# Actor playing non-cameo part in different versions of same film

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 4, 2015, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193 "2015-03-04T13:08:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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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:** [March 4, 2015, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/1 "2015-03-04T13:08:24Z")

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As a complement to the Peter Dinklage-titled thread, how about cases where the same actor appears in two different film versions (or film and TV versions) of the same story, with the stipulation that the roles played in both are substantial – no cameos or walk-ons, like Kevin McCarthy’s small bit in the 1978 _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_.

1.) Michael Caine playing Milo Tindle in the 1972 version and Andrew Wyke in the 2007 version of **Sleuth**

Thus making him the only actor I know of to have played all the parts in any movie

2.) Vincent Price playing Clifford Pyncheon in the 1940 version of **House of the Seven Gables** and Gerald Pyncheon in the _House of Seven Gables_ portion of **Twice Told Tales** (1963)

(Vincent Price also hosted The House of the Seven Gables: A Guided Tour  
[The House of the Seven Gables - Salem Massachusetts: A Guided Tour (Video 1990) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2047879/) )

3.) Klaus Kinski playing Dracula in the 1979 **Nosferatu the Vampyre** and Renfield in the 1970 **Count Dracula**

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**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/2 "2015-03-04T13:23:05Z")

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If made-for-TV movies count–

Patty Duke began her career playing Helen Keller in _The Miracle Worker_; many years later, she played Annie Sullivan in a TV movie version.

Derek Jacobi was a wonderful Hamlet in a low-budget PBS version of the play; he was also Claudius in the big-budget 1996 film version of _Hamlet_ with Kenneth Branagh.

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**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/3 "2015-03-04T13:30:35Z")

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> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> 1.) Michael Caine playing Milo Tindle in the 1972 version and Andrew Wyke in the 2007 version of **Sleuth**
> 
> Thus making him the only actor I know of to have played all the parts in any movie

Except for the[four parts he didn’t play](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069281/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast)…

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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:** [March 4, 2015, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/4 "2015-03-04T13:32:42Z")

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This happens a lot with actors doing both theater and films.

Phil Silvers originally turned down the part of Pseudolus in _A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum_, saying it was too much like his Sgt. Bilko role on TV (and he wouldn’t be able to wear his glasses). But he played Marcus Licus in the film version, then later played Pseudolus onstage (with his glasses).

Tony Curtis played the musician Joe in _Some Like it Hot_. Near the end of his life he played millionaire Osgood Fielding in the stage musical version of the same name (which had originally been entitled “Sugar”)  
It’s not quite the same as I stipulated in the OP, but James Garner played both Bret Maverik in the TV series _Maverik_ and his father in the movie. But it’s not as if the movie is a different version of an episode of the TV series, so it does exactly fit.

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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:** [March 4, 2015, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/5 "2015-03-04T13:35:08Z")

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> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> Except for the[four parts he didn’t play](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069281/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast)…

Yeah, right.

One thing they couldn’t really do in the films that I loved in the theater versions is that the playbill for **Sleuth** had extensive fake biographies for the actors playing Inspector Doppler and Detective Tarrant, complete with all the previous parts they’d played, and with a picture for the one playing Doppler.

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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:** [March 4, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/6 "2015-03-04T13:41:16Z")

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Just so it’s clear, in this thread I’m looking for cases where the same actor played _different_ parts in two versions of the same film/TV show/TV movie (or even play), and both were substantial roles, not cameos or walk-ons.  
Not sure if this one counts, since her part in the first film was so brief, with no lines. But it’s not as if they brought her in just to appear, knowing she would have a bigger role in a future version. So it probably counts.

Vanessa Redgrave played Anne Boleyn in the 1966 film **A Man for All Seasons**. She had a much bigger part as Lady Alice Moore in the 1988 TV movie that had Charlton Heston in the lead role.

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**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/7 "2015-03-04T13:46:48Z")

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I came in to post about Michael Caine in _Sleuth_, and of course that’s the first thing in the OP, so I had to think of another.

**Burt Reynolds** played Paul Crewe in the original _The Longest Yard_ (1974), and then Nate Scarborough in the remake (2005). (And according to the IMDb trivia entry, a part for Ed Lauter was added to that movie as something of an afterthought, though I don’t know if it passes the non-cameo stipulation of the OP.)

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**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/8 "2015-03-04T13:48:12Z")

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Theatrical example: Jonathan Pryce appeared in a 1980 production of **The Caretaker** as Mick and in a 2012 production as Davies.

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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:** [March 4, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/9 "2015-03-04T14:02:17Z")

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Again, it’s not exactly the same thing as I call for in the OP, but it’s surprising to learn that Jeremy Brett, who was for many people the definitive Sherlock Holmes in the BBC/PBS version from the 1980s-1990s, had played _Watson_ to Charlton Heston’s Sherlock Holmes onstage in the 1981 LA production of _Crucifer of Blood_. CoB is an original play, however, not anything by Doyle or directly based on anything by Doyle. (And Brett didn’t play the part in London, New York, or in the 1991 TV movie)

(Another interesting factoid, although not relevant to this thread – Brett also played Dracula onstage in the revival of the Deane/Balderston play that made Frank Langella famous, circa 1980, also in LA.)

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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:** [March 4, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/10 "2015-03-04T14:06:05Z")

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I didn’t see the remake of **Shaft**. Was Richard Roundtree’s role substantial? Ditto for James Garner in **Maverick.**

On Broadway, Robert Goulet became a star playing Lancelot in **Camelot** in 1960. Decades later, he played King Arthur in lesser productions.

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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:** [March 4, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/11 "2015-03-04T14:11:39Z")

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All this talk of Charlton Heston and I leave out the case where he fits – he was Taylor in the 1968 **Planet of the Apes** , and finally got to wear the Ape makeup himself as Zaius in the 2001 Burton remake. The Wikipedia page calls it a Cameo, but he’s got a minutes-long speaking part, so it’s more than the walk-ons I had in mind when stipulating in the OP\>

> [@](#):
>
> didn’t see the remake of Shaft. Was Richard Roundtree’s role substantial? Ditto for James Garner in Maverick.

I didn’t see Shaft, either, so I don’t know. I mentioned Maverick above.

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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:** [March 4, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/12 "2015-03-04T14:22:43Z")

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Again, a bit of a stretch, but Robert Rietty, who played the Italian Minister in **Never Say Never Again** , which is a remake of **Thunderball** , had done the voice dubbing for Adolfo Cieli’s Emilio Largo in **Thunderball**

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/13 "2015-03-04T14:27:51Z")

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Not exactly what the OP is after, but Christopher Lee has played Sir Henry Baskerville and both Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes in different movies.

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**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/14 "2015-03-04T14:29:25Z")

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Richard Hatch in Battlestar Galactica

Apollo in the Original and Tom Zarek in the reboot.

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**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/15 "2015-03-04T14:33:08Z")

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Henry Morgan

MASH - Colonel Sherman T. Potter  
MASH - Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele

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**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/16 "2015-03-04T14:33:17Z")

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Piling on the Sherlock Holmes casting, from 2 different TV versions…

In the Peter Cushing version of “The Blue Carbuncle,” the commissionaire who finds Mr. Henry Baker’s hat and the goose containing the stolen gem is played by Frank Middlemass.

In the Jeremy Brett version of the same story, Frank Middlemass plays Henry Baker, who loses the hat and the goose.

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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:** [March 4, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/17 "2015-03-04T14:33:38Z")

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Ian Holm played Frodo Baggins in the 1981 BBC radio version of **Lord of the Rings** and played Bilbo Baggins in the Peter Jackson **Lord of the Rings** movies (and the first Jackson **Hobbit** movie).

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**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/18 "2015-03-04T14:39:42Z")

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Maybe a stretch but Arnold Schwarzenegger played multiple distinct characters though they were the same cyborg model in the Terminator series.

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**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/19 "2015-03-04T14:41:49Z")

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Another one from TV: John Wesley Shipp played Barry Allen in the 1990 version of _The Flash_; in the 2014 reboot, he plays Barry’s father, Henry.

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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:** [March 4, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193/20 "2015-03-04T14:42:32Z")

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> [@BubbaDog](#):
>
> Henry Morgan
> 
> MASH - Colonel Sherman T. Potter  
> MASH - Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele

Not quite the same thing – he played different characters in different episodes of the TV show **MASH** , but they weren’t versions of each other.  
If we wanted to do actors who played different characters in the same TV series we could do an entire thread – Barbara Eden in T Dream of Jeannie, Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewtiched, and so on. But they’re not playing different parts in remakes of the same drama or episode.

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actor-playing-non-cameo-part-in-different-versions-of-same-film/714193.md?page=2)
