# Ever confuse one actor for another? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 18, 2026, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757 "2026-07-18T01:25:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2026, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/81 "2026-07-19T20:16:27Z")
I couldn’t pick most of today’s Hollywood celebrities out of a police lineup. Attractiveness has become so standardized that I can’t tell one “pretty” face from another. Today’s famous faces have almost no distinguishing character traits at all. It’s boring as plastic fuck. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2026, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/82 "2026-07-19T20:43:13Z")
I have seen pictures of Hedy Lamarr and thought she was Vivien Leigh. IIRC a couple of times I was not sure if a movie I knew about or had seen starred Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler. E.g. “Meet the Parents.” I once misremembered the _nationality_ of an actor. I thought Colin Farrel was Australian and was surprised to learn that he was Irish. I think I mixed him up with Mel Gibson who holds Australian citizenship. Farrel I think looks a bit like a younger Mel Gibson (certainly the thick dark brown hair). I’m pretty sure there were other examples. I might remember them later. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2026, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/83 "2026-07-19T23:47:36Z")
As a young person Anthony Michael Hall had a distinctive look. As an adult he looks exactly like Terry Serpico. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2026, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/84 "2026-07-19T23:57:02Z")
You certainly did if you thought it was Cary Grant instead of Clark Gable in _ **The Misfits** _. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2026, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/85 "2026-07-20T00:00:22Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > I have seen pictures of Hedy Lamarr and thought she was Vivien Leigh. Indeed. Those two looked so much alike, they could have been sisters. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2026, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/86 "2026-07-20T00:13:44Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > James Franciscus was in _Longstreet_ and that teacher drama show from the early 1960s. I think the second one was titled _ **Mr Novak** _. In _ **MAD Magazine** _, it was called “Mr Nudnik.” Are you sure it was James Franciscus and not Richard Chamberlain in that one? 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/87 "2026-07-20T00:22:59Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Are you sure it was James Franciscus and not Richard Chamberlain in that one? 🤔 There is some resemblance. But their different hair colors made it easy for me to tell them apart. There are different reasons for confusing one person with another. Like **Too\_Many\_Cats2** , I can’t tell many younger actors apart. I don’t know how much of that is increasingly homogenous standards of attractiveness, or my age. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2026, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/88 "2026-07-20T00:34:56Z")
For years, I thought it was Arthur Hill (aka “Owen Marshall, Attorney at Law”) who played the Nazi that spoke American English opposite James Garner in _ **36 Hours** _. Turns out it was Rod “The Time Machine” Taylor instead. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2026, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/89 "2026-07-20T00:51:37Z")
In some of their roles, I could easily confuse Joe Pesci and Al Pacino. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2026, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/90 "2026-07-20T00:56:28Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > Today’s famous faces have almost no distinguishing character traits at all. It’s boring as plastic fuck. Amen to that! 🤢 ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/91 "2026-07-20T01:12:33Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > In some of their roles, I could easily confuse Joe Pesci and Al Pacino. Are these non-speaking roles? I’ve never heard anyone whose voice could be mistaken for Pesci’s. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2026, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/92 "2026-07-20T01:18:23Z")
I was thinking in particular about the courtroom scenes in _ **Scent of a Woman** _ and _ **JFK** _. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/93 "2026-07-20T01:41:04Z")
Yeah, Pacino was more animated than usual in **SoaW**. ---
**Author:** ![Schubert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Schubert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schubert)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/94 "2026-07-20T01:58:40Z")
Can I add Stuart Margolin and John Saxon? Not physically similar, but it always seemed that one (both?) was a “guest star” on the Barnaby Quincy Cannon McMillan Rockford juggernaut. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/95 "2026-07-20T02:22:04Z")
Sara Paxton and Sarah Polley. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/96 "2026-07-20T06:53:40Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I get William Hurt and Jeff Daniels mixed up. Not by appearance (or accent), but I have to pause and remember which is which as far as William Hurt, John Hurt, and John Heard. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/97 "2026-07-20T06:57:37Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I found it a little odd that Brent Spiner was playing the role of an Italian mafioso. Speaking of Star Trek, Armin Shimerman and René Auberjonois confuse me because they both played sort of Ayn Rand types in classic video games (although Robert House is a whole lot of Howard Hughes). ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/98 "2026-07-20T07:05:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > In some of their roles, I could easily confuse Joe Pesci and Al Pacino. I think when I was a kid watching Home Alone I mixed up Joe Pesci with Danny DeVito. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/99 "2026-07-20T07:27:33Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > [Peyton List](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyton_List_(actress%2C_born_1998)) and [Peyton List](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peyton_List_(actress,_born_1986)). Not helped by the fact that the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) is supposed to help prevent that kind of confusion. Apparently, one of the Peytons used her middle name also when she started, but dropped it (IMDb says she’s registered with SAG as Peyton Elizabeth List, but dropped the middle name before the younger one began her career). It also doesnt help that, per Google’s AI, “the two actresses actually appeared as a regular and an extra in the exact same scene on the soap opera _As the World Turns_. Years later, they stayed at the same hotel and kept receiving each other’s voicemails and call sheets.” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2026, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/100 "2026-07-20T09:16:29Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > I couldn’t pick most of today’s Hollywood celebrities out of a police lineup. Attractiveness has become so standardized that I can’t tell one “pretty” face from another. Today’s famous faces have almost no distinguishing character traits at all. It’s boring as plastic fuck. There’s a whole trope about actresses who look like Margot Robbie, including Jaime Pressley, Samara Weaving, and Emma Mackey. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757.md?page=6)