I started with a search of Jodie Foster movies and when I got to Panic Room (2002) the thumbnail of Patrick Bauchau made me take a closer look. When I recognized that he was the guy from Carnivale I suddenly had a strong sense of that show being where “it must be here that I saw my guy.”
Sure enough, listed in the cast (with a picture I instantly recognized) is Robert Knepper who played Tommy Dolan.
I can understand how my comparing his face to those of Jake Weber and Linus Roache may have left some of you cold. The resemblance is not as strong as my memory of him is. There are also shots with facial hair that I hadn’t noticed before. Most likely I’m remembering him from Hostage (2005/I) which I saw not that long ago on cable, or maybe from Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) which I saw within the past year.
I haven’t been a Prison Break viewer, but I can’t rule out that I may have seen his image in a preview of that show. That does appear to be his biggest recent activity.
Now that you know who I was trying to identify, I’d love feedback on how unhelpful or misleading my clues and hints were for you. Can you remember seeing this guy in anything like what I have been describing? Is there somebody else who looks like this guy?
Thanks again to all who have made this a fun search project!
That’s fine. I checked for Tommy Dolan at HBO’s Carnivale listings to be sure my memory of the “roving reporter” was accurate.
I have no good idea where the “shape-shifting” image must have come into my thinking. I think I did see the Species movies not too long ago. He was in Species III (2004) (V) as Dr. Abbot, so the lab coat would make sense from that (if I remember one – and I may not). I don’t recall his changing shapes, though.
Did you watch Point Pleasant? I don’t really remember this guy, but he played the dance host during the flashback scenes to the 30s in an episode about a dance contest. There was something really weird about him, but I don’t remember what.
No, I didn’t see Point Pleasant, but I’ll try to catch it in reruns if I see it’s coming back around.
The series I think I’m recalling is Carnivale on HBO which I watched faithfully. His radio reporter guy wasn’t really all that menacing, just sort of unsettling and creepy. I seem to recall (not all that well) that he had some designs on the sister (Amy Madigan’s character) but I may have him confused with some other hanger-on to the Clancy Brown character. In any case, he was just somebody in the shadows as far as the main characters went.
Now that I’ve located at least the main candidate for who I was looking for, I still have a vague feeling there may be another actor who resembles all these guys:
I’m well over 90% sure the man I’ve been looking for is Knepper, but that remaining 10% doubt is making me want to be sure there’s not another guy who could join this look-alike club.
If these four remind you of somebody else, please add that face to the gallery.
In any case, thanks once more for the help all of you have been.
Well, unless you’re really bugged that you have somebody else in mind, you can let it go. There’s just something about the gauntness in Knepper’s pictures that has me thinking there’s a bit more meat on the bones of the guy I’m remembering – along with Knepper.
I can write it off to a tricky memory that’s been fusing too many images over the course of this thread, but I thought since so many people have been tantalized by the search and since so many pictures of people that (at least for me) don’t bear that striking a resemblance to each other have been posted to try to locate the guy, I’d at least appeal for more tries.
I have been through some of the screen caps at Empty Pockets – Gallery in hopes of seeing one of those things I’ve been carrying in my head, but the best I have been able to do is “get close.”
Thus the 10% doubt.
But I’m not going to lose any more sleep over it, and I am now fully briefed on Robert Knepper!
