[Senator Clay Davis]

I'll let the headline do the talking: The Ridiculous Stories Behind Donald Trumps Film and TV Cameos

Before he hosted The Apprentice—and long before his short fingers came within reach of the White House—Donald Trump enjoyed a terrible and haphazard acting career.

Like Ronald Reagan, Trump’s path to serious presidential candidate is littered with campy film and TV appearances. Unlike Reagan, Trump cannot actually act. And yet between 1987—when he boosted his celebrity profile with the publication of The Art of the Deal—and 2004, Trump appeared in dozens of TV shows and more than 10 feature films. Home Alone 2 and Zoolander are well remembered, but most of these movies are the kind that get lost in the dollar bin of a Blockbuster torched by its owners for the insurance money cash-in.

Speaking of cash-ins, the real estate mogul used these appearances to promote his brand: Trump nearly always played himself, with surrounding characters often stating his name in awe (“That’s Donald Trump!”) and remarking on his wealth. He reveled in the attention. Though Trump was a world-famous billionaire, he made himself quite available whenever an opportunity to appear on camera presented itself—even in B-movies like the ghost-sex disaster Ghosts Can’t Do It. “He wasn’t a hard get,” says one veteran producer. “I think you can tell that as long as that gentleman got to play himself, he was up for most shows.”

http://www.newsweek.com/ridiculous-s...-cameos-511713