Sean William Scott. The star of such films as American Pie I, II and III, Road Trip, Dude, Where’s My Car and Dukes of Hazzard.
Actually, she said this about a particular performance–a stage performance–which was widely panned by ALL the theater critics at the time. It was not said about Hepburn’s body.
And I don’t think anyone ever accused KHepburn of being versatile. She played real people, and she made them very, very real. She may not have thrown a wide net, but she trawled pretty deep.
Day played that role only in a small minority of her movies, but those were the movies that were hits when she was Hollywood’s #1 box office draw. So those are the ones most people are familiar with. She was not the greatest actress of all time, but she was far more versatile than you give her credit for: The Man Who Knew Too Much; Young Man with a Horn; Love Me or Leave Me; Julie; Midnight Lace; etc.
One of the greatest actors in the history of television has flopped pretty badly whenever he stepped out of the role that will typecast him forever: Dennis Franz as Andy Sipowicz.
Fair enough; it’s probably just the case that I haven’t noticed her other stuff, perhaps because of the inherent noticeability of the Calamity Jane-style roles.
…so, not doing very well in this thread - how about I suggest Tommy Lee Jones?
Sammy Jackson. One of my all-time favorite actors but – let’s get real – he plays damn near the same exact do-not-piss-off-this-man-he’s-a-total-badass character in every single movie role since Pulp Fiction.
Sure: Only the Lonely. Probably his best role, too.
Just about all “old Hollywood” stars played a set type of role and were quickly typecast. They weren’t expected to branch out and do something different: people went to see Kate Hepburn be Kate Hepburn and the studios liked it that way. It wasn’t until the 50s that actors were expected to show range, so it’s unfair to be singling older actors out.
Watch [Nothing But Trouble to see something radically different:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102558/’
’
and you’ll be begging for his old bumbling schlemiel character back.
John Wayne.
I could name numerous actors here who fit the topic. But… let me try to defend some of the aforementioned actors.
A few of the people named are genuinely untalented. Most are people who, so far, have only shown a talent for playing a limited range of roles. But does that automatically mean they COULDN’T be good doing something completely different? No!
To use just one example, before “The West Wing,” I used to think Rob Lowe was nothing but a pretty boy who couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag. But given crisp, snappy dialogue to work with, Lowe turned out to be very good! (Nobody was more surprised than I was!) Now, since breaking away from Sorkin, Lowe has mostly done crap, and has reverted to form. But by doing so well on “The West Wing,” he confirmed two things I’d already come to believe:
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Good writing is crucial. Give a mediocre actor a good script with compelling dialogue, and he’ll probably shine. On the other hand, even a brilliant actor can do only so much with a lousy script.
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As often as not, an actor is merely doing what the script and the director ask him to do. To use one example, look at Jack Nicholson. We all know he CAN be a brilliant actor, and has been in many movies. But there have been many films in which it’s obvious he was hired solely to do his patented Crazy Jack schtick. When he works with a capable director who gives him some guidance and makes some real demands on him, Jack can still be great. But far too often, directors seem to want Jack simply to repeat his patented mannerisms.
Well, my guess is, a lot of the actors named here are in the same boat. They may not have great range, but most of them CAN give solid, subtle performances when directors ask them to. A good director can coax some subtlety out of Joe Pesci (who has given some great performances)- but some directors just seem to tell him “Do your Cousin Vinny routine.”
Well, if and when an actor is hired to do a rehash of a familiar schtick he’s known for, of COURSE he’s going to give just what he’s asked for. It’s not his fault that, too often, that’s ALL directors demand.
Jim Belushi
Except I saw Almost Famous three times before I realized he was the person playing the band’s new manager (who convinces them to tour by plane rather than by bus, etc.). Maybe he just needs good material and a director who knows how to get a performance out of him.
William Shatner.
Hey, I gotta agree with you here. Saw this after all the hype and thought “didn’t they already do the whole ‘mind-erase’ thing with Ah-nuld in Total Recall?”
Kind of a one-trick movie if you ask me.
Adam Sandler…
I was hesitant to see Punch Drunk Love but since I love PT Anderson I gave it a shot. It did show Sandler could act but still he spent alot of time yelling and moping. Only difference in this movie was that he wasn’t a happy-go-lucky guy inbetween the yelling and moping.
This does seem to be a problem with SNL alum - Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chevy Chase, Dana Carvey, Will Ferrell, Rob Schneider, etc. I wonder how much is typecasting and how much is a genuine inability to handle different roles.
What? Thirty-someodd posts in and no mention of Jeff Goldblum? Admittedly, I haven’t seen all of his performances, but the ones I can recall off the top of my head (The Fly, The Big Chill, Jurassic Park, Independence Day) show very little if any variation in the character played. I like the guy, but his playing Jeff Goldblum in every film kinda takes me out of the moment, if you know what I mean.
Absolutely right. During the Golden Age, the studios’ emphasis was on reliably predictable product to show in their captive theatre chains. If a film was successful, they made sequels out the wazoo; if an actor went over big, he was quickly typecast and reappeared in the same types of roles over and over. Have you read The Genius of the System? Eye-opening.
My candidate for one-trick pony: Jack Nicholson. Same ol’ Smirkin’ Jack in everything.
Since Pulp Fiction, maybe, but go back and watch Jurassic Park. He’s the borderline-geeky, chain-smoking programmer who tries to get things working after Nedry (Wayne Knight) sabotages the computer systems.
That was one of those cases where I didn’t know who he was when I first saw the movie. Saw it again a few years later and thought “that’s Samuel L. Jackson?”