55 replies to this topic

[Steve L]

I was reading through the new Jimmy Murphy biography "King of the Boards" and was interested to see that he starred in a 1923 silent flick called "Racing Hearts" (could this be found and released, perhaps on the Motorfilms Quarterly sets?!).

I was wondering if any other Racing Great has appeared in a fictional (as opposed to factual) production on the big screen ("Grand Prix" excepted)

(Apologies if this thread has appeared before!)

[Bladrian]

Try Bobby Unser, Dan Gurney and Roger McCluskey in the Paul Newman movie "Winning". Late sixties.

[917]

Apart from Manfred von Brauchitsch in a film which I have not seen (story about a racing driver filmed in the 30s) "Casino Royale" comes to my mind, the only James Bond parody based on an original Ian Fleming story. James Bond hunts a man who jumps into a taxi, Bond says to the next taxi driver (played by Stirling Moss): "Follow this taxi!" Moss gets out of his car and runs after the first one. Bond comments: "I should have chosen Fangio!"

[Bruce Moxon]

Jonathon Williams was billed as "Jonathon Burton" in Le Mans.

Chip Ganassi and John De La Penna appeared as "Team Owners" in the awful Driven. Appearing also in this miserable excuse for a movie were: (list culled from www.imdb.com)


Jean Alesi, Michael Andretti, Kenny Bräck, Patrick Carpentier, Cristiano Da Matta,
Adrian Fernández (II), Christian Fittipaldi, Dario Franchitti, Luiz Garcia Jr., Mauricio Gugelmin,
Michel Jourdain Jr., Tony Kanaan, Juan Pablo Montoya, Roberto Moreno, Max Papis,
Oriol Servia, Alex Tagliani, Paul Tracy, Jimmy Vasser, Jacques Villeneuve

All these drivers appear in the cast list as "Race Car Driver". I thought a "race car" was something that was road - based, like a sports car or something. These are racing cars. Hmph.

Bruce Moxon (amateur film reviewer) (yes, I know that could be taken in more than one way)

[Bladrian]

Heh. I can't think of a more amateurish production than 'Drivel'.

[Pikachu Racing]

Watch Stroker Ace before? Now Burt Reynolds car isn't a real NASCAR car. It look more of a passenger car with souped up engine. Dale Earnhardt made a cameo.

[Bruce Moxon]

Plenty of real NASCAR drivers were in Days of Thunder, too

Richard Petty, Harry Gant, Neil Bonnet and Rusty Wallace, according to www.imdb.com again.

I understand that everyone whose car appears in the film received money commensurate with their appearance. Dick Johnson got $65 or so, according to motor noter Wayne Webster.

According to Auto Action journalist Steve Ottley, Driven is so bad it made Days of Thunder "look well researched and credible".

Only by comparison, Steve.

Bruce Moxon

[William Dale Jr]

Originally posted by Pikachu Racing
Watch Stroker Ace before? Now Burt Reynolds car isn't a real NASCAR car. It look more of a passenger car with souped up engine. Dale Earnhardt made a cameo.

Not just Dale, but Ricky Rudd, Tim Richmond, Harry Gant, Cale Yarbrough, Kyle Petty and Benny Parsons also made cameo appearances.

Originally posted by Bruce Moxon
I understand that everyone whose car appears in the film received money commensurate with their appearance. Dick Johnson got $65 or so, according to motor noter Wayne Webster.

Dick says that in his autobiography too - his #38 Redkote Thunderbird makes an appearance during the Darlington sequence where Cole Trickle wins his first race.

[Ralliart]

917, You mention the film of von Brauchitsch in the 30's. I saw an East German film on TV about five years ago that was the von Brauchitsch story but he wasn't in it but an actor. Made in the 50's.

[Viktor]

This week I found this movie Schwarz und ohne Zucker and on the cast list you can find Ayrton Senna and Niki Lauda!

/Viktor

[917]

Manfred von Brauchitsch played in "Kampf" (alternative title: "Rivalen der Kurve" - rivals of the corner more poetic than the original fight!), directed by Erich Schönfelder in 1932.

This website
http://www.research-...brauchitsch.htm
quotes an East German TV film (in 6 parts) from 1966 with the title "Ohne Kampf kein Sieg" (Without fight no victory), made by Rudi Kurz after von Brauchitsch's book of the same title. I guess that von Brauchitsch's life is more interesting than many racing films. Born from a famous Prussian family (other members are Walther the General, later Generalfeldmarschall, and Eberhard, manager of the Friedrich Flick KG, later convicted for tax evasion), in the 30s motorsport hero, during the war he worked for the director of the airplane company Junkers and then for the Ministry of War Production. After the war he was President of the Automobilclub von Deutschland. In 1953 he was accused of high treason and was imprisoned for some months. In 1954 he fled into the GDR (most other people fled from East to West!), where he was President of the Olympic Society. Now he is 97 years old and the last survivor of a long gone era. But I believe all this would belong to an extra thread.

[Eric McLoughlin]

Of course, virtually all of the 1966 F1 grid appeared in the movie "Grand Prix" incuding a select few (Graham Hill, Phill Hill, Jo Bonnier) who appeared as named characters.

[ensign14]

Sportscar racers Paul Newman and Steve McQueen did a bit of acting on the side.

[917]

ensign14



(You could add Jean-Louis Trintignant, nephew of Maurice)

[fines]

Originally posted by Bruce Moxon
According to Auto Action journalist Steve Ottley, Driven is so bad it made Days of Thunder "look well researched and credible".

Oh dear! I saw about two minutes of "Ways to Blunder" before I had to leave for the rest room and puke - good thing I never dared to watch "Drivel"...

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Steve L
I was reading through the new Jimmy Murphy biography "King of the Boards" and was interested to see that he starred in a 1923 silent flick called "Racing Hearts" (could this be found and released, perhaps on the Motorfilms Quarterly sets?!).

I came across mention of "Racing Hearts" a few months ago. It was made at Muroc Lake (now Edwards AFB) and starred the now almost forgotten Richard Dix. No copies are known to exist, but there are a few publicity stills - see the links from this post in Redliner's "I'm afraid she's got a bad case of celluloid" thread:

http://www.atlasf1.c...arts#post957356

[dmj]

I can't believe no one yet mentioned Barney Oldfield. He starred in quite a few early movies...
But we covered racing movies and racers in movies in more than one thread before...

[robert dick]

Oldfield : And he saved Mabel Normand!

from http://www.silentsma...eo/video144.htm :

Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life (Keystone-Mutual, June 3, 1913), with Hank Mann, Ford Sterling, Barney Oldfield and Mack Sennett; directed by Mack Sennett, is the third short. This one-reeler is a good, old-fashioned "meller" with the typical ingredients of a mustache-twirling villain (Sterling, who plays the role like a cured ham), and a helpless heroine (Mabel) who has been chained to the railroad tracks. As the locomotive speeds down the tracks, engineered by our villain, her sweetheart (Sennett) summons race car champion/sports idol Barney Oldfield (played by himself) to do what he does best. Oldfield opens the throttle and races neck and neck with the locomotive to free Mabel before the cowcatcher can make mincemeat out of her. The Keystone Kops make a brief appearance. Oldfield's race to save Mabel is truly a hair-raising experience! Oldfield was one of the first sports figures to thrill audiences in commercial motion pictures. Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life is accompanied by an orchestral score.

Second on the bill is The Speed Kings (Keystone-Mutual, October 30, 1913), with Ford Sterling, Teddy Tetzlaff, Earl Cooper, Barney Oldfield, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Paul Jacobs. Directed by Wilfred Lucas. In this one-reeler, rival race car drivers Tetzlaff, Cooper and Oldfield vie for the championship, while Mabel and her father (Sterling) fuss and fight in the grandstand. Sennett would do anything to snag a free location to film his comedies and wouldn't hesitate to make the most of it. This time he hit the jackpot at a race track in Santa Monica. One wonders if the real speed kings received scale for their cameos. The Speed Kings features piano accompaniment.

[C F Eick]

Parnelli Jones appeared as himself in the 1974 movie "Gone in 60 seconds".

[D-Type]

Jack Brabham had a cameo appearance in The Green Helmet co-droving a Tipo 61 with the hero at Sebring. I can't remember whether he had a speaking part.

[ZOOOM]

How about Chuck Daigh and Lance Reventlow in "The Sound Of Speed"?

ZOOOM

[Rob G]

A few months ago, I bought a 20-movie, 4-disc compilation called "Burnt Rubber". I haven't watched all the films yet, but Barney Oldfield has a prominent role in the 1941 film "Blonde Comet". It's a pretty entertaining movie, but Barney didn't seem all that comfortable with having a speaking role, flubbing several lines.

[Terry Walker]

In the movie "Corky", about low-level speedway in USA, one of the top NASCAR drivers appeared as himself. Richard Petty? I can't recall, as I saw it many years ago. The movie may have had a different title in some markets.

Remembered at last: Robert Blake was try-hard driver Corky, Charlotte Rampling (!) his southern fried wife.

Edited by Terry Walker, 20 November 2009 - 08:14.

[Lee Nicolle]

There was quite a few Parramatta Sprintcar regulars listed in the credits for the low level film Midnight Spares about 20 years ago starting with Garry Rush.

Edited by Lee Nicolle, 20 November 2009 - 07:00.

[RA Historian]

How about Chuck Daigh and Lance Reventlow in "The Sound Of Speed"?

Great flick, of course, and I am very happy to have a few copies in my collection. But interestingly enough, there is not one word of dialogue in the entire 20-25 minute movie! Just the Sound of Speed! I believe that it has its own thread on this forum.
Tom

[taylov]

My 2 favourites, which I first saw in my teens -

"The Crowd Roars" (the 1932 version) - with Billy Arnold; Fred Frame; Ralph Hepburn; Wilbur Shaw; Shorty Cantlon; Mel Keneally and Stubby Stubblefield among others.

"To Please a Lady" (1950) starring Clark Gable and what must be the best looking racecar of all time. I can spot Johnnie Parsons in the film but there must be others.

Tony

[rolando]

Do not forget Ricardo Rodríguez in "Muchachas que trabajan"

[David McKinney]

Hadn't seen that before

You wouldn't buy it for the quality of its sounds effects

[Vitesse2]

"Burn 'Em Up O'Connor", made in 1939, has been mentioned in other threads, but not this one. Several West Coast drivers appeared - all uncredited: Fred Frame, Fred Friday, Ronnie Householder, Rex Mays, Louie Mayer, Kelly Petillo, Art Sparks and Joel Thorne.

Presumably the first six at least were paid an appearance fee, but Thorne (and most probably his employee Sparks) certainly didn't need the money ....

[HistoricMustang]

Plenty of real NASCAR drivers were in Days of Thunder, too

I understand that everyone whose car appears in the film received money commensurate with their appearance.

Bruce Moxon

This is true!

Henry

[TrackDog]

My 2 favourites, which I first saw in my teens -

"The Crowd Roars" (the 1932 version) - with Billy Arnold; Fred Frame; Ralph Hepburn; Wilbur Shaw; Shorty Cantlon; Mel Keneally and Stubby Stubblefield among others.

"To Please a Lady" (1950) starring Clark Gable and what must be the best looking racecar of all time. I can spot Johnnie Parsons in the film but there must be others.

Tony

I came up with these names of drivers on camera for To Please A Lady:

Johnny Tolan
Henry Banks
Jack McGrath
Johnny Parsons
Cecil Green

All were uncredited, according to IMDB; there may have been others, but I didn't recognize the names.


Dan

[Frank S]

The IMDb lists Dominic "PeeWee" Distarce; Roy Morris seemed to think Dominic and "PeeWee" were separate people. Dominic was the Starter guy, "PeeWee" a racer. #s 8 and 10 on this page:

Dave Smith's Carrell Speedway photos

Edited by Frank S, 22 November 2009 - 00:47.

[Jim Thurman]

The IMDb lists Dominic "PeeWee" Distarce; Roy Morris seemed to think Dominic and "PeeWee" were separate people. Dominic was the Starter guy, "PeeWee" a racer. #s 8 and 10 on this page:

Dave Smith's Carrell Speedway photos

Roy is right, I was mistaken when I referred to them as one in the same - Dom and "Pee Wee" were brothers.

[pertti_jarla]

Mika Häkkinen had a cameo role as himself giving a ride to the hero in "Uuno Turhapuro-This is my life". Not worth checking out!

[Jim Thurman]

I came up with these names of drivers on camera for To Please A Lady:

Johnny Tolan
Henry Banks
Jack McGrath
Johnny Parsons
Cecil Green

All were uncredited, according to IMDB; there may have been others, but I didn't recognize the names.

Other than Distarce, the only other driver named is "Bullet" Joe Garson - man, what a career that guy had, but I digress.

Well, yes, these guys were seen - but driving their midgets in the racing scenes were their only "on screen" appearances. Mauri Rose and Bill Holland feature on screen (driving against the "blue screen"), but again, no lines that I recall - though their faces are clearly visible, even helmeted and begoggled.

I'm glad someone listed "The Crowd Roars". Wow, there are so many...

Duke Nalon walks past and gets a slap in "The Big Wheel"

Richard Petty in "The Petty Story"

...and so many others that simply aren't coming in at the moment.

[Jesper O. Hansen]

Danish saloon car ace Erik Høyer had a combined stunt car driver/acting part in the 1976 Anders Refn-movie Strømer (Copper). He's seen ditching his BMW E21 and then soundly beaten by the main caracter, acted by Jens Okking. Here's a link:http://www.16-9.dk/2006-02/side07_anatomi.htm
Høyer had a strictly stunt job at the tv-follow up En gang strømer (1987), where he's seen accidently nose diving a fwd Toyota Corolla.

Never realised that Dick Johnson - or is it his car - is seen during Days of Thunder. At least a young Nicole Kidman is featured and Robert Duvall is never a vaste of time.

Jesper

[Sharman]

Going to small screen, (not sure it was ever a film) Henri Grandsire was the star of " The Adventures of Michael Valliant"

[Coxy the Bear]

Talladega Nights is an obvious one for NASCAR drivers, but what about a certain Mr Schumacher making his film debut............in Cars!

[The Oracle]

[quote name='Coxy the Bear' date='Nov 25 2009, 08:59' post='4013275']
Talladega Nights is an obvious one for NASCAR drivers, but what about a certain Mr Schumacher making his film debut............in Cars!
[/quote)

Dale Ernhart Jnr also appears in both of the above, also his father played a cab driver in the tastless comedy Baseket Ball. Mario Andretti I believe also voiced a roll in cars with Richard Petty. I may be wrong but wasn't James Hint a lorry driver in silent comedy The Plank. I thought it was Jaboille who was the driver in Ronin. Speaking of stunt drivers does Ben "The Stig?" Collins James Bond roles count?

[LotusElise]

If we're counting stunt drivers and performers, surely Val Musetti should get a look-in?

Liane Engeman was in a racing-based movie in about 1969, the name of which escapes me, but I think it was about Minis.

Jutta Kleinschmidt has recently had a small role as a security guard in a new spy film.

[RA Historian]

Liane Engeman was in a racing-based movie in about 1969, the name of which escapes me, but I think it was about Minis.

The Italian Job?

[LotusElise]

The Italian Job?

It was called "Vive le Sport" and was partly done as a promotional film for Dunlop. It was about two girls in a Mini getting chased across Europe by baddies apparently.

[LittleChris]

Can always rely on You Tube

http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

[maxim64]

Hi everybody this is my first post

In the seventies Giacomo Agostini was involved in several "B movies" here in Italy

In a little speaking cameo we can see Vittorio Brambilla acting as himself into italian comedy "Io tigro tu tigri egli tigra"

Here's the link View (first 50 seconds only)

I translate what he's saying "Pay attention ! Oil on the track!"

[RA Historian]

It was called "Vive le Sport" and was partly done as a promotional film for Dunlop. It was about two girls in a Mini getting chased across Europe by baddies apparently.

Never saw that one, but perhaps I should!
Tom

[Coxy the Bear]

We're forgetting 'C'etait une Rendezvous'! Can't remember who that was 'supposed' to be.

James Hunt must have been in the remake of 'The Plan', the original I think was 67 or 68.

[GD66]

Red hot, Coxy ! The one-eyed van driver in the 1967 original was played by John Junkin

[Coxy the Bear]

Red hot, Coxy ! The one-eyed van driver in the 1967 original was played by John Junkin ;)

That was it! Years since I've seen that. Continuity in that film was awful, I seem to remember there is a car accident at some point opposite Fairfield Halls in Croydon, they get out to look, cross the road and they ar at the foot of Tolworth Tower on the Kingston bypass 10 miles away!

[Mila]

Keke Rosberg, Niki Lauda, and Walter Rohrl appeared (as themselves) in "Fire, Ice & Dynamite." the movie centers around winter sports.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0099564/

[Auroraf1]

Wasn't Paul Belmondo a film actor as well as doing F3 & Sportscars?