Another vote for Jeremy Brett as Holmes. Dearly as I love Basil Rathbone, Brett was simply incomparable as Holmes. Of course, it helped that he had superior adaptations, casting, and production values.
James Mason is Captain Nemo
Humphrey Bogart is Sam Spade
Raul Julia is Gomez Addams
Ian McKellen is Gandalf (ever since I heard the casting, I’ve pictured only him in the role)
Christopher Lee is Sauruman (ditto)
George Lazenby is James Bond
Okay, I was kidding about the last one. Don’t hurt me.
Hard to beat Charlton Heston as either Moses (not fictional, but you get my drift) or Ben Hur. Chuck, I think, is now a complete whacko (Did you see him doing his best Moses imitation at the last NRA National Convention? “Hear the thunder!” or some such bullshit. Either his rug glue has seeped into his brain or his drinking problem was bigger than he let on).
Tom Cruise as Lestat the Vampire - If something DIDN’T work, that was it.
Well, SURE Michael Richards is Kramer. Who else would be? Al Bundy? Alex Keaton? These are literary characters?
[/hijack police]
For me, I was in the middle of re-reading The Lord of the Rings when the casting was announced. Unfortunately for me, Sam Gamgee is now Rudy (Sean Austin). Damn those casting directors!
of course the real Mr. Spock appeared in only ONE episode of the original Star Trek.
the episode Mirror, Mirror where Kirk, Bones, Scotty and Uhura go to a parallel universe and meet a Mr. Spock with a beard. a combination of the regular Spock and Ming the Merciless. played by Leonard Nimoy of course.
“What actor played a role based on a famous literary character and did such a definitive job that nobody else could possibly be envisioned in the role?” Not, “What actor did a great job on an original character they were cast to play on a TV show or in a movie?”
Robert Duvall as Augustus McRae from Lonesome Dove
Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind
Daniel Day-Lewis as Hawkeye from Last of the Mohicans
pldennison: I noticed that too, with people answering the inverse question. I’ve noticed that sometimes, people ask the “wrong” question. A question is asked, but if people would rather talk about a variant of that question, that becomes the real basis for the thread.
I think the ‘non-literary’ posts stem from the conflict between the subject line and the text of the OP. I’m guessing some people are going with the ‘fictional’ portion of it.
But you object to ‘Adam West is Batman’ as not being literary? Maybe you should up your standards of literature.
(I’ll object to Adam West since he played such a parody of Batman; none of the newer movie ones have really grabbed me, though.)
However, I realize now that very many people are only familiar with one form or another of a character. So Adam West is Batman, even if he’s not true to the literature. I think Basil Rathbone did the same thing for Holmes, as did Boris Karloff for Frankie’s monster.
As for my opinions :
Jeremy Brett/Holmes for me
Cary Elwes IS Westley
Helen Mirren IS Charlotte Bartlett, Lilia Herriton; in fact she IS E.M. Forster’s mother (with Judy Davis taking some credit, too).
Oops, I’m an idiot. that should be : Helen Mirren IS Lilia Herriton; Maggie Smith IS Charlotte Bartlett; Judy Davis IS Harriet Herriton; combine all and you WILL get E.M. Forster’s mother.
Forgive my tortured and confused mind.
Another ‘inverse’ one I thought of :
I don’t think Claire Danes will ever play any role well other than that of Juliet.
Oops…heh…guess most of us missed that whole “literary character” clause…
But my views on Hugh Jackman as Wolverine stand. If comic books count as literature.
Adam West as Batman? Yeesh…no-one has been Batman YET. Maybe they’ll try again with a decent script.
OK, as for literature, Liam Neeson did a good turn as Rob Roy MacGregor, in a movie based on Walter Scott’s fictional account of the life of the real Rob Roy.
And every time I read Dune, I see Sting as Feyd.
And as far as I’m concerned, Tom Petty IS the Mad Hatter!!!
Michael Crawford did the Phantom just as Gaston Leroux intended, IMHO.
Only Tom Cruise can be Mitch McDeere, and only Ed Harris can be Wayne Tarrance.
Only Kathy Bates can be Annie Wilkes.
Only Jodi Foster can be Clarice Starling.
