10 Most Famous Guest Stars on Tales from the Darkside

When Creepshow became a big hit in 1982, it kicked off something of an anthology horror boom. The most prominent and beloved of its spiritual successors was the late ’80s to mid ’90s HBO series Tales from the Crypt, which came equipped with revenge and comeuppance-focused narratives, big stars, big directors, and pretty big budgets. But before that came Creepshow‘s true successor: Tales from the Darkside, which ran on syndication from 1984 to 1988. It didn’t have half the budget of Crypt, but it did have the same dark sense of humor. Another similarity was the fact that it too had quite a few famous faces early in their careers.

Why was Darkside the true successor to Creepshow? That’s a question that is easy to answer succinctly: it was created by Creepshow‘s director, George A. Romero. What big stars did it have? That question requires unpacking in a few parts, and we’re going to go through it together just below.

10) Bruce Davison – “The Word Processor of the Gods” (S1 E8)

Bruce Davison’s big breakthrough role came all the way back in 1971, when he played the title role in Willard, a part that would later be inhabited by Crispin Glover. Davison is also known for his collaborations with big directors such as Robert Altman, Ken Russell and John Landis. But to most he’s the man who played Mystique’s victim, Senator Robert Kelly, in Bryan Singer’s X-Men and X2: X-Men United.

Darkside occasionally adapted the works of the greats, like Stephen King and Clive Barker. Davison’s episode, “The Word Processor of the Gods” is an example of a King adaptation, and it’s a very good one. In it he plays a struggling writer who learns his deceased nephew’s computer can turn words into reality.

9) Danny Aiello – “The Odds” (S1 E4)

The late Danny Aiello was mostly known for playing Italians and New Yorkers. For instance, his roles in The Godfather Part II, Once Upon a Time in America, Moonstruck, Do the Right Thing, Léon: The Professional, Lucky Number Slevin, and The Purple Rose of Cairo. He could masterfully inhabit a sweet hearted part just as well as he could play an intimidating heavy.

In “The Odds,” he plays bookie Tommy Vale, who accepts any bet, no matter how ridiculous or ill-advised it may be. He thinks his new client, Bill Lacey (the late Tom Noonan) is making especially dumb bets and thinks he has a new cash cow but is surprised to learn Lacey never loses. To try and beat him, Vale bets him on the time of his own death, and holes up to avoid anything and everything that may kill him.

8) Jessica Harper – “The Tear Collector” (S1 E16)

For a long time, Jessica Harper was primarily known for her lead role in as Suzy Bannion in Dario Argento’s masterpiece, Suspiria. But she also starred in a slew of other notable movies throughout the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s, including Phantom of the Paradise, Woody Allen’s Love and Death and Stardust Memories, Pennies from Heaven, Boys, and Minority Report. Then came the 2020s, and she’s had a pretty substantial career resurgence after staying off the radar in the 2010s. Examples include Bones and All with Timothée Chalamet, Memory with Jessica Chastain, Nightbitch with Amy Adams, and the one-two punch of Carousel with Chris Pine and Kill Me with Charlie Day in 2026.

In “The Tear Collector,” Harper plays Prudence, a young woman whose clinical depression causes consistent crying outbursts. When she meets therapist Ambrose Cavender, she’s surprised to learn he collects tears. But why does he do this? She needs to find out, because she’s begun to find herself falling in love with him.

7) Brent Spiner & Christian Slater – “A Case of the Stubborns” (S1 E9)

Some episodes of Darkside come with a one-two punch of big names. “A Case of the Stubborns” is one of those. First, you get a young Christian Slater, who later starred in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie. Then you have none other than Data himself, Brent Spiner.

“A Case of the Stubborns” is a prime example of how Darkside could tell a great story even without a budget. All we have is a man, whose daughter and grandson think is dead, coming downstairs for breakfast. The thing is, they’re right, he is dead. He just refuses to admit it. Slater plays his grandson while Spiner shows up as a priest who tries to convince the deceased that he is, in fact, deceased. This is one of the best episodes of the series, certainly Top 10 stuff.

6) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – “Djinn, No Chaser” (S1 E10)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is, of course, best known for his long-running career as a Center for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers. But he was also an actor for a while there, most known for his role in Airplane!

In his episode of Darkside, “Djinn, No Chaser,” he played a genie in a lamp. Genies have been a staple of anthology horror for as long as the subgenre has been a thing. For instance, in the Creepshow TV series and The Twilight Zone. This episode is, well, not so great, but Abdul-Jabbar is the best part of it.

5) Bradley Whitford – “The Deal” (S4 E12)

Bradley Whitford, who iconically played Josh Lyman on The West Wing and stole scenes in The Cabin in the Woods and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, had one of his earliest roles in a Darkside episode. And fortunately, it was one that made good use of his everyday nice guy charms.

Whitford plays Tom Dash, an English teacher who aspires to write for the big screen. He’s risked it all and moved to Hollywood but struggles to find a buyer for his script. His next-door neighbor claims to have some connects in the industry, but it may very well cost Dash his soul.

4) Seth Green – “Monsters in My Room” (S2 E12)

Seth Green has been in the industry since he was just 10 years old, starring in commercials, an ABC Afterschool Special, It, Pump Up the Volume and other such projects as a child actor. Then he moved onto his role in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie and his much larger role as Daniel “Oz” Osbourne” on the subsequent TV iteration.

In one of his earliest projects, the Darkside episode “Monsters in My Room” (written and directed by the great John Sayles), he plays Ronan, a kid who can’t convince his mean stepdad that monsters are coming after him at night. Before long Ronan gets past his fear and turns these monsters into allies and sics them on his true enemy.

3) Tippi Hedren & Justine Bateman – “Mookie and Pookie” (S1 E5)

Justine Bateman, sister of Jason, is primarily known for her role as Mallory Keaton in the beloved ’80s sitcom Family Ties. She also later popped up in her brother’s series Arrested Development and most recently had a role in an episode of Modern Family. As for Tippi Hedren, she became an icon thanks to her roles in the Alfred Hitchcock movies The Birds and Marnie. But she’s also Hollywood royalty, considering her daughter is Melanie Griffith and her granddaughter is Dakota Johnson.

In “Mookie and Pookie,” Bateman plays Pookie, twin sibling to Mookie. Mookie is dying, so he downloads his consciousness into his computer. After he passes, Pookie continues interacting with him, but her parents think this is a sign of a breakdown, and now Pookie has to convince them that she is, in fact, conversing with her brother before they kill the computer.

2) Debbie Harry – “The Moth” (S4 E4)

Debbie Harry, the iconic lead singer of Blondie, the band behind “Heart of Glass,” “Call Me,” and “One Way or Another,” also had a pretty decent acting career, most notably starring in David Cronenberg’s Videodrome. But she also had a history with Tales from the Darkside. In fact, like Christian Slater, she was in both an episode of the show and Tales from the Darkside: The Movie.

In the movie she played the witch preparing to eat Matthew Lawrence’s Timmy in the wraparound segments. In her episode of the show, “The Moth,” she plays another witch, though this one has been fatally stabbed and believes her soul will leave her body in the form of a moth. To come back to life, she tells her mother to capture the moth and put it back in her mouth. The question is, does even her mother want her back?

1) Robert Forster – “The Milkman Cometh” (S3 E13)

Robert Forster was active in the entertainment industry for 50 years, elevating every project he was in, but he’s most well-known for his Academy Award nominated work in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, where he played bail bondsman Max Cherry with a puppy dog lovability. But he also turned in fantastic leading and supporting performances in big movies Alligator, Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen and Breaking Bad as well as El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and Better Call Saul.

In “The Milkman Cometh,” Forster plays an artist struggling to support his wife and son. Even still, he wants another son. His and his family’s neighborhood is completely normal, save for the milkman who grants wishes as long as you leave him a note. But, like the average Djinn, he has a way of taking a wish and making a mockery of the wisher.

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