# Actors Forever Associated With 1 Role **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 3, 2001, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946 "2001-02-03T00:17:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/21 "2001-02-03T04:57:18Z")
Three I can’t believe haven’t been mentioned Yul Brynner = The King of Siam Anthony Quinn = Zorba the Greek George C. Scott = Patton ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/22 "2001-02-03T05:41:34Z")
Norman Fell will always be Mr. Roper. Don Knotts will always be Barney Fife. The cast of Friends will always be the cast of Friends. Peter Sellers will always be Inspector Clouseau (sp?). Woody Harrelson will always be Woody Boyd. ---
**Author:** ![Heath\_Doolin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Heath\_Doolin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heath_Doolin)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/23 "2001-02-03T05:53:13Z")
Traci Lords will forever be…underaged Traci Lords getting shagged royally by Peter North. Sorry Traci, but you f\*ck too well to be anything but the porn actress ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/24 "2001-02-03T06:44:38Z")
Christopher Reeve, it’ll be pretty hard to see him and not think of his role as the Man of Steel. Sadly, he wasn’t as invincible as his character was. ☹ He did other things, but chances are the first time you saw him it was in that role, so you’d recognize him for that from then on. ---
**Author:** ![Medievalist2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19adc/32.png) [@Medievalist2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medievalist2)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2001, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/25 "2001-02-03T08:02:31Z")
Jack Lord = Steve McGarrett of Hawaii Five-O ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/26 "2001-02-05T19:49:53Z")
To echo Persephone, Christopher Lloyd IS Doctor Emmett Brown from the “Back to the Future” movies to me but IS Jim Ignatowski from “Taxi” to my father. We both laughed at Lloyd as a Klingon captain in one of the Star Trek movies, because we both expected in the back of our minds that he would pull off a mask and become Doc [for me] or Reverend Jim [for Dad]. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/27 "2001-02-05T20:15:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dignan \* > \*\*Christopher Reeve, it’ll be pretty hard to see him and not think of his role as the Man of Steel. Sadly, he wasn’t as invincible as his character was. ☹ > > He did other things, but chances are the first time you saw him it was in that role, so you’d recognize him for that from then on. \*\* One of the basic cable channels showed the 1970s Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, and it was mind-blowing to see him walking around. It made me appreciate the movie a bit more. Jack Webb as Friday; Robert Fuller as Kelly Brackett, MD; and Kent McCord as Officer Jim Reed. Robin ---
**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/28 "2001-02-05T20:20:55Z")
-Sherlock Holmes = Basil Rathbone -The Frankenstein Monster = Boris Karloff -Dracula = Bela Lugosi ---
**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:** [February 5, 2001, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/29 "2001-02-05T20:34:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pammipoo \* > **And, last but not least, Gilligan. Can he ever be anyone else?** Sure! Didn’t you see Dusty’s Travels? Hello? (tap, tap) Is this thing on? Marlon Brando is the Godfather. Steve Landesberg is Det. Arthur Dietrich (Barney Miller) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/30 "2001-02-05T20:35:33Z")
**Marlon Brando** has had a long, successful career, but fifty years from now, every old picture of him in books about movies will be a picture of him as Don Vito Corleone. **Arnold Schwartzenegger** will always be the Terminator. It helps that he acts like the Terminator in every movie. **William H. Macy** is a very talented actor who’s building a nice little career for himself, but he’ll be Jerry Lundegaard forever. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/31 "2001-02-05T20:55:29Z")
Poor old Keir Dullea. According to the IMDB, he was in no fewer than 42 separate movies & TV shows, but folks would be hard-pressed to name a single role of his other than Dave Bowman in _2001_. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/32 "2001-02-05T21:30:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Attrayant \* > \*\*Bruce Willis will always be NYC police officer John McClanes. That is what ruined the movie _Unbreakable_ for me, and it’s why I had almost no intrest in seeing _The Sixth Sense_. > > \*\* Wrong. Bruce willis has always been, and will always be, the great David Addison - long may he reign. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/33 "2001-02-05T22:18:12Z")
bud cort will always be harold. i agree with silky threat. roger moore is bond, james bond. even when he was the saint, he was james bond. paul lynde will always be the frickin CENTER of the hollywood squares. my paul lynde impression- “Hey Samantha! Is Darren out of the bathroom yet?” ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/34 "2001-02-05T22:18:56Z")
**Al Pancino** will always be Michael Corleone. **Kathy Bates** will always be Annie Wilkes from _Misery_ **Don Adams** will always be Inspector Gadget. **Clark Gable** will always be Rhett Butler. **Tom Hanks** will always be Forrest Gump. Just to name a few, at least to me. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/35 "2001-02-05T22:23:18Z")
how could i be so cruel as to forget? forgive me, mr. milstead. divine will always, always, always be divine. ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/36 "2001-02-05T22:45:30Z")
I know he was a fairly accomplished actor, but I can never see Roddy McDowell without seeing Cornelius from **Planet of the Apes**. ---
**Author:** ![King\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7bcc69/32.png) [@King\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/King_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/37 "2001-02-05T22:54:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neptune\_1984 \* > **Don Adams** will always be Inspector Gadget. Maybe I’m dating myself because Don Adams will always be Agent 86 to me. Leonard Nimoy will always be Paris from Mission:Impossible. William Shatner will always be T.J. Hooker. Frank Gorshin=The Riddler **socpro69** , how about Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright and Commander Adama? Buddy Ebsen as Barnaby Jones and Jed Clampett? ---
**Author:** ![Ell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@Ell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ell)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2001, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/38 "2001-02-05T23:37:25Z")
I can’t believe no-one has said Desmond Llewelyn as Q in most of the 007 movies. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2001, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/39 "2001-02-06T00:56:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Plus, I always see Buddy Ebsen as Jed Clampett. Yeah, I know he was in a million other things earlier as well as later, but he’s still Uncle Jed. And later… > [@](#): > > Buddy Ebsen as Barnaby Jones and Jed Clampett? A friend with a taste for camp procured the Beverly Hillbillies movie and compelled me to watch it. It had the TV show characters, all played by different actors of course. The one wonderfully ironic twist in what was otherwise classic BH broad comedy was when Granny Clampett came up missing, and they went to hire a private detective to find her. They were sent by the Drysdales to “the best private eye in Beverly Hills” – Barnaby Jones, portrayed by Buddy Ebsen. It stuck with me – one piece of wonderful ironic wit in the midst of slapstick will do that. ---
**Author:** ![Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nefarious_chipmunk/32/1045_2.png) [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2001, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946/40 "2001-02-06T01:13:42Z")
To me, Rhea Pearlman will always be Carla, from Cheers. Vivian Leigh will always be Scarlett Ohara. Julie Andrews will always be Maria from Sound of Music. Michelle Phieffer will always be Cat Woman [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-associated-with-1-role/52946.md?page=3)