# Actor goes from second banana (or other side role) to lead

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-goes-from-second-banana-or-other-side-role-to-lead/951057>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 21, 2021, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-goes-from-second-banana-or-other-side-role-to-lead/951057 "2021-09-21T12:40:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-goes-from-second-banana-or-other-side-role-to-lead/951057/62 "2021-10-29T15:33:13Z")

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> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#):
>
> Klaus Kinski played Renfield in 1970’s **Count Dracula** with Christopher Lee as the Count.  
> 9 years later he played Count Dracula in Werner Herzog’s **Nosferatu, the Vampyre**

Good reply. I thought I’d mentioned this one already, but on reviewing the above thread I don’t see it listed.

I was surprised to learn that Kinsky [played Nosferatu a second time in the 1988 movie **Vampire in Venice** (in Italian, **Nosferatu a Venezia**. The film is unrelated to Herzog’s movie of almost a decade earlier, or to the original Nosferatu movie to to Stoker’s novel. The character was supposed to be made up the same way as in Herzog’s film, but Kinsky refused to undergo the long makeup sessions.

> **[Vampire in Venice (1988) ⭐ 5.2 | Horror](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091651/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2)**
>
> 1h 37m | TV-MA

> **[Vampire in Venice (1988) - Trivia - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091651/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv)**
>
> Vampire in Venice (1988) - Trivia on IMDb: Cameos, Mistakes, Spoilers and more...

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**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-goes-from-second-banana-or-other-side-role-to-lead/951057/63 "2021-10-30T11:21:17Z")

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Earlier someone mentioned Law and Order characters and gave some examples.  
Jeremy Sisto played a lawyer for the defense in one episode and the next episode became part of the main cast as a different character.  
It was the last episode of a season, and the first episode of the next season.

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2021, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-goes-from-second-banana-or-other-side-role-to-lead/951057/64 "2021-10-31T10:43:17Z")

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Robert Goulet, Sir Lancelot on Broadway in _Camelot_ (1959), played King Arthur in the 1992 touring revival.

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**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2021, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-goes-from-second-banana-or-other-side-role-to-lead/951057/65 "2021-11-09T21:43:46Z")

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IIRC, Patrick Duffy and Victoria Principal were the Headliners on **Dallas** when it premiered. But Larry Hagman turned into the de facto star after the first or second season.

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