The Scooby-Doo franchise, originally created by the groundbreaking Hanna-Barbera animation studio, is undoubtedly known for its amazingly creative and fun guest stars that range from pop singers to writers, and even scientists. In its animated run alone, the franchise has seen almost one hundred celebrity appearances. The number continues to grow with each new innovative and novelty cameo.
Many of the celebrities on the list make multiple appearances in the franchise, which is a testament to the timeless nature of Scooby-Doo and the array of spooky mysteries the Mystery Inc. manages to solve each episode. Though a series like Scooby-Doo And Guess Who? had a premise based on cameos, there are still a number of celebrity performances that go overlooked. Especially considering the vastness and immense lore of a franchise like Scooby-Doo, some voice actor cameos come as a complete surprise.
11 Steve Buscemi
Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Season 1, Episode 19 - “Fear of the Fire Beast!” (2020)
Since Steve Buscemi often plays off-kilter villains, the version of himself he plays in Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? is struggling to lie low in Sicily, Italy, as everyone believes he is really the type of guy he often plays. While navigating the fear the townspeople have of him, he is also on the run from a fire monster.
Known as the Fire Monster of Mount Etna, the Fire Beast is revealed to be Nana. Nana, who is Steve Buscemi’s cousin in the show, takes on the monstrous form as a way to get Steve Buscemi to prove he is a “hero,” and not the stereotypical gangster. Steve Buscemi learns to forgive Nana after bailing her out of prison. The townspeople learn of Steve Buscemi’s good nature after he opens a fire station for the town.
10 Sonny & Cher
Multiple Appearances
One of the most famous pop duos in music history, Sonny and Cher, discover on arrival that the resort they are staying at for their honeymoon on Shark Island is rundown and abandoned. This results in them being stranded on the island. However, the mystery gang shows up just in time to save them and help discover what went wrong at the resort, the Pescado Diabolico. With the help of the gang, Sonny and Cher discover the monstrous shark that haunts the grounds. Due to the star power of the guests, “The Secret of Shark Island” is one of the most popular and highest-rated episodes of The New Scooby-Doo Movies series.
Cher went on to star again in the franchise in the Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? series as herself in an episode titled “Cher, Scooby And The Sargossa Sea!” Again, evil sharks torment Cher’s yacht, and it is up to her and Scoob to get them to leave. The new episode with Cher’s second appearance aired almost 50 years after her first appearance with Sonny in 1972.
9 “Weird Al” Yankovic
Multiple Appearances
“Weird Al” Yankovic gets more than just a cameo in Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?, as he plays himself. In “Attack of the Weird Al-Osaurus,” the mystery gang finds him running an accordion camp in the Rocky Mountains. However, this music causes a landslide, and this results in a dinosaur being awakened in a cave. The dinosaurs that attacked “Weird Al’s” accordion camp are revealed to be animatronic dinosaurs manned by faux assistants on an archaeological dig.
Al also shows up in Scooby-Doo’s crossover with Batman: The Brave and the Bold in season 2. The mystery begins when the gang attends “Weird Al” Yankovic’s concert, where they discover that the theater is haunted. The Footlight Phantom taunts and torments the theater and its visitors, and they soon discover that this was all due to the Joker and the Penguin.
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Few series have had as big of an impact on pop culture as Scooby-Doo. Here are some of the best villains from the Mystery Inc. universe.
8 Jim Belushi
Multiple Appearances
Comedian Jim Belushi, who starred in the sitcom According to Jim and SNL, makes an appearance briefly in the Christmas special of What’s New, Scooby-Doo? Belushi plays Asa Buckwald, the innkeeper outside a town that hates and doesn’t celebrate Christmas due to the Headless Snowman that haunts them. Though the episode sets up for Asa to be the villain, since his business is growing because of the disaster, it ends up being Professor Higginson, motivated by his greed for gold in the town.
Jim Belushi makes another appearance in the animated movie Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King in 2008 as Glob. Glob is the soldier of the Goblin King who does his bidding as the gang tries to subdue the king, only to find out that the Goblin King and his cause to save his daughter is quite gracious.
7 Christian Slater
Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Season 1, Episode 25 - “The High School Wolfman’s Musical Lament!” (2020)
In the past, at his high school prom at a performing arts school, Slater turns down dancing with his classmate, Maryanne Mulrooney. This embarrassment causes him to take over the event and dismantle it by dressing as a werewolf. Years later, at his classes’ reunion, Christian Slater commits the same crime and terrorizes the event in his werewolf gear. This attracts the attention of Mystery Inc., where Slater misleads them by saving the gang from his own destruction.
After faking his own injuries and misleading the gang further, the gang sets a trap, where they discover that Christian Slater has been the terrorizing werewolf this whole time. Mulrooney ends up forgiving him for his lashing out at both events.
6 Smash Mouth
What’s New, Scooby-Doo? Season 3, Episode 13 - “Reef Grief!” (2005)
The rock band responsible for “All Star,” Smash Mouth also starred in What’s New, Scooby-Doo? In the episode “Reef Grief!” the band is preparing and performing for the Australian Beach-A-Palooza Blast. Here, tensions are high between the band members and the other competitors in a sand castle competition, including Rama Yam.
With a supposed Coral Reef Monster on the loose and destroying the sand castles, the gang finds themselves amidst these rivalries as they search for the creature. They then discover that the culprit of all the sabotages happening at the festival was actually Rama Yam all along and not a real monster.
5 Don Knotts
The New Scooby-Doo Movies Season 1, Episode 9 - “The Spooky Fog of Juneberry” (1972)
Don Knotts, known for his role as Barney Fife in The Andy Griffith Show, also plays a lawman similar to Fife in the town of Juneberry. The Mystery Machine and the gang are on a deserted road, and they search for a nearby town to stop and eat. They reach Juneberry, but they discover a dense fog that has taken over the town, specifically its cemetery.
When discovered by Don Knotts, a lawman, they are escorted to safety. After suspecting Don Knotts to be responsible for the fog as the episode continues, they discover it was a skeleton man who had possessed the area. But upon closer inspection, they discovered it was Gene Haultrey, who was trying to steal cattle in the midst of the fog. Mystery Inc. eventually kicks him out, getting the fog to dissipate and restore light to the town of Juneberry.
4 Cass Elliot
The New Scooby-Doo Movies Season 2, Episode 7 - “The Haunted Candy Factory” (1973)
Cass Elliot, one of the lead singers of the Mamas & Papas, plays a version of herself in the New Scooby-Doo Movies episode “The Haunted Candy Factory.” She is the owner and operator of the Sugar Plum Candy Factory. Cass Elliot calls on the mystery gang to help her business as her security man goes missing and ghosts appear in the factory.
The green globs begin to take over the factory, and they won’t leave her or her company alone. The episode carries some slight controversy, as the writers had Cass Elliot make jokes about her own weight and diet culture. She passed away less than a year after the episode’s airing. However, she left a lasting mark as one of the most prominent guest stars in the Scooby-Doo franchise in her role as the jovial and loving new owner of the Sugar Plum Candy Factory.
3 Harlan Ellison
Multiple Appearances
Harlan Ellison, the acclaimed sci-fi writer who wrote I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, stars as himself in the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. In his first appearance, Harlan Ellison is a guest lecturer at Darrow University.
The Mystery Gang visits the university after the discovery that the Char Gar Gothakon monster written by Harlan Ellison’s nemesis, Hatecraft, has come to life. Harlan Ellison is one of the first to discover this creature, as it attacks him on his way to his parked car. Later, in the final episode of the series, Harlan Ellison reappears as Mr. E, the pivotal antagonist of the franchise.
2 Tim Curry
Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost (1999), Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King (2008)
The legendary Tim Curry plays Ben Ravencroft in the Witch’s Ghost, a horror writer that has invited Mystery Inc. to his home in Oakhaven as his guests. While they are all there, they discover that the town is haunted by Ben’s ancestor, Sarah. They discover that Sarah used to practice witchcraft, along with the Hex Girls. What the gang doesn’t know is that Ben is eager to harness the haunting powers that Sarah has for world domination.
In the Goblin King, Tim Curry plays the Goblin King himself. Shaggy and Scooby visit a Halloween carnival, where, under the allure of a magic shop, they are transported to a magical and supernatural land where a Goblin King rules. Though they are under the impression the Goblin King is evil, he’s actually only trying to save his daughter, Fairy Princess Willow.
1 Mark Hamill
Multiple Appearances
The character of Corey Anders in the second season of The New Scooby-Doo Movies was one of Mark Hamill’s first voice-acting roles. Corey Anders is a character originally from the series, Jeannie, which also aired in 1973. That show was about him finding a genie named Jeannie in the quirky fantasy series. Mark Hamill’s role was a unique crossover between the two shows where both he and Jeannie make appearances.
This wasn’t Mark Hamill’s only appearance in the franchise, however. He plays over six roles in the franchise, including himself, along with his famous DC villain roles as The Joker and The Trickster in Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?.
