# Ever see a character an actor has played instead of the actor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679 "2014-05-18T14:49:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [May 24, 2014, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/41 "2014-05-24T08:31:19Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The wife and I can’t watch Rowan Atkinson without thinking we’re watching Mr. Bean. You mean Edmund Lord Blackadder? > [@beowulff](#): > > I have difficulty seen Paul Reiser as anyone other than Burke from Aliens. I watched way too much _My Two Dads_ and _Mad About You_ for this to make any sense to me. Wow, trying to think of examples, I’m struck by how much I don’t do this. I’m used to seeing actors play wildly different roles, I guess? Although I believe I have said on this board that I didn’t want Peter Capaldi to play Doctor Who because I hated his character in _In the Loop_ so much. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/42 "2014-05-24T09:22:34Z")
I hear Jack Nicholson is playing Jack Nicholson in every role he ever played, so in a sense, you can’t separate him from any of his roles. I can’t watch Breaking Bad because I keep expecting Malcolm to show up. I got all my friends to refer to him as “Malcolm’s dad.” When he did the cameo in Rome or something, I yelled “Hey, it’s Malcolm’s dad!” at the tv. Here’s a 360 effect: the wife from Married with Children was always the wife from Married with Children from like 1990-2000. From 2000-2014, she’s Leela. I still refer to any of the Wayans brothers as “the guys from In Living Color.” Nobody mentioned Henry Winkler forever being The Fonz? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/43 "2014-05-24T09:32:19Z")
Every time I see Don Cheadle act, I briefly think “wow, he’s so good at faking an American accent, almost as good as that guy who plays House.” Of course, Cheadle _is_ American. It’s just that I happened to first encounter him in a role where he was imitating a _British_ accent – _Ocean’s Eleven_ (he did this well enough to convince me, though a real Brit would likely find flaws in his imitation.) ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/44 "2014-05-24T09:53:25Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > Even after 50 years and numerous other roles, I can’t really see William Shatner nor Leonard Nimoy as being anything other than Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. For that matter none of the main cast of the original series ever fell too far from Star Trek tree when they left. > > I had a hard time seeing Nichelle Nichols as a brothel owner in _ **Truck Turner** _. Nor did I see DeForrest Kelly (really stretching his acting muscles acting as a veterinarian) as anyone but Dr. McCoy in the 1970s low budget classic _ **Night of the Lepus** _ Oh yea Nimoy is always gonna be Spock to me, no matter what he is in. Watching the show Fringe I was like huh so Spock somehow got stranded on 21st century Earth, got plastic surgery on his ears and founded a super science empire. Even though the character of Dr.Bell is radically different and very un-Vulcan heh. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2014, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/45 "2014-05-24T11:33:55Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Yeah, I watch “The Americans,” and every time John-Boy shows up as an FBI agent, it takes me out of the story. > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Very similar problem; There is an excellent made-for-TVer called [Crash Landing](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104020/?ref_=nv_sr_3). The entire cast is superb, but it takes every fiber of my being to see past John-Boy. A really old episode of “[Night Gallery](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0660871/?ref_=tt_ep_ep21)” has the same sitch–Thomas is outstanding, but the J-B alert goes off, which isn’t fair to him, but whatcha gonna do? If you want your John-Boy alert broken, look for a movie called _I Can Make You Love Me_ in which Richard Thomas plays a crazy stalker obsessed with a woman played by Brooke Shields. The real-life person Thomas portrayed is now on death row, incidentally. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/46 "2014-05-24T11:57:03Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Of course, Cheadle _is_ American. It’s just that I happened to first encounter him in a role where he was imitating a _British_ accent – _Ocean’s Eleven_ (he did this well enough to convince me, though a real Brit would likely find flaws in his imitation.) Seriously, his Cockney accent was appalling in that. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/47 "2014-05-24T13:44:00Z")
Further on Jack Nicholson: he has played so many loathsome, leering evil assholes that I just can’t stand the man and avoid his movies. I once watched a documentary about the real train The Orient Express, and it was hosted by David Suchet. Even without the costume, moustache and accent, he was still Poirot to me and all of the observations and points he was making went in one ear and out the other. He just wasn’t making sense to me as a real-life English actor chatting about a train. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2014, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/48 "2014-05-24T13:52:28Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I once watched a documentary about the real train The Orient Express, and it was hosted by David Suchet. Even without the costume, moustache and accent, he was still Poirot to me and all of the observations and points he was making went in one ear and out the other. He just wasn’t making sense to me as a real-life English actor chatting about a train. I’m now imagining Peter Falk at a crime scene, convincingly replying that he has no idea whodunit – at which point everyone nods, because the master is at work. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/49 "2014-05-25T10:10:14Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > Seriously, his Cockney accent was appalling in that. True! I’d like to think that I thought he was a real Brit who normally spoke the Queen’s English but in the case was doing a poor job of imitating a Cockney accent – sort of like if I (a northern American) tried to imitate a southern American accent – but the truth is, I’m probably just clueless about British accents, period. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/50 "2014-05-25T10:31:05Z")
One example for me was _[The Bank Job](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bank_Job)_. It’s based on a true story of some low-level criminals who essentially got in over their heads when they tried to rob a bank. The problem for me was Jason Statham being cast in the lead role. Having seen him play so many typical lead characters in action thrillers, I couldn’t accept him as a petty criminal who was struggling his way through a bank robbery. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/51 "2014-05-25T11:35:37Z")
Remember the whole “Waitaminute, Mr. Mom is going to play Batman?” kerfuffle? I attach a [link](http://articles.latimes.com/1988-07-03/entertainment/ca-8663_1_batman-bob-kane-sam-hamm-script) from an actual critic to illustrate the event. I especially like the “Warner Bros. and Burton have defecated on the history of Batman” line. And yet it seems like he did a creditable job. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/52 "2014-05-25T13:16:45Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I hear Jack Nicholson is playing Jack Nicholson in every role he ever played, so in a sense, you can’t separate him from any of his roles. > [@teela\_brown](#): > > Further on Jack Nicholson: he has played so many loathsome, leering evil assholes that I just can’t stand the man and avoid his movies. In other posts, I’ve mentioned his performance in “About Schmidt.” Check it out if you haven’t seen it. Although, in a scene or two, we get a glimpse of something that I’m not able to describe well (defiance? unpredictability?) but seems to come from within him, the rest of what he does in the film stands out among his work. Clint Eastwood comes to mind as an actor who’s basically interpreting the same character from one film to another. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/53 "2014-05-25T15:25:01Z")
> [@jerez](#): > > In other posts, I’ve mentioned his performance in “About Schmidt.” Check it out if you haven’t seen it. Although, in a scene or two, we get a glimpse of something that I’m not able to describe well (defiance? unpredictability?) but seems to come from within him, the rest of what he does in the film stands out among his work. In _About Schmidt_, he’s sort of the same character he was at the very, _very_ end of _One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest_. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/54 "2014-05-25T16:17:34Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > In _About Schmidt_, he’s sort of the same character he was at the very, _very_ end of _One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest_. Well, that’s a humorous point I suppose, but the most interesting difference between the characters (as you’ve defined them) is that Schmidt often didn’t agree with the people and situations that he encountered on his “journey,” and that, more interestingly, we as spectators knew the reasons for this and what was really on his mind before it was explicitly presented. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/55 "2014-05-25T18:35:47Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > \But she’s proven herself as an amazing actor and I’m sure she could do just about any dramatic role (no, I never saw Oz). Be thankful. For some reason, most of the people who played horrendous criminals on the show have landed on “Law and Order,” and I can’t watch it at all because of that. “Detective Stabler, my ass,” I think, “That’s a cold-blooded serial killer! Don’t trust him - he’s a psychopath! So is that other ‘detective’! And that’s no doctor - he’s a vicious neo-Nazi leader!” In other words, I found the acting on “Oz” to be really, really persuasive. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/56 "2014-05-25T21:46:49Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > Every time I see Derek Jacobi, I’m impressed that he’s got over his terrible stutter from I, CLAUDIUS. I never realized, but waiting for him to stutter adds a subtle tension to every scene he is in. I would like to see him as a utter villain, in a contemporary work. > [@Penfeather](#): > > Seriously, his Cockney accent was appalling in that. Oh. I’d wondered what kind of accent that was. You should give him some credit, his accent may have been appalling, but it must have been consistent. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/57 "2014-05-25T23:37:10Z")
I will accept Jason Statham standing on stage reading the phone book. Therefore you are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/58 "2014-05-26T00:30:29Z")
It’s the other way around for me. I WANT to like Alec Baldwin, but he keeps doing stupid shit. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/59 "2014-05-26T08:45:17Z")
I have a great deal of sympathy for [Jack Gleeson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0322416/) (a.k.a. Joffrey Baratheon) because of this. I can imagine that 80-plus percent of the people who meet him have an immediate desire to punch him in the face. That would tend to grate pretty quickly. He’s said that he intends to quit acting when Game of Thrones is over, which is a shame — he’s quite talented at it — but completely understandable nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679/60 "2014-05-26T17:11:05Z")
> [@j666](#): > > I never realized, but waiting for him to stutter adds a subtle tension to every scene he is in. > > I would like to see him as a utter villain, in a contemporary work. This was used in the Kenneth Branagh movie **Dead Again** , where knowledge of his stuttering as an actor was a kind of nod to the viewer about who the killer was. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-a-character-an-actor-has-played-instead-of-the-actor/688679.md?page=4)