A Guest Star

by Gayle Bartos-Pool

Years ago, we could actually watch a favorite TV show, whether it be a television series or a variety show and see some famous, older, celebrity appear as a guest star. I just watched an old Man from U.N.C.L.E. 2-hour movie from 1966, The Spy in the Green Hat, and saw a bunch of famous, older character actors who guest-starred in it. Names like Allen Jenkins, Joan Blondell, Elisha Cook Jr. and Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom.

These actors were in classic old movies from the 30s and 40s. I had watched them decades later in the 60s and 70s and even now on the old movie channel because I like the quality of the story telling and the great acting these folks did. They were memorable.

I watched another one of those 2-hour U.N.C.L.E. movies, The Karate Killers, where Joan Crawford was one of the guest stars. Her film career had slowed since the 1950s and she was appearing in lots of TV shows, but she still had that talent that made her famous. She was in the opening segment of this Man from U.N.C.L.E movie and was killed off by the bad guy in the first fifteen minutes, but she turned in a marvelous performance. I wasn’t expecting her to do that good of a job, but that gal beat all expectations for an actor in a few minutes of a silly Man from U.N.C.L.E movie. This wasn’t exactly Gone with the Wind, but the lady delivered.

Using the talent of a famous, seasoned actor was good business back in the day when we actually had stars who did excellent work in movies that had a point. I’m not seeing much of that anymore. Call me cynical, but I haven’t been to a movie theater in over 30 years. I might watch a newer movie (maybe 10 or 15 years old) on TV, but since I’m usually disappointed in the results, I still prefer old movies.

But…and there is a “but,” in this post. I have used an older actor to “guest star” in one or two of my short stories. I don’t use their actual name but rather disguise the name slightly. And I might be the only one who gets the subterfuge, but I still do it. I used actor Glenn Ford in a story but changed his name to Dale Carr. (Another word for a “glen” is a “dale.” Another name for a “Ford” is “car.”) I always liked the actor and borrowed him for the short story “Arabian Knights” in the second Johnny Casino Casebook.

I’ve done this several other times in my stories. Sometimes I mention the fact in the Acknowledgement section of the book, but sometimes I don’t. My call.

But what about using a character from a famous book? I know there are legal issues to consider so I wouldn’t use a relatively new character from a famous book in a story unless I disguised their name. One could always say the character in your story was an incarnation of some famous character or maybe say: “he remined me of the private eye in that book, Mystery Whatever, but this guy was much taller…” Or maybe: “She was a modern version of Miss Marple, but this gal wore shorter skirts and high heels…”

But what if…?

What if you wanted to have Sherlock Holmes help solve a case? I mean the real Sherlock Holmes taken right from the pages of one of Arthur Connan Doyle’s books. And maybe the main character in your story never really understands who or what that character really was. Was he real or a figment of your main character’s imagination?

I’ve already come up with how a story could end if I did use such a character. In fact, my mind is racing to do this maybe a few times.

So…If you did pick a famous character to appear in one of your stories, who would it be?