# Actors that will always be that one particular role for you, no matter what. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2014, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027 "2014-10-11T07:22:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/1 "2014-10-11T07:22:15Z")
For me, there’s a few that I always associate with a particular role, but one does stand way out in front of and on top of everyone: Ted Levine, no matter how many frustrated middle aged cops or anything else he ever plays, he will ALWAYS be Jamie Gumb. Recently when I was watching his middle aged police captain crawling around with gunshot wounds looking for a place to hide on “The Bridge”, I was saying out loud to the TV and the dogs: “Oh no! Captain It Puts The Lotion On Its Skin can’t die!” One or two particular moments are essentially branded on my brain forever, such as his mincing in the mirror with with his penis shoved backward and his legs tightly shut together over it to mimic a vulva. But even so I’m pretty sure it’s really because of the voice, which is unmistakably original and entirely natural, as it turns out. Creepily enough. He’s fixed on my brain that way, but I do think the casting director who picked him in the first place had a really vivid and interesting imagination to have done so. So who will never shed a particular skin for you, no matter what else they do? ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/2 "2014-10-11T07:51:30Z")
Leonard Nimoy will always be Spock John Astin as Gomez Addams. Jackie Coogan as Uncle Fester. James Garner as Jim Rockford (though I’m aware of his cardsharp series Maverick) Carroll O’Connor as Archie. Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson. ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/3 "2014-10-11T08:07:19Z")
James Arness will always be **The Thing From Another World**. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/4 "2014-10-11T09:32:09Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > Leonard Nimoy will always be Spock > John Astin as Gomez Addams. Jackie Coogan as Uncle Fester. > James Garner as Jim Rockford (though I’m aware of his cardsharp series Maverick) > Carroll O’Connor as Archie. Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson. I probably should’ve been more specific on how I worded the OP; A lot of actors like the ones you name, are known almost exclusively for one particular long-running role, which they played for years and for many collective hours making it almost impossible to break out in any way. But Ted Levine in SOTL had maybe what,? 20 or 30 minutes of screen time of the film versus years on Monk, now 2 years on The Bridge and 60 other things on his resume. That’s a pretty unusual thing. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/5 "2014-10-11T09:36:30Z")
Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/6 "2014-10-11T13:23:31Z")
Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/7 "2014-10-11T13:29:05Z")
Whenever I see Tony Shalhoub in anything other than Monk, I feel as though he’s having a bad case of amnesia and in a second will snap back and start fixing uneven blinds. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/8 "2014-10-11T14:27:27Z")
Ned Beatty really wins this thread doesn’t he? I also agree with Levine. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/9 "2014-10-11T15:10:22Z")
The first thought in my brain when I heard Jan Hooks died was “Vicky Dubcheck” ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/10 "2014-10-11T15:29:34Z")
Robert Shaw as Quint (from “Jaws”) ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/11 "2014-10-11T15:33:27Z")
For me Samuel L. Jackson will always be Carl Lee Hailey in “A Time to Kill.” and Roger Allam will always be creepy Lewis Prothero from “V for Vendetta”. Although hopefully if I was enough “Endeavour” it will wear off. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/12 "2014-10-11T15:47:05Z")
Hayden Panettiere-Lizzie on “Guiding Light”. I used to rush home from school to catch the second half of this riveting drama. Would Lizzie die from her leukemia??? (She didn’t). ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/13 "2014-10-11T15:49:50Z")
Paul Scofield will always be Sir Thomas More in _A Man for All Seasons_. I’ve seen him play plenty of other roles, but it doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/14 "2014-10-11T15:55:32Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > “Oh no! Captain It Puts The Lotion On Its Skin can’t die!” I can’t think of an example that meets the guidelines you’ve set up, because I’m laughing too hard at this one. Coffee up the nose, ow. I will say that Nathan Fillion will always be…Captain Tightpants. Even though it’s been a few years, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/15 "2014-10-11T16:13:10Z")
John Ritter IS Jack Tripper. ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/16 "2014-10-11T16:37:00Z")
John Schneider. Watching Smallville, I always wondered how one of the Duke boys managed to adopt Superman. Also, I think the General Lee was under a tarp in the barn. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/17 "2014-10-11T16:48:58Z")
Also from **Guiding Light**. When I was in high school [James Rebhorn](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0714310/) played an awful, awful man on the soap. The character beat his wife and raped his stepdaughter. (Lizzie’s mother, Beth). That was in the mid 1980s. Between then and his death earlier this year he racked up nearly a hundred film and TV credits. He would show up as a chief of staff or an attorney - many roles in suits, most as perfectly benign characters. I never once saw him that my brain didn’t shout “Yikes! Bradley Raines!!!” He was in White Color as a chief/director for the FBI. I was certain that we’d find out he was a bad guy. Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/18 "2014-10-11T17:10:19Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > Ned Beatty really wins this thread doesn’t he? I also agree with Levine. I assume you’re referring to the little piggy that must squeal… But that’s not a roll so much is the moment. But I get your drift. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/19 "2014-10-11T17:11:36Z")
Siri can only spell correctly if she fully understands context, which of course she does not. Roll = role. ---
**Author:** ![Abracadebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Abracadebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abracadebra)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/20 "2014-10-11T17:59:22Z")
There’s an actor on the new show “Gracepointe”, Kevin Rankin. He plays a reverend on this series, but to me he will always be Kenny from “Breaking Bad”. Anna Gunn (“Skyler”) is also in the show. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027.md?page=2)