hot poker

 

[Michael_ Gee]

My wife surprised me by suggesting we see the first X-Men movie while we were on vacation. She really didn't like those movies, but she knew I wanted to see it. We got to the scene after Wolverine lets Rogue into his truck. She asked him if it hurt when he popped his claws and he responded, "Every time."

At this point, I heard a soft "awwwww" from my wife. For a moment, I thought she was actually into the movie! It wasn't until I heard her talking to her sister about it later that I realized that she had suddenly become interested in a comic book movie. It was all about Hugh Jackman.

Jackman's performance in that movie certainly fits the thread. Nobody had heard of him until he was cast in the role. All I knew was that he was too damn tall to be playing Wolverine, but he carried a very big part of that movie. He held his own with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan.

Two things. To this post: I may be DB'ing myself but one year in the early aughts I was at the Big East tourney and BC had an afternoon game (probably when they had Dudley). So I was walking back to the press hotel, the Hyatt, and stopped in a Broadwayish bar in the 40s and there were Jackman and McKellan, who were in separate plays, at the other end of the pretty empty bar discussing whether to take another couple of freight cars of money to do "X-Men Whichever." I didn't eavesdrop too hard, but history shows what they decided.
As to the topic of this thread, my dear wife Alice was at the concert at the old Harvard Square Theater where warmup act Bruce Springsteen performed and headliner Bonnie Raitt, no slouch, refused to go on and sent him out for more.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Two things. To this post: I may be DB'ing myself but one year in the early aughts I was at the Big East tourney and BC had an afternoon game (probably when they had Dudley). So I was walking back to the press hotel, the Hyatt, and stopped in a Broadwayish bar in the 40s and there were Jackman and McKellan, who were in separate plays, at the other end of the pretty empty bar discussing whether to take another couple of freight cars of money to do "X-Men Whichever." I didn't eavesdrop too hard, but history shows what they decided.
As to the topic of this thread, my dear wife Alice was at the concert at the old Harvard Square Theater where warmup act Bruce Springsteen performed and headliner Bonnie Raitt, no slouch, refused to go on and sent him out for more.

Springsteen was big on the Jersey shore, and in Richmond (and not much of anywhere else) when I first saw him in April, 1974. Good show, not great, nothing to think he'd get as big as he did.

I next saw him in Nov. 1974, at UVa., several months before BTR came out. After that show, I had no doubt he was going to be huge. Sometime between April and November the light came on for him. Maybe it was getting rid of Mad Dog Lopez.

 

[nietsroob17]

Springsteen was big on the Jersey shore, and in Richmond (and not much of anywhere else) when I first saw him in April, 1974. Good show, not great, nothing to think he'd get as big as he did.

I next saw him in Nov. 1974, at UVa., several months before BTR came out. After that show, I had no doubt he was going to be huge. Sometime between April and November the light came on for him. Maybe it was getting rid of Mad Dog Lopez.

But is he related to this Springstin guy?

 

[micropolitan guy]

Wow. My Pika chapter could barely fund a band party during rush, much less a Beach Boys concert! But we could spell.

 

[nietsroob17]

In the '60s, the Rolling Stones played their first U.S. college show in, of all places, Statesboro, Georgia, at what was then Georgia Southern College. The good ol' boys hated them so much, they booed them in favor of the opening act.

Don't think this is 100% true, but the fable is that the Stones wrote "Satisfaction" in response to it.

Here's a great recollection of the whole show:

Unabridged - The Rolling Stones, live at Georgia Southern--in 1965

 

[Splendid Splinter]

But is he related to this Springstin guy?

Anyone know what year this was?

 

[MTM]

In the '60s, the Rolling Stones played their first U.S. college show in, of all places, Statesboro, Georgia, at what was then Georgia Southern College. The good ol' boys hated them so much, they booed them in favor of the opening act.

Don't think this is 100% true, but the fable is that the Stones wrote "Satisfaction" in response to it.

Here's a great recollection of the whole show:

Unabridged - The Rolling Stones, live at Georgia Southern--in 1965

The Stones first U.S. show was at the San Bernardino Swing Auditorium in June 1964.

The story goes that “an English gal named Wendy” who hung around the local rock radio station kept in touch with her former boss at a record store in England who told her the Rolling Stones would be bigger than the Beatles. The Rolling Stones’ manager was called in London and told San Bernardino was a suburb of Hollywood.

‘A straight gas, man’: The Rolling Stones’ U.S. concert debut was in San Bernardino – Daily Bulletin

 

[Batman]

Seems like a good place to say, once again, that I love the fact this movie exists. And while I don't know that it was the moment that made McConaughey a star, he did do a lot to make fun what would have been an absolutely dreadful movie without him.