# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/101 "2004-08-27T19:15:18Z")
**Archiveguy.** I suppose I was trying to imply Marisa Tomei is forever playing variations of the supportive girlfriend type. > [@holmes](#): > > No, I heard it was Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) from Fresh Prince…He’s an accomplished dancer (Tap Dance Kid). I can’t see Jaleel moving like that. Alfonso?? That’s a new one. Actually, Jaleel was a pretty lanky dancer from what I recall from Family Matters… and Alfonso’s so short… body type seems wrong… Unmask, Six Flags Granny Dancer! ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/102 "2004-08-27T19:54:49Z")
> [@Jeff Olsen](#): > > I don’t think any of the _Willy Wonka_ kids ever really went on to anything else. **Bosda** certainly didn’t. See post #8. :smack: How does it happen? I thought I read every post… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/103 "2004-08-27T21:57:33Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d never heard of Anthony Hopkins until Silence of the Lambs (I have since seen him in several pre-Hannibal roles, but I was 15 at the time!) > > Since then, though, I’d say his career was far better. You need to get out more. Hopkins was a major star long before **Silence of the Lambs** – **Magic, The Elephant Man, The Lion in Winter**. Check the IMDB. Silence dd, I agree, bring him more notice and recognition, but he certainly wasn’t typecast after that. ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/104 "2004-08-27T22:51:06Z")
How about Christopher Lloyd? He was a huge success on Taxi and was in some classic movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but to me he’ll always be Emmett Brown. Sure, he’s been in a ton of movies, but he’s never had the sucess of Back to the Future. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/105 "2004-08-27T23:07:34Z")
> [@Splanky](#): > > How about Christopher Lloyd? He was a huge success on Taxi and was in some classic movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but to me he’ll always be Emmett Brown. Sure, he’s been in a ton of movies, but he’s never had the sucess of Back to the Future. SILENCE, INSOLENT HUMAN! My Honor cannot permit you to insult this Noble Klingon Warrior in such a disrespectful manner! ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/106 "2004-08-27T23:17:46Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > SILENCE, INSOLENT HUMAN! My Honor cannot permit you to insult this Noble Klingon Warrior in such a disrespectful manner! When I figured out that the Klingon (Kroog?) was in fact Jim Ignatowski (which I admit took a while), I simply could not focus on the rest of the flick (not that STIII was a gripping cinematic experience to begin with). I just kept waiting for him to yell “Ohh-kee-doke!” or do some other characteristically Ignatowskian thing. Yeah, when you put a guy under that much body armor and latex, and the audience still sees the loveable burnout, you’re pretty typecast. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/107 "2004-08-27T23:36:21Z")
When some people think “Actors whose careers tanked after _Star Wars_,” I often think, “Actors who made out so well out of \*Star Wars \* that after that, they said the hell with Hollywood, fame, and what other people thought, and did as they pleased.” I seem to recall that the lead actors of Star Wars were each cut in for a tiny percentage of the profits, to make sure they could be drawn back for sequels and suchlike. Alec Guinness, in particular, didn’t much like the first one, and didn’t want to do the rest, but was tempted back due to the insane amount of money – and artistic freedom that represented. Most actors aren’t rich. They do it largely for love of the craft. And Alec Guinness and Mark Hamill are two examples of People Who Didn’t Have To Go To Cattle Calls To Pay The Bills Any More. Hell, Mark Hamill still has enough name recognition that he could be in a dozen movies a week, if he was silly enough to make himself available. Harrison Ford, on the other hand, decided to keep on plugging, capitalize on what Star Wars gave him, and make himself a Name. Matthew Broderick, from what I hear, prefers doing stage work, which would seem to be why we only hear from him every few years, when he comes out of hiding to be in some extremely well-financed dog (_Godzilla, Inspector Gadget_) to make enough money so he can go back into stage work. I don’t blame him. You have to feed your soul, you know. I understand that Patrick Stewart is much the same way. Durn shame, too. That’s a guy who could sell tickets to a performance of _Patrick Stewart Reads The Phone Book Aloud._ ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/108 "2004-08-28T00:01:33Z")
Shelley Long. Though I found her character annoying on Cheers, I will say she’s a talented comedic actor, but I think the only decent thing she’s done since her stint as Diane Chambers was as the mother in the original Brady Bunch movie. For whatever reason, David Caruso got pretty shut down career-wise after his initial big splash in some crime series. He seems like a pretty good actor, so I’m not sure why. Lots of sitcom actors fall into this category, especially the ones who get famous with a specific catchphrase. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/109 "2004-08-28T02:40:56Z")
I think the “rubber band man” from the office depot ads had better be getting a ton of money, cause he will be type cast from here on out. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/110 "2004-08-28T05:02:20Z")
> [@Master Wang-Ka](#): > > I understand that Patrick Stewart is much the same way. Durn shame, too. That’s a guy who could sell tickets to a performance of _Patrick Stewart Reads The Phone Book Aloud._ No kidding… I keep hoping he’ll get some of Ian McKellen’s luck and get into some more decent movies. But living in New York (at least some of the time), I’ve been lucky enough to see him onstage, so that’ll do for now. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/111 "2004-08-28T10:09:32Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I thought _The Big Chill_ did that… Yes, maybe he should have stuck to playing dead. Well, he tried it again in Waterworld and it worked rather well, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/112 "2004-08-28T11:41:00Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > If Meg Ryan shot up a kindergarten class with a machine gun, who among us wouldn’t say… > > “You mean the cute chick who faked an orgasm in a deli?” Nah, I’d be picturing her spraying bullets from a machine gun while shrieking, **"I’M A FUCKING DANDELION!!!"** And then she’d make that adorable little scrunchy face with her nose. (It’s from a series of really annoying tea commercials she did here that just. wouldn’t. stop. running.) ---
**Author:** ![Necro\_Romancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Necro\_Romancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necro_Romancer)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/113 "2004-08-28T11:58:11Z")
Wow. Now _that’s_ how you advertise tea. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/114 "2004-08-28T14:57:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You need to get out more. Hopkins was a major star long before **Silence of the Lambs** – **Magic, The Elephant Man, The Lion in Winter**. Check the IMDB. Silence dd, I agree, bring him more notice and recognition, but he certainly wasn’t typecast after that. He was also an accomplished stage actor long before “Silence…”, even appearing on Broadway in the 1974 production of “Equus” (he went on to direct it in Los Angeles in 1976, I believe, with Tom Hulce as Alan). ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/115 "2004-08-29T00:28:06Z")
Maybe all the kids in the Harry Potter movies? I mean, we’ll see, I guess… ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/116 "2004-08-29T00:50:54Z")
I believe the prototypical typecast actors have got to be Mary Pickford and Bela Lugosi. She was wildly successful, well into adulthood, playing poor, put-upon waifs. Good adult roles were not so forthcoming. Once the public took to her ingenue personna, they wouldn’t let her grow up. BL’s problem was probably heightened by his histrionic acting style, let’s face it, he was a scenery chewer, _par excellence_. He was good as Dracula, but many roles after that just seemed a tired variation. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/117 "2004-08-29T06:12:37Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > I’ll bet a lot of the _Lord of the Rings_ actors are going to find themselves typecast. Speaking of which, how about Hugo Weaving? “Mr. Baggins, it seems you’ve been living _two_ lives.” ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/118 "2004-08-29T06:34:02Z")
> [@TJdude825](#): > > Maybe all the kids in the Harry Potter movies? I mean, we’ll see, I guess… I was thinking that myself , but upon reflection I can’t see it happening. Like someone else mentioned , if they dont work anymore in movies , its going to be because they don’t have to. Watching prisoner of azkaban , they still look like kids that have not started maturing into their adult body types. While they are getting taller and more fleshed out ,they still have that innocent kid look that you lose when you get into the world. Case in point , look at alyssa milano started out as that cute kid from whose the boss ,and look at her now. Worlds apart looks wise. Declan ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/119 "2004-08-30T16:40:49Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You need to get out more. Hopkins was a major star long before **Silence of the Lambs** – **Magic, The Elephant Man, The Lion in Winter**. Check the IMDB. Silence dd, I agree, bring him more notice and recognition, but he certainly wasn’t typecast after that. > [@](#): > > (I have since seen him in several pre-Hannibal roles, but I was 15 at the time!) I did get out more! 😉 (1) I was 15 years old when the movie came out. and (2) I have since seen many pre-Silence films he made. ---
**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:** [August 30, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/120 "2004-08-30T20:12:31Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > “You mean the cute chick who faked an orgasm in a deli?” And now, that poor table in Katz’s Deli is typecast as “Where Harry met Sally.” Scroll down this [page](http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=792) to see the sign forever linking said table to its one and only big time role. [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=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631.md?page=7)