Cameos

Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson here. The other day I was watching Iron Man 2 (2010) for the umpteenth time (yes, I look for sheer escapism in my streaming choices) when I saw something I’d never noticed in any of my previous viewings. There, in an early party scene, the character of Tony Stark spots someone he knows and greets him by name—Elon. Yep, that Elon. They exchange a tiny bit of dialog before the action moves on.

I don’t know why this surprised me. Have you ever noticed how many movies Donald Trump has had cameos in? Strange, for a guy who continually badmouths the liberal leanings of Hollywood. And then, of course, there is the brief appearance of his late ex-wife, Ivana, in The First Wives Club (1996), in which she delivers the immortal line: “Ladies, you have to be strong and independent, and remember, don’t get mad, get everything.”

There are obviously lots of cameos in films. Many use real newspeople if they need to have a character interviewed—The First Wives Club again, with Kathie Lee Gifford.  Both Alfred Hitchcock and Stan Lee made a habit of appearing somewhere in many of the movies they were associated with, Hitchcock as director and Lee as the face of Marvel Comics.

One classic film that went overboard in celebrity appearances was The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), in which numerous members of Hollywood royalty appear, heavily disguised, and unmask at the end of the movie. There are also many films were celebs appear but are not credited, making it a challenge to spot them. I remember getting a kick out of seeing Noelle Niell, the first Lois Lane (from the 1950s TV series), make a brief appearance in Superman, the Movie. If you blinked, you missed it.

 

But what does any of that have to do with books, let alone mysteries? Or with Maine, for that matter? Real people sometimes appear in novels, too, and not just historical tomes or when the author has fictionalized a real person to make them the detective. Scotched (2011), Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries #5 (written as Kaitlyn Dunnett) takes place at the fictional Maine Cozy-Con, attended by both real Maine mystery writers and a couple I made up. I also wrote myself in as an attendee. I’m the local writer whose name Liss can never remember.

What examples of walk-on roles for celebrities, in books or movies, spring to your mind? Share, please. The comment section is just below.

Kathy Lynn Emerson/Kaitlyn Dunnett has had sixty-four books traditionally published and has self published others. She won the Agatha Award and was an Anthony and Macavity finalist for best mystery nonfiction of 2008 for How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries and was an Agatha Award finalist in 2015 in the best mystery short story category. In 2023 she won the Lea Wait Award for “excellence and achievement” from the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. She was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor in 2014. She is currently working on creating new editions of her backlist titles. Her website is www.KathyLynnEmerson.com.