Certain actors and actresses just always seem to play the same character albeit a unique one.
Joe Pesci- in My Cousin Vinny, Casino, Goodfellas, etc. Sometimes his characters are violent and sometimes not but they always have that same personality. Has he ever played a character that was not a typical wise-cracking Joe Pesci character?
John Candy- in Uncle Buck, Spaceballs, Planes Trains & Automobiles, and many others. Again, he is always the same character at least in the movies of his that I have seen: In one word, I describe his typical character as a slob. He’s always gently but is also a screw-up who annoys the piss out of other character(s). Did ever fill a role as a character who did not fit this description?
So, I also ask my fellow members in Doperland: Who are your favorite and least favorite actors/actresses that you identify as one-trick-ponies?
I think their overall auras are the same because they are each a unique presence…
Look at Pesci… his character in Goodfellas would murder his character in the Lethal Weapon series. They are entirely different. Speech, manner, demeanor.
And hey his character in Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker is nothing like Jericho in Jimmy Hollywood.
Christopher Walken- A lot of his characters are diverse but it’s still Christopher Creepy as hell Walken so that shines through no matter what.
It’s like saying Chaplin was a one-trick pony.
I’ll probably get flamed for saying this, and don’t think I didn’t love her, but-
Katharine Hepburn- 9 out of 10 performances were Katharine as the sassy brassy opinionated smart upper-crust broad.
Jimmy Fallon was one of the biggest one-trick ponies in the history of SNL- the smart alecky guy who couldn’t make it through a sketch. The single biggest one trick pony in the show’s history was Melanie Hartsell (Tory Spelling and Jan Brady among other characters), who one critic rightly called “The woman of a thousand faces, all of them the same”.
Tom Cruise is the Cocky Young Man™ whether he’s a sport’s agent, kid running a brothel, 18th century vampire, fighter pilot, bartender, Irish immigrant or race car driver.
Pesci’s character in Raging Bull was something of a tour de force. The sedds of what ws to become ‘professional Pescism’ are visible, but it’s an understated performance that gains much in retrospect by the ‘realism’ - of the kitchen sink variety, as we Brits would say - and the lack of wise-cracking. His scenes with de Niro are some of the tenderest and most tortured love scenes (in the David and Jonathan sense of platonic love between two men) on film.
Don’t worry, you’re not the first to notice this. I think it was Dorothy Parker who famously said that Katherine Hepburn’s performances ran the gamut of emotions from A to B.
Peter Lorre’s always a seedy, sinister kinda guy – “The Maltese Falcon,” “M,” “Casablanca,” etc.
I heard Jack Black being interviewed once, and he said something about how many actors go out of their way to play as many different roles as possible, to show off their acting chops. But he really liked the play the same type of guy – to really get to the heart of the guy, and explore who that guy was. Something like that; he said it much more eloquently – I think it was a Fresh Air (NPR) interview if anyone wants to check.
On the other hand, I would have assumed that the guy who plays Jack on Will and Grace would always come across as gay and foppish and, well…Jack, even though I’d only seen him in that one role. But a while back I was channel surfing and saw him in an old TV movie in which he was playing a straight guy – convincingly! Who knew!
Actually, that actor, Sean Hayes I think, played a really great character on season 1 of Scrubs: a young, idealistic, well-liked, competent doctor who buckled under the pressure of life-and-death situations and quit early in his residency. I hardly recognized him, but he really made you like that character and feel absolutely horrible for him over the course of the 22-minute episode. The character was straight and “manly” as well, and I think the female lead played by Sarah Chalke even had a crush on him. I thought Hayes did an awesome job breaking out of the “Jack” character there.
There was a time when I would have agreed completely. But I saw Danza playing a lawyer on a dramatic series and I was amazed. He played this character he was highly intelligent and serious and he was convincing.
Another actor who can be surprising. Before he became such a huge success as a manic comedy actor, Carey did some serious dramatic roles and he actually can act.
In that case, I will withdraw my suggestion of Jim Carrey and make a mental note to watch Eternal Sunshine as soon as possible. He was very good in Truman Show, so I know he can do it.
I couldn’t disagree more. One of my favorite movies of last year (or did it come out 2 years ago?). And I thought Jim Carrey did very well in it – definitely not a typical “Jim Carrey role,” and good even on its own terms.
