I’m looking for actors who have played at least four different characters who appeared in more than one film (not counting playing a group of characters in the same group of films). So far I’ve got three actors:
Harrison Ford
Han Solo - Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi
Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Jack Ryan - Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger
Bob Falfa - American Graffiti and More American Graffiti
Eddie Murphy
Donkey - Shrek and Shrek 2
Dr Dolittle - Doctor Dolittle and Doctor Dolittle 2
Sherman Klump - The Nutty Professor and Nutty Professor II
Reggie Hammond - 48 Hrs and Another 48 Hrs
Axel Foley - Beverly Hills Cop and Beverly Hills Cop II
Christopher Lee
Dracula - Dracula, Dracula: Prince of Darkness, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Count Dracula, Taste the Blood of Dracula, Scars of Dracula, Dracula A.D. 1972, and The Satanic Rites of Dracula
Fu Manchu - The Face of Fu Manchu, The Brides of Fu Manchu, The Vengeance of Fu Manchu, and The Blood of Fu Manchu
Rochefort - The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, and The Return of the Musketeers
Saruman - The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King
Count Dooku - Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith
Lee has also played some other multifilm roles but I didn’t bother counting them all
Ian Holm played Napoleon Bonaparte in “Time Bandits” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and Bilbo Baggins in “LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring” and “LOTR: The Return of the King”.
Taking it back a few years, classic leading man William Powell was Nick Charles in the Thin Man Movies, portrayed the Great Ziegfeld twice, and tread the boards as detective Philo Vance a number of times.
There were numerous movie series in the '30’s and '40’s:
Mickey Rooney was Andy Hardy a bunch of times
Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson
Tom Conway was The Falcon
Ann Southern played chorus girl Maisie in several B-pictures
Werner Oland, Sidney Toler and Roland Winters all played Charlie Chan in several movies
Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto
Lew Ayers was Dr. Kildare
Then there were the Our Gang and Dead End Kids series
And we can’t forget Steve Reeves as Hercules or Johnny Weismuller as Tarzan
I was gonna criticize this one because, surprisingly, Lugosi did not play Chandu in the original movie (although he was in it, playing Roxor). I knew he played the role in the first sequel. But, on checking the IMDB, I find that he did play Chandu in the two sequels:
No offense, people, but it’s easy to find actors who have played the same character in sequels. The challenge is to find somebody who’s done it at least four different times.
If we cut the limit back to three, we have Chevy Chase, George Clooney, Clint Eastwood, Ian Holm, Mike Meyers, and Bruce Willis. So three’s too easy.
Darth Vader
Admiral Whats-His-Name from the Tom Clancy movies
King Mufasa (I think Lion King II went straight to video, but whatever)
Mr. Mertle in Sandlot and Sandlot II