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(in films of others) Part 1 |
(alphabetical, by film title) Part 1 | Part 2 Greatest Film Director Cameos (in films of others) (chronological, by film title) Part 1 | Part 2 |
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are thefilms that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films. |
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| (chronological - Part 1) Part 1 | Part 2 |
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| D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915) | BIT PART: John Ford as a Klansman | |
| Kenneth Hawks' Big Time (1929) | CAMEO: John Ford as Himself, a film director | |
| W.S. Van Dyke's San Francisco (1936) | BIT PART: D.W. Griffith as an orchestra conductor | 
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| Anatole Litvak's City For Conquest (1940) | CAMEO: Elia Kazan as "Googi" Zucco | |
| Carol Reed's
The Third Man (1949) |
SUPPORTING: Orson Welles and his iconic role as Harry Lime |  |
| Joseph L. Mankiewicz'
All About Eve (1950) |
SUPPORTING: Gregory Ratoff as producer Max Fabian | 
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| Billy Wilder's
Sunset Boulevard (1950) |
SUPPORTING: Erich von Stroheim as butler/valet Max Von Mayerling CAMEO: Cecil B. DeMille as Himself |
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| Luigi Comencini's Bread, Love and Dreams (1953) (aka Pane, Amore e Fantasia) | LEAD: Vittorio De Sica as The Marshal | |
| Max Ophuls' The Earrings of Madame De... (1953, Fr.) | LEAD: Vittorio De Sica as diplomat Baron Fabrizio Donati | |
| Billy Wilder's Stalag 17 (1953) | SUPPORTING: Otto Preminger as sadistic POW camp commandant Oberst Von Scherbach |  |
| Roy Ward Baker's Passage Home (1955) | BIT PART: Bryan Forbes as Shorty | |
| Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries (1957, Sw.) | LEAD: Swedish director Victor Sjostrom as Prof. Borg | 
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| George Abbott's and Stanley Donen's Damn Yankees (1958) | CAMEO: Bob Fosse as Mambo Dancer | |
| Otto Preminger's The Cardinal (1963) | SUPPORTING: John Huston as Cardinal Glennon | |
| Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt (1963, Fr.) | SUPPORTING: Fritz Lang as Himself, a film director | |
| Jean-Luc Godard's Pierrot le Fou (1965, Fr.) | CAMEO: Samuel Fuller as Himself, a film director | |
| Clint Eastwood's Play Misty for Me (1971) | CAMEO: Don Siegel as Murphy (as Donald
Siegel), the bartender friend of Dave Garver (Clint Eastwood) who was
always up for a round of an absurd game called Cry Bastion |
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| Herbert Ross' Play It Again, Sam (1972) | LEAD: Woody Allen as Humphrey Bogart-obsessed Allan Felix | 
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| J. Lee Thompson's Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) | CAMEO: John Huston in the pivotal role as The Lawgiver | 
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| Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973) | CAMEO: Mark Rydell as bottle-wielding gangster Marty Augustine | |
| Roman Polanski's
Chinatown (1974) |
SUPPORTING: John Huston as villainous water magnate Noah Cross | 
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| John Schlesinger's The Day of the Locust (1975) | CAMEO: William Castle as Director (as William C. Castle) | |
| Martin Ritt's The Front (1976) | LEAD: Woody Allen as Howard Prince |  |
| Martin Scorsese's
Taxi Driver (1976) |
BIT PART: Albert Brooks, in his feature film debut, appeared as campaign worker Tom - Betsy's (Cybill Shepherd) concerned co-worker |  |
| Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) | SUPPORTING: Francois Truffaut as French UFO researcher Claude Lacombe | 
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| William Sach's The Incredible Melting Man (1977) | CAMEO: Jonathan Demme as Matt, a mustached white-trash husband killed by the film's creature in this Z-grade horror/sci-fi film | |
| Roger Corman has often had CAMEOS
in many of his protégés' films, such as Joe Dante's The
Howling (1981) as a Man in a Phone Booth, Francis Ford Coppola's
The Godfather, Part II (1974) as a Senator, Paul Bartel's Cannonball
(1976) as a DA, Wim Wender's The State of Things (1982, Sw.) as
a Lawyer, in four Jonathan Demme films (including The
Silence of the Lambs (1991) as the FBI director), Ron Howard's
Apollo 13 (1995) as a Congressman, and Wes Craven's Scream 3
(2000) as a Studio Executive |
 Corman in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) |
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| John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) | LEAD: Nick Castle as "The Shape", the unstoppable mask-wearing killer Michael Myers |  |
| Philip Kaufman's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) | CAMEO: Don Siegel as a cab driver in the remake of the classic film that he directed | |
| Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978) | CAMEO: John Cromwell as Bishop Martin | |
| James Frawley's The Muppet Movie (1979) | CAMEO: Orson Welles as film producer Lew Lord who gave Kermit the Frog "the standard rich and famous contract" CAMEO: Mel Brooks as insane German scientist Prof. Max Krassman |
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| Allan Arkush's Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979) | BIT PART: Paul Bartel as music teacher Mr. McGree | |
| Albert Brooks' Real Life (1979) and Modern Romance (1981) |
CAMEO: James L. Brooks as an Evaluator CAMEO: James L. Brooks as David - a details-obsessed director of a space adventure film |
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| As with other actors who turned directors, Rob Reiner was first known for his long, accomplished acting career - his most famous CAMEOS included the following: in father Carl Reiner's The Jerk (1979) as a truck driver who picked up Navin (Steve Martin), in son Lucas Reiner's The Spirit of '76 (1990) as Dr. Cash, in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway (1994) as obnoxious artist Flender, and in Danny De Vito's Throw Momma From the Train (1987) as Billy Crystal's agent | ||
| Star Wars films (5) 1980-2005 |
Frank Oz, known for his masterly portrayal and voice of the Jedi Master Yoda (puppet, then CGI) in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983), and then in the three prequels: Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). | 
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| John Landis' The Blues Brothers (1980) | CAMEO: Steven Spielberg as the clerk in the Cook County Assessor's office |
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Greatest Film Director Cameos: Many established directors have made memorable appearances
(cameos or bit parts and sometimes more extensive supporting or lead
appearances) as actors in films not directed by themselves. Herein
are a few examples (in chronological order).