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Billed Above the Title (view source)

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== Comic Books ==
* [[Stan Lee]], whenever he deigns to release a new "project" (like, say, ''[[Atop the Fourth Wall (Web Video)|Nightcat]]'').
 
 
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* Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid in ''[[Casablanca]]''. Henreid refused to take the thankless role of [[Romantic False Lead|Victor Laszlo]] unless he was billed alongside Bogart and Bergman.
* [[Will Smith]] in pretty much all of his movies. ''[[Hancock]]'' is a good example.
* Likewise, [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] in many of his movies. He is often billed simply as "SCHWARZENEGGER", because it looks really good on a poster. The late, great [[Don La FontaineLaFontaine]] once said that Schwarzenegger's name was his favorite to say with The Voice.
* Just about every film [[Robin Williams]] is in.
* Just about every film [[Jim Carrey]] is in.
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* Weird case: ''Cobra'' is titled "[[Sylvester Stallone|Stallone]] Cobra" in Brazil because of this.
* [[Audrey Hepburn]] was granted this for ''[[Roman Holiday]]'' after Gregory Peck told his agent that, despite her not appearing in any prior major motion pictures, she should receive high billing for her Oscar-worthy lead performance.
* [[Marlon Brando]] in ''[[Superman (Filmfilm)|Superman]]'', who took the role of Jor-El in exchange for both this trope and [[Money, Dear Boy]], and infamously provided one of the laziest, most wooden performances of his career.
** Similarly, [[Jack Nicholson]] in ''[[Batman (Filmfilm)|Batman]]'', for whom top billing was a small price to pay: He is the highest-paid actor in history for a single film (his estimated payday in lump sum plus grosses plus merchandising was ''$60 million'', and that's ''not'' adjusted for inflation). To his credit, though, he does put in a much better performance than Brando.
 
 
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* Conan
* "Judd Hirsch in ''[[Taxi]]''". Odd in that the show was not tailored specifically for him, though he was the nominal lead, he was also part of a strong ensemble cast. Also, in the years since the show's cancellation, his co-stars Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, and Tony Danza have all enjoyed greater success than he.
* "Elizabeth Montgomery in... ''[[Bewitched (TV)|Bewitched]]!''" This one had the extra prominence of being spoken aloud by an announcer.
* Similarly, "Jackie Gleason... ''[[The Honeymooners]]!''"
* In season 1 of ''Space: 1999'', both Martin Landau and Barbara Bain are billed ahead of the show title. Not so seasion 2.
* "[[Angela Lansbury]] in ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]''."
* Bill Bixby was credited ahead of the title in ''[[The Incredible Hulk]].''
* In classic ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Doctor's face (from partway through the Second Doctor's tenure) was always shown ahead of the title -- arguably billing for the actor since (per usual BBC policy at the time) actors were never credited in the opening titles.
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* Series produced by Quinn Martin Productions (or QM Productions, to be accurate) usually avoided this trope regardless of how well known the actors were at the time; the only exceptions, curiously, were both for stars called Robert (Forster in ''Banyon'' and Conrad in QM Productions's final series ''A Man Called Sloane'').
* Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton in later seasons of ''[[All in The Family]]''. Before-the-title billing was originally offered only to O'Connor, who insisted that it also be extended to Stapleton. This also carried over into ''Archie Bunker's Place''.
* [[Chuck Norris]] is [[Walker, Texas Ranger]]
 
 
== Video Games ==
* [[Mark Hamill]] in ''[[Wing Commander (Videovideo Gamegame)|Wing Commander]] IV'', though not in ''Wing Commander III''. Both games had an [[All-Star Cast]], but Hamill was the lead (and, technically, the [[Star Wars|most famous actor]]).
* Almost everything [[Sid Meier (Creator)|Sid Meier]] has ever worked on since at least the mid '90s has borne a title starting with ''[[In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It|Sid Meier's]] [Whatever]''.
 
 
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