# Can an actor become the character he is playing ( within reason) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707 "2012-07-28T20:33:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/21 "2012-07-30T02:34:51Z")
Jonathan Winters is said to have gotten stuck as his “Maude” character and needed professional help to get back. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/22 "2012-07-30T03:12:28Z")
I’ve occasionally wondered how much Kung-Fu Keanu Reeves knows. And what Larry the Cable Guy is like out of character. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/23 "2012-07-30T03:55:00Z")
> [@Crime\_Scene](#): > > I don’t have a cite off the top of my head, but I know Chistian Bale immersed himself in the role of the main character in American Psycho. I believe wikipedia may mention it. Speaking of Christian Bale, he uses an American accent when he does interviews for American audiences, which surprised the heck out of Terry Gross during an interview with him on Fresh Air as she had no idea he was “putting on” an American accent, nor that his real accent was English until he admitted it on-air. She seemed somewhat affronted by the ostensible deception. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/24 "2012-07-30T04:01:02Z")
Madonna gave an interview in a full blown English accent a few years after her marriage and setting up house in London. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/25 "2012-07-30T04:44:08Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Jonathan Winters is said to have gotten stuck as his “Maude” character and needed professional help to get back. I’ve heard this one too, from a psychologist (friend). Also, Jeremy Brett (Sherlock Holmes) may have had a similar problem. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/26 "2012-07-30T05:07:12Z")
Mel Blanc, who supplied the voices for Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and most of the other Warner Bros. cartoon characters, was involved in a car wreck, and went into a coma for weeks. One day, the doctor was examining him while some of his cartoons were on TV, and got an idea. He asked, “How are you, Bugs Bunny?” Blanc, who hadn’t spoken at all to that point, came right back with “Fine, Doc, how are you?” The doctor tried a few more characters, and there they were. From that moment, they had a foundation on which to build Blanc’s recovery. ---
**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:** [July 30, 2012, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/27 "2012-07-30T13:22:46Z")
Everyone on the show agreed that Hugh Laurie did not play House, Hugh Laurie became House. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/28 "2012-07-30T13:30:29Z")
I recall that\*\* Sean Penn \*\*maintained his \*\*Jeff Spicoli \*\*surfer/burnout character from _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_, to the point once where someone asked a question to Sean, not his Jeff character, and when Penn answered as Sean, he caught himself by putting out his cigarette in his palm. (I did a quick search and couldn’t find a reference to it, but recall the story being told by one of the co-stars, like Judge Reinhold or JJLeigh, so assuming it was true…) That’s one way to enforce staying in character… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/29 "2012-07-30T13:52:02Z")
Just make sure you never go full retard. ---
**Author:** ![temp\_user](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@temp\_user](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/temp_user)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/30 "2012-07-30T14:48:54Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I’ve seen him say the opposite: he was Buddy Love before the movie was even begun. He basically took all his unpleasant traits and put them into the character. the account i read talked about him coming home in full costume, still in the Love personae, and how he scared the hell out of his kids. can’t find a reference, tho. Clayton Moore would be another, he assumed the personae of the Lone Ranger and always appeared in public with the mask, or sunglasses after the court case. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/31 "2012-07-30T14:57:05Z")
First one I thought of was Andy Kaufman/Tony Clifton. Does Charlie Sheen/Charlie Harper count? How about Teller of Penn and Teller? ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/32 "2012-07-30T14:57:45Z")
I found the title role of Being John Malkovich to be portrayed quite convincingly. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/33 "2012-07-30T16:09:43Z")
Leonard Nimoy has written 2 autobiographies, twenty years apart, the first claiming that he wasn’t Spock, and the second one admitting that he was in fact Spock. ;)😉 Leonard Nimoy is very cool. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/34 "2012-07-30T16:39:17Z")
Alan Hale, Jr. started wearing his “Skipper” hat a lot after the _Gilligan’s Island_ nostalgia stuff hit. Another example of a previous non-musician turning a TV character into a career is David Cassidy. I don’t think Teller counts, he regularly talks to people off stage and has made appearances as himself and as an actor when not joined with Penn. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/35 "2012-07-30T17:07:51Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I don’t think Teller counts, he regularly talks to people off stage and has made appearances as himself and as an actor when not joined with Penn. Or even with Penn, though he does tend to let Penn do most of the talking. I asked them a question at a recent Q&A, and Penn gave a fairly long and detailed response. Then Teller said, “I agree with Penn.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/36 "2012-07-31T09:21:22Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > Leonard Nimoy has written 2 autobiographies, twenty years apart, the first claiming that he wasn’t Spock, and the second one admitting that he was in fact Spock. ;)😉 > > Leonard Nimoy is very cool. I have the second book. In it, he expounds on this: Spock is more of an alternate persona, someone who comments on everything he does, telling him whether what he is doing is logical, or when he’s getting too emotional. He explains that the first book was somewhat marketing and somewhat a protestation towards being typecast, combined with frustration about people thinking of him as Spock first. I’ve yet to actually read the first book, as I’ve never encountered it. I got the second at a 99 cent store–I guess it didn’t sell well. Too bad–it’s the best of the Star Trek biographies, at least, of those I’ve read. (If Takei has one, I haven’t read it yet.) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2012, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/37 "2012-07-31T09:43:45Z")
There’s a couple different but related concepts being spoken of, and conflated a bit in this thread. People like Paul Rubens of Dan Whitney who make their character their public persona, and thus don’t break character when doing public appearances. Extreme method actors like Sean Penn, or Daniel Day-Lewis who stay in character at all times while playing the character, because they feel it helps their craft. Shy or socially awkward celebrities like Peter Sellers who use their characters to allow themselves to be in public at all. And, finally, arguable mental cases like Jonathan Winters or Andy Kaufman who actually lose their real selves to the characters. (Then there’s cases where the character is built around the actor, but I don’t think they’re anywhere near the same thing.) ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/38 "2012-08-01T22:29:09Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Or even with Penn, though he does tend to let Penn do most of the talking. I asked them a question at a recent Q&A, and Penn gave a fairly long and detailed response. Then Teller said, “I agree with Penn.” We went to see Penn and Teller here in Seattle, and the kid sitting next to my husband was chosen to participate in one of their tricks. Imagine our delight when Teller jogged down to the kid as Penn continued the setup and gave him a book and told him what his duties were, loud enough for us to overhear. (Imagine how easily delighted we are :D.) ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/39 "2012-08-01T22:44:33Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I have the second book. In it, he expounds on this: Spock is more of an alternate persona, someone who comments on everything he does, telling him whether what he is doing is logical, or when he’s getting too emotional. He explains that the first book was somewhat marketing and somewhat a protestation towards being typecast, combined with frustration about people thinking of him as Spock first. > > I’ve yet to actually read the first book, as I’ve never encountered it. I got the second at a 99 cent store–I guess it didn’t sell well. Too bad–it’s the best of the Star Trek biographies, at least, of those I’ve read. (If Takei has one, I haven’t read it yet.) The first book is pretty much what you’d imagine it to be. I found it to be mainly an outpouring of frustrations that the craft of acting and directing that he took so seriously, and the other facets of his personality and life that he feels are so important to understanding HIM, were totally ignored or even worse, smushed into, one character that he played for a very short period of time. I got to meet him briefly, just a few years ago, and he has mellowed considerably on the topic. I, like you, found his second biography first, at a thrift-store I think, and I very much enjoyed it. So much that I hunted down the first one, just to find out how mad he was. That said, I can totally sympathize with his feelings from the first book. It can’t be any fun to be told repeatedly by thousands that your only importance to them is as a fictional character. I think that Patrick Stewart has expressed very similar feelings regarding Captain Picard, although he’s always been either more tactful or more resigned about it. /hijack ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707/40 "2012-08-01T22:47:23Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Can you tell the difference between Robert Downey Jr. and Tony Stark these days? Let me get back to you after I trap Downey in a cave with a box of scraps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-an-actor-become-the-character-he-is-playing-within-reason/629707.md?page=3)