# How do some actors end up type-cast? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2025, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542 "2025-03-13T20:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/61 "2025-03-18T11:14:31Z")
When an actor knocks it out of the park with an iconic performance, the sheer impact can follow them for life. Fame is a double-edged sword—it skyrockets their career but can also trap them in that one defining role in the audience’s eyes. Sometimes, a role is so iconic that it overshadows everything else an actor does. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/62 "2025-03-18T15:03:39Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Work!? I scared myself! Trust me, I thought of using this line. But thought better of it. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![De\_La\_Rue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@De\_La\_Rue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/De_La_Rue)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/63 "2025-03-18T19:33:29Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > celebrity asshole talking heads Well, THAT’S a pleasant image/metaphor. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/64 "2025-03-18T19:41:07Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’ve sometimes wondered if this or that actor decided to shrug into living a ‘moneymaker celebrity’ persona in real life — you know, just to sell the _‘movie star that folks pay to see play himself’_ effect? Like, imagine if Jack Nicholson was a mild goody two-shoes who could go a decade without showing an ounce of real passion or even a genuine smirk — but who concluded, _golly, audiences wouldn’t find me to be very interesting, would they? I bet they’d prefer me if they thought I was something I’m not, and thought I was playing myself…_ Cary Grant once said. “I understand why men wish they were Cary Grant. I wish I was Cary Grant.” ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/65 "2025-03-18T20:01:42Z")
“After [The Wizard of Oz (1939)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138/?ref_=nmbio_qu), I was typecast as a lion, and there aren’t all that many parts for lions.” - [Bert Lahr - Biography - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0481618/bio/) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/66 "2025-03-18T20:45:08Z")
His career wasn’t going anywhere before the Wizard of Oz either. His recognition afterward probably brought him more work than he would have had anyway. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/67 "2025-03-18T21:09:50Z")
He didn’t even get Snagglepuss. ---
**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:** [March 18, 2025, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/68 "2025-03-18T21:27:21Z")
Don’t you mean “He didn’t get Snagglepuss, even!”? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/69 "2025-03-18T22:26:50Z")
> [@De\_La\_Rue](#): > > Well, THAT’S a pleasant image/metaphor. At least I left out “spewing”. Feel free to add it back in where it belongs! 😉 > [@mbh](#): > > Cary Grant once said. “I understand why men wish they were Cary Grant. I wish I was Cary Grant.” He was rumored (or more) to be gay. I wonder how much that was a rueful admission of his vast attractiveness to women, vs. his own disinterest in women and attraction to men. At a time he could not publicly live out the bountiful possibilities of that attraction. Gotta have been damned frustrating. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/70 "2025-03-18T22:43:03Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Don’t you mean “He didn’t get Snagglepuss, even!”? His career was, “Exit, stage left.” ---
**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:** [March 18, 2025, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/71 "2025-03-18T22:45:49Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > His career was, “Exit, stage left.” It didn’t go from heavens to Murgatroyd. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/72 "2025-03-18T22:59:28Z")
Reminds me of what McLean Stevenson said after leaving MASH: > I had gotten too big for my britches, I think I’ve never admitted that, > and here I am, talking now to, hopefully, millions of people. > > So… The thing I didn’t realize was that people really didn’t give two hoots in hell about McLean Stevenson. They loved Henry Blake. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2025, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/73 "2025-03-19T03:36:07Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > A few examples: > > - Max Baer Jr.: typecast as a lummox, due to playing Jethro on _The Beverly Hillbillies_ > - Tina Louise: typecast as a sex symbol, due to playing Ginger on _Gilligan’s Island_ > - Leonard Nimoy: typecast as smart and non-emotional, due to playing Spock on _Star Trek_ Other example would be - William Shatner, who had trouble finding work in the 70s after Star trek due to people typecasting him as Kirk. He eventually broke out of that. - Ed O’Neill, who had trouble finding producers who would take him for anything other than Al Bundy ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/74 "2025-03-19T06:43:32Z")
Brian Thompson – who might be best known as The Judge from _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ or the Alien Bounty Hunter from _The X-Files_ – is refreshingly at peace with his typecasting. He knows that, given the way he looks, he’s gonna play a lot of bruisers and thugs. He’ll take the work. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/75 "2025-03-19T07:15:40Z")
I met him once. He’s not tall, but he’s impressively large. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/76 "2025-03-19T08:14:01Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Other example would be > > - William Shatner, who had trouble finding work in the 70s after Star trek due to people typecasting him as Kirk. He eventually broke out of that. It took him a while. As I recall, in the early-mid 1970s, Shatner was doing TV commercials for a Canadian supermarket chain. (Canadians of a certain age should well remember those Shatnerian tones, delivered as he looked into the camera: “Loblaws. Where more than the price is right.”) He got past that, though, and went on acting in movies and TV. Maybe Adam West should have taken any commercials, voiceovers, community theatre, etc., that came along? ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/77 "2025-03-19T09:08:42Z")
Daniel Radcliffe comes to mind tho he made so much money on Harry Potter he really did not need to work. but he did > **[The 10 Best Daniel Radcliffe Films That Aren't 'Harry Potter'](https://collider.com/best-daniel-radcliffe-films-that-arent-harry-potter/)** > > Daniel Radcliffe is well-known for his role as Harry Potter but isn't limited to that, starring in films like Imperium, Now You See Me, and Jungle. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/78 "2025-03-19T10:08:08Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Maybe Adam West should have taken any commercials, voiceovers, community theatre, etc., that came along? What makes you think he didn’t? ([he did](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001842/otherworks/?ref_=nm_pdt_wrk)) And have you checked his [IMDB profile](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001842/?ref_=nmwrk_ov)? He had a lot of work post Batman. Okay, most of it is stuff you’ve never heard of, but he was seldom unemployed. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2025, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/79 "2025-03-19T10:27:08Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > And have you checked his [IMDB profile](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001842/?ref_=nmwrk_ov)? He had a lot of work post Batman. Okay, most of it is stuff you’ve never heard of, but he was seldom unemployed. Heck, you’ve prompted me to contrast that with Burt Ward’s IMDB page: after playing Robin in the ‘60s, he apparently has no credits in ‘71 or ‘72 or ‘73 or ‘74 or ‘75 or ‘76 — and then, after reprising the ‘Robin’ role here and there, no credits in ‘80 or ‘81 or ‘82 or ‘83. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542/80 "2025-03-19T14:52:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > They started out playing a role on talk-show TV as the loud-mouth firebrand sure of [whatever]. Then they decided they liked the role. They also noticed their audience liked them in that role. So they started playing it in public too. > > Now their true personality has become that role. That is pretty much what happened with comedian Daniel Whitney–he pretty much just lives as Larry The Cable Guy now [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-some-actors-end-up-type-cast/1015542.md?page=5)