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Billed Above the Title: Difference between revisions
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When an actor -- usually the lead, but occasionally [[One-Scene Wonder|someone with a prominent and memorable supporting role]] -- and (almost) always the most famous person involved in a production -- is listed more prominently in the credits and all promotional material than even the title of the work itself.
A trope mostly associated with [[Film|the cinema]], but actually dating back at least as far as [[Older Than Radio|19th-century theatre]]. Very often, the project in which our actor is appearing is a "star vehicle" -- crafted specifically with him or her in mind. This is especially true in television, where the show itself will likely be named after our star. This is a classic litmus test as to whether the actor is a bona-fide A-lister, or just a prolific [[Hey, It's That Guy!|character actor]] or product of the [[Hollywood Hype Machine]].
In most [[New Media]] (such as early [[Live Action TV|television]], [[Video Games]], and [[Web Video|web series]], among others), this tactic is used if they manage to recruit someone that people actually recognize, even if by Hollywood standards the actor is fairly low on the totem pole.
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* "[[Angela Lansbury]] in ''[[Murder She Wrote]]''."
* Bill Bixby was credited ahead of the title in ''[[The Incredible Hulk]].''
* In classic ''[[
** In the new series, the actor playing the Doctor and the actor/actress playing the companion are both billed ahead of the show title, emphasizing the program's giving a stronger showing to the assistants. The two-part episode "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" took things to an extreme by flashing the names of not only the lead actor but FIVE companion actor names before the show title.
* 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'').
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[[Category:Credits Tropes]]
[[Category:Billed Above The Title]]
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