# Same film series, same actor, different character **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646 "2016-01-20T01:35:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/1 "2016-01-20T01:35:51Z")
Okay, here’s an odd phenomenon. In some film series (or just a film and its sequel), they will have mostly the same principal actors, it’s in the same continuum, but there’s an actor or actress in two different installments playing a different character. Here are some obvious examples, give me some better ones: **Stan Lee** , who plays slightly different characters in most of the Marvel Comics movies. In _Captain America: The First Avenger_, he’s a general, but in _Winter Soldier_ he’s a Smithsonian rent-a-cop. **Sofia Coppola** plays the infant Michael being baptized in _The Godfather_. In _Part Two_ she’s an immigrant kid on a boat. In _Part Three_ she’s Mary Corleone, one of the primaries. **Maud Adams** has been in three James Bond movies, all starring Roger Moore: She’s Andrea, the beta Bond Girl in _The Man with the Golden Gun_; Octopussy in _Octopussy_; and she has an uncredited bit part in _A View to a Kill_. I’m excluding TV shows, although there’s a proud tradition of this on the small screen as well. Who are some others? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/2 "2016-01-20T01:47:05Z")
There are a lot of these in the James Bond series. Maud Adams has already been mentioned. There’s also: **Charles Gray** – “Mr. Henderson” in _You Only Live Twice_, he came back to play Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of S.P.E,C,T,R,E., in _Diamonds are Forever_ **Ed Bishop** was Hawaii Capcom in _You Only Live Twice]_ and Klaus Hergeshimer in _Diamonds are Forever_ **Joe Don Baker** was Brads Wittaker, the chief Bad Guy, in _The Living Daylights_, but came back to play CIA agent Jack Wade in \* Goldeneye\* and _Tomorrow Never Dies_. **Walter Gotell** was SPECTRE agent _Merzeny_ in _From Russia With Love_, but came to play General Gogol in a bunch of sequential movies – every one from _The Spy Who Loved Me_77) to _The Living Daylights_ (1987) **Martine Beswick** was Vida in _From Russia with Love_ and Paula Kaplan in _Thunderball_. There are others, mostly in really mnor roles, like Ed Bishop. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/3 "2016-01-20T01:59:33Z")
Another one - the first I thought of - Bruce Spence. He was the Gyro Captain in [_Mad Max 2_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082694/), and Jedediah the Pilot in [_Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089530/?ref_=nm_knf_t4). Similar characters, granted, but different. Hunh. Looking up those links, I see Bruce was in _Revenge of the Sith_. Played the pale guy Obi Wan talked to on that planet where Obi killed Grievous. #I did not know that. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/4 "2016-01-20T02:00:39Z")
Bruce Spence played the gyrocopter captain in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. Then he played Jedidiah the pilot in Beyond Thunderdome. Bah! ninja’d! only because some dude walked up to my cube to blab to me about nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/5 "2016-01-20T02:13:56Z")
Bruce Spence played the Gyro Captain in _The Road Warrior_ and Jedediah in _Mad Max beyond Thunderdome_. Hugh Keays-Byrne played Toecutter in _Mad Max_ and Immortan Joe in _Mad Max: Fury Road_. Max Fairchild played Benno Swaisey in _Mad Max_ and the Broken Victim in _The Road Warrior_. ---
**Author:** ![Julius\_Henry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/6 "2016-01-20T02:14:07Z")
Roger Perry plays two different leading characters in _Count Yorga, Vampire_ and it’s sequel, _The Return of Count Yorga_. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/7 "2016-01-20T02:15:38Z")
Speaking of Mad Max - the villain Toecutter from the original **Mad Max** played the villain Immortan Joe in **Mad Max: Fury Road**. Warwick Davis played a few different characters in Return of the Jedi, Phantom Menace, and Force Awakens. Pat Roach played the airplane mechanic who got chopped up in **Raiders of the Lost Ark** , the head guard that got chopped up in **Temple of Doom** , and a gestapo officer in **Last Crusade**. I don’t think he got chopped up in the last one. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/8 "2016-01-20T02:22:19Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > I don’t think he got chopped up in the last one. No, he died before that travesty could occur. _Get Him To The Greek_ is a sequel to _Forgetting Sarah Marshall_, and Jonah Hill plays a different character in each. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/9 "2016-01-20T02:25:52Z")
Amy Yasbeck played John Ritter’s shrew of a wife in Problem Child, then his much nicer new love interest in Problem Child 2. They were also married in real life, if you didn’t know, and while it’s outside of the scope of this topic, they also played a married, expecting couple on an episode of the Cosby Show. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/10 "2016-01-20T02:34:40Z")
If you consider the Marx Brothers film a series, there’s Margaret Dumont. Also Walter Woolf King, who played the bad guy in **A Night at the Opera** and **Go West** and Sig Ruman in **A Day at the Races** and **A Night in Casablanca.** Ruman also played two different villains in the first two Mr. Moto movies. Leon Ames also played two different characters in two different movies in that series, too. Turhan Bey played Manuel Retana in **The Gay Falcon** \* and Jules Amthor in **The Falcon Takes Over** The Three Stooges always ran up against Vernon Dent or Bud Jamison, playing different characters. \*No, he wasn’t like that. “Gay” was the Falcon’s first name. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/11 "2016-01-20T02:35:42Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > No, he died before that travesty could occur. > > _Get Him To The Greek_ is a sequel to _Forgetting Sarah Marshall_, and Jonah Hill plays a different character in each. I never noticed! I thought _Get Him To The Greek_ was just a remake of _My Favorite Year._ ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/12 "2016-01-20T02:40:57Z")
Garret Dillahunt played Jack McCall and Francis Wollcot in Deadwood ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/13 "2016-01-20T02:51:28Z")
Star Trek, from ST:NG and beyond recycled their actors like crazy. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/14 "2016-01-20T02:52:52Z")
**Bela Lugosi** played Bad Guy Roxor in \*Chandu the Magician \* (1932), but played Chandu himself in _The REturn of Chandu_ (1934) Lugosi, of course, famously played several characters in the linked Universal Monster Movies of the 1930s and 40s. He was Dracula in _Dracula_ and _Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein_, Ygor in _Son of Frankenstein_ and _Ghopst of Frankenstein_, and played the Frankenstein Monster himself in _Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman_. **Lon Chaney, Jr.** should have gotten an award for playing just about every part. He was Lawrwnce Talbot, the Wolfman in _The Wolfman_, _Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman_, _House of Frankenstein_, _House of Dracula_, and _Abbott and Costello Meet Franmkenstein_. But he was also Counmt Alucard, _The Son of Dracula_. He was Kharis the Mummy in _The Mummy’s Tomb_, _The Mummy’s Ghost_, and _The Mummy’s Curse_[. He was The FRanklenstein Monster in _The Ghost of Frankenstein_ and in a few uncredited scenes in _Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein_. \*\*Edward Van Sloan \*\* was Van Helsing in _Dracula_ and _Dracula’s Daughter_, and also Professor Waldmann in \*Frankenstein \* and Doctor Waller in _The Mummy_ **Boris Karloff** was the Frankenstein Monster in _Frankenstein_, _Bride of Frankenstein_, and _Son of Frankenstein_, then swore off the role, but he came back as the Mad Doctor Gustav Niemann in _House of Frankenmstein_ And, of course, **Dwight Frye** was \*Renfield in _Dracula_, Fritz in _Frankenstein_, and Karl in _Bride of Frankenstein_.(He may also have played villagers in _Son of Frankenstein_ and _Ghost of Frankenstein_) Many of them played identical or similar roles for other film companies or on TV, but these are the ones in the connected series of Universal films. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/15 "2016-01-20T02:54:45Z")
[Albert Popwell](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0691620/) played a different character in each of the 4 Dirty Harry movies. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/16 "2016-01-20T02:59:03Z")
Consider the Universal horror series of the 30s and 40s. **Lionel Atwill** made his first series appearance in _Son of Frankenstein_. He subsequently appeared in every Frankenstein film in the series–_Ghost of Frankenstein_, _Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man_, _House of Frankenstein_, and _House of Dracula_. He played a different character in each film. And these were films that were, in many cases, released only a year apart. **Patric Knowles** appeared as a gamekeeper in _The Wolf Man_. Two years later, he showed up in _Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man_, playing a doctor. **Evelyn Ankers** appeared in several different Universal horror films, including _The Wolf Man_, _The Ghost of Frankenstein_, _Son of Dracula_, as well as many others, playing a different character each time. And lastly, **Lon Chaney, Jr.** managed to play just about every monster there was, from The Wolf Man to the Frankenstein Monster to Dracula to the Mummy. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/17 "2016-01-20T03:43:24Z")
Lawrence Makoare played Lurtz in _Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring_, Gothmog and the Witch-King in _Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King_, and orc commander Bolg in _The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug._ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/18 "2016-01-20T04:33:10Z")
A couple of the actors from _Return of the Living Dead_ who got killed in that movie returned in _Return of the Living Dead II_ as new characters. They even lampshaded the re-appears (“Do you have the feeling something like this happened to us before?”) – **James Karen** and **Thom Mathews**. Neither returned for any further sequels, although James Karen and Don Calfa, (who only appeared in the first one) were offered parts in _Return of the Living Dead III_. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/19 "2016-01-20T04:38:21Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#): > > Hunh. Looking up those links, I see Bruce was in _Revenge of the Sith_. Played the pale guy Obi Wan talked to on that planet where Obi killed Grievous. #I did not know that. Bruce Spence was also in _The Matrix Reloaded_ and _Return of the King_. I believe he’s the only actor who was in all three of the big SF/fantasy franchises of the early 2000s. (Yeah, I realize the OP asked for “same film series,” but I think this is an interesting bit of trivia nevertheless.) ---
**Author:** ![HowSoonIsThen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@HowSoonIsThen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HowSoonIsThen)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646/20 "2016-01-20T04:45:58Z")
All the James Bond ones are taken. Damn you all. I’ll throw in Bruce Campbell in for the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films. I guess there’s nothing that proves he isn’t the same character in each film, and I remember some fans convinced he was actually Mysterio, but I’m counting because by god you took the James Bond ones from me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-film-series-same-actor-different-character/743646.md?page=2)