Ooh, I forgot to mention Joaquim de Almeida, whom we always refer to simply as, “The Evil Phil Hartman.”
He played Bucho in Desperado.
Ooh, I forgot to mention Joaquim de Almeida, whom we always refer to simply as, “The Evil Phil Hartman.”
He played Bucho in Desperado.
I’d like to nominate James Rebhorn: Dr. Larry Banks from Meet the Parents, Dickie’s father in The Talented Mr. Ripley, the CRS executive/actor in The Game, the Defense Secretary in Independence Day. Always a good option when you’re looking for a WASPish, semi-authority figure.
I was thinking about nominating him as well. Whenever our household sees him we say: “It’s war: It’s FAN-TASTIC!” (From Hot Shots starring Charlie Sheen and Lloyd Bridges.) It ends up being sort of surreal because he does have quite a few serious roles.
Re: “The first thing we see him as is the first thing we think of him as.” I have a friend who to this day cannot see anything about Gene Hackman without thinking “LEX LUTHOR.” lol. Forget all the amazing roles he’s ever played before or since. Just a word of warning to you future stars!
ESPN’s (formerly Boston) Sports Guy Bill Simmons has also gone over the THAT guy theory. One of his main THAT guys is Don Cheadle, he’s been THAT guy in a number of movies, like Traffic and Boogie Nights, among others, and he continues to be one of THOSE guys with the NFL Playoff commercials he has done. I’m disappointed that he hasn’t been mentioned yet.
My first sighting of this guy was as an abusive husband who ended up raping his stepdaughter on the soap Guiding Light. Ever since then, when I see him in a movie I go, “Look–it’s Bradley Raines!”
My vote for THAT guy–Art LeFleur, who has been in so many flicks that I can’t remember them all. IIRC, he appeared as Babe Ruth in The Sandlot, and I think he was also in Field of Dreams.
He’s probably best known for appearing (with Leo McKern) in the Beatles’ HELP!
Well, he doesn’t really qualify as a “That guy” because he’s Don Cheadle. Everyone knows Don Cheadle. That’s why they chose him for the NFL commercials. "That guy"s are the one’s you DON’T know but see a bajillion times. (IMHO)
Holy carp! I was just reading the trivia on Stephen Tobolowsky and supposedly he turned down the role of “Al” on Home Improvement, he was once held hostage at gunpoint at a supermarket in Snider Plaza, “was almost murdered twice in one week in Hartford, Connecticut by different people. Tobolowsky admits “that’s unusual(!)”” and is the son of Edwin Tobolowsky ( http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0864996/ ) who was in Mars Needs Women, Curse of the Swamp Creature, and Attack of the Eye Creatures (which I think is better known to MST3k fans as Attack of the THE Eye Creatures.)
Anyone up for a Stephen Tobolowsky fan club? I couldn’t find and existing one, oddly enough.
Al Leong - I think “Bill and Ted” is the only movie that he’s been in where his character didn’t die. Whenever I see him in a movie I always watch for when he gets killed.
Curtis Armstrong has been in a lot of stuff and was probably my first “THAT guy”. I even wrote his name down after seeing it in the credits for Moonlighting just so I wouldn’t have to call him the “what the fuck” guy anymore.
James Hong is another one who seems to show up in every third movie I see. He was Lo Pan in Big Trouble In Little China among many, many other TV and movie characters. I think he might actually be the THAT guy with the biggest resume…150+ TV appearances and move than 130 movies.
Yeah, the only fan club from Attack of the the Eye Creatures is the one for Earrrrrrrrrl Hollimannnnnn.
If you ever need a creepy German to play a vampire Udo Keir is your man.
In addition being the lead in Andy Warhol’s Dracula, he played a vampire in Blade. He was also in Armageddon, My Own Private Idaho, Even Cowgirls get the Blues, Johnny Mneumonic, Barbed Wire and he played the millionaire in Ace Venture opposite of Jim Carrey.
On Monk just last week, he popped up as a bum. I turned to my wife and said “You owe me some gravy.”
(That will make sense if you saw it.)
I wasn’t really paying attention to John McGinley until Scrubs. Now he’ll always be Dr. Cox to me.
I was flipping through the channels today and caught Platoon, and damned if he isn’t in that. I kept thinking he should be walking up to Charlie Sheen and saying, “Hey there newbie, I noticed you taking some potshots at the Viet Cong there and I thought I’d come over and once again you’ve exceeded my expectations at how awful you are,” with that great inflection he has.
I had an embarrassing moment with “THAT guy.” I was in a group pottery show (at an art gallery) about ten years ago in Los Angeles, and one of my classmates, a very friendly lady, came to the opening and brought her husband. He looked so familiar, so I asked him where I knew him—from some class maybe?
Turns out he was Richard Marcus, most well-known for being the scary bald guy in “The Pretender.” He said that everyone always thinks that they grew up with him or went to school with him or something.
I was embarrassed! I pride myself in knowing all the character actors and I should have known who he was.
WOW! Isn’t that true! When I first saw him, I thought he had an eerie resemblance to Phil Hartman. He was just recently on “24.”
I forgot another “THAT guy”—Will Patton. He seems to be in everything but until you see him in a particular role that you like, he seems to be someone that’s hard to pin down. I loved him in the short-lived series VR5 and since then have noticed that he’s in a ton of stuff.
I should be worried that I know most of the contenders in this thread by sight and name, shouldn’t I?
One “that guy” who seems to get omitted from everybody’s lists is the late Trevor Goddard. He appeared quite prominently in films from Mortal Kombat to Pirates of the Caribbean, yet was always overlooked despite doing a better Aussie accent than most natives.
What about Danny Trejo? He might be too well known. I like him thought.
I liked Trevor Goddard. He was a solid hench-person.
I also nominate Treat Williams, Kevin J. O’Connor, and Wes Studi. Also Cliff Curtis.
Is there anyone from the cast of Deep Rising that you missed?
What about, this guy. Ghostbusters, Real Genius, Die Hards I and II, you want a weasel, he’s your guy.
Excellent choice, Bill Door.* William Atherton, always a good choice. I’ve noticed him in quite a few movies, and he does make a very good slimy weasel.
Nice screen name, too. You’ll see a few other Discworld fans here.