Before They Were Stars: Jim Carrey in “The Dead Pool”

In the final Dirty Harry movie, The Dead Pool, the role of heroin-addicted rock star Johnny Squares was played by an actor credited under the name “James Carrey”. I’ve never heard of this James Carrey guy, but, man, does he bear a striking resemblance to Jim Carrey! All kidding aside, The Dead Pool is a pretty interesting showcase for well-known actors in early roles. In this same clip, Liam Neeson (with a ponytail!) plays a hack horror film director and even though he was already an established actor at the time, he was nowhere near as big a star as he is today. Also, the role of Dirty Harry’s love interest was played by Patricia Clarkson in only her second film role. Anyway, I think Jim Carrey must have made quite an impression on Clint Eastwood as he would give him a very brief background role as an Elvis impersonator in his next film, Pink Cadillac.

This entry was posted in Before They Were Stars, Movies. Bookmark the permalink.