# Actors That Defied Typecasting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228 "2010-02-16T18:28:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/1 "2010-02-16T18:28:17Z")
There’s a thread dealing with actors so strongly identified with their hit roles that it’s difficult to see them as anything else. This is the flipside of that thread: identify actors who were well-known in particular roles and then went on to create very different characters successfully. I’ll start off with two: **Morgan Freeman** seems to have been able to undertake almost any role and pull it off successfully, from a prisoner in “The AShawshank Redemption” to the President in “Deep Impact.” In fact, when he wants you to notice he’s a black man, that becomes evident, but when he’s playing a “colorblind” role, you simply gloss over the fact that the character happens to be black. I consider him one of the most versatile active actors in consequence of this. **Harry Morgan** is another excellent actor. He tended to play “straight man” roles in sitcoms, but to pull them off extremely well. Starting as the neighbor Pete Porter on “December Bride,” he and Cara Williams had the moderately successful spinoff “Pete and Gladyts.” He then portrayed Officer Bill Gannon as Jack Webb’s foil on “Dragnet”, and then Col. Sherman Potter on “M.A.S.H.” And I was intrigued to notice the number of major movies he had ‘significant’ roles in. Other people that portrayed more than one memorable character? ---
**Author:** ![koufax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@koufax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koufax)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/2 "2010-02-16T18:36:14Z")
Gary Oldman ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/3 "2010-02-16T18:36:34Z")
Johnny Depp was a pretty boy lightweight on the Fox series _21 Jump Street_ who I am sure no one ever would have thought would become one of the most respected and serious actors of our generation. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/4 "2010-02-16T18:38:55Z")
Patrick Stewart can become Jean Luc Picard, Charles Xavier, or anybody from a Shakespeare play. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/5 "2010-02-16T18:40:58Z")
Meryl Streep has an incredible range. People joke about her accents, but she is just great at using them to create a full-blooded character. Her Sister Aloysius in **Doubt** showed all sorts of depth, from idealism, to a nasty vendetta, and finally to anguish. And it’s completely different from her playing Julia Child and someone with abounding joy in life in **Julie and Julia**. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/6 "2010-02-16T18:42:12Z")
I’d say Spencer Tracy in, well, just about anything. He could play heroes, villains, and everything in between. Laurence Olivier played plenty of suave heroes, but then pulled off dastardly Heathcliff in _Wuthering Heights_ and the even scummier Nazi dentist in _Marathon Man_. Myrna Loy played everything from evil, exotic vamps to glamorous sophisticate such as Nora Charles in _The Thin Man_ films, and then to earth mother / down-to-earth goddesses in _Cheaper by the Dozen_ and _Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House_. And Gene Hackman’s another great example, I think, in roles as varied as Popeye Doyle and Lex Luthor and the likeable/flawed sheriff of _Mississippi Burning_, and about a billion other roles. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/7 "2010-02-16T19:21:42Z")
> [@koufax](#): > > Gary Oldman Of actors working today, none is as much a chameleon over such a range of roles as Oldman. That said, a few others who have impressed me with the diversity of their work would include: Billy Bob Thornton James Gandolfini (in spite of the Tony Soprano thing) Walter Matthau (RIP) Jack Lemmon (ditto) Don Cheadle Joe Mantegna Philip Seymour Hoffman John C. Reilly Steve Buscemi ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/8 "2010-02-16T19:25:53Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Johnny Depp was a pretty boy lightweight on the Fox series _21 Jump Street_ who I am sure no one ever would have thought would become one of the most respected and serious actors of our generation. I agree. Look at the range of roles he’s played (Ed Wood, George Jung, Donnie Brasco), and when you watch those movies you never associate one with the other. You don’t watch, say, “Public Enemies” and think, “huh, that’s Jack Sparrow.” He does a better job of disappearing into a role than pretty much any other Hollywood star. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/9 "2010-02-16T19:46:47Z")
I would add Ed Harris to this list. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/10 "2010-02-16T19:52:49Z")
**Sean Penn**. He can play anything. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/11 "2010-02-16T19:55:19Z")
Jon Voight has defied typecasting. He’s played everything from super-evil bad guys to extremely sympathetic good guys. He’s actually a really underrated actor, in my opinion. You can take any three of his movies - let’s say, _Deliverance,_ _Heat,_ and _U-Turn_ - and see three utterly different characters. He’s good at changing his appearance too. He sometimes even uses makeup and facial prosthetics to change it. He’s played Howard Cosell, Franklin Roosevelt, Pope John Paul II, and an evil Nazi general. He has great range and never got typecast. ---
**Author:** ![BMada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BMada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMada)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/12 "2010-02-16T20:00:15Z")
Bryan Cranston (malcolm in the middle father) goofball and very animated becomes Walter White dark drama acting. Jane Kazmarek (malcolm in the middle mother) high strung crazy mom becomes a judge in Raising the Bar. ---
**Author:** ![Kingspades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Kingspades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kingspades)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/13 "2010-02-16T20:07:36Z")
How about Neil Patrick Harris? While he wasn’t exactly doing nothing between “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and “How I Met Your Mother,” it’s those two roles (and the “Harold and Kumar” cameos) for which he’s best known - and they couldn’t be much more contrasting. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/14 "2010-02-16T20:08:25Z")
**James Cromwell** - everything from Evil Badguy to Pig Loving Farmer to Warp-Drive Inventor. And he has a unique look and is very tall, so it seems like he would get locked into a type, but instead is all over the map… Hmm - how is this different from being a “character actor”? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/15 "2010-02-16T20:09:48Z")
**Dustin Hoffman**. From _The Graduate_ through _All the President’s Men_, _Tootsie_, _Rain Man_, _Outbreak_, _Meet the Fockers_, and _Last Chance Harvey_; with all their different character requirements, Hoffman always turns in a good performance. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/16 "2010-02-16T20:18:08Z")
From the OP: > [@](#): > > identify actors who were well-known in particular roles and then went on to create very different characters successfully A lot of these suggestions don’t fit. Not that Gary Oldman or Gene Hackman defy typecasting - it’s that they really don’t get typecast. I don’t think anyone identifies them as well-known in one or two particular roles, but rather as a body of varied work. Johnny Depp (pretty boy), Sean Penn (stoner), and others I think have defied typecasting. Depp especially has worked hard not to be cast as the heart throb. I could be reading the OP wrong (not like its the first time that will have happened), but I think to defy typecasting, people need to see the actor as one particular type of role and the actor has avoided being constrained by that role. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/17 "2010-02-16T20:46:48Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > From the OP: > > A lot of these suggestions don’t fit. Not that Gary Oldman or Gene Hackman defy typecasting - it’s that they really don’t get typecast. I don’t think anyone identifies them as well-known in one or two particular roles, but rather as a body of varied work. > > Johnny Depp (pretty boy), Sean Penn (stoner), and others I think have defied typecasting. Depp especially has worked hard not to be cast as the heart throb. > > I could be reading the OP wrong (not like its the first time that will have happened), but I think to defy typecasting, people need to see the actor as one particular type of role and the actor has avoided being constrained by that role. My interpretation was for an example of an actor/actress who WAS typecast, but then defied this in another role. For example, Ed O’Neill will always be Al Bundy. But, what if in a new film Ed O’Neill played a new character that left you thinking, Al who? Personally, this would be more interesting to me than seeing Gary Oldman and Johnny Depp listed another fifty times. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/18 "2010-02-16T21:00:42Z")
So we’re on the same wavelength, **bucketybuck** , though I think Depp was typecast in _21 Jump Street_ and has defied it since. But Oldman, Hackman, Freeman, Hoffman - I don’t think they’ve ever been typecast, so there is nothing to defy. ---
**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:** [February 16, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/19 "2010-02-16T21:15:25Z")
I caught the last few seconds of an episode of _I Spy_ and was wondering if **Bill Cosby** might be the only person to star in a comedy, drama, and variety show on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228/20 "2010-02-16T21:19:07Z")
Robert Duvall – he’s been in almost 80 movies since 1970, and has created some iconic characters in some of them. I can never say, though, when I see him in _Lonesome Dove_, for example, “There’s Tom Hagen” or “There’s Bill Kilgore.” Duvall, I think, does a wonderful job of disappearing into his roles – there are many similarities between \*Lonesome Dove’s \*Gus McCrae and Boss Spearman (from _Open Range_), but Duvall makes them completely different characters. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-defied-typecasting/529228.md?page=2)