Here we go: how many actors can you think of that (in movies at least) always seem to play the same bit-part character?
Number one: William Atherton always seems to play the snivelling, arrogant git in every film I’ve seen him.
William atherton is just waiting for someone to make a David Duke biopic. They’re dead ringers for each other.
Al Leong, who has rarely even spoken onscreen. But whenever the director needs an Oriental actor with martial arts abilities, he’s there, the long-haired guy with the narrow eyes.
Arguably best known for his role as Genghis Khan in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
More mainstream, but William H Macy, Steve Buscemi and Rip Torn spring to mind. Feel they should have a spot to themselves someday (not via Pixar, mind).
Desmond LLewelyn as Q in the James Bond Films. and Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny
My father has mentioned jokingly that he’d like to make a gag reel of movies in which Elisha Cook, jr. gets beaten up.
Malcolm McDowell as the over-the-top villian.
Can’t remember his name but the guy who looks vaguely like Jerry Falwell and played pompous fundamentalist blowhards in every sitcom from the 70s and 80s. Remember the “list of bad songs” episode from WKRP, that guy.
James Hampton as the easy going guy who knows more than he lets on as the sidekick/buddy/adviser to the main character, especially in Burt Reynolds movies.
Anthony Zerbe being slightly creepy in the background of any film he is in.
Mako as the “inscrutable” wise Asian.
Dub Taylor as the cackling old coot in a beat up derby in tons of western and action flicks.
If Dub Taylor is unavailable, substitute Strother Martin as the cranky old coot.
Michael J. Pollard being the “weasily, whiney, slightly out of it” guy, usually a low level criminal, informer, drug dealer, or amusing drunk. Kind of a latter day Elisha Cook Jr.
Steven Gilborn…I don’t know how to describe his characters, but they’re all essentially the same.
I’m not sure who you mean, but the description brought to mind the fundamentalist guy opposite John Denver in Oh God! His name is Paul Sorvino (yes, father to Mira.) Of course, Paul has also played mafia-type guys, ala Good Fellas.
His name was Richard Paul
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Paul,%20Richard
(BTW, I’m always very touched when people write bios for minor actors like him for the IMDB. Once while surfing there I discovered an old aquaintance had died, and I was very grateful for the kind words someone had written)
Arthur Houseman made a minor career of playing comic drunks in the 1930s and 1940s.
I wouldn’t call William Atheron a “bit-part player”. He has starred in several big budget pictures, including Day of the Locust and The Hindenburg.
Ah, but he’s now more of a bit player. Die Hard, Ghostbusters…
Then there’s the slimey guy, like M. Emmett Walsh and the late J. T. Walsh (no relation)… Or even Dan Hedaya, for that matter.
And then there are the tough, authoritative types: R. Lee Ermey, Kurtwood Smith, James Remar…
Michael Ironside, although I know he’s probably had more notable roles too.
If they ever film Andrew Vacchs’s Burke mysteries, maybe he should be cast as Max the Silent.
Ooh, how about Danny Trejo as the goon? Tony Todd as the mercenary? Or William Sadler as the psychopathic plotter?
One of the joys of watching films from the great days of the Hollywood studios is seeing all those faces of the bit-players. They were cast because their faces and bodies told the audience immediately that this character was a wuss (like Franklin Pangborn or Donald Meek) or a villian (like Jack Elam or Dan Seymour) or a banker (like Thurston Hall or Raymond Walburn) or a society dame (like Margaret Dumont or Mary Boland) or a tart (like Iris Adrian or Gladys Blake) or…
Or a patsy, like Ralph Bellamy or Don Ameche!
Or a heavy, like Sydney Greenstreet or Robert Morley!
I keep waiting for him to go mental on That 70’s Show 
I can’t believe nobody has mentioned Ben Stein…always the boring teacher/proffesor