# Actors that don't really act **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343 "2011-11-18T14:56:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/21 "2011-11-18T18:03:57Z")
Jack Nicholson. Every time I see him in a movie, I’m thinking “Boy, it looks like Jack is having fun” and not at all thinking about his character. Edited to note that someone has already mentioned him. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/22 "2011-11-18T18:11:05Z")
Hugh Grant? I think the only time he’s really attempted to play a “Non-Hugh-Grant-y” character was a crime drama with Gene Hackman called **Extreme Measures**. > **[Extreme Measures (1996) ⭐ 6.2 | Crime, Drama, Mystery](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116259/)** > > 1h 58m | R ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/23 "2011-11-18T18:20:28Z")
Bill Murray. Does he ever do anything where he isn’t laconic, ironic, dead-pan, wry? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/24 "2011-11-18T18:27:22Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Bill Murray. Does he ever do anything where he isn’t laconic, ironic, dead-pan, wry? The last 15 minutes or so of _Broken Flowers_. It’s heartbreaking, precisely because it’s been so perfectly set up by the laconic, ironic, dead-pan, and wry hour and a half that comes before it. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/25 "2011-11-18T19:10:18Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Right. Whenever you see Freeman or Wayne or Murphy in a role, you are aware you are watching Freeman or Wayne or Murphy in a role. Contrast that with Tom Hanks or Meryl Streep. > > There is nothing wrong with always playing the same character, except calling it acting. That doesn’t apply to Eddie Murphy as a rule. Watch Coming to America. He plays many different people in the movie. I watched it a few times before I realized that he was not only the lead but also characters like the old Jewish man in the barber shop as well. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/26 "2011-11-18T19:53:29Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Exactly–of course it’s “acting.” Give us one of Jimmy Stewart or Mae West or John Wayne’s scripts and see how well _we’d_ do at “just being ourselves.” But even guys who always SEEM to be playing the same character really aren’t. To use one of your examples… Jimmy Stewart was NOT always the same folksy, lovable doofus we often remember him as. Elwood P. Dowd in _ **Harvey** _ was NOTHING like Scotty Ferguson in\*\*\* Vertigo.\*\*\* Tom Destry was NOTHING like Ransom Stoddard in _ **The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance** _. Stewart had a LOT more range than we tend to remember. So did many actors we think of as being one-dimensional. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2011, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/27 "2011-11-18T20:26:05Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Bill Murray. Does he ever do anything where he isn’t laconic, ironic, dead-pan, wry? Are you saying Bill Murray isn’t a good actor? _Bill Murray_? He should have gotten at least three Oscars for Groundhog Day alone. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/28 "2011-11-18T20:33:01Z")
I’d say Keanu Reaves, but is he an actor or a cardboard prop? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/29 "2011-11-18T20:47:34Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’m glad someone said this. I wonder if people think Wayne was doing Wayne at 8. His character was developed by Ford in _Stagecoach_. And he was also a lot different in _The Searchers_ from his super-heroic roles. > > Having the audience say “wow, that is some great acting” is not the hallmark of great acting. Great acting involves getting into the character, and the story, and being so believable in it that people think you are just being yourself. Anyone who has ever been on a set and seen the actors do the same thing take after take, camera set up after camera set up, probably won’t think it is so easy. There is also the need to project a personality to be picked up by the deadening camera. > > BTW, as far as I’ve read, reacting is harder than acting, because reacting implies that you are deep within the scene as if it were real, and deep inside your character, despite doing a scene of a dozen lines out of order and despite all the fakery of a set. And then there was Wayne as Ghenges Khan … > **[Conqueror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conqueror_(film))** > > A conqueror is a person who conquers. > Conqueror, The Conqueror or The Conquerors may also refer to: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/30 "2011-11-18T20:50:49Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Jack Nicholson. Every time I see him in a movie, I’m thinking “Boy, it looks like Jack is having fun” and not at all thinking about his character. Definately. A lot of the reason why I disliked Batman. It wasn’t The Joker, it was Jack Nicholson dressed up like The Joker. Heath Ledger became The Joker. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/31 "2011-11-18T20:52:08Z")
Surprised nobody’s mentioned Christopher Walken yet. Although as with several other examples here, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If your style is iconic enough tthat people speak of your type of character by name and actively seek you for said roles, you must be doing something right. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/32 "2011-11-18T20:52:42Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Jeff Goldblum: I met him about 25 years ago. What you see on the screen is him. I thought one of the flaws with the second _Jurassic Park_ movie was that Goldblum was playing Ian Malcolm as a completely different person. I guess that was the writers’ fault. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/33 "2011-11-18T20:56:00Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Bill Murray. Does he ever do anything where he isn’t laconic, ironic, dead-pan, wry? I thought he was pretty different in _The Razor’s Edge_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/34 "2011-11-18T20:59:40Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Bill Murray. Does he ever do anything where he isn’t laconic, ironic, dead-pan, wry? He admittedly does that in SCROOGED, but solely to emphasize the wide-eyed manic enthusiasm he lives it up in the rest of the time. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/35 "2011-11-18T21:01:58Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Jack Nicholson. Every time I see him in a movie, I’m thinking “Boy, it looks like Jack is having fun” and not at all thinking about his character. Edited to note that someone has already mentioned him. That’ frequently true… but even Nicholson is quite capable of doing great work when he has an interesting script and a director who dares push him to do more than his “Crazy Jack” schtick. A lot of directors, it seems, WANT Jack to do his usual cartoonish self-caricature, and he’ll willingly do that if the price is right. But he WASN’T Crazy Jack in\*\*\* About \*_ **Schmidt or The Pledge.** _ ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/36 "2011-11-18T21:09:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > Surprised nobody’s mentioned Christopher Walken yet. Yep - that’s who I immediately thought of. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/37 "2011-11-18T21:15:38Z")
I even started a thread on this subject, but my example was Alan Rickman who seems to play the same, smarmy, dripping with better-than-thou sarcasm character in almost every role I’ve seen of his. I’m sure he has done stuff that doesn’t have the same persona, but I don’t think I’ve seen it… ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/38 "2011-11-18T21:29:52Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > To elaborate a little on **Irishman** ’s post, having limited range is not the same thing as ‘not acting.’ Agreed. If you really want an example of “not acting,” think about when a famous person—an athlete, a musician, a politician—has a cameo-type role in a movie or TV episode. Occasionally such people can actually act, but more often, they give a performance compared with which every one of the people named in this thread can and do act circles around. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/39 "2011-11-18T21:40:06Z")
I’d be able to discuss George Clooney’s acting ability if I ever saw him do it. -and +1 to the recommendation for _The Searchers_ for people who think John Wayne can’t act. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343/40 "2011-11-18T22:15:29Z")
Nicholson was great in “Good as it Gets” how about Zoe Daschnell (or however you spell it) she is a one trick pony if I ever saw one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-dont-really-act/603343.md?page=3)