# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/41 "2014-10-11T22:30:14Z")
Ron Livingston will always be Peter from Office Space. Bill Pullman is Lone Starr. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/42 "2014-10-11T22:45:11Z")
John Astin was all over television from the 1960s to the present day, but to me, he will always be Former Mental Patient Buddy Ryan, from _Night Court_. Even when I see old _Addams Family_ episodes, I always expect to hear him say, “But I’m feeling much better now.” Charles Gray is a fine actor, but to me, he will always be The Man With No Neck. I have never even watched _Deliverance_. The only scenes I have ever seen are the “Dueling Banjos” scene, and Warren Beatty’s magnum opus. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/43 "2014-10-11T23:01:47Z")
Vincent D’ Onofrio is always the bug from Men in Black. Always. ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/44 "2014-10-11T23:06:05Z")
Christopher McDonald. No matter what role he turns up in, all I can think of is Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/45 "2014-10-11T23:28:18Z")
> [@gwendee](#): > > 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. i agree, i only saw guiding light for one year, but it was that year. a friend’s mother was hooked and i would go over to their house after school. that character had no redeeming qualities. melina kanakaredes will always be the woman who was a very bad for constable fraser. haven’t quite gotten over that, don’t know if i ever will. i can’t watch anything she is on. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/46 "2014-10-11T23:32:52Z")
Sean Bean is always Boromir to me. Ted Levine, however, is always Frank Holman, the small-time crook from _Crime Story_ in my book. ---
**Author:** ![JesterX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JesterX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JesterX)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/47 "2014-10-11T23:37:24Z")
> [@CT\_Damsel](#): > > Nit Pick > The episode was Mushrooms. Her character was a hard working cleaning lady, not a crackhead, whose 12 yr old son is shot and her baby is killed when the hit man (a young boy) went to the wrong address because he could not read. Thanks for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/48 "2014-10-11T23:37:54Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > I have never even watched _Deliverance_. The only scenes I have ever seen are the “Dueling Banjos” scene, and Warren Beatty’s magnum opus. That was, uhm, the late Ned Beatty, not Warren “God’s Gift to Women” Beatty. Though I admit to being greatly amused at the thought of the latter having to take a Redneck up the chute. Gives whole new meaning to the line “You got a purty mouth!” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/49 "2014-10-12T00:11:36Z")
Ned is alive! ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/50 "2014-10-12T00:42:10Z")
A couple months ago TCM showed “The Big Broadcast of 1937”. I kept thinking Jack Benny was Jack Benny but he wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/51 "2014-10-12T00:44:17Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > That was, uhm, the late Ned Beatty, not Warren “God’s Gift to Women” Beatty. Though I admit to being greatly amused at the thought of the latter having to take a Redneck up the chute. > > Gives whole new meaning to the line “You got a purty mouth!” 😛 > [@etv78](#): > > Ned is alive! Yup, he is. But I’ll always think of him as Luthor’s bumbling assistant, Otis, in “Superman.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/52 "2014-10-12T03:06:51Z")
Huh! I thought Ned took the big one some time ago. Glad I was mistaken! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/53 "2014-10-12T03:46:34Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > Vincent D’ Onofrio is always the bug from Men in Black. > > Always. He’s Private Pyle to me. Always. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/54 "2014-10-12T04:20:02Z")
Detective Goren to me. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/55 "2014-10-12T09:58:19Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > 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. I feel exactly the sane way about Ted Levine. My other example would be the woman who played his still-alive victim in “Lambs.” I’ve seen the actress in several roles recently. My wife us going through a Gray’s Anatomy obsession right now, and she’s in that – but she will ALWAYS be the girl in “Lambs” for me. An _American_ Girl. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/56 "2014-10-12T11:51:05Z")
I had to stop myself from posting the one that came to mind immediately for me, because it would be a MASSIVE SPOILER. So, instead, I’ll go with an easy one…Heath Ledger is The Joker. I caught some of 10 Things I Hate About You on cable a while ago and feared for poor Julia Stile’s safety. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/57 "2014-10-12T12:20:56Z")
> [@GoodOmens](#): > > I had to stop myself from posting the one that came to mind immediately for me, because it would be a MASSIVE SPOILER. Do tell us! Just put it in spoiler tags – place this before it, but without spaces: [spoiler] and then place this after it, again without spaces: [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/58 "2014-10-12T12:34:35Z")
Oh, right, I forgot this board has spoiler tags. Kevin Spacey IS Keyser Soze ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/59 "2014-10-12T13:00:32Z")
> [@GoodOmens](#): > > Oh, right, I forgot this board has spoiler tags. > > Kevin Spacey IS Keyser Soze 🙂 Clever. ---
**Author:** ![Nom\_de\_Plume](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85f322/32.png) [@Nom\_de\_Plume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nom_de_Plume)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2014, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027/60 "2014-10-12T13:31:15Z")
Giovanni Ribisi was in an episode of X-Files where he could control lightning. My wife and I still call him “Lightning Boy” when we see him in any other role [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-that-will-always-be-that-one-particular-role-for-you-no-matter-what/701027.md?page=4)