TV Cameos By Legendary Film Directors

Television guest stars can come in many forms. Sometimes, a prominent Hollywood actor makes a surprise appearance on the small screen for a one-off role. Other times it's a star from another TV series popping in for a visit. However, occasionally it's not an actor at all, as some TV cameos have featured a legendary big-screen director showing up as a guest star on a sitcom or primetime drama. Often you may not even recognize them, as directors are usually not the well-known faces that audiences would recognize. You might only know who they are by the episode's credits.

Some directors on this list started out as actors earlier in their careers before making the transition behind the camera to become full-time directors, while others rarely act at all. We've opted to leave off the instances in which a Hollywood director cameos as his or herself — mostly because the list would be way too long if we didn't. 

Instead, we've assembled a list of directors who have made cameos in other projects as new and unrelated characters, such as Taika Waititi's voice role as IG-11 in "The Mandalorian." Want to know who else made our list? Scroll on, as you might just be surprised by which legendary Hollywood movie directors have had cameo roles on small screen TV shows.

Rob Reiner was a successful TV actor before he turned to directing, having starred for nine seasons in the 1970s sitcom "All In The Family." He become even better known for his work behind the camera, filming memorable comedies like "The Princess Bride," and "When Harry Met Sally," and the courtroom drama "A Few Good Men." 

Since then, he's played a number of small parts in movies, mostly his own, and had guest spots in a handful of TV shows that have included one-off appearances in "30 Rock" and "Frasier," while also appearing as himself in a number of shows. However, it's his recurring role in the 2011 sitcom "New Girl" that brought him back to the attention of modern audiences, where he starred in eight episodes as Zooey Deschanel's divorced father Bob Day.

When we first meet Bob it's Thanksgiving, in the 2012 episode "Parents" where he appears alongside his ex-wife Joan, played by none other than Hollywood scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis. Bob would reappear in several further holiday episodes, sometimes with Joan, sometimes alone. His ongoing story of trying to find love as a retired older man goes through peaks and valleys — he winds up briefly married to a woman his daughter's age — before seeing him ride into the sunset with the owner of his local diner. Reiner would make 11 appearances on "New Girl", and has been called one of the series' best guest stars.

Like many of the other filmmakers on this list, Taika Waititi got his start as an actor first, mainly in productions out of his native New Zealand. Waititi directed a few smaller pictures while making the leap to Hollywood, where he would appear in supporting roles in movies like "Green Lantern" and "The Boy," before his breakout effort "What We Do in the Shadows." After that, he'd be best known as a director, helming "Hunt for the Wilder People" before going mainstream with the Marvel film' "Thor: Ragnarok." 

Waititi would continue to appear in front of the camera, mostly in his own movies, but would have perhaps his most notable cameo in the Disney+ streaming series "The Mandalorian." Even though he was already slated to direct an episode of the series, he also took on the recurring voice role of IG-11, who appears in three episodes. 

IG-11 is a robotic bounty hunter of the same model as the infamous mercenary seen in "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back," IG-88. In "The Mandalorian," IG-11 is a ruthless killer droid hired to hunt down Grogu, aka the Child. However, the titular Mandalorian destroys IG-11 in the final scene of the series premiere. He later returns, rebuilt and reprogrammed as Grogu's protector, after which he soon become a fan-favorite character, in no small part thanks to Waititi's sardonic characterization.

"Dream On" was an HBO sitcom that ran for six seasons, from 1990 to 1996. In the 1990s, HBO wasn't nearly as many households as it is today, so the series wasn't widely appreciated. However, its two creators, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, would work together once again after the series ended and create a show that proved to have a much broader popular appeal, NBC's "Friends." "Dream On," however, was also executive produced by Hollywood director John Landis, the man behind such comedy classics as "Animal House," "The Blues Brothers," and "Trading Places." He would direct 17 of the series' 120 episodes himself, but it's his single episode cameo that gets him on this list.

In the episode "Where There's Smoke, You're Fired," Landis turns up as a therapist helping Judith, played by series regular Wendie Malick, as she tries to cope with a crisis at work. Landis would seldom appear on TV outside of "Dream On" though, with other notable guest spots in front of the camera including the TV miniseries "The Stand," a small part in an episode of "Psychoville" and as himself in two episodes of "Holliston," which starred Dee Snider of Twisted Sister.

Celebrated indie director John Waters has made some of the most infamous films in Hollywood history, from "Pink Flamingos" to "Hairspray." As eccentric a figure as you'll find in Hollywood — and that's saying something — his distinctive voice has made him a favorite for voice cameo roles on shows like "The Simpsons," "Alvin and the Chipmunks," and even "Mickey Mouse." However, one episode of the Fox sitcom "My Name Is Earl" takes advantage of Waters' unusual sense of humor and iconic look when he turns up as a funeral home owner.

In the episode, star Jason Lee's title character Earl hopes to throw a funeral for a man he never even knew. Waters, meanwhile, is the proprietor of Hamerick's Funeral Home and is a man with a heart of gold and a twisted sense of humor. Hamerick's Funeral Home specializes in bespoke memorials, and Waters is perfectly cast as the idiosyncratic administrator. His pair of scenes are worth viewing, even if you're not a fan of the series. 

More recently, Waters would appear on "The Blacklist" as himself, and in two episodes of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" as a purveyor of adult magazines, credited only as Pornmonger Man on IMDb, a role that seems tailor-made to the director of risque, boundary-pushing films.

If you are looking for a truly legendary director on this list, there's none more famous or iconic you'll find than Orson Welles, the man who directed some of cinema's greatest masterpieces, including "Citizen Kane," often called the greatest film ever made. He's also responsible for the infamous radio production of "War of the Worlds" that urban legend said caused a nationwide panic. 

In Welles' later years, he made a handful of unexpected cameos in movies like 1979's "The Muppet Movie" and the 1985 animated feature "Transformers: The Movie," where he voiced the living planet Unicron. He would guest star as a narrator or as himself in TV show's like "I Love Lucy," "Night Gallery," and "Moonlighting," but beginning in 1981 the legendary Orson Welles would lend his voice to the role of Robin Masters on the hit adventure series "Magnum P.I."

Masters is the benefactor of series star Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living in Hawaii who works on cases of interest. He lives at an estate called "Robin's Nest" owned by Masters, who is implied to owe Magnum a favor for some help he received on an unknown matter in the past. Masters is only ever seen in shadow but appears in the form of Welles' distinctive voice in five episodes throughout the series. The role of Masters was among the last performances Welles would give before his death in 1985.

When Disney announced "The Mandolorian," fans were excited. The show had an exciting cast, featuring Pedro Pascal, Carl Weathers, and Nick Nolte in the premiere episode alone. However, one name stood out — that of legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog. 

The acclaimed director of "Aguirre, the Wrath of God," "Nosferatu the Vampyre" and "Rescue Dawn" was not known for making guest appearances, with only a handful of live-action appearances in American film or television across his five-decade career. That he would choose "The Mandalorian" — a sci-fi franchise series from Disney — as a worthy place to take his considerable talents — spoke volumes to the potential quality of the series.

In "The Mandalorian," Herzog played the Client, an ex-Imperial leader who kicks off the events of the series when he hires the titular Mandalorian to track down and retrieve a mysterious package, which turns out to be Grogu. His powerful performance helped the series' first season impress critics and audiences alike, per Rotten Tomatoes, and his presence lent an air of sophistication to the series.