Funny. The few times I saw that show, my brain instictively said, “Jimmy Rabbite’s Dad in Outer Space!”
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson will always be seen as Mulder and Scully. Whenever I see one of those actors in a different role, dressed cheerily, I think it looks strange.
When I saw Ted Danson in “Saving Private Ryan” I saw Dr. John Becker.
Jeff Daniels broke the “Dumb abd Dumber” mold for me as Colonel Joshua Chamberlain of the 20th Main at Little Round Top in the movie Gettysburg.
Woody Harrelson will always be Woody, from Cheers. Kirstie Alley will always be (yowza!) Savvik from Wrath of Khan.
I saw him do his A Christmas Carol one-man show in Los Angeles.
Fucking brilliant. And no one in that theatre was thinking about Picard.
When that guy from Wings was in the remake of the Shining talk about a miscast. I tried watching it but I couldn’t take it seriously at all. Course it also had the moving hedges of death which was the worst part of the book for me so that killed much of my interest as well.
I’ve seen Patrick Stewart onstage as well (in The Ride Down Mt. Morgan and The Caretaker) and he’s definitely not Picard or Xavier. But he’s got that distinctive voice and the famous bald head, so I can understand why people have trouble associating him with another character, I guess.
AMEN!
I also saw his performance in L.A., and he was fabulous. I’m a bit of a Christmas Carol fanatic (having all performances I can find on tape and watching several each Christmas) and his performance was fantastic. He was one of the best Scrooges EVER.
[QUOTE=Ross]
… or to put it another way, actors you saw originally in small roles on telly, and whose faces are still inextricably linked to that early appearance. So you can’t take them seriously when they show up as a hobbit.
That’s my first one, actually. The Scottish hobbit, Billy Boyd, is better known to me as the bloke on the bench next to Jack in an early episode of Still Game. The episode was the only one I had on tape for ages, and I watched it repeatedly. So now I can’t take him seriously.
snip
[QUOTE]
I hadn’t seen him before LOTR, but when he turned up in Master and Commander, I couldn’t help thinking: “Hey…there’s Pippin! On a ship! But…without the big hairy feet and the ears…”
I’m writing this from memory so please forgive the many biographical errors I’ll commit… I think the basic story holds true.
One of the saddest cases of typecasting I’ve heard of is that of Harry H Corbett, an astonishing actor in the sixties, who some people were talking about as the British Marlon Brando… who one day took a role in a one-off comedy show which was to go on to become the long-running and supremely successful Galton & Simpson sitcom Steptoe & Son. The writing was immaculate and the situation was wonderfully rich for comedy, so the show took off. Corbett made the character of the downtrodden “Son” his own. Wilfrid Brambell, who played his dad, was really just a character actor, though he was a good one. But you can watch most episodes and catch Brambell fluffing lines or getting lost - Corbett is almost devastatingly professional throughout. There is nothing like a really, really good actor doing comedy. Remember Patrick Stewart’s turn on Frasier? Robert Powell in The Detectives? Robert Lindsay in Nightingales or Citizen Smith…
The trouble was, the show was so successful (as you’ve guessed it was remade in the States as Sanford & Son), and Corbett’s every idiosyncracy was so associated with the role, that when he started trying for other work he discovered that he’d painted himself into a corner. People were coming to see him in plays because of Steptoe, and when he launched into a speech, it was Harold Steptoe they heard, not Corbett. Cue giggling in the audience. It must have broken his heart.
In the end he caved and just went off with the exceptionally unprofessional Brambell to do an unavoidably lucrative Australian stage tour of Steptoe. They’d do a little comedy sketch then lead the audience in a sing-song of “Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner”. Reading accounts of these shows, one can imagine, one can almost taste Corbett’s dignity being crushed with every show. In the end Brambell was too drunk to perform and Corbett left in disgust. I don’t remember how many roles he had in the few years left before his death, but I don’t think he did much at all. The word “recluse” floats across my mind.
He died around 1983, still young, his career nothing like what he or anyone else had expected. And yet he’d left something very special behind too. One might argue that he’s still remembered more fondly and more widely than he’d ever have been if he hadn’t met Galton and Simpson. I certainly hold a deep and lasting affection for an actor I’d never heard of until long after his death. I strongly recommend anyone who hasn’t seen the original Steptoe and Son shows to beg, borrow or… um… otherwise procure a copy. Don’t bother with the movies, but watch the shows, and when you’ve finished, be sure to sigh heavily and raise a glass to a great actor. He’s still a great actor, even in Steptoe, and he makes the show a joy to watch.
The episode “The Desperate Hours” is a great one, and features a guest appearance by another great comedy name, Leonard Rossitter of Reginald Perrin and Rising Damp fame. Watching Corbett finally lock swords with another really good actor is a joy.
Nothing against Wilfrid Brambell, by the way, he had his own problems and he was good at what he did. But Corbett carried the show. Some of Brambell’s mugging looks quite out of place next to him.
ps: I’ll never think of Kate Beckinsale as anyone but Richard Beckinsale’s daughter. Her looking exactly like him doesn’t help.