# Actors who play one really creepy character, and then look strange playing normal rol **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2002, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730 "2002-12-01T04:01:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Morgainelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/41 "2002-12-02T16:35:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by divemaster \* > \*\*Also, whenever I think of Angela Lansbury, I think _Manchurian Candidate_ rather than _Murder She Wrote_. Commie bitch. \*\* I have the same issue with Ms. Lansbury. I see her as a cross between her character in _Manchurian Candidate_ and her evil character in _Sweeney Todd._ I just can’t see her as a sweet grandmotherly-type. She plays Mrs. Claus in a crappy made for TV movie - I keep expecting her to toss the elves into the ovens! ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/42 "2002-12-03T00:09:13Z")
Danny DeVito was so good at being the despicable Louie DePalma on _Taxi_ (and other unsavory characters in _Other People’s Money_ and _Batman Returns_) that it can be hard to accept him in other roles. Devito’s wife (I guess they’re still married?), Rhea Perlman, will never be anyone other than Carla from _Cheers_. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/43 "2002-12-03T01:17:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Morgainelf \* > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by divemaster_ > > Also, whenever I think of Angela Lansbury, I think Manchurian Candidate rather than Murder She Wrote. Commie bitch. > > I have the same issue with Ms. Lansbury. You both seem very stressed about this. Why don’t you relax with a game of solitaire? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/44 "2002-12-03T03:50:25Z")
Wow, no **Tim Curry** (Rocky Horror, Legend; to name a few) mention yet? ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/45 "2002-12-03T09:16:37Z")
And in which movie, precisely, did Tim play a _normal_ role? 😉 [sub]C’mon, even in that little part he played in **Oscar** he was a bit twisted.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![AgentofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@AgentofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AgentofEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/46 "2002-12-03T11:23:27Z")
Hugo " agent smith" Weaving. That role has completely spoilt him for any other movies. Everytime I see him I imagine him saying the “Mr Anderson…” line. As for Edward Norton the transiston from Primal Fear to Fight Club was really weird for me. Strangely similar characters though… ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/47 "2002-12-03T11:23:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Legomancer \* > Billy Bob Thornton. First he was the _Sling Blade_ guy, I reckon, mmm-hmmm. Then it was weird seeing him as not that guy. > > Now that he’s decided to be a full-time freak, though, it’s a little easier. I am so dismayed by him and his continued freakatude. I will always associate him with [Hearts Afire](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0103437), where he played affable Billy Bob, somewhat neurotic buddy of John Ritter and Marky Post. He had this catch phrase, “I have a _rule_ about that…” I thought he was very funny. I know I have some of those old shows on tape somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/48 "2002-12-03T15:28:35Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Wendell Wagner_ > I think what you’re talking about is _exactly_ type-casting. That’s what I mean when I use the term. “Type-casting” is whenever anyone (regardless whether it’s a director or whoever else casts a movie or just a moviegoer who reacts to a film) has trouble seeing an actor in a significantly different sort of role. Well, what I was referring to was really just two roles. One weird one, one normal one- not exactly that they were type cast as forever being weird. Like the Paul Reiser example. But I guess that kind of is typecasting. One more example from me: Helena Bonham Carter. When I saw her in the Mel Gibson version of “Hamlet,” playing Ophelia, she was just so…pure. And weird as hell, but a very different kind of weird than her role as Marla Singer in “Fight Club.” I actually didn’t realize it was the same person until much later on. I still have a hard time believing it was her… ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/49 "2002-12-03T15:37:05Z")
I’m amazed at the versatility of Christopher Guest. It took me some time to realize that the smoothly villanous Count Drugan from _Princess Bride_ is also Nigel in _Spinal Tap_. My friends didn’t believe me, so we set up two VCRs and did freeze frams to compare faces. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/50 "2002-12-03T16:35:19Z")
> [@](#): > > My friends didn’t believe me, so we set up two VCRs and did freeze frams to compare faces. So, is it just movie credits your friends can’t read, or are they generally illiterate? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/51 "2002-12-03T18:07:29Z")
Ray Liotta is another good example. After seeing him as the crazy ex-con in Something Wild, it was a real jolt to see him as Shoeless Joe in Field of Dreams. ---
**Author:** ![Sassafras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@Sassafras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassafras)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/52 "2002-12-03T20:24:57Z")
I feel compelled to mention Alan Rickman, my favorite villian ever in _Die Hard, Robin Hood, Quigley Down Under, Harry Potter,_ etc. Then I see _Truly,Madly,Deeply_ and _Sense and Sensibility_ Yikes :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/53 "2002-12-03T22:02:45Z")
Yeah, Hugo Weaving is a funny one. If you’ve only seen him in _The Matrix_, freak yourself out and go rent _The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert_! ---
**Author:** ![Melon\_Farmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Melon\_Farmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melon_Farmer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730/54 "2002-12-03T23:43:54Z")
The first movie I ever saw Russell Crowe in was [Romper Stomper](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0105275) Yikes! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-play-one-really-creepy-character-and-then-look-strange-playing-normal-rol/139730.md?page=2)