Superman

Yes, Superman, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond mortal bloggers.  Superman (1978) was on TV the other night.  I don't even remember what channel...it was late and I made it through about 25% of the movie.

For 1978, I think Christopher Reeve (1952 - 2004), and Margot Kidder (b. 1948) did a pretty good job.  With no CGI work, he flew on a wire and it looked pretty good.  I was amazed at the time that Marlon Brando (1924 - 2004) demanded top billing and a huge salary for such a small part.  Was he worth it?

For some of the smaller parts, everyone knows that Noel Neill (b. 1920) had a cameo.  She was the TV Lois Lane to George Reeves' (1914 - 1959) "Superman" and also in the serial.  You can also see Kirk Alyn (1910 - 1999) who played Superman in the serial release a few years earlier with Neill.  Alyn claims 61 titles on IMDb, and Neill is apparently still working after listing 79 titles.

Any big budget movie will have a large cast, so let's look at some of the interesting parts.  Chief Tug Smith was an Indian chief in Superman.  He has only six credits from 1968 to 1981.  I wonder what else occupied his time.


John Ratzenberger (b. 1947) shows up as a controller.  A few years later he is the mailman, Cliff Clavin, on "Cheers."  He went on to make many TV shows and do a lot of voice work.  If you hear his voice in an animated feature, you'll know it's John.

Paul Tuerpe is a Bit Actor with 81 titles listed.  He has no birth date listed, and no biography or picture on IMDb.  He was in all four Lethal Weapon movies, plus many others.  His last role listed was in 2006.

Can you place the name Marc McClure (b. 1957)?  Marc played Jimmy Olsen in Superman, which was his fourth movie.  He is really little more than an extra, but he has been in many good films, listing 64 titles on TV and in film.  Look for him in Used Cars (1980) with Kurt Russell (b. 1951), Back to the Future (1985) as Michael J. Fox's brother, Apollo 13 (1995) way down the cast list, That Thing You Do (1996) another Tom Hanks (b. 1956) film, Freaky Friday (2003) with Jamie Lee Curtis (b. 1958), and a bunch of good TV series' in addition to the rest of the Superman movies, and Supergirl (1984).

Even Rex Reed (b. 1938) has a cameo in revolving door at the Daily Planet building.  And I just touched the surface!