A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (/ˈkæmioʊ/), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly either appearances in a work in which they hold some special significance (such as actors from an original movie appearing in its remake) or renowned people making uncredited appearances. Short appearances by celebrities, film directors, politicians, athletes or musicians are common. A crew member of the movie or show playing a minor role can be referred to as a cameo role as well, such as director Alfred Hitchcock who made frequent cameo appearances in his films.
Concept
Originally, in the 1920s, a "cameo role" meant "a small character part that stands out from the other minor parts". The Oxford English Dictionary connects this with the meaning "a short literary sketch or portrait", which is based on the literal meaning of "cameo", a miniature carving on a gemstone.[1] More recently, in the late 20th century, a "cameo" has come to refer to any short appearance as a character.[2]
Cameos are generally not credited because of their brevity, or a perceived mismatch between the celebrity's stature and the film or television series in which they are 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 television series, or of remakes of earlier films. Others honour artists or celebrities known for work in a particular field, such as comic book writer Stan Lee, who made appearances in every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie up to Avengers: Endgame.[4][3]
Cameos also occur in novels and other literary works. "Literary cameos" usually involve an established character from another work who makes a brief appearance to establish a shared universe setting, to make a point, or to offer homage. Balzac often employed this practice, as in his Comédie humaine. Sometimes a cameo features a historical person who "drops in" on fictional characters in a historical novel, as when Benjamin Franklin shares a beer with Phillipe Charboneau in The Bastard by John Jakes.[citation needed]
A cameo appearance can be made by the author of a work to put a sort of personal "signature" on a story. Vladimir Nabokov often put himself in his novels, for instance as the very minor character Vivian Darkbloom (an anagram of his name) in Lolita.[5]
Cameos are also a tradition of the Muppets' many projects over the years.
Likewise, Peter Jackson has made brief cameos in all of his movies, except for his first feature-length film Bad Taste in which he played a main character, as well as The Battle of the Five Armies, though a portrait of him appears in the film. For example, he played a peasant eating a carrot in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Desolation of Smaug, a warrior of Rohan in The Two Towers, and a Corsair of Umbar boatswain in The Return of the King. All four were non-speaking "blink and you miss him" appearances, although in the Extended Release version of The Return of the King, his character was given more screen time and his reprise of the carrot eating peasant in The Desolation of Smaug was featured in the foreground in reference to The Fellowship of the Ring.[7] In addition, when he was directing Heavenly Creatures (1994), he appeared as a drunk person bumping into the main characters, and in the Frighteners, Jackson appeared as a man with piercings with his real-life son in a bouncer.[8][clarification needed]
Directors sometimes cast well-known lead actors with whom they have worked in the past in other films. In Jane Eyre (1943), Elizabeth Taylor makes a cameo appearance as Helen Burns, Jane's friend from school who dies from a cold. Mike Todd's film Around the World in 80 Days (1956) was filled 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.[citation needed]
The Player (1992) features cameos from 65 Hollywood actors.
Run for Your Wife (2012) is filled with cameos from 80 of Britain's film and TV stars from the 1960s, '70s and '80s.
Aaron Sorkin also had cameos in some works he wrote: as a bar customer speaking about the law in his debut film screenplay A Few Good Men (1992), as an advertising executive in The Social Network, and as a guest at the inauguration of President Matt Santos in the final episode of The West Wing.
Franco Nero, the actor who portrayed the Django character in the original 1966 film, appears in a bar scene of the Tarantino film Django Unchained. There, he asks Django (Jamie Foxx) to spell his name, which led to the famous promotional tagline for the film - "The 'D' is silent". Franco's character responds simply, "I know."
Many cameos featured in Maverick (1994), directed by Richard Donner. Among them, Danny Glover – Mel Gibson's co-star in the Lethal Weapon franchise also directed by Donner – appears as the lead bank robber. He and Maverick (Gibson) share a scene where they look as if they knew each other, but then shake it off. As Glover makes his escape with the money, he mutters "I'm too old for this shit", his character's catchphrase in the Lethal Weapon films. In addition, a strain of the main theme from Lethal Weapon plays in the score when Glover is revealed. Actress Margot Kidder made a cameo appearance in the same film as a robbed villager: she had previously starred as Lois Lane in Donner's Superman (1978).[13]
Maria Von Trapp made an uncredited brief cameo appearance in the film version of her life, The Sound of Music. She appeared in the background during the song "I Have Confidence" with her daughter Rosmarie and stepson Werner Von Trapp.
The king of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, was in the children's program Mika (Mika och renen Ossian på äventyr) when Mika was in Stockholm with his reindeer.[21]
Boxer Roberto Duran and his wife Felicidad made a cameo appearance towards the end of the film Hands of Stone , about Duran's life.[22]
In The Big Short (film), the real investor Michael Burry appeared as an employee of his hedge fund "Scion Capital" while answering the phone saying "Doctor Burry's office".
An unusual example of a famous non-actor being given a small but speaking fictional role occurred in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Second Chances." Dr. Mae Jemison, an astronaut, the first Black woman in space, and a long-time fan of Star Trek, was offered the opportunity to appear on the show. She was given the role of a Starfleet crewmember and a few lines, thus becoming the first real-life astronaut to appear on Star Trek.[23] Somewhat likewise King Abdullah II of Jordan appeared briefly in a non-speaking role the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Investigations".[24]
^"Cameo in Film topic". Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2017. a short appearance in a film or play by a well-known actor
^"Sam Raimi". Monsters-Movies.com. Archived from the original on 25 September 2010. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
^Talbot, John; Adams, Edmund; Winkels, Rob; Mar, Irene (27 March 2009). "Hergé's Cameo Appearances". Tintinologist. Hergé/Moulinsart S.A. Archived from the original on 30 August 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
