Raymond Massey portrayed Abraham Lincoln on stage and on screen several times (pic and with beard ), most famously in the play cum movie Abe Lincoln in Illinois (Best Actor nominee), and in a one-man stage show later in his career. He also played Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, in Prince of Players, a movie about Edwin Booth. (poster pic- a sad but fitting irony that Edwin Booth, most famous actor of his time, was overshadowed by his brother’s deed throughout his life, and in the movie about his own life the actor playing his brother is on the poster.)
Bela Lugosi portrayed several evil characters, most famously Dracula, who shied at the sight of a cross and could be burned with holy water. Prior to coming to America, Lugosi had portrayed Jesus Christ in at least two passion plays, one in Austria and one in Hungary (but not at Oberammergau, as I’ve seen reported).
Actor and acting professor Al Freeman, Jr., portrayed Malcolm X in Roots: the Next Generations, then 15 years later portrayed Malcolm’s mentor turned archenemy (who probably engineered his assassination) Elijah Muhammad in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X. He was great in both (his Malcolm was in some ways more believable as a former pimp/thug than the more sophisticated Denzel Washington’s), but overall I preferred him as Elijah Muhammad and Denzel as X).
Very cheesy example that almost doesn’t count, but I will anyway: George Burns played both God and the Devil in one of the OH GOD movies (number 3 I think).
Max von Sydow played Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told while his character in Needful Things (Leland Gaunt) is at very least hinted to be the devil. (He’s certainly a non-human incarnation of evil.)
Any other actors you can think of who have played mortal enemies/assassin and victim/two people who hated each other/etc.?
More relevant to this thread, Bela Lugosi played the villain Roxor in the 1932 Chandu the Magician, but in 1934 he played the hero, Chandu in [B[The Return of Chandu**
Charlton Heston played Tay,lor, the astronaut hero in the original 1968 Planet of the Apes (and the 1970 sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes), while in 2001 he played the ape Zaius, who’s against Leo Davidson, the astronaut hero who’s that movie’s “Taylor”
Plenty of times actors onstage will take opposing roles. I think it’s easier when you’re so familiar with the lines, and onstage roles are easy to switch. I understand that Lawrence Olivier and Anthony Quinn used to trade the parts of king Henry II and Thomas Becket when Jean Anouilh’s play first opened in 1960
Phil Silvers, who played the role of Marcus Licus in the movie (and, I think, the stage play) a Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum later went on to play Pseudolus onstage.
There was a terrific episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 4) where Faith and Buffy switched bodies. Sarah Michelle Gellar was pretty damned good as Faith, and Eliza Dushku was spot-on as Buffy.
George C. Scott played Henry Drummond (the Clarence Darrow character) in the Broadway revival of INHERIT THE WIND. When he was asked to do the film remake (which is very good incidentally- at times as good as the original) he only agreed if he could play the Fundamentalist opponent of Drummond, Matthew Brady (the Wm. Jennings Bryan character).
Christopher Plummer played the conquistador Pizarro in the Broadway version of Shaffer’s play ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN, but in the big screen adaptation he played Atahualpa, the Incan emperor Pizarro defeats/imprisons/ransoms/kills (pic).
Doctor #1 - faced a robot duplicate created by the Daleks
Doctor #2 - faced a dictator who just happened to look exactly the same as him
Doctor #4 - faced an insane computer with a personality and appearance based on The Doctor.
Doctor #5 - was shot by Colin Baker who went on to become Doctor #6. Also faced an evil timelord who copied Doc 5’s appearence. I think these were both in the same story.
New Who - an episode where the baddie of the week swapped bodies with companion Rose.
DeForest Kelley fought the Gunfight at OK Corral twice on different sides.
One time he played Morgan Earp.
The other time he played Tom McLaury (sort of).
