<p>Garry Marshall is primarily a writer/producer/director, but he’s very funny onscreen.</p>
<p>so is Carl Reiner. ( his late wife recited the memorable line in When Harry Met Sally " I’ll have what she’s having")
;)</p>
<p>Strangely enough, Carl Reiner(as well) was an actor BEFORE he was a writer/producer. (in the late '40s)
You will have to excuse me, I have more film trivia rattling around my head than I should. It’s not a healthy thing.</p>
<p>I like Jon Bon Jovi and Tim McGraw did a great job in Friday Night Lights (the movie).</p>
<p>Dwight Yoakim- Slingblade and 3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada, among others.</p>
<p>
She was terrific in another thriller, not as well known: * Midnight Lace * with Rex Harrison. Some very creepy scenes in that one.</p>
<p>She gave a great dramatic performance as 20s/30s nightclub singer Ruth Etting in *Love Me or Leave Me * with James Cagney. And received an Oscar nomination for Pillow Talk. I remember seeing her costar in that film and several others, Tony Randall, on a talk show when he made an excellent case for her being one of the best screen actresses of her time.</p>
<p>Yes, Sydney Pollack was an actor first - probably why he was so very good in all his on-screen appearances (I love him as the agent in Tootsie). A very accomplished director, too. I was so sorry when he passed away last year.</p>
<p>Roman Polanski was unforgettable in a brief scene in Chinatown.</p>
<p>Good singers usually make good actors. My D is a vocalist and spends lots of time on character development for everything she sings, whether in a concert or staged setting. Lots of singers work this way.</p>
<p>Many of those mentioned here did not suddenly become actors after finding fame in another medium.</p>
<p>Sam Shepard was an actor in NYC and very involved in the theatre community long before he found fame as a playwright. Many actors are also playwrights, and the reverse is also true.</p>
<p>Whoopi Goldberg is another one who was involved in theatre in NYC prior to moving to L.A. and getting into comedy.</p>
<p>Jennifer Hudson did community theatre all through high school in Chicago. She’s an excellent actor, and, in my opinion, was even better in The Secret Life of Bees than she was in DreamGirls.</p>
<p>Mark Wahlberg is a good actor but Donnie is the real actor in that family. No comparison, in my opinion.</p>
<p>DOH! Sam Shepard was in theatre?! I knew he has a rock band way back when, but didnt realize he was acting before he was in Bob Dylans movie. One more piece to the puzzle.</p>
<p>[Fred</a> Thompson](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Thompson]Fred”>Fred Thompson - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>U.S. Senator
Movie: Hunt For Red October
TV: Law & Order</p>
<p>Maybe he’s an actor non-actor. (It gets confusing)</p>
<p>I also liked Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan!</p>
<p>Sam Shepard was involved in a number of theater companies, but primarily as a playwright, not as a lead actor. Or at least that’s what I thought.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention another personal non-favorite (but lots of people disagree): Theater director and producer Andre Gregory in My Dinner With Andre.</p>
<p>And count me as another vote for Madonna-as-Susan (but no other role).</p>
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<p>Same is true of Barbra Streisand. She has spent her entire very successful film career playing herself over and over again.</p>
<p>Bobby Darin - even had an Academy Award nomination, I think. Jackie Gleason?</p>
<p>Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus. We just watched part of that last night, and I was just amazed again at her acting talent in her role as a witch. </p>
<p>I also loved Dolly Parton in Steel Magnolias.</p>
<p>I liked Whoopie Goldberg’s role on Star Trek. I thought Madonna was terrific in Desperately Seeking Susan, never liked her music much… I’ve liked Dolly Parton in everything I’ve seen her in.</p>
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<p>I had to laugh when I read this; I have a friend (her H and mine were colleagues) who still mentions the fact that H persuaded her and her spouse to go see this film with us (it was over 25 years ago). My friend hated it. She walked out of the theater about 15 minutes into the movie and waited for us in the lobby.</p>
<p>I have never actually seen My Dinner With Andre. I have sat through the movie three times, but I have never made it to the halfway point awake.</p>
<p>How about Sydney Pollack as Michael Dorsey’s (Dustin Hoffman) agent in Tootsie?</p>
<p>I liked that movie- <B Wally Shawn
</p>
<p>Lots of people like that movie, emerald. One of my best friends says it’s his favorite movie ever. And I like Wallace Shawn, too. And I don’t mind “talky” movies at all. I love films by Whit Stillman and Kevin Smith and Richard Linklater. </p>
<p>Nevertheless.</p>
<p>I fell asleep during Vanya On 42nd Street, too.</p>