# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/121 "2004-08-31T07:26:06Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > Speaking of which, how about Hugo Weaving? > > “Mr. Baggins, it seems you’ve been living _two_ lives.” That just about got a Sleel-fountain. Hot tea out the nose would NOT have felt good. On a list of ways to annoy people watching LOTR, one of the items was, “Finish each of Hugo Weaving’s lines with the words, ‘Missster Anderson.’” And I thought I was the only one who braved grevious bodily harm by doing that. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/122 "2004-10-16T22:44:56Z")
Kim Fields proved that you can’t keep a good Tootie down. Somehow, that came out perverted. Anyway, I think Oprah can play the part of Varla in a remake of _Faster Pussycat! KIll! Kill!_. Boy, now THAT’S playing against type! Bill and Leonard did alright for themselves after Classic Trek. Oh, we talked about Anthony Perkins enough. How did Janet Leigh do after checking in to Bates Motel? She did play Miss Chaney in _The Manchurian Candidate_ (ouch, talk about foreshadowing!), and was someone people use in many TV shows, but seemingly not much else. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/123 "2004-10-16T22:53:18Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Will Kelsey Grammar ever be anyone but Fraiser? Um, he’ll always be Sideshow Bob as well. ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/124 "2004-10-16T23:14:02Z")
Will you be able to ever see Dennis Franz as anyone else but Andy Sipowicz from NYPD Blue? What about Michael Moriarity (I think that’s his name…); the first DA in law & Order? ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/125 "2004-10-16T23:14:17Z")
Will you be able to ever see Dennis Franz as anyone else but Andy Sipowicz from NYPD Blue? What about Michael Moriarity (I think that’s his name…); the first DA in Law & Order? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/126 "2004-10-16T23:15:22Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > Um, he’ll always be Sideshow Bob as well. “Sideshow Bob, you have such a beautiful voice…” “Guilty as charged.” He certainly does. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/127 "2004-10-16T23:41:35Z")
> [@the raindog](#): > > What about Michael Moriarity (I think that’s his name…); the first DA in law & Order? Personally, I’ll always remember him as a paranoid kook. Not one of his roles, I’ve spoken to people who met him in person, and heard some… interesting stories. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/128 "2004-10-16T23:46:53Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Not one of his roles, I’ve spoken to people who met him in person, and heard some… interesting stories. Yeah, he didn’t kill his career by being Ben Stone. He killed his career by being a real nut. ---
**Author:** ![pyrrthon1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@pyrrthon1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pyrrthon1)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/129 "2004-10-17T00:22:31Z")
I can’t believe nobody mentioned Carroll O’connor = Archie Bunker. Same goes for Jean Stapleton and Sally Struthers. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/130 "2004-10-17T00:24:15Z")
> [@pyrrthon1](#): > > I can’t believe nobody mentioned Carroll O’connor = Archie Bunker. Same goes for Jean Stapleton and Sally Struthers. Ahh but he went on to play the Rod Steiger role in the TV version of “In The Heat Of The Night” for several years, and did a fine job there too. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/131 "2004-10-17T00:32:04Z")
**Jennifer Gray** from Dirty Dancing. **Rafe Fiennes** will always be the nazi in Schindeler’s List. **Radar O’Reilly & Father Mulcahy** will always be Radar O’Reilly and Father Mulcahey. Colonel Potter, BJ and Hot Lips, too. ---
**Author:** ![pyrrthon1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@pyrrthon1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pyrrthon1)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/132 "2004-10-17T00:32:26Z")
> [@supervenusfreak](#): > > Ahh but he went on to play the Rod Steiger role in the TV version of “In The Heat Of The Night” for several years, and did a fine job there too. Yeah, but when I see that show on TV I say “That’s Archie Bunker playing a cop.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/133 "2004-10-17T01:05:30Z")
Well, it’s another TV one, but James Gandolfini’s going to be Tony Soprano for life. Of course, his previous roles were pretty much cast to the same type, so his TV fame is sort of a continuation of previous typecasting rather than anything else, but he’s a tremendous actor I’d like to see do other things and that’s probably just not going to happen. Vin Diesel has made a lot of money playing to type after **Pitch Black** and **The Fast and the Furious** , but now that I’ve seen **Boiler Room** I’m very sad that he dosen’t do any real movies. So his career wasn’t “killed” by playing Riddick, but his _interesting_ career was. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/134 "2004-10-17T02:04:06Z")
The _Happy Days_ “kids” have either succeeded behind the camera (Ron Howard, Henry Winkler) or settled for whatever on-screen work they could get (Donny Most, Anson Williams, Erin Moran). Among the older generation, Marion Ross has had a few fairly notable roles (_Drew Carey Show_, _Brooklyn Bridge_), but her obituary’s headline will say that she was “Mrs. C”. Tom Bosley’s best-known post-Howard Cunningham roles have probably been as the lead in _Father Dowling Mysteries_ and the sheriff in _Murder, She Wrote_. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/135 "2004-10-17T02:25:54Z")
Re: Patrick Stewart, it took me awhile to accept him as Captain Picard because I saw him first as Sejanus in “ **I, Claudius**.” ---
**Author:** ![Waccoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Waccoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waccoe)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/136 "2004-10-17T09:31:11Z")
I’ve always been irritated by the male actors who typecast themselves as guys who can take loads of pain/ are brave under torture. Possibly they are interested in masochism, but more likely it is a way for them to demonstrate that they can convey intensity of emotion - they are not good enough to do it in any other way. Naturally, I’m thinking of Stallone in particular, but it has also been a feature of Mel Gibson’s career. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/137 "2004-10-17T09:43:58Z")
It would’ve been the same for Patrick Stewart for me if I hadn’t seen _Jeffrey_. Now I don’t just see him as Captain Pickard, but as the shallow decorating queen who thinks Martha Stewart is God 😛 ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/138 "2004-10-17T13:39:43Z")
I never cared for ST: TNG that much, so for me Patrick Stewart will always be Professor Xavier… ---
**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:** [October 17, 2004, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/139 "2004-10-17T14:03:14Z")
> [@capacitor](#): > > Bill and Leonard did alright for themselves after Classic Trek. Actually, according to their autobiographies, they kind of limped along doing crappy movies, occasional guest-star shots and made-for-TV dreck after Classic Trek. Nimoy landed a regular deal on Mission: Impossible for a while, but was reduced to doing dinner theatre at one point, while wrestling with Paramount to get the rights to his very memorable face (Paramount was still gleefully merchandising Star Trek stuff with Nimoy’s picture on it, for which Nimoy recieved not a dime). Neither actor was what you’d call “successful” until allovasudden Star Trek: The Motion Picture was greenlighted, and it occurred to Paramount that they had a potential money machine here… IF they could get the original actors back. Nimoy in particular soaked them for a blue zillion, plus the option of directing his own movies, and Shatner set himself up as a horse breeder and rancher with the money from the movies. I would respectfully amend the statement to reflect that the series alone didn’t make them rich – only famous and marginally unemployable. The MOVIES made them rich. In other news, I was lookin’ at a rack of two-dollar DVDs and noticed a couple of movies that made me think about the ultimate typecast actors – Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall. Between the classic Dead End, the Bowery Boys movies, the Dead End Kids movies, and the East Side Kids, these two actors basically spent their \*entire lives \* playing the same basic comical street-punk roles; both started young and were still doing the same thing into their forties and into retirement. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-killed-or-very-nearly-so-their-careers-by-taking-too-memorable-a-role/261631/140 "2004-10-17T14:09:35Z")
> [@Tenar](#): > > Re: Patrick Stewart, it took me awhile to accept him as Captain Picard because I saw him first as Sejanus in “ **I, Claudius**.” Not that his career is dead, far from it, but it takes me a while to accept Derek Jacobi in _anything_ because he’ll always be Emperor Claudius to me. [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=6) [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=8)