10 Actors Audiences Are Convinced Are In Movies (But Aren't)

9. Denzel Washington - Death Wish

Dark Knight Rises Interstellar Matthew McConaughey
Paramount & Sony

One piece of "trivia" that did the rounds online for many years was that Denzel Washington had a small uncredited cameo role in the classic 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish.

Washington was said to appear briefly as a thug who gets shot and killed by Charles Bronson's vengeful protagonist Paul Kersey half-way through the movie, and though the uncredited actor does indeed look a lot like a young Washington, it's not him.

Washington himself even cleared things up in a 2016 interview:

"No. No. I wasn't even an actor yet... I remember on my IMDB thing, they used to have it on there. But no. I think the movie was in '74? I didn't start acting until '75."

It's certainly easy to appreciate why people thought the young actor was Washington at the very start of his career, though it's both bizarre and impressive that the "fact" of his appearance went uncorrected for many years.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.