# Actors who killed (or very nearly so) their careers by taking \*too\* memorable a role. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 26, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631 "2004-08-26T17:28:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/201 "2007-09-05T13:20:39Z")
[QUOTE=Sublight] (Oliver Stone had originally hired him as a consultant for FMJ but thought his demonstration was so incredible he decided to cast Ermy as Sgt. Hartmann instead). [/QUOTE] Stanley Kubrick, I mean. Oliver Stone had nothing to do with _Full Metal Jacket_. Of course, maybe that’s exactly what they _want_ you to believe. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/202 "2007-09-06T06:56:40Z")
Private Pyle…Full Metal Jacket John Coffey…Green Mile Percy Wetmore…Green Mile Delacroix…Green Mile Heck, there are loads from the Green Mile I have not seen in other films ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/203 "2007-09-06T07:18:58Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield] I know rather a lot of people who cannot think of Rowan Atkinson as anything except Mr. Bean, which is very disturbing… [/QUOTE] Yeah, when his work on the Blackadder series was so much better. Except maybe the first one. That one had too much of Bean in him. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/204 "2007-09-06T09:17:35Z")
[QUOTE=Scissorjack] So you don’t know the way to France either? [/QUOTE] No, we’ll just do what I usually do. Sail 'round and 'round the Isle of Wight until everyone gets dizzy, then head for home. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/205 "2007-09-06T10:35:11Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Private Pyle…Full Metal Jacket [/QUOTE] I think you have this a bit backwards. Vincent D’Onofrio had 3 roles in TV and movies before FMJ, and 54 roles since, including big roles in major movie blockbusters (Men in Black) and 6+ years as the lead in a Law and Order franchise. That’s not killing your career, that’s getting a career other actors would kill for. You may only remember him as Pyle, but it certainly hasn’t prevented him from getting work. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/206 "2007-09-06T11:11:31Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Delacroix…Green Mile [/QUOTE] Delacroix was played by Michael Jeter. He died a few years after _Green Mile_, so maybe it did kill his career. In any case, that film came at the end of an extremely successful film, TV and stage career. He was a regular cast member on the successful _Evening Shade_ TV series with Burt Reynolds and was (to me at least) unforgettable in _The Fisher King_. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/207 "2007-09-06T12:38:22Z")
[QUOTE=Cheesesteak] I think you have this a bit backwards. Vincent D’Onofrio had 3 roles in TV and movies before FMJ, and 54 roles since, including big roles in major movie blockbusters (Men in Black) and 6+ years as the lead in a Law and Order franchise. That’s not killing your career, that’s getting a career other actors would kill for. You may only remember him as Pyle, but it certainly hasn’t prevented him from getting work. [/QUOTE] Just goes to show how (un)observant I am. I remember him now in MiB What about the guy who played John Coffey…like the drink but not spelt the same ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/208 "2007-09-06T13:32:01Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Just goes to show how (un)observant I am. I remember him now in MiB What about the guy who played John Coffey…like the drink but not spelt the same [/QUOTE] [Michael Clark Duncan](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003817/). In his case, I’d have to say _Green Mile_ was his breakout role. Up until then, his imdb listings are almost all “Bouncer” “Guard” “Bodyguard” “Huge Guard” and “Inmate”. After that film, it’s almost all name roles, plus a lot of voice work. Very few starring roles (though he was a villain in _Daredevil_ and _Sin City_), but much better than he’d been doing before. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/209 "2007-09-06T13:39:54Z")
And you didn’t ask, but [Doug Hutchinson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006535/), who played Percy Wetmore, has been doing the same kind of roles (usually supporting film character or a starring role for one or two episode of a series) since _Green Mile_ as he was before (if you’re into _X-Files_, he was Eugene Tooms from the first season), so while that film may be his high water mark, it doesn’t seem to have changed his career for better or worse. (ETA) And I don’t mean to be picking on you, you just happened to choose a group of actors I really like. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/210 "2007-09-06T16:20:01Z")
Hey you got me wrong man, all those actors I listed I like as well. Has to be said tho’, I thought Percy Wetmore deserved a good slap. and finally…whatever happened to Mr Jingles? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631.md?page=10)