Playing Yourself in the movies
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- DirectorLawrence C. WindomStarsBabe RuthRuth TaylorWilliam SheerThe "true story" of baseball great Babe Ruth; Ruth plays himself.
- DirectorLeigh JasonStarsDouglas CorriganPaul KellyRobert ArmstrongThis is the story of the historic 1938 flight of Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan who starred as himself in this film, which chronicled his infamous flight. On July 17, 1938, he loaded 320 gallons of gasoline (40 hours' worth) into the tiny, single engine plane. While expressing his intent to fly west to Long Beach, CA, he flew out of Floyd Bennett Field heading east over the Atlantic. Instrumentation in the plane included two compasses (both malfunctioned) and a turn-and-bank indicator. The cabin door was held shut with baling wire. Nearly 29 hours later, he landed in Baldonnel near Dublin. He forever claimed to be surprised at arriving in Ireland rather than California. He returned to the US as a hero, with a ticker tape parade in New York and received numerous medals and awards.
- DirectorTed WildeStarsBabe RuthAnna Q. NilssonLouise FazendaBabe Dugan, star player of the Angels baseball team, chews tobacco and gets his uniform dirtier than any of his teammates. Vernie, the laundress who cleans his uniform every week, becomes concerned over his untidiness. Later, Babe accidentally strikes Vernie with a ball during a game and calls her to apologize. Meanwhile, his pal, Peewee, falls in love with Vernie's friend, Georgia. On an outing to an amusement park, a roller coaster throws Vernie into Babe's arms. Soon they are engaged and Vernie plans to reform him. Tensions rise when the team presents the couple with a set of hand-decorated spittoons, and a lovers' quarrel ensues. However, Babe takes the reform idea seriously, despite its negative effect on his game. At a crucial moment in the ninth inning, Vernie relents and throws him a plug of tobacco, prompting the revitalized Babe to hit a home run.
- DirectorTed WildeStarsHarold LloydAnn ChristyBert WoodruffHarold "Speedy" Swift, a fan of Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees, saves from extinction the city's last horse-drawn trolley, operated by his girlfriend's grandfather.
- DirectorBenjamin StoloffStarsBabe RuthBobby NewmanBabe Ruth plays ball with some kids.
- DirectorBenjamin StoloffStarsBabe RuthFranklin PangbornA boy in a small country school is bored with his prissy teacher's monotonous lessons, and dreams that his idol, Babe Ruth steps in to invite all the boys out to play a round of sandlot baseball. Even the teacher joins in, and Ruth shows them some of his big-league pitching techniques.
- DirectorLou BreslowStarsBabe Ruth
- DirectorBenjamin StoloffStarsBabe RuthBabe Ruth comes to visit a boys orphanage. The headmaster of the orphanage asks him to umpire a game the boys will play, which Babe consents to do. As Babe is umpiring behind the catcher, one of the players, Freddy, strikes out with the bases loaded, and his team loses the game. His teammates berate Freddy for striking out. Freddy leaves the field and starts crying. Babe encourages Freddy and offers to take Freddy to the ball park and teach him how to hit a baseball. At the park, Babe shows Freddy how to bunt. Then he shows Freddy about choke hitters and swing hitters. Then Freddy hits the balls pretty well. The next day, Babe is back watching another game with the same boys playing and someone else is umpiring. It comes to Freddy's turn at bat and the kid who is managing the team doesn't want Freddy to bat because he doesn't think Freddy can hit the ball. Freddy insists that he take his turn at bat. Freddy comes up to the plate and hits a home-run. His teammates, including the kid managing the team, cheer Freddy for hitting a home-run. Babe walks back to his car and finds that it's full of kids. He gets the kids out of his car and tells them he'll be back for another game.
- DirectorLou BreslowStarsBabe RuthClaire Merritt HodgsonMadalynne FieldAfter talking to a young coed in the stands at a game, Ruth agrees to go out to her girls college to give some instruction to their ball team. He does so and when their big game takes place, he's there to coach. When Madelynne comes to bat, Ruth trades places with her to make the winning hit, but the subterfuge is exposed, and he's chased off the pitch, escaping on the back of a car.
- DirectorRoy MackStarsBabe RuthZez ConfreyByron GayBabe Ruth returns from hunting to a cabin shared with musicians Zez Confrey and Byron Gay where he regales them with stories. With Babe's help, they write a song about baseball which then debuts on a radio show.
- DirectorSam WoodStarsGary CooperTeresa WrightBabe RuthThe story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig.
- DirectorCharles BartonStarsTom HarmonAnita LouiseForest EvashevskiTom Harmon (ol' # 98 for the Michigan Wolverines, husband of actress Elyse Knox and father of Mark Harmon and Kelly Harmon) took a back seat to no one on the football field (except the Minnesota Gophers) or, later, in the broadcast booth, but, on film, he managed to find himself in two of the all-time bad sports movies..."The Spirit of West Point" and "Harmon of Michigan." The latter, if it had been a true-life biography of Tom Harmon, might have made a passable film but after a short prologue, narrated by sports writer Bill Henry who is not the same as actor William Henry, that semi-recaps Harmon's football-playing days at the University of Michigan, it quickly develops into a mess that indicates the director and writers used the technical adviser, Coach Jeff Cravath, only to put plays on the blackboard. Once Harmon,(supposedly playing himself but the character he plays here has more character flaws than the law allows), graduates from Michigan, he marries his college sweetheart Peggy Adams (Anita Louise), turns up his nose at the prospect of playing professional football---a poor-paying and not-that-well respected job in 1941---and starts a vagabond tour of coaching tank-water colleges. Authenicity went out the window when the narration ended, as did any kind of time tracking, as everything that follows seems to happen in a single football season. Tom takes an assistant coach job at a cow-pasture college under Jimmy Wayburn (William Hall) and lasts one day before Wayburn fires him. Then he signs to play for a College All-Star team doing exhibition games against pro teams, but his team-mates, hacked because Tom gets star billing, lay down on him and he gets smacked down hard on every play. One of the leaders willing to let Harmon get slaughtered is old Michigan teammate Forrest Evashevski (playing himself), a life-long friend in real life and Godfather to Mark Harmon and a long-time respected coach at the University of Iowa. Harmon wins the game by himself, but decides this isn't his cup of tea. He hangs around the house a few weeks, then gets a job as an assistant under old-time coach Pop Branch at a college that has three buildings on campus and a football stadium seating 100,000 fans. He helps Pop win a few games (still ticking along in what appears to be the same fall football season), but the alumni at Webster College are tired of losing, fire their coach and hire Harmon away from Pop. Harmon takes over the Webster team in mid-season and becomes the all-time example of a hard-ass coach willing to win at any cost, including installing a screen-pass play that depends on an illegal blocking scheme---the Flying Wedge---to make it work. His Webster team begins to thump their opponents by large scores, usually leaving the other team battered and bloodied by the use of the illegal blocking scheme. They win four or five games which, based on the writers time scheme, would have them playing 20 games a season in what was then a nine-and-ten game season. Plus, the press and other coaches around and about, are up in arms about Harmon's tactics, but the jerks refereeing the games evidently haven't read the rule book nor the newspapers and throw no penalty flags against his team. Well, one referee does once, but he never officiated nor had lunch in that town again. It, by any reasonable calendar must now be July of the next year in a season that should have ended in December, and hard-case Harmon's team is going up against Pop's team (where Harmon coached earlier in this never-ending season) and Pop drops by and tells Tom he ain't all that fond of Tom's coaching methods, but Tom poo-pahs him off, and then sends his team out and they gleefully dismantle Pop's fair-playing team by 109-0. But Webster's quarterback Freddie Davis (Stanley Brown) suffers a concussion running a play Harmon calls just to run up the score even higher---Harmon evidently didn't read the script because nobody using their own name would want this character perceived as Himself---and it's nip-and-tuck whether Freddie will get out of the hospital alive. It gets even stickier when Freddie parents drop their hospital vigil long enough to tell Tom they are right proud that he is Freddie's coach. Say what? Tom sees the light and reverts back to the good old boy he started out as.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsJackie RobinsonRuby DeeMinor WatsonBiography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century. Traces his career in the negro leagues and the major leagues. Restored in original Black and White.
- DirectorFrancis D. LyonStarsElroy 'Crazylegs' HirschLloyd NolanJoan VohsThe story of the life and career of football star Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch (who plays himself).
- DirectorFrancis D. LyonStarsBob MathiasWard BondMelba MathiasCalifornia school boy and Stanford University student Bob Mathias was the first man to win two Olympic Gold Medals in the Decathlon in the 1948 and 1952 Olympics. The film begins with him as a 17-year-old schoolboy in Tulare, California where his high school track coach, played by Ward Bond, encourages him to train for the Olympics, with the Dacathlon in mind. His story, far from over, ends here with his victory in the 1952 Olympics and with Mathias in the U.S. Marine Corps. He and his wife, Melba, play themselves in one of the few movie bios that doesn't play fast and loose with the facts, especially in a bio with the subject playing himself.
- DirectorEdward J. LaksoStarsDarren McGavinKathie BrowneNoah Beery Jr.Race car driver Richard Petty stars in his own b-movie bio.
- DirectorTom GriesMonte HellmanStarsMuhammad AliErnest BorgnineJohn MarleyMuhammad Ali plays himself in a reconstruction of the events that brought him to fame.
- DirectorCorey AllenStarsAnn JillianTony Lo BiancoViveca LindforsAnn Jillian finds out she has cancer and the movie shows how she deals with that (the hospital treatments and impact on her life).
- DirectorArthur PennStarsArlo GuthriePatricia QuinnJames BroderickA cinematic adaption of Arlo Guthrie's classic story-song.
- DirectorJesse HibbsStarsAudie MurphyMarshall ThompsonCharles DrakeThe true WWII story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in U.S. history. Based on the autobiography of Audie Murphy who stars as himself in the film.
- DirectorAlfred E. GreenStarsTommy DorseyJimmy DorseyJanet BlairThe Dorsey Brothers bandleaders' lives traced from childhood music insisting father to fame rise eventual split furthering careers propelling with their music.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsDean MartinKim NovakRay WalstonJealous piano teacher Orville Spooner sends his beautiful wife, Zelda, away for the night while he tries to sell a song to famous nightclub singer Dino, who is stranded in town.
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsJohn LennonPaul McCartneyGeorge HarrisonOver two "typical" days in the life of The Beatles, the boys struggle to keep themselves and Sir Paul McCartney's mischievous grandfather in check while preparing for a live TV performance.
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsJohn LennonPaul McCartneyGeorge HarrisonSir Ringo Starr finds himself the human sacrifice target of a cult, and his fellow members of The Beatles must try to protect him from it.
- DirectorChuck BarrisStarsChuck BarrisRobin AltmanBrian O'MullinA week in the life of "The Gong Show" host and creator Chuck Barris who lives through a series of outrageous competitors, stressful situations, a nervous breakdown and other comical characters involved in his life and work on the TV show.
- DirectorPeter WebbStarsPaul McCartneyJohn BurgessBryan BrownPaul McCartney's recording of his new album is complicated by the fact that the master tapes of his recordings are missing.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsBruno GanzSolveig DommartinOtto SanderAn angel tires of his purely ethereal life of merely overseeing the human activity of Berlin's residents, and longs for the tangible joys of physical existence when he falls in love with a mortal.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsSergio RubiniAntonella PonzianiMaurizio MeinFederico Fellini accepts the request of a television crew to be interviewed about his career, narrating memories, dreams, realities and fantasies.
- DirectorJohn SguegliaStarsRodney DangerfieldJared RushtonJane DalyA 12-year-old boy named Rodney Barnes looks for advice and inspiration from his idol, stand-up comic Rodney Dangerfield.
- DirectorBetty ThomasStarsHoward SternMary McCormackRobin QuiversThe autobiographical story of Howard Stern, the radio rebel who is now also a TV personality, an author and a movie star.
- DirectorArthur BertheletStarsMary MacLaneRalph GravesPaul HarveyThe story of six affairs of the heart, drawn from controversial feminist author Mary MacLane's. None of MacLane's affairs - with "the bank clerk," "the prize-fighter," "the husband of another," and so on - last, and in each of them MacLane emerges dominant. Re-enactments of the love affairs are interspersed with MacLane addressing the camera (while smoking), and talking contemplatively with her maid on the meaning and prospects of love.
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsLucio FulciBrett HalseyRia De SimoneA horror film director is stalked by a mad psychiatrist/serial killer bent on killing people to model the killings after the director's gory death scenes from his movies.
- DirectorCaryl S. FlemingStarsAl J. JenningsJ. Morris FosterFrank FarringtonOklahoma lawyer Al Jennings, whose father was a famous and respected judge, is enraged at the murder of his brother Ed, shot in the back by two killers. As if that wasn't enough, he finds himself falsely accused of robbery, and while escaping those phony charges he is chased and shot by a posse. Although wounded, he manages to elude the posse but takes his revenge by robbing a country store. It's not long before he has his own outlaw gang, with headquarters at the Spike S Ranch. A local sheriff is determined to capture him, so Al and his brother Frank make plans for one last, big robbery before leaving Oklahoma forever.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsAlek SkarlatosAnthony SadlerSpencer StoneThree courageous young Americans prevent a terrorist attack on a train bound for Paris.
- DirectorMichael ShowalterStarsKumail NanjianiZoe KazanHolly HunterPakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family's expectations, and his true feelings.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsJames StewartFabianGlynis JohnsProfessor Leaf, an absent-minded poet, is forced to face the fact that his son is a math prodigy who is as colorblind as he's in love with Brigitte Bardot, the French bombshell.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsJean-Pierre LéaudChantal GoyaMarlène JobertA romance between young Parisians, shown through a series of vignettes.
- DirectorAaron NorrisStarsChuck NorrisBeau BridgesJonathan BrandisA bullied teen who fantasizes about being Chuck Norris' sidekick trains in martial arts to fulfill his dreams.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsOtto SanderBruno GanzPeter FalkA group of angels in the German capital look longingly upon the life of humans.
- DirectorPaul LandresStarsAlan FreedJimmy ClantonSandy StewartRock-n-roll promoter Alan Freed holds a talent search to develop a new rock star, then must find the elusive, mystery contestant (Jimmy Clanton) who doesn't know he has won.
- DirectorGreg GarrisonStarsJoey DeeThe StarlitersJo Ann CampbellThe rise, fall, and resurgence of the Peppermint Lounge nightclub is chronicled. The sons of the Peppermint Lounge nightclub owner nearly topple the club's initial success by redesigning the place, then realize their mistake.
- DirectorOscar RudolphStarsChubby CheckerGene ChandlerVic DanaMany twist-dancers meet to prepare for the TV variety show "The Twist." While the special is still in the production stages, jealousies lead to problems--and a whole lot of dancing.
- DirectorJeremy SummersStarsGerry and the PacemakersMona WashbourneGeorge A. CooperGerry and Fred Marsden, Les McGuire, and Les "Chad" Chadwick portray themselves in a romp through the early-1960s Liverpool Beat Scene. Art students by day and musicians by night, the boys' big break comes by winning a local talent contest. But first, they must retrieve their instruments, which have been mistakenly carried to the airport.
- DirectorJoe PytkaStarsMichael JordanWayne KnightTheresa RandleIn a desperate attempt to win a basketball match and earn their freedom, the Looney Tunes seek the aid of retired basketball champion, Michael Jordan.
- DirectorArthur LubinStarsPeter NooneKarl GreenKeith HopwoodBritish beat group Herman's Hermits, on tour in the USA, is offered an opportunity to have a spaceship named after the group. Several people seem to care whether it happens or not.
- DirectorSaul SwimmerStarsPeter NooneKarl GreenKeith HopwoodFriends Herman, Karl, Keith, Derek, and Barry are working-class Manchester lads who aren't getting far in their working lives. That fact is epitomized by Herman's failure to get the promotion to junior account executive at the advertising company at which he works. Regardless, his Grandmother Gloria, with whom he lives, has faith in him. What Herman really wants to do is race Mrs. Brown, a greyhound inherited from his now-deceased grandfather. Mrs. Brown is a natural racer and has the potential to win. His four mates have bought equal ownership of Mrs. Brown. Their problem is that what little money they collectively have goes into the care and feeding of Mrs. Brown, which doesn't leave them enough money for race entry fees, and the ultimate race takes place in London. So they try to raise money by their band Herman's Hermits playing at any and every gig they can get. In their quest to get themselves to London and Mrs. Brown into the race, they get into one misadventure after another. Along the way Herman, whose neighborhood friend Tulip is in love with him, falls in love with model Judy Brown, the daughter of wealthy greengrocers and greyhound-race aficionados Mr. and Mrs. G.G. Brown (short for George George). Judy's mother ends up being not the only Mrs. Brown whom Herman believes has a lovely daughter.
- DirectorHarry L. FraserStarsJoe LouisClarence MuseEdna Mae HarrisThe story of the rise of boxer Joe Thomas, which paralleled the life of Joe Louis.
- DirectorReginald Le BorgStarsLeon ErrolJoe Kirkwood Jr.Elyse KnoxManager Knobby Walsh discovers young hunk Joe Palooka and trains him to fight the champ. Mobsters try to make life tough for Joe and his socialite girlfriend Anne. Cameos by several boxing stars.
- DirectorJoseph LernerStarsJoe LouisRuby DeeKatherine ByarsJoe Louis, portraying himself, is a good influence on a group of Harlem youths who are tempted to "go bad" by a gangster known as Caper, an older brother of one of the youths.
- DirectorJerry HopperStarsTony CurtisPat CrowleyErnest BorgnineA grocery store clerk turns prizefighter to win prize money to bail his drunken father out of jail.
- DirectorRobert SpaffordStarsYvonne BuckinghamJohn Drew BarrymoreAlicia BrandetA teenage prostitute in England gets involved with high-level politicians and becomes enmeshed in a sex-and-spy scandal.
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsDan DuryeaJayne MansfieldMartha VickersDan Duryea and his cronies rob a fake spiritualist and then take it on the lam to Atlantic City.
- DirectorNancy HamiltonStarsKatharine CornellHelen KellerPolly ThompsonThis documentary chronicles the life of Helen Keller, who was struck by an illness as a young child that left her both blind and deaf. Aided by her devoted teacher, Anne Sullivan, Keller is able to develop ways to communicate and becomes an author and advocate. Made when Keller was 72 years old, this film, directed by Nancy Hamilton and narrated by actress Katharine Cornell, features old and recent footage of Keller as her remarkable journey leads her to meet President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
- DirectorOscar ApfelStarsAurora MardiganianIrving CummingsAnna Q. NilssonThe story about the Armenian Genocide based on the account of survivor Aurora Mardiganian.
- DirectorDoris WishmanStarsBlaze StarrRalph YoungGene BerkStripper Blaze Starr, playing herself, drives her agent--who is also her fiancé--to distraction by ignoring scheduled "press functions" and spending her weekends at a nudist camp.
- DirectorStenoStarsSylva KoscinaWalter ChiariMylène DemongeotLuiz Bonfá, João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim appear as themselves in this Italian light comedy set in Brasil.
- DirectorPaul HenreidStarsRay CharlesTom BellMary PeachRay Charles attempts to help a down-on-their-luck boozing family whose son is blind. He wants to finance the recovery of his eyesight, but the family is afraid of what might happen if something goes wrong.
- DirectorRalph NelsonStarsAnthony QuinnJackie GleasonMickey RooneyKnockout performances by Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney and Julie Harris highlight this hard-hitting drama of corruption in the ring. Featuring Muhammad Ali.
- StarsMoe HowardShemp HowardHonus WagnerBaseball legend Honus Wagner teaches future Three Stooges leader Moe Howard how to hit a baseball.