# Character nods to the actor's former character **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657 "2009-03-07T16:13:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/121 "2009-03-14T03:42:30Z")
> [@Hamadryad](#): > > In one of the first episodes of “Stargate: SG1” Amanda Tapping’s character makes a reference to “Macguyvering” a piece of equipment… to Richard Dean Anderson. Who starred in “Macguyver.” Angus’s last name was spelled “MacGyver.” “MacGuyver” puts me in mind of a Guyver in tartan. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/122 "2009-03-14T05:33:31Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > In the movie “Maverick,” Mel Gibson runs into a bandit played by his “Lethal Weapon” co-star Danny Glover. They give each other a funny look, then go their separate ways. More than a nod, I think, in that same movie, wherein it turns out at the end that James Garner’s character is Bret Maverick’s “pappy”, a character he also played once (besides playing Bret himself, of course) in an episode of the _Maverick_ TV series. Just watched _Big Fat Liar_ with my boys tonight, which featured Lee Majors as the stunt coordinator for the movie-within-a-movie. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/123 "2009-03-14T05:50:34Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > The leader was played by Buster Crabbe who, of course, played the _original_ Buck Rogers back in the 1930s. I thought the scene was a nice nod. In addition to playing Buck Rogers, Buster Crabbe was also famous for playing Flash Gordon. His character’s name in the Buck Rogers episode is Brigadier Gordon. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/124 "2009-03-14T08:04:51Z")
I think this is what you guys are after here. Cartoon Network has “Baby Looney Tunes”. As such, bugs and the gang are toddlers, and are looked after by “Granny” ((Who owned Tweety and Sylvester)). The show basically amounts to Muppet Babies meets a Looney Tunes Prequel. One episode had the baby looney tunes playing out what the first day of school would be like, once they got there. Baby bugs and Baby daffy start to argue over who gets to sit in the first seat on the “school bus” [Sofa] The following conversation takes place: Baby bugs: “I want the first seat” Baby daffy: “I want the first seat” bb: “I want the first seat” bd: “I want the first seat” Baby Bugs: “you want the first seat” Baby Daffy: “you want the first seat” bb: “Why yes daffy, I do, thank you!” bd: “Bugs, that was a dirty trick, I am going to remember that, and never fall for it again.” Which is a nod back to The Classic ““It’s Duck Season, Fire!”” routine. Bugs and Daffy play out the same argument, but this time, it’s over telling Elmer Fudd what season it is, and who he can shoot. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/125 "2009-03-14T13:02:18Z")
In the movie Shaft, there is a bit where Samuel L Jackson’s Shaft character is talking to his uncle in a bar, who was not only played by the guy who played Shaft back in the 70’s, but was evidently the same character, but 20+ years older (the movie Shaft is the TV show Shaft’s nephew, to clarify) ---
**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:** [April 7, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/126 "2009-04-07T15:30:40Z")
A bump and a nod to last night’s _House_: Meat Loaf played a character named Eddie (as in _Rocky Horror Picture Show_) who stated: I will do anything for love. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/127 "2009-04-07T15:34:25Z")
Also last night, on _Chuck_, Scott Bakula played Chuck’s dad, and at an awkward moment with his daughter Ellie, he said “oh, boy” in the exact same tone of voice he used to use as Sam Beckett on _Quantum Leap_ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/128 "2009-04-07T16:42:10Z")
In _Analyze This_, the psychologist played by Billy Crystal is describing a dream in which he was in a scene from _The Godfather_. The Mafia boss played by Robert DeNiro was in the dream too. From Crystal’s description, DeNiro recognizes the part he was playing and says skeptically, “I was Fredo? I don’t think so.” DeNiro played Vito, not Fredo, in _The Godfather, Part II_. A file photo of Gene Hackman from _The Conversation_ appears in _Enemy of the State_, in which he plays a similar (perhaps even the very same) character. ---
**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:** [April 17, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/129 "2009-04-17T18:26:11Z")
Prior to House, Hugh Laurie’s best known TV appearance was on a plane with _Friends_. So _House_ did an episode on a plane. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/130 "2009-04-17T20:05:20Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Was I the only one who was really annoyed when, after years of waiting, Darren McGavin finally did a guest shot on _X-Files_, and then did NOT make any reference to Kolchak? According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolchak:_The_Night_Stalker#Legacy); > [@](#): > > McGavin was unwilling to reprise the character for the show. He did eventually appear in several episodes as Arthur Dales, a retired FBI agent described as the “father of the X-Files”. So in answer to your question… maybe. > [@KneadToKnow](#): > > In the _Enterprise_ episode “Twilight,” which involves more than a little playing around in time, Captain Archer wakes up one morning and looks in the mirror only to see a face he doesn’t fully recognize looking back at him. > > That was a really nice reference to _Quantum Leap_. I thought they might have tried something QL related in the Enterprise episode “Detained”, but I can’t remember it too well. All [Memory Alpha](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Detained_(episode)#Background_Information) suggests is that Dean Stockwell’s character has a little palm top computer “reminiscent of Al Calavicci’s use of the handlink in Quantum Leap”. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/131 "2023-04-09T01:01:04Z")
(I thought there was a recent thread about this topic, but this is what I found.) In the most recent _Animal Control_ (1x08) Joel McHale insists that his pronunciation of a Spanish word is correct because he took Spanish in community college. (His pronunciation is not correct.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/132 "2023-04-09T01:29:42Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I thought there was a recent thread about this topic… > [@Humorous Allusions to Actors' Previous Roles](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/250): > > ^ See post 195 as to the Sheens and Vietnam War movies. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/133 "2023-04-09T02:30:29Z")
Many years late, but when Nathan Fillion starred on Castle, he referenced Firefly several times. In one scene, he and Beckett are running through an area with Chinese workers. He yells at them in Chinese to ask where the suspect is. Beckett says, “Semester abroad?” and Castle replies, “No, a TV show I used to love.”. He also dresses as Mal one Halloween and his daughter says, “Space cowboy? Didn’t you wear that like 5 years ago? Don’t you think you should move on?”. There are others. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/134 "2023-04-11T18:25:48Z")
In _Numb3rs_, Rob Morrow plays FBI Agent Don Eppes, who works in Los Angeles. Someone threatens to have Don transferred to Alaska. Don says, “Hmm. Never been to Alaska.” Rob Morrow played a doctor who works in Alaska in _Northern Exposure_. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2023, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657/135 "2023-04-12T18:56:48Z")
I saw one recently. I had to have this one explained. From Living Single Copying from IMDB… When Regine (Kim Fields) asks Susan (Kelita Smith) what school she went to, she answers “a small private school called Eastland”. Regine replies back with “Hmmm, never heard of it” and then gives a quick look at the camera with a grin before sitting down. That’s because Kim Fields played a character named Tootie in the show The Facts of Life where she went to a small private school named Eastland. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/character-nods-to-the-actors-former-character/488657.md?page=6)