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Ozzy Osbourne’s place in music history has been solidified, as he and Black Sabbath are often credited as the first heavy metal band. Releasing 19 studio albums over five decades, the Prince of Darkness has won two Grammys (plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), influenced countless of the most well-known bands in the genre and, you know, bit the head off of a bat. His eccentric personality and wild look made him the perfect choice for several great TV and movie appearances over the years, and here are 10 of the best.
While the Black Sabbath frontman has been known to portray characters — lending his voice to several animated projects — Ozzy Osbourne is a character in and of himself, and many of his best offerings feature the Godfather of Metal just being Ozzy.
Little Nicky (2000)
Adam Sandler boasts a pretty impressive catalog of projects that span multiple genres, but the 2000 action comedy Little Nicky is not considered one of his greatest. It still has developed a cult following over the years for its ridiculously devilish story and bevy of celebrity cameos. One of the famous faces to make an appearance is Ozzy Osbourne, who Nicky summons after his brother Adrian (Rhys Ifans) transforms into a bat. You can imagine where things go from there.
Rent or buy Little Nicky on Amazon Prime Video.
The Osbournes (2002)
Years before the Kardashian-Jenner bunch became the royal family of reality TV, America fell in love with The Osbournes. The MTV series captured what it was like to live with Ozzy Osbourne, his wife Sharon and two younger children, Jack and Kelly. The show lasted for four seasons and made household names of all of them, but more importantly it gave us a different perspective on the Prince of Darkness. It was hilarious to see Ozzy bumbling around helplessly, calling out for, “Sharon!”
The Osbournes is not available to stream or buy, but you can stream their 2020 series The Osbournes Want to Believe on Max.
Austin Powers In Goldmember (2002)
Mike Myers got in on The Osbournes’ craze back in the early aughts in the third movie of his shagadelic trilogy, Austin Powers in Goldmember. Repeating a bit from the 1999 sequel that involved a phallic-shaped rocket, Goldmember features Dr. Evil shooting down a satellite shaped like a pair of breasts. An amusing montage of double entendres ensues, eventually cutting to Ozzy shouting, “Boobs!” He then explains to his family members sitting next to him that the Austin Powers filmmakers are boobs because they already used that joke in The Spy Who Shagged Me.
Rent or buy Austin Powers in Goldmember on Amazon Prime Video.
Private Parts (1997)
Howard Stern’s autobiographical film Private Parts featured a number of celebrity cameos, and while Ozzy Osbourne only uttered a single sentence in the film — “What a fucking jerk.” — it remains one of the 1997 flick’s most quoted lines.
Stream Private Parts on Apple TV+.
Rent or buy Private Parts on Amazon Prime Video.
Trolls World Tour (2020)
The sequel to the DreamWorks animated hit Trolls highlighted a number of different genres of music, and that means there were some big names in the Trolls World Tour voice cast, including Mary J. Blige, J Balvin, Kelly Clarkson, George Clinton and, of course, Ozzy Osbourne. The Black Sabbath frontman voiced King Thrash, the retired king of hard rock, with the effects of his wild rock star lifestyle made evident through Osbourne’s signature nonsensical mumbling and his use of a motorized wheelchair, aka his mobile throne.
Rent or buy Trolls World Tour on Amazon Prime Video.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2013)
Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath premiered the second single off their reunion album 13 during an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In the Season 13 episode “Skin in the Game,” Ted Danson’s D.B. Russell and Marc Vann’s Conrad Ecklie attend a Black Sabbath concert while investigating a string of murders. On stage the band sings “End of the Beginning,” before the singer sits down with one of the suspects for an interview. The interviewer mentions that they’ve spoken before, back in 1986, to which Ozzy hilariously replies that he doesn’t remember — not just the conversation, either, but the entirety of 1986.
Stream CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on Hulu.
Stream CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on Paramount+.
WWE Raw (2009)
Ozzy Osbourne has made a few stops in the world of professional wrestling, even becoming a celebrity inductee to the WWE Hall of Fame in 2021. He’s also one of several celebrities who have appeared in WrestleMania — managing the British Bulldogs as they secured the World Tag Team Championships at the 1986 pay-per-view event. In November 2009, he and wife Sharon Osbourne served as guest hosts on WWE Raw, where they did a spin on Sharon’s gig as a judge on America’s Got Talent and turned the ring into a judges’ table for “Raw’s Got Talent.”
Trick Or Treat (1986)
Talk about playing off-type! Ozzy Osbourne may be known for portraying himself in many of his TV and movie appearances, but the 1986 comedy horror Trick or Treat brilliantly cast the Prince of Darkness in a role nobody would expect — a TV evangelist. It’s hilarious to watch the Rev. Aaron Gilstrom clutch his proverbial pearls at suggestive song lyrics and proclaim that the rock stars “have to be stopped!”
Stream Trick or Treat on Screambox.
Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)
Two things you may not think about when it comes to the Godfather of Metal are animated deer and Shakespeare, however, those worlds collided in Gnomeo & Juliet, the animated reimagining of Romeo & Juliet. Ozzy Osbourne voices Fawn, the miniature deer statue and best friend of Tybalt.
Stream Gnomeo & Juliet on Disney+.
Stream Gnomeo & Juliet on Hulu.
Rent or buy Gnomeo & Juliet on Amazon Prime Video.
The Jerky Boys: The Movie (1995)
Johnny Brennan and Kamal Ahmed came to fame in the 1990s as the Jerky Boys comedy duo, who developed a following for making prank phone calls. After a couple of comedy albums, the duo made a movie, appropriately titled The Jerky Boys: The Movie. Ozzy Osbourne makes an appearance as the manager for the band Helmet. Johnny and Kamal convince the manager that they’ve replaced two roadies who left to go on tour with The Monkees. Say what you will about the movie overall, but Ozzy’s utter disbelief that he got shunned for “the fuckin’ Monkees?!” is pretty funny.
Rent or buy The Jerky Boys: The Movie on Amazon Prime Video.
Whether you prefer Ozzy Osbourne behind the microphone or in front of the camera, there’s no denying that the Prince of Darkness can entertain, as he’s been doing so for half a century now.