# Actors who have never played crazy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544 "2008-03-16T13:58:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/1 "2008-03-16T13:58:54Z")
Kevin Costner has in Mr. Brooks. Keanu did (and was pretty creepy in) [The Watcher](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Watcher_%28film%29). Are there any actors who haven’t played a whackjob who would be (perhaps surprisingly) good at it? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/2 "2008-03-16T18:00:13Z")
Crispin Glover. He ain’t _playing_ crazy. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/3 "2008-03-16T18:08:45Z")
Morgan Freeman (unless he did it during his time on “The Electric Company”). Even when he was playing the hit man Charlie in “Nurse Betty”, he was the sanest, most stable and ethical murderer you’ll ever meet. **Charlie:** People who get the calls are good. Not flashy, good. They get in, they get out, nobody knows a goddamn thing. You understand? Boom, boom, boom. Three in the head, you know they’re dead. **Wesley:** You know, that’s kind of catchy. **Charlie:** Yeah? Well I’ll make you a fucking bumper sticker. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/4 "2008-03-16T18:18:27Z")
George Clooney. I think he’d make a wonderful psychopath. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/5 "2008-03-16T18:24:12Z")
One of Morgan’s “Electric Company” roles was “Mad Scientist.” To clarify the OP, are you including actresses? I suspect, although I don’t have statistics to back this up, that men get to go batshit insane in movies more often than women. By “crazy,” are you referring to something like schizophrenia with hallucinations and delusions. What about something like major depression? Personality disorders? Developmental disorders? What about people who are clearly eccentric but still able to function in society? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/6 "2008-03-16T18:29:39Z")
I don’t know of any loony roles Tom Hanks has ever played. But it would sure be fun to see him as a psycho killer - just like Henry Fonda in “Once Upon a Time in the West”. I think he could pull it off, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/7 "2008-03-16T18:33:03Z")
Tom Hanks went a little nuts in Cast Away, but I don’t know if that counts. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/8 "2008-03-16T19:18:20Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] I don’t know of any loony roles Tom Hanks has ever played. But it would sure be fun to see him as a psycho killer - just like Henry Fonda in “Once Upon a Time in the West”. I think he could pull it off, too. [/QUOTE] He plays a feared mob hitman in _Road To Perdition_. Not psychotic, but rather cold and calculating. It’s actually my favorite of all of Hanks’ performances, and a damn good movie all around. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/9 "2008-03-16T19:25:38Z")
[QUOTE=Mosier] Tom Hanks went a little nuts in Cast Away, but I don’t know if that counts. [/QUOTE] He was not-so-nice a guy in _Road to Perdition_ - but sociopath doesn’t equal crazy, necessarily. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/10 "2008-03-16T19:26:43Z")
There was also Hank’s performance in \*Ladykillers \* - if his character wasn’t actively crazy, at least it was very, very weird. And muderous. Of course, there’s also _Mazes and Mosters_. I haven’t seen it, but rumor has it that Hanks plays a kid who goes crazy due to excessive exposure to pen-and-paepr RPGs. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/11 "2008-03-16T20:14:22Z")
**Sean Connery.** While he played an eccentric in “A Fine Madness”, I can’t think of any psycho roles. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/12 "2008-03-16T20:16:10Z")
Clint Eastwood I can’t think of anything he’s done that would put him in the “crazy” category. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/13 "2008-03-16T20:24:32Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] **Sean Connery.** While he played an eccentric in “A Fine Madness”, I can’t think of any psycho roles. [/QUOTE] Sir August de Wynter in The Avengers definitely doesn’t have all his marbles (he wants to destroy the world with his weather machine). Mad scientist, I guess, rather than psycho, but it’s all I got. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/14 "2008-03-16T20:48:53Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] **Sean Connery.** While he played an eccentric in “A Fine Madness”, I can’t think of any psycho roles. [/QUOTE] There’s always Zardoz. Anyone involved in that movie is crazy by association. Besides, no sane man would wear that outfit. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/15 "2008-03-24T07:22:51Z")
[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett] Clint Eastwood I can’t think of anything he’s done that would put him in the “crazy” category. [/QUOTE] His character in “High Plains Drifter” was pretty psycho. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2008, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/16 "2008-03-24T08:15:04Z")
I think Adam Sandler would make a great psychotic villain. Seriously. A real child-like, high-voiced, babbling psychopathic killer. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/17 "2008-03-24T09:18:52Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Wanderer] His character in “High Plains Drifter” was pretty psycho. [/QUOTE] Wait a minute! [spoiler]Didn’t he return from the dead to get revenge on both the gang that murdered him and the cowards in the town who’d allowed it to happen? Wasn’t the way he just vanished in the heat haze at the very end supposed to reveal that, or at least to _strongly_ suggest it? If he _was_ a vengeful revenant posing as a living man, could we really label such an entity as ‘psycho’? [/spoiler] ---
**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:** [March 24, 2008, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/18 "2008-03-24T12:33:42Z")
John Wayne. Ethan Edwards is obsessed, but not really crazy. Jimmy Stewart. While he did once play a murderer (telling the name of the movie is a spoiler), even then he wasn’t crazy. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/19 "2008-03-24T13:14:46Z")
Tom Cruise? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544/20 "2008-03-24T14:16:49Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] Jimmy Stewart. While he did once play a murderer (telling the name of the movie is a spoiler), even then he wasn’t crazy. [/QUOTE] What about _Harvey_? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-have-never-played-crazy/441544.md?page=2)