You’re kidding aren’t you? If anyone is typecast its him.
Hugh Laurie. Generally played the upper class twit comedy angle on various British shows, e.g., Black Adder, Jeeves and Wooster, etc. I think many people would’ve been surprised at how successful he’s been in the relatively serious role of House, though true fans would’ve recognised his talent much earlier.
Jerry Orbach. From song-and-dance man to dramatic actor and back again.
I agree with the sentiment regardign those roles, but Ford has tried to break out of that typecast since early in his career. The Mosquito Coast was about as boring as a movie as can be (and made me realize I don’t have to see every Harrison Ford movie), and there wasn’t a blaster or a whip to be found. The Cisco Kid showed he could play his character for laughs, and that movie with Melanie Griffith (whose name escapes me) showed that he could be a rom-com lead if he wanted. Ford doesn’t get as lost in the role as a Freeman or a Hoffman, but he can do different things.
Jim Carrey-Ace Ventura Pet Detective anyone?
That would be Working Girl. He also did a good job as a rom-com lead in the remake of Sabrina. And for further versatility that’s miles away from Han Solo and Indiana Jones, don’t forget him as a big-city detective hiding out on an Amish farm in Witness.
Personally, I feel breaking the typecast requires that the actor not just play other types of roles but do so successfully. Ford and Carrey do occasionally take an out-of-character role but they then go back and take a “safe” role in their usual genre.
These days I think of him as an exceptional director more than anything else.
John Lithgow has played every type of role, including a woman! (Roberta Maldoon in Garp). This is quite an accomplishment, considering he has extremely distinctive looks and body type.
He can do comedy, drama, sing, play piano and also writes children’s books.
In the early years of his career, Brando was adamant about avoiding being cast to the type he created, and for which he is almost as well known as for Vito Corleone, Stanley Kowalski, even though Terry Malloy borrows from that archetype.
Until he let things slip, including his weight and physical appearance, his roles were all over the map. In later years the defiance trailed off and we were left with parodies of himself.
Olivier, Guinness and perhaps Lithgow are the only ones I would put above Brando for this distinction of avoiding typecasting.
On the female side, Frances McDormand rates up there with Streep.
Ian McKellen feels typecast as Gandalf since the two seem inseperable. McKellen is Gandalf, Gandalf is McKellen. And on the surface it would seem that anytime you’d see McKellen elsewhere all you would be thinking is “hey, there’s Gandalf!”
However he does a complete role reversal and creates and equally compelling inseperable character that is the opposite of Gandalf when he becomes Magneto. McKellen is Magneto, Magneto is McKellen.
Heck, you could have Gandalf face off with Magneto in the same film with McKellen playing both roles and they’d still feel like polar opposites yet completely tied to McKellen.
I felt the same way about Patrick Stewart’s Professor Xavier.
Since Brad Pitt’s name has come up in a new thread, I’ve wanted to mention how he has fought the “eye candy” and “pretty boy” type in such films as:
Kalifornia (1993) … Early Grayce
True Romance (1993) … Floyd - Dick’s Roommate
Fight Club (1999) … Tyler Durden
Snatch. (2000) … Mickey O’Neil
and even, possibly,
Burn After Reading (2008) … Chad Feldheimer
Some of his other roles, where his looks are not “up front,” are serious efforts at acting.
Going to have to disagree with this too, he’s definitely been typecast - an ugly roughneck is pretty much all of those roles.