The man who may define “Macho Character Actor” in my mind is Richard Jackel. I just checked and he was in at least 15 war-related films (modern wars - he was also in numerous westerns where he played old time military and almost uncountable military television shows).
Lets run the qualifying movies though:
Air Force – Wing and a Prayer
Army-- Dirty Dozen
Navy-- Sea of Lost Ships
Marines-- Sands of Iwo Jima
Coast Guard-- Fighting Coast Guard
(and just for good measure)
National Guard-- Attack
He seemed to die in most of his films (even the non-military ones [Do you remember his death scene in Sometimes a Great Notion?] One great irony is he was one of the few who didn’t die in Dirty Dozen).
Using that logic, I can now note that Robert Conrad of course played a USMC Major in Black Sheep Squadron after playing a USAF Lieutenant in Thundering Jets before playing a USN Commander in The Fifth Missile; as for the Army – eh, no point in bothering with the movies where he played a Colonel or a General, since he’d long since qualified by playing a Sergeant in WWII Italy as per The Gallant Men.
I know the above response is now fairly old, but what you posted does not invalidate the statement you replied to. There are five branches of armed services, so the title of the thread referencing four as “all” is incorrect. The USCG are considered part of the military, an armed service, except when poking fun at them.
• Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander, Onionhead.
• Army General, The Secret War Of Harry Frigg.
• Air Corps Colonel, Captain Newman, MD.
• USMC Sergeant, The Lieutenant.
• Navy Commander, PT 109.
Army vet Forrest Tucker played USMC in Sands Of Iwo Jima and Never Say Goodbye, picked up the Air Corps credit with Wild Blue Yonder before going straight USAF in Flight Nurse, went USN in Submarine Raider and USCG in Fighting Coast Guard, and as for Army – well, do you want the one where he’s a Private, or a Sergeant, or a Lieutenant, or a Lieutenant Colonel?
Heh. And likewise, Rip Torn played Army in Pork Chop Hill, Navy in She Stood Alone: The Tailhook Scandal, Air Force in 12 O’Clock High, USMC in Beach Red, USCG in Yours, Mine, And Ours, and everything else from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief – but, c’mon, he’s Agent Zed from Men In Black.
Army (couple of them but I choose German) – Young Lions
Navy (Let’s go British) – Mutiny on the Bounty
Air Force (American) – Sayonaro
Marines (Brando’s first film, I think) – The Men
By contrast, is anyone surprised that Michael Ironside has all four? Like, anyone?
(He was playing Army General Sam Lane on SMALLVILLE within months of playing a Navy Captain in X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, but never mind that now; he was an Army Major in EXTREME PREJUDICE – and Jester in TOP GUN – long before he was an Air Force General in MAXIMUM VELOCITY or a Marine Lieutenant Colonel in MAJOR PAYNE.)
(Dude was even the voice of Sam Fisher, because of course he was.)
Route 66’s own Martin Milner…If I used his television credits this guy would have been easy. But with the movies, it was a bit more of a challenge.
Army – Screaming Eagles, Battle Zone
Navy – Navy Wife, Operation Pacific
Marines – the always dependable Sands of Iwo Jima, but also Halls of Montezuma
Air Force – On the Threshold of Space
Coast Guard – of course, Fighting Coast Guard
Merchant Marine – based on the poem by Longfellow, Wreck of the Hesperas
Glenn Ford played Admiral Raymond Spruance in Midway and General Omar Bradley in Is Paris Burning? for the Navy and Army credits after playing an Air Force Sergeant in It Started With A Kiss and appearing as a Marine in Guadalcanal Diary.
(I say “appearing as a Marine” because he was in fact serving in the Marines at the time – you know, in between serving in the Coast Guard and serving in the Navy.)
WWII veteran Tige Andrews – best known for his Emmy-nominated role as Captain Greer on The Mod Squad – had a recurring Army role as Private Gander on The Phil Silvers Show before he got a recurring Navy role as Chief Petty Officer Simpson on Gomer Pyle USMC, but I think that’s irrelevant; he got big-screen roles in everything from Mister Roberts to A Private’s Affair to Imitation General, played a Marine in Until They Sail, would’ve picked up the Air Force credit as a Master Sergeant in 12 O’Clock High if he didn’t already have it from playing Corporal Menotti in the China Doll movie, and even went Coast Guard with Onionhead.
Oh, and since this is the SDMB, I’ll add that he was also that Klingon in the episode where Doctor McCoy punched Julie Newmar.
Before he was Oscar Goldman on The Six Million Dollar Man, Richard Anderson played a naval officer in movies like Hit The Deck and Three Brave Men and Tora! Tora! Tora! – and a USAF Colonel alongside Rock Hudson in A Gathering Of Eagles, and a USMC Lieutenant Colonel in The Lieutenant – and as for Army, he’s played every General from Douglas MacArthur to George Meade after playing a Green Beret in Never Give Up.
Since ENLISTED is now on the air, I’m reminded that Keith David has been playing Army roles since PLATOON – and Navy in the BEHIND ENEMY LINES movies, and a Marine Gunnery Sergeant in SEMPER FI, and of course he was the Air Force General in ARMAGEDDON who asks Hey, why the heck are we training blue-collar oil-rig workers up to plant an atomic bomb on this asteroid? We’re the damned United States Air Force! How’s about we just launch dozens and dozens of nuclear missiles at it? Maybe fifty? I mean, fifty’s a nice round number…
Bumping because (a) before he was landing roles as everything from a USN Commander in Assault on the Wayne to a USAF General in Invasion America, and (b) in between landing big-screen roles as a West Point cadet and an Army sergeant, young Leonard Nimoy became an enlisted man in real life, which is when he got tapped to play a Marine in a training film for the quadfecta.
(Hey, remember that Twilight Zone episode where he plays a laconic infantryman who ain’t loving the attitude of newly-minted officer Dean Stockwell? That was awesome.)
Bumping because another thread just brought to mind John Payne, who served in the Army Air Corps during WWII after playing a Navy pilot in Wings Of The Navy and starring as a Marine in To The Shores Of Tripoli; after the war, he of course proved the existence of Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street before starring as an Army sergeant in Rails Into Laramie and then as a USAF Major in Bailout At 43,000.
(Other starring roles: the cop, the boxer, the pirate, the cowboy, the racecar driver; basically, “yeah, but what if a six-year-old boy wished for more wishes?”)
