# Best Performances "Against Type" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2020, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938 "2020-03-05T00:16:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/21 "2020-03-05T05:44:49Z")
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Savages, or Pray for the Wildcats, but they had Andy Griffith playing the bad guy ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/22 "2020-03-05T13:01:45Z")
How on earth Helena Bonham Carter (archetypical costume drama English rose) got herself cast as the female lead in Fight Club has always been a mystery to me. But well done to her for managing it, and she did a great job. j ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/23 "2020-03-05T13:07:56Z")
A long time ago now but Mary Tyler Moore was a cold blooded monster in Ordinary People. Only played very warm blooded people before that. ---
**Author:** ![BeagleJesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5daacb/32.png) [@BeagleJesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeagleJesus)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/24 "2020-03-05T13:11:04Z")
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson went from Schwarzenegger 2.0 uber manly man to a pink loving (probably closeted) gay man in Be Cool and he was fucking hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Marine\_One](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marine_one/32/3461_2.png) [@Marine\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marine_One)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/25 "2020-03-05T13:22:11Z")
Robert Walker played kid-next-door and best friend types and was the psychopath killer in \*\*Strangers on a Train \*\*(1951). Not someone you would want next door as your best friend. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/26 "2020-03-05T13:23:43Z")
When Ray Romano first appeared in the Parenthood series in 2012-2013, I only knew him from stand-up and Everybody Loves Raymond. I was really impressed with his portrayal of Hank Rizzoli, a photographer with Asperger syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/27 "2020-03-05T13:23:55Z")
Angela Lansbury in the first Manchurian Candidate ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/28 "2020-03-05T13:33:39Z")
Former child actress Kim Richards, maybe best known for her Disney films, turned in an excellent little performance as Christina Ricci’s angry, abusive mom in Black Snake Moan. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/29 "2020-03-05T14:05:24Z")
Fair to say Ben Kingsley’s Don Draper in \*Sexy Beast \*was a bit of a departure. Not sure he had a type, but _Ghandi_ is his career-defining performance and you can’t get further away from Don Draper than that. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2020, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/30 "2020-03-05T14:13:52Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > The obvious one is Adam Sandler in _Uncut Gems_. I thought he did a good job in he first real non-comedic role. And before that in _Punch-Drunk Love_. My nomination would be Gene Hackman in _The Conversation_. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/31 "2020-03-05T14:25:39Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Eddie Arnold in the first Longest Yard. Nitpick - Eddie **Albert**. Eddie Arnold is the country singer. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/32 "2020-03-05T14:47:22Z")
We talked about this recently in another thread, but I nominate Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, and especially Leslie Nielsen in _Airplane!_ Straight dramatic actors all, doing great jobs in a satirical comedy. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/33 "2020-03-05T15:09:44Z")
For the exact opposite of what this thread is talking about, Will Farrell attempts and fails miserably at drama in _Downhill_. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/34 "2020-03-05T15:12:25Z")
Fred Munz in an episode of Criminal Minds playing a man who is killing off the gang members who forced him to watch them rape and murder his pregnant fiancee before almost knifing him to death. He is in a psychotic break, not remembering actually doing the murders. It was a marvelous episode, where the murderer was not the bad guy. And not Malcom in the Middle. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/35 "2020-03-05T15:17:32Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Fred Munz in an episode of Criminal Minds playing a man who is killing off the gang members who forced him to watch them rape and murder his pregnant fiancee before almost knifing him to death. He is in a psychotic break, not remembering actually doing the murders. It was a marvelous episode, where the murderer was not the bad guy. > > And not Malcom in the Middle. **Frankie Muniz** , not Fred Munz. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/36 "2020-03-05T17:24:02Z")
Sandra Bullock as a racist bitch in _Crash_. I know may people disliked the film; I loved it. But her in that role was . . . curious. It almost shouldn’t have worked but someone it made it more horrifying to me. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/37 "2020-03-05T19:16:28Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > For the exact opposite of what this thread is talking about, Will Farrell attempts and fails miserably at drama in _Downhill_. Yes, but \*Will Ferrell \*does an excellent job with a dramatic (and reserved) performance in **Stranger Than Fiction**. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/38 "2020-03-05T19:23:02Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > Fair to say Ben Kingsley’s Don Draper in \*Sexy Beast \*was a bit of a departure. > > Not sure he had a type, but _Ghandi_ is his career-defining performance and you can’t get further away from Don Draper than that. I just watched a movie last night where he played Adolf Eichmann. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/39 "2020-03-05T19:37:58Z")
The mention of _Malcolm in the Middle_ a few posts back got me thinking – does Bryan Cranston really have a “type”? When _Breaking Bad_ started airing, most people knew him from _Malcolm in the Middle_ and assumed he was playing against type, but I’m not so sure. Before Malcolm he had a recurring role on _Seinfeld_, but IIRC he also played a string of bad guys on various TV dramas. From what I recall from an interview I heard years ago, it was his role as the villain in an _X Files_ episode that got him considered for Walter White. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938/40 "2020-03-05T19:49:48Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Angela Lansbury in the first Manchurian Candidate Not to mention her debut film performance - a conniving little schemer in _Gaslight_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performances-against-type/848938.md?page=3)