Actors, directors and screenwriters that knew each other before their claim to fame

I saw a thread on musicians that knew each other before they were famous, what about actors, directors and scriptwriters?

 

Affleck and Damon maybe?

 

Spencer Tracy & Pat O'Brien
Groucho Marx & Jack Benny
James Stewart & Henry Fonda
Angela Lansbury & Glynis Johns
Jack Klugman & Charles Bronson
Ray Romano & Fran Drescher
Robert Downey Jr. & Kiefer Sutherland

 

Wally Cox and Marlon Brando.

 

Any more details, like, for example, were they school friends?

 

Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito
Richard Harris and Peter O' Toole
Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman

 

Another detail is things like how long they knew each other before they were famous, just detail like those given in the thread on musicians who knew each other before they were famous.

 

They were friends and may have shared an apartment in the early days.
I always liked what Brando said about Cox after he died: " Oh, I miss him so. He had the look of a bank clerk, the mind of a serial killer and the cock of a horse"

 

Famous, Academy Award winning actor, Walter Huston, was quite unfamous when his yet-to-be-famous son was born in 1906: the brilliant, Academy Award winning director, John Huston.

 

dicaprio and toby macguire have been best buds all their lives

 

Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine

 

brother and sister

 

danny de vito also became fast friends with michael douglas before they were famous

 

I forget to add how they met. they were both struggling actors in 1967. however, they did not meet at the theatre . micheal douglas was standing on the beach looking out at the long island sound, and danny devito came up to him and asked him, " do you get high."

 

Grant High School, Class of '62 alumni Tom Selleck and Micky Dolenz.

 

Don Adams and Larry Storch went to high school together.

 

Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin were part of the same British Vaudeville troupe for 3 years and room mates, coming to America for tours in 1910 and 1912 (apparently, if they had come a few days later in 1912, they could have been on the Titanic).

Oddly, they never worked together or apparently even spoke again when they reached Hollywood



Their vaudeville show, Karno's, also fielded its own roller hockey team.
Laurel is in the suit in the centre, Chaplin is seated in team kit on the right.


.

 

I'm not sure if these folks were friends before, but I remember going to opening night of a small play in early 1983 with the following cast:

SLAB BOYS

• Kevin Bacon. Phil McCann. slab boy.
• Brian Benben. Jack Hogg. designer.
• Merwin Goldsmith. Willie Currie. the gaffer.
• Jackie Earle Haley. Hector McKenzie. slab boy.
• Val Kilmer. Alan Downie. the new boy.
• Beverly May. Sadie. the tea lady.
• Sean Penn. George "Spanky" Farrell. slab boy.
• Madeleine Potter. Lucille Bentley.

 

Actor Director and writer.
Gene Hackman and Mel Brooks I believe were friends from the 1960's ...... and it's how Gene got the cameo in 'Young Fronkenstein'.

 

Albert Brooks and Rob Reiner
Chevy Chase and Christopher Guest

 

Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton

 

Trey Parker & Matt Stone ('South Park'): They met in film class in 1992.

 

Trivia fact (off fopic) Glynis John's famously played a suffragette in Mary Poppins, Angel Lansbury's grandfather George Lansbury was Labour leader in Parliament in the 30s and one of the key figures in securing votes for women in the UK.

On topic : Angela Lansbury is a first cousin of Oliver Postgate, co-creator (with Peter Firmin) of Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine, The Clangers and other classic childrens animation of the 60s and 70s.

 

That's a lot like saying Lennon and McCartney knew each other before they were famous.
Pretty much the entire Pixar founding staff went to the same movie school. They use their classroom number, A113, as an Easter Egg in every Pixar movie.

 

Jack Klugman and Charles Bronson were roommates.