There’s an awful lot of them, but these stand out as my favorites, in no particular order.
Gary Sinise
Everything from George Wallace to Harry Truman, and let’s never forget Lieutenant Dan.
Goldie Hawn
Yes, Goldie Hawn. If for no other reason than her spectacular role in Overboard, where she played the insufferable rich bitch, the meek and sweet poor girl, and the wise, enlightened, and reformed wealthy matron. Were it not for her subtle handling of this role, this screenplay could have failed miserably.
Billy Bob Thornton
This guy has got to be the master. Without being told, who would ever have known that the guy in Slingblade was the same as the guy in Pushing Tin. (By the way, did you know he was the trouble maker in The Apostle?)
Gene Hackman (Young Frankenstein (“I was going to make espresso!”, The French Connection, The Unforgiven)
Mandy Patinkin (Alien Nation, Princess Bride, Dick Tracy)
Johnathan Pryce (Brazil, Tomorrow Never Dies)
John Hurt (Alien, 1984, boatloads of stuff)
Anthony Hopkins (the usual)
Edward Norton was equally believable as an affable priest in “Keeping the Faith” and as an angry skinhead in “American History X.”
Anthony Hopkins was equally convincing as a psychotic killer in “The Silence of the Lambs” and as an introverted, repressed butler in “Remains of the Day.”
It’s hard to believe that the Ben Kingsley who played Chicago mobster Meyer Lansky in “Bugsy” is the same guy who played Gandhi, the same guy who played Dr. Watson in the hilarious “Without a Clue.”
How about Audie Murphy? Among his many films were To Hell and Back (1955), in which he played himself, and Travelin’ Light (1971), in which he played himself. In Kansas Raiders (1950) he played Jesse James, and in A Time for Dying (1971), he played Jesse James. Now, there’s range for you!
Robert Carlyle. He was the psychotic Begbie in “Trainspotting,” the sweet, trusting gay guy in “Priest,” the evil supervillain in “Tomorrow is not Enough,” and the unemployed mill guy turned stripper in “The Full Monty.”
Billy Bob was my first thought. I’m rapidly becoming a complete Billy Bob fanatic.
Another that springs to mind …
Gary Oldman: From Irish street punk in State of Grace to sadistic Assistant Warden in Murder in the First to Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy to Ludwig Van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved.
… and I was just including something about Robert Carlyle, but I see on pre-view that gobear beat me to it.
Richard Dryfus-Jaws, Goodbye Girl, Rosenctantz and Gildenstern are Dead.
James Cagney-Public Enemy, Mid Summers Night Dream, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Johnny Come Lately, One, Two, Three, Ragtime.
Looking at my list, I guess I could say, any actor under 5’7".
Let me also add, Johnny Depp (although his last two have seemed rather repetitive) with Gilbert Grape, Edward Sissorhands, and Ed Wood, and Marlon Brando with On the Water Front, The Wild One, Julius Ceasar, The Young Lions, Mutiny on the Bounty and The Godfather.
All my first thought have been mentioned, so I’ll throw in with Tim Roth - Vincent Van Gogh in Vincent and Theo, the thief in the restaurant in Pulp Fiction, Archibald Cunningham (the main villian) in Rob Roy, Dutch Scholtz in Hoodlum, General Thade in the remake of Planet of the Apes, and one of the title characters in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
And then there’s Ben Kingsley - Mahatma Gandhi in um, that one movie, what was it called?, Meyer Lansky in Bugsy, Cosmo in Sneakers, and Itzhak Stern in Schindler’s List. From Gandhi to gangsters to oppressed Jew.
And while I’m not sure how versatile he’s considered, but Tom Hanks going from Splash, Bachelor Party, and Big to films like Philadelphia and Saving Private Ryan is pretty impressive to me.
And of course, I have to mention one of my favorite actors ever - Spencer Tracy, whose filmography is too big to go into here.
Kevin Kline, “Ice Storm”, “A fish called wanda”, “In and Out”, “Pirates of Penzance”. Guess his nickname is “Kevin deKline” cause he turns down so many roles. Apparently he just hates to be in movies that suck.
You start this thread and don’t even hit the master of the versatility?
The Refugee turned Miami Drug Lord?
The cranky blind Commander?
A football coach with some scruples?
The cop that won’t turn and pays for it?
The comic strip crime king?
Mayor of New York?
Son of a Don and leader of the Corleone Family?
SATAN?
I am talking of course of Al Pacino.
May you all smack yourself for forgetting him
but I do agree with a lot of names you have so far
Chris Guest
Nigel Tufnel in Spinal Tap “These go to eleven.”
Count Rugen in The Princess Bride “You must be that Spainsh brat…”
The weenie Navy Surgeon in A Few Good Men (betcha didn’t even know he was in there!)
The Good Ol’ Boy with the Dawg in Best in Show (fall-down funny)
What about Malcolm McDowell? Sure he plays a lot of baddies, but they’re all pretty versitile.
A rebellious gun-toating school boy
A parapelegic (sp?)
A teeange punk with ultraviolence on his mind,
Caligula
HG Wells (if the last two are the most different roles on Earth, I don’t know what are!)
Reporter
Coffee-saleman
Snooty college teacher
London Mob hitman
A mysterious Island owner
No, the OP specifically mentioned actors admired for their versatility, not actors who TALK REAL LOUD with a Noo Yawk accent in every single role they play.
Hoo-Ah!
I’m gonna throw a name out there… and I think I might get a lot of grief for it-- but IMO he has shown a lot of growth and range in the past several years— Tom Cruise. Maverick’s come a long way. He’s choosing a lot of different interesting and different roles now, and while not always amazing is always interesting and believable.
Plus Robin Williams. Was that really Mork from Orc in Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society? If you ever want a good trip on what he can do… go check out The Fischer King or Dead Again.
