Once Was Enough: Celebrities (And Others) Who Appeared a Single Time on the Screen

Profiles such one-shot wonders of the big screen as Johnny Carson, Evel Knievel, Christie Brinkley, and Dr. Ruth

Brode's compendium of one-shot wonders of the silver screen is a trivia trove that should have mavens of useless information stampeding the shelves. His demeanor toward his subjects can be solemn to the point of foolishness, as when he opines that Tarita, Marlon Brando's Mutiny on the Bounty leading lady and subsequent spouse, was later "there to share the little joys and big sorrows with him" when "one by one, his beloved offspring experienced unhappy fates." Such treacle is compensated for by the many, uh, revelations. Who would have imagined that Johnny Carson, Florence Henderson, and--a far more revered talent--Lynn Fontanne each starred in a bomb so bad that none of them ever worked in Tinsel Town again? And speaking of talent, guess what? Frank Sinatra Jr. was a movie star--once. Evel Knievel, Christie Brinkley, Richard Wright, Satchel Paige, Dr. Ruth, and Babe Ruth (he made two movies) are some of the other surprising names in these pages. Ray Olson