Hairspray Live! college sophomore Maddie Baillio, as her first professional role. In November 2016, it was announced that Ricki Lake and Marissa Jaret Winokur (who portrayed Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film and the Broadway version respectively) would make cameo appearances; Winokur and Lake appeared as employees of Mr. Pinky's boutique. Darren Criss served as an on-air host, hosting a half-hour "Countdown to Hairspray Live!" show on NBC with Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes, as well as behind-the-scenes reports throughout the live broadcast. Oreo, Reddi-wip, and Toyota broadcast live, themed commercials during "Hairspray Live!"; Oreo's ad featured the character of Corny Collins,
Spencer Tracy film garnered Tracy some of the strongest reviews of his career—he was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and Golden Globe Award for the performance—but it was not a commercial hit. In the volcano disaster movie "The Devil at 4 O'Clock" (1961), Tracy played a priest for the fourth time in his career. His co-star, Frank Sinatra, ceded top-billing to guarantee Tracy for the picture. Continuing his pattern of indecisiveness, Tracy briefly pulled out of the production before recommitting. Critics were unenthusiastic about the film, which was nevertheless Tracy's most successful box office outing since "Father of the Bride".