HOME WEB NEWS IMAGES CLASSIFIEDS YELLOW PAGESPOLLS - SURVEYS WIKI COUNTRIES PHOTOS US UK INDIA
Cities Stocks Weather Movies Coupons Travel Blogs Health Horoscope Maps ASIA EUROPE Classifieds Yellow Pages
 1
|
|
|
This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
A cameo role or cameo appearance (often shortened to just cameo) is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video gamesMichael Donahue, "Forced Guests: Cameos that make us sceam \'Yessss!\'" in Electronic Gaming Monthly 226 (March 2008): 34. and television. Such a role need not be filled by an actor: short appearances by film directors, politicians, athletes, musicians, and other celebrities are common. These roles are generally small, and most of them non-speaking. The director Alfred Hitchcock enjoyed inserting himself, often as a passive by-stander, in scenes of his films.
Originally, the phrase cameo role referred to a famous person who was playing no character but him or herself. Like a cameo brooch — a low-relief carving of a person\'s head or bust—the actor or celebrity is instantly recognizable. More recently, "cameo" has come to refer to any short appearances, whether as a character or as oneself.
Cameos are often noncredited due to their shortness or because of a perceived mismatch between the celebrity\'s stature and the film or TV show in which he or she is appearing. Many are publicity stunts. Others are acknowledgements of an actor\'s contribution to an earlier work, as in the case of many film adaptations of TV series, or of remakes of earlier films. Others honor artists or celebrities known for work in a particular field.
A cameo can establish a character as being important without having much screen time. Examples of such cameos are Sean Connery in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves or Ted Danson in Saving Private Ryan.
Cameos are also common in novels and other literary works. “Literary cameos” usually involve an established character from another work who makes a brief appearance in order to establish a shared universe setting, to make a point, or to offer homage. Balzac was an originator of this practice in his Comedie humaine. Sometimes a cameo features a historical person who "drops in" on fictional characters in a historical novel, as when Benjamin Franklin shares a brew with Phillipe Charboneau in The Bastard by John Jakes. A cameo appearance can also be made by the author of a work in order to put a sort of personal "signature" on a story. An example from the thriller genre includes Clive Cussler, who made appearances in his own novels as a "rough old man" who advised action hero Dirk Pitt. An example in the comic book genre is John Byrne\'s resplendent use of cameos in Marvel Comics’ Iron Fist #8, which features appearances by Byrne himself, Howard the Duck (on a poster), Peter Parker and MJ Watson, Sam McCloud, Fu Manchu, and Wolverine.
At the apex of the technique stands Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. This acclaimed novel is, among many other things, a tour de force of literary cameos.
Mike Todd\'s film Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) was studded with cameo roles: (John Gielgud as an English butler, Frank Sinatra playing piano in a saloon), and others: the stars in "cameo roles" were pictured in oval insets in posters for the film, and gave the term wide circulation outside the theatrical profession. Notably, the 2004 film version of the story directed by Frank Coraci also features a large number of cameos.
It\'s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, an "epic comedy", also features cameos from nearly every popular American comedian alive at the time, including the Three Stooges.
Directors often appear in cameo roles to add a personal "signature" on a film. The cameo appearances of Alfred Hitchcock in thirty-seven of his films helped popularize the term among general audiences. Often whimsical, the cameos became so well publicized that audiences began watching for them. Hitchcock began placing the cameos early in each film so audiences could then give their full attention to the story. Director Sam Raimi has followed Hitchcock\'s example in many of his films, as well as providing cameo roles for his brother Ted Raimi and friend Bruce Campbell.
Other directors are also known for casting themselves in cameo roles in their films. M. Night Shyamalan appears in some of his movies, such as The Village, in which he is shown in the glass reflection of the sheriff (who is only otherwise filmed from behind, hiding his face), and also as a shady fan Bruce Willis searches at a stadium in Unbreakable. In The Sixth Sense, he is shown to be the doctor at the hospital and has a brief appearance in a short scene with the child\'s mother.
Likewise, Peter Jackson appears in a brief cameo in all three of his The Lord of the Rings movies: as a peasant eating a carrot in The Fellowship of the Ring; as a Rohan warrior in The Two Towers and a pirate captain in The Return of the King. All three were non-speaking "blink and you miss him" appearances.
Actors Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider have appeared in cameo roles in most of each other\'s comedy movies (The Water Boy, Mr. Deeds, The Animal etc.). They usually contribute one line of dialogue or just a funny expression. Schneider\'s famous cameo line has been the poor man saying "You can do it!" in three of Sandler\'s films.
Remakes and sequels occasionally feature actors from the original films. The 1998 TV movie \'Moby-Dick\', which stars Patrick Stewart as Captain Ahab, features a cameo by Gregory Peck, who had memorably portrayed Ahab in John Huston\'s 1956 film version of the same story. The 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead features cameos by Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger and Tom Savini, stars of the original Dawn of the Dead. Vin Diesel made a short appearance at the end of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift where he challenges to race Shawn, Lucas Black, the then Drift king.
Films based on actual events occasionally include cameo roles of the people portrayed in them. In the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner makes a cameo in the end. 24 Hour Party People, a film about Tony Wilson has a cameo by the real Tony Wilson. In the film Apollo 13, James Lovell (the real commander of that flight) appeared at the end, shaking hands with Tom Hanks (the actor who was portraying Lovell). Domino Harvey makes a short appearance in the credits of Domino.
In a similar vein, cameos sometimes feature persons noted for accomplishments outside the film industry, usually in ways related to the subject or setting of the film. October Sky (1999), set in 1950s Appalachia, featured photographer O. Winston Link in a brief appearance portraying a steam locomotive engineer. Link became famous in the 1950s for chronicling the last days of regular steam locomotives service in the region. \'O Brother, Where Art Thou?\' (2000), set in Depression-era rural South, featured cameos by country "roots" music notables such as Alison Krauss, Robert Stanley, Gillian Welch, The Whites and the Fairfield Four. In the film The Last Mimzy, noted string theorist Brian Greene has a cameo as the Intel scientist. In Dr. Dolittle 2 a cameo appearance was made by Steve Irwin.
Other cameos simply
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
