# Any Professions NOT Used In Films/TV Shows For Lead Characters? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442 "2011-08-20T17:18:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/21 "2011-08-21T01:16:23Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Sgt Bilko Bilko was GREAT! God’s own goldbrick. Okay, I’m a drafter. There is nothing remotely interesting about my profession, unless you are OCD. Any suggestions? And forget Mr Brady. He was an architect and was creative. ---
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/22 "2011-08-21T01:19:51Z")
Some off the top of my head, but I could be wrong: Foundry worker. Bank regulator. Snow remover. Dust explosion engineer. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/23 "2011-08-21T01:30:03Z")
Landscapers are strangely underrepresented. You see the pool guys all the time, but never the landscapers. Ditto roofers. Also anything to do with Government Contracting. Which is OK, because in my retirement I intend to fill this lovely little gap with a bunch of super-crappy novels which I hope will become just-crappy-enough-to-make-megabucks movies. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/24 "2011-08-21T01:30:04Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I can’t recall ever seeing my profession in a lead role in either TV or film: stagehand. The Dresser. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/25 "2011-08-21T01:30:29Z")
Notary public Gynecologist ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/26 "2011-08-21T01:32:32Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > Bank regulator. Too Big to Fail. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/27 "2011-08-21T01:58:24Z")
> [@Satchmo](#): > > Wasn’t the first Bob Newhart series him as a Psychiatrist? Didn’t Kelsey Grammer spend twenty years playing a psychiatrist? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/28 "2011-08-21T01:58:48Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Double Indemnity. That, and About Schmidt. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/29 "2011-08-21T02:07:02Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Landscapers are strangely underrepresented. You see the pool guys all the time, but never the landscapers. Ditto roofers. > > Also anything to do with Government Contracting. Which is OK, because in my retirement I intend to fill this lovely little gap with a bunch of super-crappy novels which I hope will become just-crappy-enough-to-make-megabucks movies. “Drowning Mona” has several main characters that are landscapers. Not a great movie, but a funny/strange one. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus\_alba](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quercus_alba/32/4061_2.png) [@Quercus\_alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus_alba)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/30 "2011-08-21T02:09:09Z")
Actuary? ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/31 "2011-08-21T02:12:04Z")
There was a behavioral therapist as a recurring character on Parenthood, but as far as I know that is the only TV/film character with that profession. Sharona from “Monk” served a sort of a behavioral therapist, but she was actually a nurse. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/32 "2011-08-21T02:12:09Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > We’re still looking for a film starring someone as an actuary. > > > [@hajairo](#): > > > > Double Indemnity. He was an insurance salesman, not an actuary. Jack Lemmon in The Apartment was an actuary. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/33 "2011-08-21T02:14:36Z")
Alto Trombonist. Bass Flautist. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/34 "2011-08-21T02:15:04Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > Some off the top of my head, but I could be wrong: > > Foundry worker. > Bank regulator. > Snow remover. > Dust explosion engineer. Michael Rapaport plays a snow remover in “Beautiful Girls”, he’s listed 10th in the credits, but it is kind of an ensemble movie. Don’t know if he counts as a lead character. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/35 "2011-08-21T02:15:16Z")
I think we should move this to a new thread and turn it into a game. Mention a profession. The next poster has to name a movie or TV show where the lead role has that profession then they pick a new profession for the next person. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/36 "2011-08-21T02:15:16Z")
> [@Quercus\_alba](#): > > Actuary? An accountants accountant. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/37 "2011-08-21T02:43:31Z")
Dietitian Bikini waxer ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/38 "2011-08-21T02:49:03Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Ed Norton from The Honeymooners was a sewage worker. My favorite Norton line: “Like we say in the sewer- water is thicker than blood”.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/39 "2011-08-21T02:55:45Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Bikini waxer In “Californication,” the second female lead (or maybe she’d be third), Charlie Runkel’s ex-wife, is a waxer. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442/40 "2011-08-21T02:59:07Z")
> [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](#): > > Foundry worker. _Flashdance_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-professions-not-used-in-films-tv-shows-for-lead-characters/593442.md?page=3)