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Special Guests
TCM’s passion for classic movies has earned the respect of the world’s most admired directors, producers, writers and actors. Be sure to visit this site often for details about 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival special guests in the weeks ahead. Programming is subject to change.
Pam Grier speaks onstage at the screening of COFFY (1973) in 2022. 
Ben Mankiewicz and Piper Laurie speak at the screening of HAS ANYBODY SEEN MY GAL? (1952) in 2022. 
Jon Lovitz, Patti Pelton, Ann Cusack, Maybelle Blair, Megan Cavanagh, Lori Petty, and Anne Ramsay attend the screening of A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992) in 2022. 
Steven Spielberg and Jane Seymour attend the 40th Anniversary Screening of E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) during opening night in 2022. 
Mink Stole and Mario Cantone attend the screening of POLYESTER (1981) in 2022. 
Paul Reiser, Tim Daly, Kevin Bacon, Steve Guttenberg, and Dave Karger attend the screening of DINER (1982) in 2022. 
Piper Laurie attends a screening of THE HUSTLER (1961) in 2022. 
Lori Petty attends the screening of A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992) in 2022. 
Jane Seymour attends the 40th Anniversary Screening of E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) during opening night in 2022. 
Rob Reiner, Meg Ryan, and Billy Crystal attend The 30th Anniversary Screening of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989) in 2019. 
Donald Bogle, Stephanie Allain, Molly Haskell and Jacqueline Stewart at “The Complicated Legacy of Gone With the Wind” panel in 2019. 
John Carpenter, Dave Karger, and Kurt Russell attend the screening of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK(1981) in 2019. 
Joie Lee and Ruth E. Carter speak onstage at the screening of DO THE RIGHT THING (1989) in 2019. 
Rita Moreno attends a book signing in 2016. 
Jim Piddock, Ben Mankiewicz, Fred Willard, Bob Balaban and John Michael Higgins attend the screening of BEST IN SHOW (2000) in 2017. 
Illeana Douglas and Dick Cavett speak onstage in 2017. 
“Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival: Michael Douglas” in 2017. 
Anjelica Huston in 2010. 
Melvin Van Peebles, Mario Van Peebles and Jacqueline Stewart introduce a screening of SWEET SWEETBACK’S BAADASSSS SONG (1971) in 2018. 
Carl and Rob Reiner at the Hand and Footprint Ceremony in 2017. 
Peter Bogdanovich and Dave Karger speak onstage at the screening of WHAT’S UP, DOC? (1972) in 2017. 
Angela Lansbury speaks onstage at a screening of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) screening in 2016. 
Francis Ford Coppola attends THE CONVERSATION (1974) screening in 2016. 
Esther Williams and Betty Garrett in 2010. 
Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd speak onstage at ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (1975) in 2016. 
Kim Novak in 2012. 
Cicely Tyson places her handprints in the forecourt of the TCL Chinese IMAX Theatre in 2018. 
Hayley Mills in 2012. 
Eva Marie Saint in 2010. 
Mel Brooks in 2012. 
Robert Osborne and Debbie Reynolds in 2012. 
Tippi Hedren in 2013. 
Max von Sydow in 2013. 
Robert Osborne and Mitzi Gaynor in 2013.
Jon Voight, Ned Beatty, Burt Reynolds, John Boorman, and Ben Mankiewicz in 2013. 
Jerry Lewis in 2014. 
Kirk Douglas in 2011. 
Quincy Jones in 2014. 
Richard Dreyfuss in 2014. 
Robert Osborne and Maureen O’Hara in 2014. 
Robert Osborne and Mickey Rooney in 2012. 
Shirley Jones in 2014. 
Dave Karger and Alicia Malone attend The 30th Anniversary Screening of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989) opening night in 2019. 
Alan Zweibel, Dennis Miller, and Eddie Muller speak onstage at the screening of BUCK PRIVATES (1941)in 2019. 
Ben Mankiewicz and Lori Petty in 2022. Announced 2023 Special Guests:
Khandi Alexander – Actor, Dancer, Choreographer
Michael Allin – Screenwriter
Allison Anders – Writer, Director
Paul Thomas Anderson – Director, Screenwriter, Producer
Ann-Margret – Actor
Jeremy Arnold – Author, Commentator
Frankie Avalon – Actor, Singer
Diane Baker – Actor
Craig Barron – Visual Effects Artist
Cari Beauchamp – Writer
Jerry Beck – Author, Animation Historian
Ed Begley Jr. – Actor, Environmentalist, Son of Ed Begley
Shari Belafonte – Actress, Writer, Singer
Rita Belda – Vice President, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Tom Berenger – Actor
Steven Bingen – Author, Archivist
Donald Bogle – Film Historian, Author, Professor
Ben Burtt – Sound Designer
Mario Cantone – Actor, Comedian
Debra Martin Chase – Film and Television Producer
Candy Clark – Actor
George Clooney – Actor
Peter Conheim – Restorationist
Brendan Connell, Jr. – Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Joe Dante – Film Director
Sloan De Forest – Writer, Film Historian
Rebecca De Mornay – Actor
Dana Delany – Actor
Ernest Dickerson – Director, Cinematographer
Angie Dickinson – Actor
Richard Dreyfuss – Actor
Nancy Dussault – Actor
Jody Eisenstein-Miracle – Business Owner and Former Assistant to Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara
Scott Feinberg – Film Journalist, The Hollywood Reporter
George Feltenstein – Warner Bros. Discovery Library Historian
Kate Flannery – Actor, Writer, Singer
William Friedkin – Director
Viviana García Besné – Founder of the Permanencia Voluntaria Film archive, Film Activist
Bruce Goldstein – Founding Repertory Artistic Director of New York’s Film Forum
Louis Gossett, Jr. – Actor
Randy Haberkamp – Executive Vice President, Library, Archive and Scitech for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
James B. Harris – Producer, Writer, Director
John Hawkes – Actor
Jenny He – Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Brian Henson – Producer, Director, Writer, Puppeteer, Chairman of the Board – The Jim Henson Company, Son of Jim Henson
Amy Homma – Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Charles Horak – Restoration Producer
Danny Huston – Actor, Writer, Director, Son of John Huston
Amy Irving – Actor
Lawrence Hilton Jacobs – Actor
Doug Jones – Actor, Author
Shirley Jones – Actor
Jeff Joseph – Film Archivist, Author
William Joyce – Author, Illustrator, Filmmaker, Pioneer in the Digital and Animation Industry
Andrea Kalas – SVP of Archives, Paramount Pictures
Donna Kimball – Puppeteer
Ricki Lake – Actor
John Landis – Director
Joie Lee – Actress, Screenwriter, Producer, Director
Leonard Maltin – Film Critic and Historian
Drew Massey – Puppeteer
Michael McKean – Actor
Tara McNamara – Film Critic and Journalist
Lawrence A. Mirisch – Academy Member, Agent, Filmmaker, Son of Walter Mirisch
Ben Model – Accompanist, Historian
David Newman – Composer and Conductor, Son of Alfred Newman
Edward James Olmos – Actor, Producer, Humanitarian
Michael Oosterom – Puppeteer
Annette O’Toole – Actor
Alexander Payne – Writer, Director
Penny Peyser – Actor
Lou Diamond Phillips – Actor
David Pierce – Film Historian and Assistant Chief and Chief Operations Officer at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center at the Library of Congress
Luis I. Reyes – Author and Historian
Peter Riegert – Actor, Writer, Director
Ayo Robinson – Granddaughter of Jackie Robinson
Alan K. Rode – Author, Historian
RZA
Michael Schlesinger – Filmmaker, Historian
Lin Shaye – Actor
Steven Soderbergh – Director, Writer, Editor, Cinematographer
Steven Spielberg – Director, Producer
Richard Stanley – Realtor, Former Assistant to George Cukor
George Stevens, Jr. – Writer, Director, Producer, Founding Director of the American Film Institute, Son of George Stevens
Steve Stoliar – Writer, Producer, Actor, Former Secretary to Groucho Marx
Russ Tamblyn – Actor, Artist
Stephen Tobolowsky – Actor
Mark A. Vieira – Photographer, Writer, Filmmaker
Michael Uslan – Originator and Executive Producer of the Batman movie franchise
Patrizia von Brandenstein – Production Designer
Michael Westmore – Make-up Artist, Nephew of Wally Westmore
JoBeth Williams – Actor
David Wyler – Producer, Son of William Wyler
*We regret the following will no longer attend as previously announced::
Barbara Benedek – Screenwriter
Keith Carradine – Actor
Debbie Joseph – Former Assistant to Esther Williams
Lawrence Kasdan – Writer, Director
Cass Warner – Author, Filmmaker, Granddaughter of Harry Warner
The TCM Classic Film Festival has featured appearances by:
Jim Abrahams, Debbie Allen, Allison Anders, Julie Andrews, Ann-Margret, Alan Arkin, Gillian Armstrong, Kevin Bacon, John Badham, John Bailey, Diane Baker, Rick Baker, Bob Balaban, Alec Baldwin, Drew Barrymore, Ned Beatty, Warren Beatty, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Robert Benton, Theodore Bikel, Jacqueline Bissett, Ann Blyth, Peter Bogdanovich, John Boorman, Ernest Borgnine, Beau Bridges, Jeff Bridges, James L. Brooks, Mel Brooks, Kevin Brownlow, Geneviève Bujold, Steve Burum, Charles Busch, Dyan Cannon, Mario Cantone, Leslie Caron, John Carpenter, Keith Carradine, Ruth E. Carter, Veronica Cartwright, “Baby Peggy” Diana Serra Cary, Dick Cavett, George Chakiris, Marge Champion, Anne V. Coates, Francis Ford Coppola, Billy Crystal, Alan Cumming, Tony Curtis, Joe Dante, Frank Darabont, Carl Davis, Bruce Dern, Caleb Deschanel, Dana Delany, Danny Devito, Leonardo DiCaprio, Angie Dickinson, Stanley Donen, Illeana Douglas, Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Keir Dullea, Faye Dunaway, Robert Evans, Sally Field, Michael Feinstein, Rhonda Fleming, Jane Fonda, Peter Fonda, William Friedkin, Betty Garrett, Mitzi Gaynor, Danny Glover, Jeff Goldblum, Ginnifer Goodwin, Elliot Gould, Topher Grace, Jennifer Grant, Lee Grant, Coleen Gray, Joel Grey, Pam Grier, Peter Guber, Steve Guttenberg, Taylor Hackford, Bill Hader, Molly Haskell, Tippi Hedren, Buck Henry, John Michael Higgins, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Houghton, Marsha Hunt, Tab Hunter, Anjelica Huston, Olivia Hussey, Chris Isaak, James Ivory, Norman Jewison, Quincy Jones, Shirley Jones, Anna Karina, Stacy Keach, Anna Kendrick, Callie Khouri, Susan Kohner, Barbara Kopple, Nancy Kwan, David Ladd, Martin Landau, John Landis, Angela Lansbury, Sherry Lansing, Piper Laurie, George Lazenby, Ruta Lee, Spike Lee, Terry Leonard, Barry Levinson, Jerry Lewis, Christopher Lloyd, Norman Lloyd, Gina Lollabrigida, Sophia Loren, Jon Lovitz, Lulu, A.C. Lyles, Ali MacGraw, Shirley MacLaine, Leonard Maltin, Rob Marshall, Jerry Mathers, Tim Matheson, Marlee Matlin, Albert Maysles, Tom McCarthy, Patty McCormack, Malcolm McDowell, Steve McQueen, Dennis Miller, Hayley Mills, Juliet Mills, Liza Minnelli, Walter Mirisch, Juanita Moore, Rita Moreno, Robert Morse, Mira Nair, Marni Nixon, Kim Novak, France Nuyen, Margaret O’Brien, Maureen O’Hara, Nancy Olson, Patton Oswalt, Peter O’Toole, Simon Pegg, Ron Perlman, Tyler Perry, Lori Petty, Jim Piddock, Christopher Plummer, Sidney Poitier, Jane Powell, Paula Prentiss, Luise Rainer, Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner, Paul Reiser, Maggie Renzi, Burt Reynolds, Debbie Reynolds, Robert Richardson, Tim Robbins, Mickey Rooney, Fred Roos, Richard Roundtree, Barbara Rush, Kurt Russell, Meg Ryan, Eva Marie Saint, Julian Sands, John Sayles, Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese, Jane Seymour, Mark Shaiman, Martin Sheen, Ron Shelton, Richard Sherman, Martin Short, Nancy Sinatra, Tina Sinatra, John Singleton, Russ Tamblyn, Quentin Tarantino, Joan Tewkesbury, John Toll, Robert Towne, Robert Townsend, Cicely Tyson, Mario Van Peebles, Melvin Van Peebles, Jon Voight, Max Von Sydow, Robert Wagner, Eli Wallach, Don Was, Adam West, Haskell Wexler, Leonard Whiting, Fred Willard, Esther Williams, John Williams, Debra Winger, Jane Withers, Edgar Wright, Michael York, David Zucker, Jeff Zucker and many others.