CNN - 'Aren't you my gynecologist?'

Actors have familiar faces, but names don't always ring a bell

'Aren't you my gynecologist?'

June 10, 1996
Web posted at: 11:30 p.m. EDT

From Correspondent Sherry Dean

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Richard Masur, Colm Meaney, Daniel Hedaya and Illeana Douglas are recognized wherever they go, because they've co-starred in movies from "Clueless" to "Risky Business" to "Cape Fear" and "To Die For."

But often when these actors are spotted on the street, people are apt to say "Aren't you... what's your name?"

They have never become household names... but they have very familiar faces.

Illeana Douglas was Matt Dillon's sister in "To Die For," and few people who saw the Robert De Niro version of "Cape Fear" could forget her face. But Douglas says that on the street, people often insist they were school mates.

Richard Masur co-starred in the television series "Rhoda" and "One Day at a Time," and has been in dozens of films from "Forget Paris" to "My Girl."

Yet he's often approached with great puzzlement.

"I get, um, you're um... why do I know you," he explains. "And I go, um, well, I'm an actor and sometimes people go 'no, that's not it.'"

Masur says he has detailed virtually his entire career to people on the street, only to have them insist they never go to movies or watch television.

"Two people have thought that I was their gynecologist," he says.

Until last year, Daniel Hedaya was best known as Nick Tortelli of "Cheers" and the spin-off "The Tortellis." But one really popular movie has changed things a bit.

Since seeing him play Alicia Silverstone's father in "Clueless," many are no longer "Clueless" as to Hedaya's name.

"Now people are recognizing me and saying my name," he says. "They're not struggling as much anymore."

Most Trekkies -- avid fans of the Star Trek programs -- know the name Colm Meaney. Others have seen him in "The Snapper" or "The Englishman Who Went up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain."

"The 'Star Trek' thing obviously is something that goes all around the world and you do get recognized most places," Meaney says, "But it's not a fever pitch."

And while being asked "what's your name" can sometimes bruise the ego, Meaney says it has its advantages.

"I don't have to put on disguises," he says.

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Actors have familiar faces, but names don't always ring a bell

'Aren't you my gynecologist?'

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