I second Vivien Leigh as Scarlett in GWTW.
Robbie Benson as Hagrid in Harry Potter.
Ted Danson as Sam Malone in Cheers.
Andre the Giant as the giant in Princess Bride.
Olivia Newton-John as Sandy in Grease.
Danny DeVito as Louie in Taxi.
On the flip side, I’m surprised that no actor has claimed the “Batman” role as his. None of the actors who have portrayed Batman has nailed the character, IMO.
Er, that’s Robbie Coltrane
I only know Batman from the films so for me it’s Keaton.
But I am a fan of Christian Bale and I’m sure he’ll make a great early batman.
Steve Buscemi in Fargo. It’s like the role was made for him. (It was).
Clive Owen in Croupier
Orson Welles in The Third Man
Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate
And now for some more odd choices
Rob Lowe as young Robert Wagner in The Spy Who Shagged Me. Seriously, he absolutely NAILED Robert Wagner.
Along those lines, I loved River Pheonix’s portrayal of young Indiana Jones. He said that he tailored his performance after Harrison Ford and not Indiana Jones, and I think that was a wise choice. There were two scenes that were eerie - one where he’s running wildly, and another when he’s forced to count in Greek.
I’ll meet you halfway and say that I can’t see anyone but Adam West as a campy 60’s Batman!
Brian Cox is brilliant in a small role in that film. His performance is much more subtle than Hopkins’. He plays Lechter as more normal and rational, which just makes him creepier.
John Cleese as Basil Fawlty.
John Inman as Mr. Humphries. (Also Mollie Sugden as Mrs. Slocombe…)
And, of course, no one but Herve Villechaize could have been Tattoo. Not even Billy Barty.
Kelsey Grammar as Fraiser, and David Hyde Pierce as Niles. It just wouldn’t have worked with anyone else.
AND Kelsey Grammar as Sideshow Bob.
Charlton Heston as Moses. Period.
Also noteworthy is Ewan Mcgregor as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi…just because he perfectly generates the look and feel of a young Obi-Wan. His accent and the look in his eyes perfectly compliments the character portrayed by Alec Guinness; you easily believe it’s the same person. The movie he appeared in was silly of course, but I thought the Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon duo was one of the few more redeeming things (for that matter, Liam Neeson made a cool Jedi himself).
But…seriously. How do you beat Charlton Heston as Moses?!!
–Josh
I gotta disagree with this one.
Rathbone and Bruce may have been the first ones we saw, but, in the books, Watson was a younger, more vigorous man, so Nigel Bruce is out. And I once heard Holmes described as “all brain, no heart”. Jeremy Brett nailed that.
So, my vote goes to Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke of the Mystery series.
How the heck do I edit this? Several people already beat me to it…
OMG - I saw the title of this thread and thought for a minute and the name that came into my head was Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. Then I opened the thread and two others had already picked this. AMAZING
Considering that I was 4 or 5 when this movie actually came out and all the movies I have seen since says a lot for Mr. Peck’s performance.
Another vote for Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes
Joan Hickson as Miss Marple (why are they even TRYING to make another series…?)
Actually, someone did, in 1997, with the widely-known Evan Nisenson playing Atticus Finch.
From the way you’re now scratching your head and saying “Who? What remake?,” you can say this only proves your last point. And I agree.
One of my favorite movies ever.
How about Telly Savalas? I think Ving Rhames is a great actor, but that IS Telly’s role. How loves you, baby, indeed.