# Roles you really can't imagine any other actor doing?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 19, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121 "2005-04-19T20:29:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/1 "2005-04-19T20:29:05Z")
The actor who played Donnie Darko is so distinctive and slightly sinister and unconventional looking that it’s almost easy to forget that roles are played by actors who have seperate lives. It’s almost as if Jake (Gyllenhaal) IS Donnie Darko. It’s as if he was born for that role. And when you see him in another film you find yourself slightly surprised that he is an actor and not Donnie Darko.
On a side note I’ve only ever seen the directors cut, and I’m told it’s much better than the _other_ cut. I only _know_ the directors cut so my positive assesment of this film is based on that.
So my submittal Jake Gyllenhall as Donnie Darko.
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/2 "2005-04-19T20:32:41Z")
On a side note I just watched the cast&crew interviews, and failed to find out that Donnie Darko’s big sister is played by Jake Gyllenhaal’s big sister!
Creepy.
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### Author:  [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/3 "2005-04-19T20:35:51Z")
Alan Rickman as Severus Snape. JK Rowling has expressed dismay that he’s been TOO good in the role, and turned a real git into a complex character.
(Sidenote on Donnie Darko: An obsessed friend swears by the theatrical version, complaining that the Director’s Cut dumbs things down too much and the mystery of the movie, the compulsion to watch it umpteen times is lost when it’s so easily understood.)
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### Author:  [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/4 "2005-04-19T20:36:44Z")
Can you honestly see anybody else but Patrick Stewart playing Jean-Luc Picard? 🙂
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### Author:  [@LindyHopper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LindyHopper)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/5 "2005-04-19T20:38:07Z")
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I’m not even kidding about this. She was perfect, perfect, _perfect_ for that role. It still stuns me that she and Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) originally tried out for each other’s roles.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/6 "2005-04-19T20:46:00Z")
Peter Lorre as … just about anyone he played. The psychopath in **M** , of course, but also Joel Cairo in **The Maltese Falcon** and, on a much lighter note, Dr. Einstein in **Arsenic and Old Lace**
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/7 "2005-04-19T20:46:19Z")
Clark Gable as Rhett Butler.
Errol Flynn? Ronald Colman? Edward Everett Horton? I think not.
(Well, maybe Edward Everett Horton . . .)
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### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/8 "2005-04-19T20:47:39Z")
Peter Falk, Columbo.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/9 "2005-04-19T20:50:39Z")
> [@Eve](#):
>
> Clark Gable as Rhett Butler.
>
> Errol Flynn? Ronald Colman? Edward Everett Horton? I think not.
>
> (Well, maybe Edward Everett Horton . . .)
Don’t you be dissin’ my boy Edward Everett Horton!
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### Author:  [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/10 "2005-04-19T20:52:26Z")
Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/11 "2005-04-19T20:58:26Z")
Leo McKern as Rumpole of the Bailey. He’s done the role on the PBS series and on audiotapes for three different companies. I’ve heard others do it, but no one else really captures the character.
Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More in **A Man for all Seasons**. Nobody else in this play or others (Anne of a THousand Days) seemed to get the spirit of the character.
Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd in **Harvey**. He _owned_ the role, and performed it onstage, in the 1950 movie, and again on television in his later years.
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### Author:  [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/12 "2005-04-19T20:59:10Z")
I can’t imagine anyone else but:
Vivien Leigh as Scarlett
Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands or Captain Jack Sparrow
Ian Mckellan as Gandalf.
In addition, I questioned Elijah Wood’s casting as Frodo, but now I try to think of another actor for the role & I just can’t
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/13 "2005-04-19T21:00:16Z")
Gloria Swanson as Nora Desmond
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### Author:  [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/14 "2005-04-19T21:07:19Z")
Sir Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in **Silence of the Lambs** , **Hannibal** and **Red Dragon**.
Tim Curry as The Butler in **Clue**.
Rick Moranis as Seymour Krelborne in **Little Shop of Horrors**.
Tom Hanks as **Forrest Gump**.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/15 "2005-04-19T21:10:20Z")
> [@teela brown](#):
>
> Gloria Swanson as Nora Desmond
Norma Desmond, sweetie, a lot of musical fans would disagree with that.
Speaking of musicals:
Jerry Orbach as El Gato and Billy Flynn
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/16 "2005-04-19T21:11:08Z")
> [@Garfield226](#):
>
> Tom Hanks as **Forrest Gump**.
I’m watching that right now. I was going to submit but decided not to have too many posts in my own thread. Look how that’s turning out!
Tom Hanks owns pretty much every role he does. Forrest Gump is one of my all-time faves.
“That kid sure is a runnin’ fool!”
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### Author:  [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/17 "2005-04-19T22:32:37Z")
> [@Garfield226](#):
>
> Rick Moranis as Seymour Krelborne in **Little Shop of Horrors**.
I’m really hoping that is proven wrong in my eyes this weekend when I see it on the stage. For now, I agree with you.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/18 "2005-04-19T22:40:29Z")
Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman. 😛
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### Author:  [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/19 "2005-04-19T22:51:34Z")
> [@Lobsang](#):
>
> I’m watching that right now. I was going to submit but decided not to have too many posts in my own thread. Look how that’s turning out!
>
> Tom Hanks owns pretty much every role he does. Forrest Gump is one of my all-time faves.
>
> “That kid sure is a runnin’ fool!”
LOUD SCREAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Sorry, it will be alright. Tom Hanks plays Tom Hanks acting like [insert character here] in every movie, every time. Sorry for the hijack, I’ll slink off now, but…
Not to steal it completely though, William Shatner as T.J. Hooker in Showtime. Nobody but him.
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### Author:  [@RancidYakButterTeaParty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RancidYakButterTeaParty)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/20 "2005-04-19T23:01:17Z")
Peter Sellers as Jacques Clouseau.
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