# Movie actors who don't belong there **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195 "2004-05-02T21:56:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/21 "2004-05-03T15:59:16Z")
It’s hard to watch **From Here to Eternity** without thinking “Superman!” whenever George Reeves shows up (Oddly, you don’t get the same thought with **Gone With the Wind** ). ---
**Author:** ![Kaspar\_Hauser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@Kaspar\_Hauser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaspar_Hauser)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2004, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/22 "2004-05-03T16:19:38Z")
> [@Alias](#): > > ME TOO!!! When I watched The Matrix movies, it was always gnawing at the back of my head. No matter what he does, or how serious he is in a role, there’s a little voice in my head saying “Well Howdy, Peewee!” I hate to break it to you, but that was the guy sitting behind you. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/23 "2004-05-06T23:25:25Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > **PeterWiggen** : _Exactly_. Ron Livingstone, for me, will always be the guy from _Office Space_. He’s simply not in enough other things, and the very few times I dragged myself through an episode of “Band of Cliches” I always saw him as being the spaced-out corporate drone. > > I didn’t notice Ted Danson. Don’t bother trying to tell me who he played: I honestly never saw those installments in the soap opera. Had I noticed, I would have had the same response. You didn’t see Danson in **Band of Brothers** because he wasn’t in it. He had one scene in **Saving Private Ryan**. Actually, I didn’t “Malone” him when I saw that. I found him fully plausible in his (small) role. It’s just the voice that’s so associated with Sam. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/24 "2004-05-06T23:51:06Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Anyone who thinks Rowan Atkinson will always be Mr. Bean is missing out on the full enjoyment of Blackadder, and that’s sad. Not to mention his superb work in The Thin Blue Line (and Not The Nine O’Clock News, where he prototyped his characters; even Blackadder is just a variant on Gerald the Gorilla and the cynical priest by turns.) **acsenray** : minor pedant, Donnie Wahlberg is Mark Wahlberg’s older brother, not younger. There’s only two years in it, though. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/25 "2004-05-07T00:36:32Z")
> [@Ross](#): > > Similarly, Rikki Fulton (extremely popular Scottish old-school comic, died recently) showed up in Gorky Park playing some guy, and every cinema audience in Glasgow dissolved into laughter. Personally, I always thought Rikki made rather a good evil KGB boss. On the other hand: > [@](#): > > Billy Connolly’s another one. Absolutely. When he bounced into _Indecent Proposal_ and declared “Hi, I’m Billy Connolly”, my instinctive reaction was “And what the f\*\*\* are you doing in the same film as Robert Redford.” ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/26 "2004-05-07T02:17:17Z")
Actually I would think the ultimate would be Keanu Reaves a la “Bill and Ted”. Unless I am wrong, he wasn’t SUPPOSED to be a dumb kid in “The Matrix” but that’s what I saw 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/27 "2004-05-07T03:56:10Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > For me, he’s always that freak from X-Files. I keep waiting for him to electrocute someone no matter where I see him. Yep, me too. “Come back here, Mrs. Kiveet!” I guess that’s better than always seeing him as the boyfriend from “My Two Dads,” though. And it’s funny that Jack Black didn’t get as typecast from that same episode. For Ron Livingstone, I don’t see him as the guy from _Office Space_, but the guy from _Swingers_. He got turned down for Goofy. And anybody from “Buffy” I will always see as their “Buffy” character and nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/28 "2004-05-07T08:22:08Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > And anybody from “Buffy” I will always see as their “Buffy” character and nothing else. Not Amber Benson, you wouldn’t. I’ve met her, and she couldn’t be less like Tara - she doesn’t even look much like her. I may hate the character, but maximum points awarded for the acting job. ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/29 "2004-05-07T17:38:50Z")
No matter how hard I try, I can’t separate Thomas Haden Church from _Wings._ I remember watching _Tombstone_ and wondering what the hell Lowell was doing with the Clantons. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/30 "2004-05-07T17:49:01Z")
> [@Balle\_M](#): > > I remember watching _Tombstone_ and wondering what the hell Lowell was doing with the Clantons. And why is he running around the jungle shouting “Ursla!”? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/31 "2004-05-07T18:14:09Z")
David Caruso. I didn’t even watch much NYPD back then but he’s still a “TV GUY” to me. While we’re at it, Jimmy Smits is a TV guy to me, too. They both look too wimpy to be in the movies. Ed O’Neill, I’ve liked in movies, and loved him on MWC. I like that movie _Dutch_. He was recently in _Spartan_ IIRC, and was good, too. ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/32 "2004-05-07T21:25:27Z")
Jeff Daniels. Dumb and Dumber ruined his chances of ever doing anything serious. ---
**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:** [May 8, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/33 "2004-05-08T02:38:01Z")
I would’ve thought that the fact that every time someone sees Elrond they’re waiting for him to say “Mr An-der-son” would’ve been mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/34 "2004-05-08T05:00:37Z")
I knew a guy who came up with this pseudoquote, referencing [The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109045/): “Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of my skirt swishing. That is the sound of my heels.” ---
**Author:** ![Darkhold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@Darkhold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darkhold)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/35 "2004-05-08T06:35:49Z")
when the cross dressing brother from **The Drew Carey Show** showed up in **Gothika** I couldn’t get over it. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/36 "2004-05-08T09:53:40Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Actually I would think the ultimate would be Keanu Reaves a la “Bill and Ted”. > > Unless I am wrong, he wasn’t SUPPOSED to be a dumb kid in “The Matrix” but that’s what I saw 🙂 It was worse in _Dracula_. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/37 "2004-05-08T15:48:26Z")
“The Terror”. Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/38 "2004-05-08T16:35:37Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > Yep, me too. “Come back here, Mrs. Kiveet!” I will always see him as the son of a fellow student in pottery class. ('Cause that’s who he is. His mom was in my pottery class while he was working on _Davis Rules_. She was a pretty good potter, too.) I always see current big hottie Hugh Jackman as that boring guy that came on for a while to fill Guy Pierce’s place on [Snowy River: The McGregor Saga](http://www.australiantelevision.net/snowyriver/snowyriver.html). He was a rather bland, boring fellow (at least to me) and I was glad when Pierce came back and he left. Which brings me to Guy Pierce, who will always be the guy from (you guessed it) _Snowy River_. And then there’s Joshua Lucas (_Sweet Home Alabama_, etc.) who will also always be tied to _Snowy River_. And let’s start with the soap operas. I started watching soap operas from way back. I remember Meg Ryan when she was Betsy on _As the World Turns_. I remember Richard Dean Anderson and Demi Moore from _General Hospital_. Ally Walker (_Profiler_) was first on _Santa Barbara_ (and pretty bad, as I recall) and _The Pretender_’s Michael T. Weiss was on _Days of our Lives_ FOREVER. (So it seemed.) I could go on and on with the soap opera stuff. It’s scary, I’m tellin’ ya. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/39 "2004-05-08T22:39:48Z")
Years ago I saw a TV movie about Daniel (from the Bible) and they had cast Donny “Ralph Malph” Most in the title role. There was no way I could take him seriously in that! A _major_ miscast! ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2004, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195/40 "2004-05-08T23:36:48Z")
I sort of feel sorry about Colm Meaney, who actually does seem like quite a good actor, so it’s kind of a shame that whenever I see him I reflexively think of the Star Trek TNG character he played for all those years. I see that he hasn’t given up yet, and is still gamely plugging away in the film industry, and that’s great. He must not have gotten the little talk that they surely give the Star Trek main cast actors after the contracts have been signed: “You’re ours now, so labor hard and well; for you will never be taken seriously for any more significant or dramatic roles, ever.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-actors-who-dont-belong-there/243195.md?page=3)