# Roles you really can't imagine any other actor doing? **URL:** \ **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:** 3
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/41 "2005-04-20T05:35:53Z")
> [@Guy Incognito](#): > > This goes double for R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in the same movie. I’m sure you know this, but no actor could replace R. Lee Ermey as GySgt. Hartman because R. Lee Ermey wasn’t an actor. IIRC, he was a real-life Marine drill sergeant who was hired to be an on-site consultant. He found the actor playing Hartman to be so way off-base that he ran onto the set and said, “No, son, this is how you do it…” Stanley Kubrick liked him so much he asked him to play Hartman outright. Again, though, you probably know all this already. Someone let me know if I have any facts wrong. Adam ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/42 "2005-04-20T05:50:08Z")
> [@Kythereia](#): > > Can you honestly see anybody else but Patrick Stewart playing Jean-Luc Picard? 🙂 Hey, you stole mine! I came in here to post exactly this. He inhabited that character so fully that whenever I see him in something else, I’m momentarily jarred. My new one is Brad Dourif playing Grima Wormtongue. When I originally read that there was to be a film version of the Lord of the Rings, I hoped to myself that he would be casted for the role. ---
**Author:** ![DrMemory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DrMemory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrMemory)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/43 "2005-04-20T11:54:50Z")
Christopher Lloyd as “Doc” Brown Jack Nicholson as J.J. Gittes and/or Randall McMurphy Peter Sellers in all three of his Dr. Strangelove Rolls The Beatles in either A Hard Day’s Night or Help 😃 …or is that stretching it? ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/44 "2005-04-20T12:50:32Z")
> [@Agent Foxtrot](#): > > I’m sure you know this, but no actor could replace R. Lee Ermey as GySgt. Hartman because R. Lee Ermey wasn’t an actor. IIRC, he was a real-life Marine drill sergeant who was hired to be an on-site consultant. He found the actor playing Hartman to be so way off-base that he ran onto the set and said, “No, son, this is how you do it…” Stanley Kubrick liked him so much he asked him to play Hartman outright. > > Again, though, you probably know all this already. Someone let me know if I have any facts wrong. > > Adam From the imdb it’s slightly different but the basic (and cool IMO) details are the same: > [@IMDB trivia on Full Metal Jacket](#): > > Former US Marines Drill Instructor R. Lee Ermey was hired as a consultant on how to drill USMC style. He performed a demonstration on videotape in which he yelled obscene insults and abuse for fifteen minutes without stopping, repeating himself, or even flinching - despite being continuously pelted with tennis balls and oranges. Director Stanley Kubrick was so impressed that he cast R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/45 "2005-04-20T13:02:06Z")
Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/46 "2005-04-20T13:53:32Z")
> [@Guy Incognito](#): > > Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes (Sorry, but I like his portrayal of Holmes more than Basil Rathbone’s) Absolutely. Simon Jones as Arthur Dent. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/47 "2005-04-20T14:03:37Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. Sorry. Nope, don’t be sorry. Better than Johnny Depp cum Jackson. ---
**Author:** ![Theodore\_Striker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Theodore\_Striker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theodore_Striker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/48 "2005-04-20T14:14:16Z")
Dustin Hoffman in Rainman, just absolutely perfect. Cruise could’ve been played by any of the over-the top intense young actors, but Hoffman nailed Raymond Babbitt. I also think Ed Norton was perfectly cast as “Worm” in Rounders. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/49 "2005-04-20T14:19:27Z")
I came in to mention this one, now I see I’m helping push the bandwagon. Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes. Maybe it’s Jeremey’s on the brain, Jeremy Irons as Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/50 "2005-04-20T14:26:00Z")
Jon Heder is **Napoleon Dynamite** ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/51 "2005-04-20T14:31:46Z")
Clint Eastwood as The Man With No Name. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/52 "2005-04-20T15:21:10Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I’ll admit it’s a toughie, I couldn’t even _pronounce_ it until I watched the cast interviews on the extras. But didn’t cut-n-paste help you with the name? It’s Gyllenhall by the way Actually it’s Gyllenhaal (2 “a’s”, 1 “l”). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/53 "2005-04-20T15:56:31Z")
> [@Agent Foxtrot](#): > > Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. Much of the humor in the Indy movies came from Ford himself. Not to mention that _Temple of Doom_ and _Last Crusade_ probably wouldn’t have happened had Lucas and Spielberg been able to go with their original casting. ---
**Author:** ![TastesLikeBurning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@TastesLikeBurning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TastesLikeBurning)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/54 "2005-04-20T16:55:50Z")
The entire cast of the original series of **The Office**. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/55 "2005-04-20T20:05:03Z")
I just want to agree with those that said Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes. And both David Burke and Edward Hardwicke did better jobs playing Watson than Nigel Bruce ever could. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/56 "2005-04-20T20:21:25Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. That’s who I was going to say. He forever owns this part. Notice that in all these years, no one has tried to re-make this? That’s cuz it can’t be done. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/57 "2005-04-20T20:40:42Z")
Bruce Campbell _is_ Ash. ---
**Author:** ![Delly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Delly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delly)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/58 "2005-04-20T23:37:06Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I’ll admit it’s a toughie, I couldn’t even _pronounce_ it until I watched the cast interviews on the extras. But didn’t cut-n-paste help you with the name? It’s Gyllenhall by the way Or maybe I just couldnt be bothered with it? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/59 "2005-04-20T23:43:33Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#): > > Actually it’s Gyllenhaal (2 “a’s”, 1 “l”). Bugger! (me) I’m a sausage upside my wednesday month of uncles. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@MonkeyMule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMule)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121/60 "2005-04-20T23:43:57Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I think [Paul Muni](http://imdb.com/title/tt0023427/) might have been pretty good . . . Same Moive title (and prettymucht he same plot), but diffrent names for the main charactor. I WIN ON A TECHNICALITY!! yea me! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roles-you-really-cant-imagine-any-other-actor-doing/300121.md?page=4)