# Name a movie where two actors play the same character. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860 "2005-03-16T18:49:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/1 "2005-03-16T18:49:22Z")
A friend called me on this one today and off the top of my head: **Obi Wan Kenobi** Played by Alec Guiness and Euan McGregor for old and younger Obi Wan. **Forrest Gump** Dunno the kid who played him younger, but **Tom Hanks** when he was older. **How to Make an American Quilt** Just about the entire cast has a doppelganger for their younger time period. Help me out. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/2 "2005-03-16T18:54:32Z")
Just about any movie involving babies or younger children (live-action or animated). ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/3 "2005-03-16T19:01:15Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > **Obi Wan Kenobi** Played by Alec Guiness and Euan McGregor for old and younger Obi Wan. They didn’t both appear as Obi-Wan in the same movie, did they? Conchita in _That Obscure Object Of Desire_ was played by two different actresses. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/4 "2005-03-16T19:02:45Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > **Obi Wan Kenobi** Played by Alec Guiness and Euan McGregor for old and younger Obi Wan. Nitpick : Alec and Ewan don’t play the same character in the same movie. If sequels are okay, that opens up a little territory for us. Let’s see - Stand By Me; Secondhand Lions; National Treasure; Pirates of the Carribbean; Star Wars : Return of the Jedi (Vader); - that’s the first batch from the top of my head. Ash’s girlfriend in the Evil Dead trilogy was portrayed by three different actresses, a different one in each movie. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/5 "2005-03-16T19:03:14Z")
_Mrs. Dalloway_. Set in the 1920s, with flashbacks to the 1880s, most of the main cast is played by older and younger actors: [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119723/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119723/) ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/6 "2005-03-16T19:11:01Z")
Well, Obi-Wan doesn’t count because they are in different movies. Technically, Anakin might count, though, if you want to count the altered DVD version of _Jedi_ Plenty of films that have the character as a kid and then as an adult, or a flashback to a childhood: \*My Left Foot, Shine, Stand By Me, Godfather Part II, City of God, Once Upon a Time in the West, It’s a Wonderful Life, Citizen Kane, Silence of the Lambs, Amadeus, Annie Hall, Big Fish, 12 Monkeys, Saving Private Ryan, Lone Star, Titanic, The Truman Show, Little Big Man, Wuthering Heights, Angels with Dirty Faces, Braveheart, Mystic River, The Virgin Suicides, The Royal Tennenbaums, Billy Elliot, \* and a zillion others. But Fiver beat me to it with one of the rare, unusual cases where the character was actually played concurrently by two different actresses (and not just an older/younger version) with the terrific Bunuel film. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/7 "2005-03-16T19:11:13Z")
_Fight Club_. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/8 "2005-03-16T19:12:23Z")
_Lost Highway._ Bill Pullman and Balthazar Getty kind of played the same character, didn’t they? I won’t pretend I followed what exactly the f\*ck happened. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/9 "2005-03-16T19:13:51Z")
Even if you don’t allow sequels, Darth Vader was portrayed by at least two\* people in _Return of the Jedi_ – David Prowse with the mask on, and Sebastian Shaw with the mask off. \*Three if you count James Earl Jones. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/10 "2005-03-16T19:15:07Z")
_Titanic,_ _Contact,_ _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade._ Really, if we include any movie where the character ages through two or more actors this thread will be endless. I’m much more interested in movies where two or more actors are used for a different reason, like in the above-mentioned _That Obscure Object of Desire_ or _Myra Breckinridge._ ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/11 "2005-03-16T19:16:49Z")
_Mickey Rooney_ played the young _Clark Gable_ in [Manhattan Melodrama](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025464/)!! ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/12 "2005-03-16T19:20:25Z")
Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, in _Fight Club_. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/13 "2005-03-16T19:20:33Z")
Jennifer, Marty McFly’s girlfriend, was played in the first _Back to the Future_ by Claudia Wells and in the two sequels by Elisabeth Shue. I think they used a few seconds’ footage of Ms. Wells in _Part II_. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/14 "2005-03-16T19:21:02Z")
In _Transformers: The Movie_ both Orson Wells and Leonard Nimoy voiced Unicron, since Wells died during the production. ---
**Author:** ![Frank\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Frank\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank_2)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/15 "2005-03-16T19:25:30Z")
_Plan 9 From Outer Space._ Bela Lugosi died partway through filming, so Ed Wood got Tom Mason (Ed’s wife’s chiropractor) to fill in as the Ghoul Man. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/16 "2005-03-16T19:27:18Z")
Wayne’s World 2 - Gas Station Attendant. Best. Replacement. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/17 "2005-03-16T19:41:45Z")
Sorry I’m too darn lazy to type them all out, but there are a dozen or more in [this link here.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104694/fullcredits) ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/18 "2005-03-16T19:44:17Z")
A League of Their Own. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/19 "2005-03-16T20:07:52Z")
Face/Off and pretty much any other switched identity movies. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2005, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860/20 "2005-03-16T20:13:54Z")
Loaded Weapon 1, when some plain-looking actress put down her hair and turned into Kathy Ireland. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-where-two-actors-play-the-same-character/294860.md?page=2)