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

7. Kenneth Branagh - Swing Kids

This next entry is one where the reasons seem pretty suspect. 1993’s Disney film, Swing Kids, was about a group of young men in Nazi Germany who rebelled against a ban on big band music. Although it was released to mixed reviews, it has since become somewhat of a cult classic, and it did help launch the career of future Batman, Christian Bale.

In the film, Kenneth Branagh plays the head of the local SS who tries to recruit one of the swing kids, played by Robert Sean Leonard, to enlisting with the Gestapo. Branagh is the main heavy in the film, but his name was pulled from the credits before the film premiered.

Over the years there have been conflicting accounts for why this came to be. The Los Angeles Times ran a story about it a week before the Disney film opened back in 1993. In the article, Branagh’s assistant and agent are quoted as stating that the established Shakespearian actor and filmmaker gave up his top billing so that his name wouldn’t take the spotlight away from the film’s two younger male leads, Bale and Leonard. The LA Times article does cast some doubt toward this PR rationalization, leaving it in question whether Branagh simply didn’t care for the film and didn’t want his name associated with it. That seems the much likelier story.