Rocky Has A Cameo From Star Trek's Michael Dorn, But You Probably Never Noticed Him

Paramount

Michael Dorn has had himself one fine career in Hollywood, the kind that many actors coming up now will probably never have the chance to experience. Dorn is largely known as one character, Worf from the "Star Trek" franchise, which technically includes "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" (where Dorn plays the grandfather of the Worf most people are familiar with) but was defined by his work on "The Next Generation," culminating in his return in "Picard" season 3. While Dorn has acted in a ton of other movies and TV shows over the years, this will always be his calling card. Be that as it may, Dorn does have another major franchise under his belt, although his contributions to it are quite a bit smaller.

Though one would be forgiven for missing it, Dorn actually has a small, uncredited role in the 1976 classic "Rocky." On an episode of Michael Rosenbaum's "Inside of You" podcast, Dorn was asked about his uncredited role in the first "Rocky" movie, which he described as his "first real gig." Rosenbaum then asked him to break down what he did in the film, which he explained as follows:

"It was a couple of scenes with Apollo Creed, Carl [Weathers], who just passed away. It was supposed to be only a couple of days in his office. We were like his bodyguards, this other guy and I [...] There was a couple of scenes. There's a couple that I'm not in, there's a couple I am in. Then, we were with him at the ring when he was fighting."

Dorn also described the job as "fleeting" but expressed that it was a great experience. A lot of that had to do with watching Sylvester Stallone dedicate himself fully to "Rocky," which he had to essentially will into existence. Dorn revealed that he got to witness that dedication in real time:

"It was a great thing because, for whatever we think if Sylvester Stallone, he really had a vision about it, and he was going to stick to his guns, and I remember in between shots when he was doing the rights, he was on the table getting a massage and writing, and rewriting scenes."

As for Dorn's scenes (which you can see above), it truly is a tiny role. Worf, who Dorn has described as the John Wick of the "Star Trek" universe, is in literally hundreds of episodes of TV between "The Next Generation," "Deep Space Nine," and "Picard," not to mention the "Star Trek" movies, whereas Dorn himself has mere seconds of screen time in "Rocky" with no dialogue. Be that as it may, it's still one heck of a thing to get to include on one's resume.

We're talking about a movie that is a classic unto itself, but one that also started a massive franchise that is still going strong to this day thanks to the "Creed" films. "Rocky" was a massive success that caught just about everyone off guard, becoming a box office behemoth and winning Best Picture at the Oscars. It's easy to forget that now but this movie was not viewed as a winner during filming. Dorn, speaking further in the interview, recalled meeting up with Stallone years later while filming the movie "Shade." Stalllone explained to him just how much of an underdog the film was before its release:

"He says, 'Yeah, nobody wanted that show. Nobody wanted that movie.' They didn't want the director. The studio didn't want it. He said there was a scene — and I didn't know this — that he really had to shoot, and they said no. 'You can't have that. No.' It was gonna cost them like an extra $20,000, it was something ridiculous. They said no, and he convinced them to give him one take, and if he didn't get it in one take and he tried to do another, there was a guy at the generator who was literally gonna pull the plug."

"Rocky" is currently streaming on Prime Video, or you can grab the first six films on Blu-ray via Amazon.