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Prefamous (pre-1960)

Cat People
In the 1942 horror film CAT PEOPLE, Alan Napier (2nd from left) is an uncredited Doc Carver. Napier is best known as Alfred the Butler in the BATMAN TV series in the mid 1960's. Though his film career had begun in England in the 1930s, he had very little success before the cameras until he arrived and joined the British community in Hollywood in 1941. Napier was a cousin of Neville Chamberlain, Britain's prime minister (1937-1940). Napier is also the step-grandfather of actor Brian Forster, best known as portraying (the second) Chris Partridge on the television series, THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY © RKO Radio Pictures Inc.

The Treasure of Sierra Madre
Years after his recurring role as "Mickey" in the LITTLE RASCALS, Robert Blake is the uncredited Mexican Boy Selling Lottery Tickets to Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) in THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948). In the 1970's, Blake would costar in the ABC-TV series BARETTA with Fred the white cockatoo. His career would take a major downfall when he began forgetting things, like guns in cars when women would mysteriously end up dead just a block away. © Warner Bros.

Winchester '73
In WINCHESTER 73 (1950), Indian trader Joe Lamont (John McIntire) takes his guns to meet his Indian buyers, but their leader Young Bull, played by a very non-indian, spray-on tan pioneer Rock Hudson, doesn't like the old, worn-out merchandise Lamont is offering; he wants the guns that Crazy Horse used at Little Big Horn. Lamont made the mistake of leaving the Winchester 73 everybody wants in the film very visible and Hudson's character wants it. When Lamont refuses to sell, he is robbed and scalped. © Universal Pictures

Winchester '73
In WINCHESTER 73 (1950), a blow-dried Tony Curtis is Doan (credited as "Anthony Curtis") and on the right, James Best as Crater.Twenty nine years later, Best would star in his most memorable role: Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on the CBS TV series THE DUKES OF HAZZARD © Universal Pictures

The Asphalt Jungle
If you can believe it, the slight fellow with the dreamy/creepy expression is an unbilled Strother Martin in the 1950 John Huston classic THE ASPHALT JUNGLE. Martin is probably best remembered as prison captain in the 1967 film COOL HAND LUKE, where he uttered the line, "What we've got here is...failure to communicate." © Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

From Here to Eternity
An uncredited Claude Akins is the third soldier from the left in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953). Aikens is best remembered as Sheriff Lobo in the 1970s TV series B. J. AND THE BEAR, and later its spinoff THE MISADVENTURES OF SHERIFF LOBO. The soldier on the far left is Jack Warden in only his third onscreen appearance. Warden was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for SHAMPOO and HEAVEN CAN WAIT. He also co-starred in ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, AND JUSTICE FOR ALL and THE VERDICT. The soldier at the end of the line is an uncredited George Reeves, best known as TV's SUPERMAN in the 1950's. An untrue but often-repeated story suggests that he was upset when his scenes as Sergeant Maylon Stark in this classic film were cut after a preview audience kept yelling "There's Superman!" whenever he appeared on screen. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY director Fred Zinnemann, the screenwriter Daniel Taradash and others have maintained that every scene written for Reeves' character was shot and included as part of the released film. © Columbia Pictures

House of Wax
Carolyn Jones was given a small but memorable part as the blonde golddigger Cathy Gray in HOUSE OF WAX (1953). Later that year, she'd marry Aaron Spelling (she was wife #1) and would eventually become famous as raven-haired Morticia Addams on TV's THE ADDAMS FAMILY. © Warner Bros. Pictures

House of Wax
In HOUSE OF WAX (1953), Charles Buchinski as mute assistant Igor. Buchinski was one of fourteen children borne of Lithuanian immigrants who had settled in Pennsylvania. Working briefly as a coal miner after High School, he served in WWII as a tail gunner on a B-29. After the war, he studied art and acting at the Pasadina Playhouse on the GI Bill. Shortly after gaining notice in HOUSE OF WAX, Buchinski, on a suggestion from his agent, changed his last name to Bronson. Charles Bronson became known for playing tough guys in classic ensemble films such as THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, THE GREAT ESCAPE, and THE DIRTY DOZEN. He had a breakthrough role in 1968 as the harmonica-playing man with no name in Sergio Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST and returned to the U.S. to star in a series of crime and western dramas. In 1974, he finally achieved true stardom as the architect-turned-vigilante in DEATH WISH and its ensuing sequels. © Warner Bros. Pictures

Kiss Me Deadly
Years before her many brilliant comedic appearances in Mel Brooks comedies, Cloris Leachman's first movie role was Christina Bailey in the 1955 film noir classic KISS ME DEADLY. © United Artists

The Revenge of the Creature
From the otherwise unmemorable THE REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955), Clint Eastwood turns up in his film debut as a scientist with a lab rat in his pocket. This film was the forgotten sequel to THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. © Universal Pictures

Paths of Glory
Here's a still from PATHS OF GLORY (1957). The soldier on the right side, Pvt. Pierre Arnaud, is played by Joseph Turkel, who later worked with director Stanley Kubrick when he played Lloyd the Bartender in THE SHINING. The Major Saint-Auban standing behind the private is played by Richard Anderson. He did further cross-examination as a regular on TV's courtroom drama PERRY MASON, and played Oscar Goldman, boss of Steve Austin (Lee Majors) on TV's THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN. © United Artists

Compulsion
Years before co-starring on such TV classics as THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW and THE LOVE BOAT, Gavin MacLeod played Padua, District Attorney Harold Horn (E.G. Marshall) assistant in COMPULSION (1959). © 20th Century Fox