# Piglet is a killer! and other anti-typecasting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540 "2004-10-11T00:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/21 "2004-10-11T14:31:06Z")
Henry Fonda – Tom Joad in _Grapes of Wrath_, Mister Roberts in _Mister Roberts_, the hold out juror in _12 Angry Men_, General Theodore Roosevelt jr. in _The Longest Day_, The President in _Fail-Safe_ and (much later, of course) Norman “Old Poop” Thayer in _On Golden Pond_ … And of course … Frank, the psychotic killer in _Once Upon a Time in the West_ Trivia via IMDB: Henry Fonda originally turned down a role in the picture. Director Sergio Leone flew to the United States and met with Fonda, who asked why he was wanted for the movie. Sergio replied, “Picture this: the camera shows a gunman from the waist down pulling his gun and shooting a running child. The camera pans up to the gunman’s face and… it’s Henry Fonda.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/22 "2004-10-11T15:34:30Z")
Well, technically, Feidler wasn’t the killer in that episode; just some schmo possessed by a malevolent alien entity. Of course, it raises the question of what was going on in his character’s mind when the entity moved on to someone else, i.e. Scotty. Was he dead when the entity was a-wandering? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/23 "2004-10-11T17:21:44Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Well, technically, Feidler wasn’t the killer in that episode; just some schmo possessed by a malevolent alien entity. Of course, it raises the question of what was going on in his character’s mind when the entity moved on to someone else, i.e. Scotty. Was he dead when the entity was a-wandering? He was in the headquarters with Al and Ziggy. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/24 "2004-10-11T19:10:33Z")
To tie in with the OP’s _Winnie the Pooh_ motif, I’ll point out that the current voice of Eeyore, Peter Cullen, worked in a previous life as [Optimus Prime.](http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Optimus%20Prime) ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/25 "2004-10-11T19:37:07Z")
> [@Evil Death](#): > > How about Ian McKellen? On the one hand, he’s played Adolf Hitler. On the other, he voiced Zebedee for the Magic Roundabout Movie. Is that really much of a stretch? After all, one of them was a scheming control-freak dictator with a weird mustache, and the other was Adolf Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/26 "2004-10-11T20:35:37Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Neil Patrick Harris: From Doogie Howser to a serial killer is quite a stretch. I remember his character from Starship Troopers. When we saw him in his uniform, we started calling his character “Doogie Himmler”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/27 "2004-10-11T21:21:36Z")
How about Farrah Fawcett(-Majors) going from playing “the blonde one” on “Charlie’s Angels”, to playing a battered wife in “the Burning Bed.” I always imagined Kate Jackson must boil over in a rage at the mere mention of Farrah’s name: Before “Angels” - Kate was an actress on the rise & (at least as she saw it) considered a ‘serious’ actress who was too good to play such mindless fluff. Farrah was the pin-up girl with boobs, feathered hair & dazzling teeth - but not much else. Farrah took the job on “Angels” to give herself something to do while not cooking for hubby Lee. After “Angels” - Kate is relegated to a career on fluffy tv shows like “Scarecrow & Mrs. King” while Farrah becomes a surprise Broadway sensation, and stars in critically acclaimed tv movies. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2004, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/28 "2004-10-11T21:37:45Z")
Speaking of Neil “Doogie” Patrick Harris, he also played the gay smack-addicted emcee onstage in Cabaret ([here’s a pic of Doogie gone bad)](http://www.2xy.org/blotter/doogieraunchy.jpg) and most recently as Lee Harvey Oswald in _Assassins_. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/29 "2004-10-12T00:11:53Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > I _used_ to be able to…thanks a lot. That’s me. Little Miss Spreading the Joy. “I’m just a very small animal _ **WHO HAS COME TO KILL YOU ALL!! MWA HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!** _” Ahem. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/30 "2004-10-12T00:30:25Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Speaking of Jean Smart, I didn’t realize what a talented actress she was until after _Designing Women_ was cancelled. She was hysterical as Frasier’s crass high school girlfriend, as the anal perfectionist on _Style/Substance_, the alcoholic nympho neighbor in _The Brady Bunch_ and moving as the retarded mother of five in a made for TV movie, all of which were a major stretch from scatterbrained but sweet Charlene on _DW_. She also did a bang-up job playing Aileen Wuornos in a made-for-TV movie. I’d only seen her in _Designing Women_, so the change from Charlene to Aileen was an impressive one. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/31 "2004-10-12T02:03:19Z")
> [@Antonius Block](#): > > Is that really much of a stretch? After all, one of them was a scheming control-freak dictator with a weird mustache, and the other was Adolf Hitler. Heh. Okay, but on the other hand, he was also Richard III _and_ Gandalf, which takes some chops, too… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/32 "2004-10-12T02:22:54Z")
Very true, **Katisha**. My admiration for Sir Ian McKellen’s body of work knows no bounds. All I was saying is that if, for instance, an actor was known _just_ for Adolf Hitler and [Zebedee](http://www.toonhound.com/maground.htm), he’d be getting dangerously close to being typecast. I mean, [_“in times of chaos he restores order”_](http://hometown.aol.co.uk/ctippsuk/characters.html) **sounds** all very well in theory, but I’d hate to be someone breaking curfew more than a few minutes after he utters his creepy _“Time for bed”_. \ ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/33 "2004-10-12T03:29:16Z")
What about Gregory Peck? From Atticus Finch to Dr. Joseph Mengele in _Boys from Brazil_. (Which, by the way, if you haven’t seen, don’t bother. Awful, AWFUL movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540/34 "2004-10-12T13:57:20Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Well, technically, Feidler wasn’t the killer in that episode; just some schmo possessed by a malevolent alien entity. Of course, it raises the question of what was going on in his character’s mind when the entity moved on to someone else, i.e. Scotty. Was he dead when the entity was a-wandering? Well, he was certainly dead after they beamed him out into space. Poor Piglet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piglet-is-a-killer-and-other-anti-typecasting/268540.md?page=1)