Actors you love--but NOT in their most famous/lauded roles!

[Little_Nemo]

@Aeschines

Daniel Radcliffe. I think he’s a fantastic actor. Charismatic but not doesn’t put ego into his roles. I loved him in Horns. This is where I was first really turned onto his acting chops.

But he is actually not very good in the Harry Potter movies. He’s not terrible mind you, and a bunch of it is not is fault: Harry Potter is a pretty weak character, all told, and Hermione, Ron, Snape, and, well, just about everyone else ends up more interesting than Harry. But I think it’s also fair to say that Radcliffe doesn’t bring anything special to the character that helps it transcend its weaknesses. Harry just seems to be going through the preordained motions most of the time.

Radcliffe is an alcoholic. He was still drinking very heavily when he made the latter Harry Potter films. So to a large extent, he was just going through the motions.

Fortunately, Radcliffe got help and stopped drinking in 2013.

[Reno_Nevada]

@Acsenray

I love Hugh Laurie. I will NOT watch him in “House.”

I won’t watch *House *either. The best thing I have seen Laurie in is Sense and Sensibility, where he was on-screen for about 5 minutes, and gave a performance where he communicated the history of his character with little more than a look. It was an astounding performance.

[Kimstu]

@Acsenray

I love Hugh Laurie. I will NOT watch him in “House.”

You are me!

@Reno Nevada

I won’t watch *House *either.

So are you!

From everything I’ve heard or read about it, he was absolutely stellar in House, performance-wise. But the character was just such a thermonuclear asshole (and the genre of medical disaster drama isn’t a big draw for me anyway) that I just can’t watch it. It’s a pity, because I know I’m missing many hours of quality Hugh Laurie there. Fortunately, he still seems to be keeping busy.

[Superdude]

@JKellyMap

I’m a big fan of the 1985 film Witness, so that’s what I always think of first when I hear the name “Harrison Ford.” Does he act better in it than in, say, Star Wars or the Indiana Jones flicks? I suppose he does.

(A very young Viggo Mortensen also appears briefly in Witness, so I almost gave that as my answer to the OP, but that would have been a joke answer – his part is too small to demonstrate acting skills.)

Which gave Ford his only Oscar nomination.

[tingbudong]

@Richard_John_Marcej

Actually I’d say Harrison Ford’s best work was in The Mosquito Coast. After only seeing him in adventure films and hero roles (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Witness) to suddenly see him as this obsessed patriarch, it was a revelation.

He played against his type in 42 as well.

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[bmasters1]

@Acsenray

I love Hugh Laurie. I will NOT watch him in “House.”

By the same token, I think that John Ritter was much better on Hooperman as San Francisco Police Dept. Inspector Harry Hooperman than he ever was on Three’s Company as Jack Tripper.

[TCMF-2L]

I am not a great fan of Bruce ‘Evil Dead’ Campbell. His hamming it up style does nothing for me.

However in Bubba Ho-Tep (a horror comedy) his portrayal of an aged Elvis Presley who everyone else considers a fake Elvis had, for me, genuine nuance, gravitas and all round quality.

TCMF-2L