You may already be familiar with Cervaise’s concept of THAT Guy. A THAT Guy is an actor the casual moviegoer sees everywhere but whose name he don’t know. They play bit parts, often without much recognition, often without stardom. Most people wouldn’t recognize THAT Guy’s name in a million years because nobody ever mentions him.
But if you say, “Hey, do you remember the bald hardass cop from Masters of the Universe? I think he was the same actor who played the bald hardass Air Force guy in WarGames. And he played the bald hardass principal in Back to the Future.”
And your friend will say, “Oh, THAT Guy.”
This kind of actor will often be found playing the same types of roles. Remember the tall, fussy hotel manager from Ghostbusters? Well, you’d recognize him also in WarGames playing a tall fussy Air Force officer.
Sometimes the actor will be found playing completely different parts and you never would have recognized him at all. Without access to IMDb, most people would have a hard time putting a name to the actor who was in Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Batman. He’s a THAT Guy. You’d never know it was the same actor; he just fits.
I bring this up because I just had a THAT Guy moment, watching Blackadder season 2, “Money.” Lord Blackadder has run afoul of the Bank of the Black Monks, to whom he now owes a thousand pounds, and a vicious ruffian—the Bishop of Bath and Wells—has come to collect.
Curious, I watched the end credits for that actor’s name and had a THAT Guy moment. The Bishop of Bath and Wells is played by the same actor who plays the sinister Toht from Raiders of the Lost Ark. His name is Ronald Lacey. I was astonished that the two parts were played by the same person.
Now I know the Dopers are smart. What actors do you consider to be THAT Guy actors? What actors have startled you by appearing everywhere right under your very nose?
Cervaise is my brother and we’ve been discussing his THAT Guy theory for longer than we’ve had access to the Internet. Fascinating! I hadn’t realized someone else had had a similar idea and used the same name.
How about Michael Ironside, who has to rate somewhere in the pantheon of all-time That Guys. Who? The bald guy with the cool voice who always plays military dudes!
Alright, you’d know him as “Jester” from Top Gun. Gamers may recognize him as Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell and, if they were unfortunate enough to play a crappy game called RLH, he was the voice of Commander Mason. Or, if you saw Starship Troopers, he was the teacher-guy with the fake hand(?). Or he was That Other Captain on Seaquest.
He’s usually in bad movies or bad sequels of decent movies.
Not quite what the OP was looking for, but in college I had several friends who were absolutelly in love with Alan Rickman, and the boyfriend of a friend of mine was a Christopher Walken fan. All were constantly annoyed that other people often knew their idols only as…“That Guy”.
I usually think of Mare Winningham as “That Made-for-TV-Movie Woman”.
William Hickey was a favorite “That Guy” in my family. My mother called him “That Annoying Guy” (not because she personally found him annoying, but because he often played characters that annoyed the leads).
“That Guy” isn’t exactly a bizarre juxtoposition of words which would normally be meaningless but which, in context, explain an esoteric concept…so it sort of shouldn’t be a surprise that a bunch of people have used the same term for the same thing, people. And I’m thanking NDP for linking to Fametracker and saving me the effort.
I love finding "that guy"s…for my own personal amusement. For instance:
Alice Kagen was the bank teller in “Coming to America” who convinced Arsenio Hall to go for the whole million when wiring to King Joffee for money. She was also Manny’s wife in “Innocent Blood” (“My Manny! HE ATE MY MANNY!”).
I recently saw “Stark Raving Mad” which was co-directed by the Dope’s own anamorphic (and which ruled, by the way). In it is Patrick Breen, who also played the guy whose wife delivered a little squid into Will Smith’s hands in “Men in Black,” AND the Thermian who was shot and died in Alan Rickman’s arms in “Galaxy Quest.”
Michael Ironside was also on “Babylon 5.” Then again so was Michael York, and Majel Barrett, in a neat little bit of unexpected casting (She’s Gene Roddenberry’s widow, if yez don’t know that already), and half the rest of the world.
My guy is Pete Postlethwait. He showed up in quite a few movies in the mid-90s; for awhile it seemed that I was seeing him every few months: Romeo + Juliet, Dragonheart, Brassed Off. But his name is still obscure. To get the “that guy” moment, however, I only have to mention his most famous role: Mr. Kobayashi (“I work for Keyser Sose”).
“Mr. Heckles” on Friends
The bathrobe-clad preacher in Vegas Vacation
Julia Roberts’s landlord in Pretty Woman
“Doobie” the cabdriver in Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The truck driver in The Sure Thing
“Mickey the bartender” in the episode of WKRP in Cincinnati where Herb hits on his buddy who had a sex change
And lots more. One of our many movie/TV watching games is “Spot Mr. Heckles.”
Funny, the first person I thought of was Clint Howard. While well-known in nerd circles, he’s still very much the epitome of the “That Guy” phenom.
[ul]
[li]Johnson from the Austin Powers movies[/li][li]Whobris from The Grinch[/li][li]Paco from The Waterboy[/li][li]One of the NASA specialists from Apollo 13[/li][li]Small roles in a billion other flicks[/li][/ul]
Dan Hedaya, the boss from “Joe vs. the Volcano” (“I’m not arguing that with you!”), Carla’s husband Nick on Cheers, a detective in probably a dozen movies, etc.
The father from The Wonder Years is a “That Guy” too.
I have one that my husband and I can’t figure out–That Guy that plays the ghost of Harley Earl in the car commercials. He looks very familiar but we can’t place him. I thought he might be Beau Bridges but my husband disagrees. Anybody know?
One of my favorites is John C. McGinley. I first became aware of him when he played the villain in Intensity, and now I realize he’s in zillions of movies. I also really liked him in Office Space.
I’ll have to put my word in for Steve Buscemi.
You know, the crazy guy in armageddeon.
The crazy guy in Mr. Deeds.
The crazy guy in billy maddison.
And of course, Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs.
DEA Agent Hal Maguire from Tequila Sunrise.
Seargent Major Dick Dickerson from Good Morning VietNam
Husband Wayne Brown from Red Rock West
Jason McThune from The Client
Charles Bushman from Sling Blade
Inspector Niebaum from The Negotiator
Greywolf73 said: “I have one that my husband and I can’t figure out–That Guy that plays the ghost of Harley Earl in the car commercials.”
One I’m surprised not to see on either fametracker.com or what-a-character.com is Taylor Negron. He usually plays small roles, but a glance at his imdb.com profile indicates that Negron gets A LOT of work. Here’s a sampling:
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) … Pizza Delivery Guy
Young Doctors in Love (1982) … Dr. Phil Burns
One Crazy Summer (1986) … Taylor, Gas Station Attendant
How I Got Into College (1989) … Mailman
Last Boy Scout, The (1991) … Milo
Stöned Age, The (1994) … Liquor Store Clerk
Angels in the Outfield (1994) … David Montagne
Bio-Dome (1996) … Russell (joey Lauren Adams’ sleazy step-dad)
Stuart Little (1999) … Salesman in Mall
Loser (2000) … Photographer
Another guy that’s done a lot of character work is John C. McGinley. He’s gotten more of a name now as Dr. Cox on NBC’s Scrubs, but he’d turned up in many, many movies in the past.
I saw him in ** Tomb Raider 2** and thought he was attractive. I wondered if I’d ever heard of any of the other movies he was in. Turns out I’d seen 3 of them, one of them not even two weeks earlier! Yeah, he’s definitely a That Guy.
The utter champion is Charles Lane (who, I discover, just recently celebrated his 99th birthday!). Lane made a career in Hollywood playing the same role in hundreds of movies and TV shows: the old man with a sour voice, usually a bank or insurance official, who tries to create problems for the heros. His best known role was as Homer Bedlow in Petticoat Junction (the guy who kept trying to take over the railroad), but he appeared in It’s a Wonderful Life, Arsenic and Old Lace, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Music Man and well over 200 film appearances (not counting TV guest stars). Just looking at his IMDB entry shows he made 22 movies in one year alone (1942).
Any fan of old movies will recognize him immediately, even if they don’t know his name.
