The Supporting Cast and Films Used in the Making of the Film
The 1982 comedy, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, starring Steve Martin as 1940s Hollywood eye Rigby Reardon and directed by Carl Reiner, had a cast to die for.
Literally, since most of those who appeared in it had shuffled off this mortal coil decades earlier. They appeared courtesy of archival footage, taken from about a million old crime flicks from the 1940s and 50s, which were then seamlessly woven into the film.
Among the Hollywood legends who appeared in cameos, taken from their old films, were:
- Peter Lorre
- Bette Davis
- Barbara Stanwyck
- James Cagney
- Veronica Lake
- Burt Lancaster
- Alan Ladd
- Fred MacMurray
- Ingrid Bergman
- Kirk Douglas
- Cary Grant
- Joan Crawford
- Edward Arnold
- Ava Gardner
- Charles Laughton
- Ray Milland
- Vincent Price
- Lana Turner
- William Conrad
- Charles McGraw
- Jeff Corey
- John Miljan
- Brian Donlevy
- Norma Varden
- Edmond O’Brien
The clips were taken from:
- Johnny Eager (1941)
- Suspicion (1941)
- This Gun for Hire (1942)
- The Glass Key (1942)
- Double Indemnity(1944)
- The Lost Weekend (1945)
- Deception (1946)
- Humoresque (1946)
- The Big Sleep (1946)
- The Killers (1946)
- Notorious (1946)
- The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
- Dark Passage (1947)
- I Walk Alone (1947)
- Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
- The Bribe (1949)
- White Heat (1949)
- In a Lonely Place (1950)
Yeah, I know. I probably missed a few. And I’m still shocked (SHOCKED, I tell you!) to discover that Elisha Cook Jr. didn’t make the cut!
I’m also a little surprised that the film didn’t receive any major award nominations for its technical achievements in editing, cinematography, costume or art design, that allowed the old clips to be so so well integrated. It didn’t take them long, though, to go all apeshit over Zelig (1983), Who Killed Roger Rabbit? (1988) and Forrest Gump (1994).
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
