It says in the trivia section that Jack Nicholson has a very small cameo in this movie.Anybody know if this is right?I haven't seen this movie but I don`t think this is true,I know Jack has worked with Milos before but him being in Ragtime is the first i've heard of it.Anybody have any answers?
shareI thought I saw someone resembling Nicholson in the beach scene where Evelyn was filming a pirate movie, although I could be wrong.
shareJack Nicholson was originally supposed to play Thaw (Evelyn's husband and the murderer of Stanford White). Due to scheduling conflicts, he wasn't available at the time of filming.
Perhaps Forman gave him a 10 second cameo as a joking courtesy gesture.
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Yes, the pirate does look like Jack Nicholson, although it's very short and therefore difficult to identify. IMDB also mentions him in Ragtime. And yes, Forman was planning to give him the role of Harry Thaw, Nicholson also agreed initially, but when the time has come, it appeared he was busy with another project.
It is though very surprising that Milos Forman in his commentary to the film, when this scene comes, does not mention that Nicholson was playing the role. He should have mentioned it, if this is correct...
"Jack Nicholson was originally supposed to play Thaw (Evelyn's husband and the murderer of Stanford White). Due to scheduling conflicts, he wasn't available at the time of filming.
Perhaps Forman gave him a 10 second cameo as a joking courtesy gesture. "
According to IMDB's trivia Nicholson was supposed to play Cagney's part.
I just found out about it myself in the wikipedia section on this film. I checked the film and found him as the pirate in the silent movie that is being shot on the beach by Tateh. On here, he is listed as Pirate on Beach, as I figured it was him (how can you not recognize the genius?) but wanted to check on here to confirm it.
Jack probably did this because he worked with Milos on Cuckoo's Nest, which gave him his first Oscar, and also he was supposed to play Rhinelander but couldn't due to scheduling conflicts so settled for this.
I'm watching the pirate scene right now-the guy looks like Jack,but is defiantly not him..also,I read that Jack was suppose to play the police chief Waldo..Cagneys role-and maybe the reason he's in the credits.Police Chief Waldo was actually 32 at the time,so it would fit if Jack was offered the role.Milos asked Cagney to be in the film and at 82yrs old,he agreed.Milos also gave Cagney his choice of role-including Evelyn Nesbits-
Cagney was great-when his Waldo realizes they were going to be there for awhile-his ad-libbed line-"get me some coffee and a roll" was great