10 Actors Who Went Uncredited For Major Film Roles (And Why)

2. Robin Williams - The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen

Poor Terry Gilliam. Is there a single film the celebrated director has ever made that wasn’t plagued with production problems? For 1988’s fairy tale adventure, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, there were many budget cuts and production was even shutdown to accommodate for reconfiguring. Originally, Sean Connery was supposed to play the role of the King of the Moon who puts Baron Munchausen in jail because of his romantic past with his wife. However, the section of the film that took place on the moon had to be severely downsized because of budgetary restraints, dwindling what was supposed to be a cast of 2,000 extras down to just two: the King and Queen. Connery didn’t like this change of direction and bowed out of the film.

In a scurry to recast the role, Gilliam asked his fellow Monty Python mate, Michael Palin, to take over the role, and Palin agreed. But then just days before Palin’s scenes were set to start shooting, another Python, Eric Idle, told Gilliam that his friend Robin Williams expressed an interest in playing the bonkers villain as it was right in his wheelhouse of esotericism. Gilliam then had to phone up Michael Palin to tell him he was now out of the role, joking, “Sorry, you’re not worth as much money as Robin.”

Although, Williams’ entrance into the film came with a catch: his management didn’t want him to be credited. According to Gilliam, “The deal was that we couldn't use his name because his agents said, ‘We don't want you pimping his ass for your film.’ And I thought, ‘What are you talking about?’ But that was the attitude, so that’s why Robin is not credited. The credit says the king of the moon is ‘Ray D. Tutto,' which is Italian for ‘king of everybody.’ And that was another ridiculous one, that we couldn’t use Robin to help sell the film.” I think we can all agree though, if anyone deserves the title of “king of everybody,” it’s Robin Williams. RIP.