10 Huge Action Hollywood Action Heroes in Tiny Early Television Roles

Heroes & Icons present 10 Huge Action Hollywood Action Heroes in Tiny Early Television Roles.  Here are three of my favorites…

SYLVESTER STALLONE ON ‘POLICE STORY’

Rocky and the Rifleman, together? Now that’s mucho macho. In “The Cutting Edge,” Chuck Connors plays veteran cop Sgt. Ed Peebles. Naturally, he is teamed with a young partner, Elmore Caddo, played by Sly Stallone in his first television role. Airing a year before Rocky hit screens, the episode included a prescient line of dialogue. “They actually call me ‘Rocky,'” his character says. “I prefer that.”

 

BRUCE WILLIS ON ‘MIAMI VICE’

Moonlighting made Willis an immediate star in 1985. His resume was light leading up to that breakout role. A year earlier, he earned his first television credit in a very early episode of Miami Vice, “No Exit.” With pleated pants, puffy blouses and wavy hair, he oozed ’80s style — and made a pretty sleazy arms dealer.

 

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER ON ‘STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO’

The cult film Hercules in New York introduced the Austrian strongman to American audiences in 1970, but Arnie mostly kept to flexing competitions the rest of the decade. In 1977, he bulged his way onto the boob tube making his TV debut on an episode of The Streets of San Francisco dubbed “Dead Lift.” It was not much of a stretch (though it was a significant flex) as he played a champion bodybuilder named Josef Schmidt.