This page is dedicated to the stars who appeared had bit parts in Best Picture winners, before they made it big.  Their roles did not earn them Oscar nominations, but were instead, part of the road upward to later careers.

Gary Cooper got his start in films in the 1920's, getting bit parts in silent films.  His first role was as an extra in Dick Turpin (1925), a vehicle for western star of the day, Tom Mix.  He played several bit parts throughout the next five years, until he finally landed the role of Cadet White in Best Picture winner, Wings.  He had one scene in the film where he talks to the main characters about the art of combat.  In the very next battle sequence, his character is killed, a turning point in the film, as the horrors of was a discovered.  

Cooper went on to play leading roles in Hollywood, starring opposite such luminaries as Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Claudette Colbert and Helen Hayes.  Considered a man's man, he was best known for playing shy war heroes and cowboys.  Notable roles in the thirties included A Farewell to Arms (1931), Morocco (1930) and Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938).  By the end of the decade, he had become a huge star, actually turning down the role of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind. 

In the 1940's, his star rose a few more notches, when he won his first Oscar for Sergeant York (1941), the story of a backwoods boy who becomes a war hero during World War 1.  Over the next twenty years he would receive a total of five nominations, winning his second in 1952, for the classic film, High Noon.  

In 1961, The Academy gave Cooper a lifetime achievement award, which was presented by his good friend, James Stewart.  The teary-eyed Stewart then accepted the award on his behalf, as the cancer-ridden Cooper was too ill to attend.  Cooper died one month later. 

Delores Fuller knew that she wanted to become an actress, after being cast in a bit part in the Oscar-winning film, It Happened One Night.  She played a pig-tailed little girl waiting in line for a shower at a motel.  When Claudette Colbert is chastised for trying to bud in front of everyone, the cheeky Fuller sticks her tongue out at Colbert, in a classic scene from the very funny film. 

Throughout the forties and fifties her career never amounted to anything, other than playing a model on the television program Queen for a Day, and working as Dinah Shore's stand-in on Chevrolet Playhouse.  It was when she met the legendary B-film maker, Ed Wood, that her career would become defined.  The two hit it off, and their love affair parlayed a string of classic cult films, including Jail Bait, Bride of the Monsters, and the classic gender-bender, Glen or Glenda.  

In the sixties she changed her tune to become a song writer, and was discovered by producer Hal Wallis.  She is credited with writing several songs for Elvis Presley, including the classic, Blue Hawaii.   Her songwriting credits also including hits for Nat King Cole and Peggy Lee.

She even worked as a personal manager for a spell, discovering country greats, Johnny Rivers and Tanya Tucker.  

The ultimate tribute to Delores Fuller was paid when Tim Burton released Ed Wood, the film about her one-time lover.  Sex in the City star, Sarah Jessica Parker was cast in the role as Delores Fuller. 

In the 1950's he would become known as Fred Mertz, to television viewers all over the world.  The show lives on in re-runs and is considered a favorite to this day.  Frawley will forever be remembered as the landlord to Lucy and Ricky, but prior to that, William Frawley already had a successful career under his belt.  

Frawley worked in Vaudeville theatre throughout the twenties, moving to Hollywood, and signing a deal with Paramount Pictures, in the 1930's.  He appeared in over 100 films, including the 1944 Oscar winner for Best Picture, Going My Way.  Frawley was a character actor, and the roles he often played were those of bossy, brash types.  In Going My Way, he is about to foreclose on the church, if Bing Crosby can't get the choir boys entertaining soon!   

Frawley was one of the actors that frequently appeared in films, but who nobody really knew.  His bulldog looks had him typecast as the cantankerous bully, often playing beat cops and heavies.  He appeared with Mickey Rooney in Huckleberry Finn (1939) and as the political advisor in the classic, Miracle on 34th Street.  He has worked along side some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including John Wayne, Bette Davis, Rita Hayworth and Gary Cooper.  

In 1950 he contacted Lucille Ball about a part in her new TV series.  He was 64 years old at the time, and Frawley was considered to be a nasty alcoholic.   He was even gaining a reputation for being difficult on the set.  Desi Arnez hired Frawley on the condition that if he miss one day of work, he would be fired.  Frawley never did take a day off.  The show was an instant success, and is still regarded as one of the best sitcoms ever.  

By 1960, the series ended, and he took a role on My Three Son's.  That show lasted five years.  On March 3, 1966, William Frawley dropped dead of  heart failure right on Hollywood Boulevard, after coming out of a movie theatre.  

Marilyn Monroe  1926-1962

While Monroe's beauty was her ticket to fame, it was also her cross to bear.  Despite her best efforts, she never got beyond being type cast as the blond bimbo.  Her movie career began in the late 40's, playing bit parts in such films as Love Happy and The Asphalt Jungle.  Joseph L. Mankewicz cast her as the dumb protégé who attends Margo Channing's party on the arms of the wicked theatre critic, Addison de Witt, in the classic film, All About Eve.  

Within the next few years, her star would rise dramatically, being cast in classic screwball comedies, such as Monkey Business and Don't Bother to Knock.  Good publicity, combined with a sex appeal that clicked in the 1950's, Monroe was suddenly being cast in lead roles in such films as How to Marry a Millionaire, Niagara, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Monroe tried to rise above the typecasting, and was able to show her acting talent in leading roles in Bus Stop, The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot.  Unfortunately, her personal life, filled with failed marriages, affairs and drugs, was beginning to take its toll.  Her behavior on the set was turning her into a liability, and directors were reluctant to hire her. 

Monroe was found dead in her apartment of an apparent drug overdose, on August 2, 1962.  Her early demise marked a new page in her career, taking her name to legendary heights.  To this day, she is still mythologized in books, movies, and photographs.  She has been studied and embraced by feminist groups and acting societies.  She was never nominated for an Oscar in her heyday, but fans and admirers still  consider her one of the best.

Dinah Manoff 1958 -

On Broadway, she won a Tony Award for her role in I Ought to Be in Pictures, opposite Walter Matthau.  In 1980, she landed a small role in the Oscar winner, Ordinary People, playing a friend of Timothy Hutton's character, Conrad.  Her character spent time with him in a psychiatric hospital, where they were both recovering from tragedies.  When they meet afterward, she seems to have overcome her issues, but Conrad later finds out that she has committed suicide. 

She kept busy with parts in TV movies throughout the 1980's, until she landed the role that she will forever be known for, as Carol Weston, on the popular sitcom, Empty Nest.  The Emmy-nominated series lasted for seven years. 

Since that time, Manoff has continued to do film and TV work. She has also directed several TV series, including Sister, Sister, Brother's Keeper and several episodes of Empty Nest.