# 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:** 8
**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 23, 2026, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/141 "2026-07-23T19:09:54Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Not that these are names that show up much anymore, but Didi Conn and Kiki Dee. Didi Conn appeared in and “sang” the title song in “You Light Up My Life” (1977), and Kiki Dee sang and appeared in the video with Elton John in the (ironic in retrospect) song “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” Didi Conn is currently in the ensemble of the show _Best Medicine._ ---
**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 23, 2026, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/142 "2026-07-23T23:31:29Z")
Not to mention that she was Frenchie in _Grease._ ---
**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 24, 2026, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/143 "2026-07-24T00:38:58Z")
And now for something completly different… I have _never_ confused Marlon Brando with Burt Reynolds. But apparently some people have thought they were look-alikes. There was a very funny _Twilight Zone_ episode (“The Bard”) based on the purported resemblance. Reynolds played an insolent actor named Rocky Rhodes, who dressed in sweat clothes, an allusion to Brando’s characters with boxing affinity (Stanley Kowalski, Terry Malloy). I don’t even see a resemblance, apart from both actors’ vaguely Mediterranean appearance. It may have been more pronounced back when popular actors were more WASPish looking. This episode was also before Reynolds was sporting his iconic 1970s ‘pornstache’. Admittedly, by the time I knew who they were, Brando had put on weight, and Reynolds was a young sex symbol. So whatever resemblance there had been previously was before my time. But even looking at earlier pictures, I don’t see it. “The Bard” ends with the delightful decking of Rhodes by a time-traveling William Shakespeare. ---
**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 24, 2026, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/144 "2026-07-24T01:03:47Z")
And for the younger set, Stacy Jones on _Shining Time Station_. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2026, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/145 "2026-07-24T22:44:48Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I always confuse Spencer Tracy and James Whitmore. Several accounts state that Whitmore’s career got its start due to his resemblance to Tracy. His first major movie role, in 1949’s _Battleground_, had been offered to Tracy first. (Whitmore had been known primarily as a NY theater actor before this.) ---
**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 24, 2026, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/146 "2026-07-24T23:12:27Z")
Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Mary Elizabeth Ellis. I also always have to remind myself that it’s Elizabeth Moss and not Elizabeth Olsen who played Peggy Olsen on _Mad Men_. ---
**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 25, 2026, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/147 "2026-07-25T22:34:15Z")
Another resemblance I never noticed until it was pointed out: As a kid, I enjoyed the early 1970s show “Alias Smith and Jones”, a TV version of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. I learned fairly recently that one of the actors in the series (Ben Murphy) was selected in part because of his resemblance to Paul Newman. Interestingly, they had Murphy play the Sundance Kid role (the gunman, played by Redford in the movie, renamed Kid Curry in the series) which was not played by Newman in the movie. The Butch Cassidy character (the ‘brains’ and ‘mouth’, renamed Hannibal Hayes) was played in the series by Pete Duel (and Roger Davis after Duel’s death). Newman was thinner than Murphy, but I do see a resemblance. ---
**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 25, 2026, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/148 "2026-07-25T23:11:59Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > I also always have to remind myself that it’s Elizabeth Moss and not Elizabeth Olsen who played Peggy Olsen on _Mad Men_. Me too! And I couldn’t tell you what Elizabeth Olsen looks like. It’s just the names I mix up. ---
**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 26, 2026, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/149 "2026-07-26T02:50:12Z")
Another example of mixing up the names of actors who look nothing alike: Wilford Brimley (Quaker Oats spokesman/casually menacing security guy for the Mob lawers in _The Firm_) and Wilfrid Brambell (Paul’s ‘very clean’ grandfather in “Hard Day’s Night”). ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2026, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/150 "2026-07-26T04:43:43Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Samuel Jackson and Larry Fishburne. I sometimes confuse Laurence Fishburne and Forrest Whitaker (even though they aren’t really that similar). ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2026, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/151 "2026-07-27T16:34:56Z")
I’ve been watching the TV show ‘interview with the vampire’ and when I saw Eric Bogosian I started thinking ‘I thought Anthony Bourdain killed himself years ago’ I had to look up the actors name. ---
**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 30, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/152 "2026-07-30T14:35:53Z")
Barry Foster, the “Necktie Murderer” in Hitchcock’s _ **Frenzy** _, and Michael Caine! Another, but not an actor: Professor Michael Clarke, a frequent “guest expert” on Sky News. ---
**Author:** ![Coletrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@Coletrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coletrain)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/153 "2026-08-04T13:44:05Z")
I always think Carla Gugino is in the Mummy but it is really Rachel Weisz. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2026, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/154 "2026-08-04T14:31:58Z")
Or, confusingly, Maria Bello in the third film. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/155 "2026-08-04T15:10:37Z")
Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. If someone said how great De Niro was as Michael Corleone I would agree and never realize the mistake. Warren William and William Powell - I never forget Powell was in the Thin Man movies, but in any other role they’re the same to me. In addition to looking somewhat similar and playing suave, debonair types, they both portrayed Philo Vance in several movies. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/156 "2026-08-04T15:42:10Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. If someone said how great De Niro was as Michael Corleone I would agree and never realize the mistake. He was great as the young Don Vito Corleone tho. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2026, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/157 "2026-08-04T15:55:50Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Or, confusingly, Maria Bello in the third film. And with a new installment coming soon it’s back to Rachel Weisz. ---
**Author:** ![icon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@icon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/icon)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/158 "2026-08-04T16:16:06Z")
Apparently you aren’t the only one. Both actors have expressed that fans have come up to them on the street believing they are the other one. I think they have an agreement between the two that they will treat the fan nicely so as not give the actor they were misidentified as a bad reputation. `//i\\` ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/159 "2026-08-04T19:20:40Z")
Kurt Russell and Jeff Bridges. Also, I used to confuse Cameron Diaz and Naomi Watts, but now they’re aging differently. > [@ricepad](#): > > Character actors Taylor Negron and Vincent Schiavelli. The only thing they have in common is they both have fiveheads and were both in _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_, albeit in completely different roles. They were also both in **Better Off Dead**. One scene each: Schiavelli was a teacher, and Negron was the mail carrier. “Your book on how to pick up trashy women just arrived…What’s a sweet little boy like you doing with big-boy smut like this?” ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2026, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757/160 "2026-08-04T20:58:18Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Ditto George Kennedy and that other one. I always confused George Kennedy with George C. Scott. Not physically, but if I hear one of their names I have to take a moment to differentiate. > [@Moriarty](#): > > In _As Good As It Gets_, I figured it was Johnny Depp who Greg Kinnear is painting when he’s beaten up and robbed. > > Nope - that is Skeet Ulrich. This is my favorite one to bring up when we discuss this topic. I couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t in the credits. > [@HeyHomie](#): > > Dylan McDermott and Dermot Mulroney, I bet a lot of people mix those up. I certainly do > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Leslie Bibb and Leslie Mann Yep. I can’t even bring up a distinct picture in my mind of Leslie Bibb. > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > My brain is aware that there is a Ryan Reynolds and a Ryan Gosling, Ditto, big time. > [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Sara Paxton and Sarah Polley. I’m not aware of Sara Paxton, but when I see the name Sarah Polly I think Sarah Paulson. I agree with lots more but I’ll just get on to adding my own… Chelsea Handler and Elizabeth Banks. I first noticed it when EB had a role in Modern Family. Emma Stone and Jane Levy(Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist). When Eric Dane first showed up on Grey’s Anatomy, I would have sworn it was Leonardo DiCaprio. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-confuse-one-actor-for-another/1031757.md?page=9)