# Disliking an actor vs. the character they play **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2021, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212 "2021-08-20T13:11:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [August 22, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/41 "2021-08-22T02:35:04Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > I cringe when I see Christine Baranski. I know it’s because of her part in _The Big Bang Theory_ as Leonard’s mom. She sure did a good job at playing a hate worthy character and I haven’t really seen her in enough other parts to separate her from that part. Christine Baranski is a fantastic actress who is exceptionally good at playing unlikeable people. I first noticed her on a one-season show with Jim Gaffigan called Welcome to New York. I can’t recall ever seeing her play a completely likeable role. ---
**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 22, 2021, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/42 "2021-08-22T02:39:24Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Christine Baranski is a fantastic actress who is exceptionally good at playing unlikeable people. I first noticed her on a one-season show with Jim Gaffigan called Welcome to New York. I can’t recall ever seeing her play a completely likeable role _Bowfinger_ was pretty terrific. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2021, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/43 "2021-08-22T02:45:03Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > _Bowfinger_ was pretty terrific. Ooh, I’ll have to re-watch it! ---
**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:** [August 22, 2021, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/44 "2021-08-22T03:14:29Z")
She was in the sitcom Cybill Shepherd had back in the 90s. I don’t remember a whole lot about her character but don’t remember her being unlikeable. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/45 "2021-08-22T03:41:00Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > This could dovetail easily into a political debate…finding out that an actor who’s given performances that you’ve loved holds awful political views colours a current viewing of their work. Finding out that the likes of John Cleese and Michael Caine are Brexiters, and have railed against immigration into Britain and called the EU “fascist” can’t help but affect how I watch some of my favorite movies now. Let me tell you a secret – it’s possible for actors to play a certain role, and, in that process, say and do things that they would never do in real life. Exhibit A is Carroll O’Connor, who was politically liberal in real life, and yet very successfully played the politically conservative character of Archie Bunker. Exhibit B is Jack Benny, who played a character named Jack Benny who was the exact opposite of himself in multiple ways. Incidentally – When you see a scene where some character murders somebody, do you then go around viewing that actor as a murderer? If not, why not? ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/46 "2021-08-22T03:52:20Z")
She was also great in The Ref, along with Glynis Johns, they both stole the show from a very, very good cast. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2021, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/47 "2021-08-22T06:28:34Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > Let me tell you a secret – it’s possible for actors to play a certain role, and, in that process, say and do things that they would never do in real life. So you could watch, say, Rush Limbaugh (were he still alive, and an actor) in a role and _not_ think of him as Rush Limbaugh? ---
**Author:** ![BigDfromLA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@BigDfromLA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDfromLA)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/48 "2021-08-22T08:58:39Z")
John Cleese was in Silverado? Really? I never saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/49 "2021-08-22T14:06:35Z")
Cleese plays a sheriff. He comes in, breaks up a fight, and his first line is “what’s all this, then?” It’s a small role, early in the film; so if you join it in the middle you’ve probably already missed him. _Silverado_ seems like it ought to be better remembered than it is. It feels like it was made by people who remembered and loved old westerns, knew that they were passé, and wanted to make one more great one before they disappeared.\* There are good guys and bad guys, shootouts and saloons, a wagon train and a cattle stampede, and just a few modern touches to wink at the audience. It was written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan, who has some other great movies in his credits. \* I’ve often said the same thing about _The Princess Bride_ and fairy tales. ---
**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:** [August 22, 2021, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/50 "2021-08-22T14:43:11Z")
When the college admissions scandal came out I had not seen Felicity Huffman in anything, except for a couple of Law and Order episodes. I’m watching Frasier for the first time and just finished the episodes where she was on. Her character wasn’t that likeable anyway, but I could only see her as one college admissions scandal ladies. And yesterday I saw Lori Loughlin acting for the first time in an episode of Psych. Again, I could only think of college admission scandal. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/51 "2021-08-22T14:47:57Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > So you could watch, say, Rush Limbaugh (were he still alive, and an actor) in a role and _not_ think of him as Rush Limbaugh? It might depend on the role, but if he were a good enough actor, I think I could. It’s part of willing suspension of disbelief. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/52 "2021-08-22T14:50:40Z")
Hijacking about **Silverado** ; it was hailed at the time as a return of the Western after an absence in the years since the Spaghetti Westerns and the gritty 70’s “tell it like it is” Realistic Westerns had exhausted their appeal. Knock-your-eye-out, Epic Westerns seemed like the wave of the future, and Kevin Costner came back with big financing a couple of years after Silverado and made **Dances with Wolves**. But Clint Eastwood had something else in mind besides mulitimillion dollar upgrades of Saturday matinee Westerns: Eastwood wanted to do the same thing Gary Cooper had done at the same age: make psychological Westerns. **Unforgiven** caused the next year’s **Tombstone** to look like what it was: a nostalgic but sloppy kiss to an obsolete genre (including parts for oater legacy actors Buck Taylor and Harry Carey Jr. ). When Kevin Costner came back again, this time it was for the psychological Western \*\*Open Range. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/53 "2021-08-22T14:53:29Z")
Its now hard to watch Vincent Donfrio and James Woods on screen because of their highly politicized tweeting. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/54 "2021-08-22T15:21:06Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Then there’s actors like Tom Cruise. I can’t watch anything he’s in bc I just hate him as a person. Even before all the Scientology weirdness came to be known, I’ve always found his acting style very self-conscious, as if he’s always trying too hard to convey what a Serious Actor he is and falling short. Another supposedly A-list actor I’ve never liked is Kevin Costner. I’ve always found his acting very wooden and unconvincing. Someone said in another acting-related thread the role that best fit Costner’s natural talents as an actor was in ‘The Big Chill’, which got a good laugh out of me. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/55 "2021-08-22T15:37:43Z")
Mayim Bialik is not just a [shill for Neuriva](https://www.fiercepharma.com/marketing/newly-rebranded-reckitt-casts-big-bang-actress-mayim-bialik-campaign-for-otc-brand), she is also a client. I actually liked her in BBT. But I can’t help thinking that despite having an actual degree in neuroscience, she largely plays a scientist on TV. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/56 "2021-08-22T15:55:18Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > it’s possible for actors to play a certain role, and, in that process, say and do things that they would never do in real life. Sure, no denying that. And once again, it may come down to politics. I have no problem watching someone who, by all accounts, is in real life a good person, playing a villain. But it’s harder for me to find sympathy for a good character played by someone who’s anywhere on the spectrum from general crank to criminal abuser in real life. I’ve been recently watching Smallville for the first time, and I can’t help it, but seeing Allison Mack (a beautiful and compellingly good actress) as Chloe Sullivan, I can’t **not** think about how in real life she recruited women into the NXIVM cult to be sex slaves to its leader, and by some accounts brought the practice of branding new recruits into the organization. I’d love to be able to watch James Woods, long one of my favorite actors, in great films like Casino, Videodrome and Once Upon a Time in America, but I don’t have the mental acumen to make myself forget his transphobic tweets and avid Trump support while he’s on the screen. And on and on…Mel Gibson, Louis C.K., Jon Voight…I can watch their movies and even enjoy them, but knowing who they are in real life doesn’t entirely leave my mind. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/57 "2021-08-22T17:51:39Z")
Actor Tony Pierce’s character from Dances With Wolves seemed so despicable that I had to laugh at my reaction. I guess he got a good running start with a name like _Spivey_. It just rolls off the tongue like something rottten being spit out. 😆 Ed O’Neill gave it his best shot a few times on Modern Family, but he just doesn’t come across as a racist/bigot/hater, etc. Like his character said about Bruce Willis: “_He just seems like a guy you’d wanna have a beer with_.” ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/58 "2021-08-22T18:06:41Z")
[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WS4ItwFEkoc/hqdefault.jpg "Best Of - Al Bundy Insults") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS4ItwFEkoc) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/59 "2021-08-22T18:07:15Z")
Remember the “Dell Dude” getting busted for pot and losing that gig? > **[WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Here's what the 'Dude You're Getting A Dell' guy is doing...](https://www.businessinsider.com/dell-dude-ben-curtis-today-2016-2)** > > "I was immediately terminated after the arrest." He shot himself in the foot, but nobody else. > [@veryfrank](#): > > Allison Mack We can add much bigger names, like Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, Roseanne Barr…whose reputations caused a fall from grace but also collateral damage. Maybe now all the people who acted alongside them won’t have their work seen if reruns are withheld etc. Why is it that someone like Tim Allen, convicted for selling cocaine, got a pass? > **[Tim Allen recalls serving time in prison on cocaine charges in his early 20s:...](https://www.yahoo.com/now/tim-allen-recalls-serving-time-prison-cocaine-charges-201655802.html)** > > Tim Allen opens up about serving time in prison — and what he learned. If we’re viewing movies, sports, etc. with the requirement that all the people involved have reasonably good morals and clean records, I think we’re bound to be disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212/60 "2021-08-22T18:36:45Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > Why is it that someone like Tim Allen, convicted for selling cocaine, got a pass? Because he served his time, and it happened before he was famous? Now, his Trump support, probably more damaging going forward… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disliking-an-actor-vs-the-character-they-play/949212.md?page=4)