Heck, how many different Model 800s has Arnold played? Four? And that’s not even counting the two computer-generated ones that looked like a young Arnold.
Lee Van Cleef:
For a Few Dollars More - Col. Douglas Mortimer
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Sentenza / Angel Eyes
Definitely different characters. (But then I’m of the opinion that Joe, Monco and Blondie are different characters too)
Are TV *movies *okay?
Telly Savalas played the very nasty Maggot in the original Dirty Dozen film. He was shot by his own side. He later played the lead in two made for TV sequels.
The actor Joe Pilato played an unnamed police officer in the original Dawn of the Dead and later played Captain Rhodes in the original Day of the Dead. However it is possible he is playing the same character who, due to the zombie emergency, has switched from the police to the army.
I know TV is supposed to be excluded from this thread but I feel compelled to mention one of the most egregious examples: The combined TV universe of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. These shows constantly recycled actors.
One fine example? Actress Lucy Lawless had already played at least two characters in Hercules before starring as Xena. However, well after the Xena character had become established with her own show she returned to one of her earlier roles as Lyla (the woman who married a Centaur) which led to other characters in that episode making joking references to Lyla’s similarity to Xena.
TCMF-2L
We did this thread a while back, which touched on some of the same examples (the 007 movies, Get Him To The Greek) and some that haven’t yet come up (Peter Ustinov’s outings as Poirot, the Jay-and-Silent-Bob flicks).
Please don’t just laugh! The first actor I thought of when I read this thread’s title was Charles Starrett (1903–1986) who was my favorite B Westerns star in my early years. His main claim to fame was as The Durango Kid! But check out that IMDb list of his roles and try to find one whose name is NOT Steve!
I noticed that when I was in grade school.
A lot of Kevin Smith movies take place in the same universe and have recycled actors.
Joey Lauren Adams played Gwen in Mallrats and Alyssa in Chasing Amy.
Jason Lee played Brody in Mallrats, Bankie Edwards in Chasing Amy, and Azrael in Dogma.
Ben Afleck played Shannon in Mallrats, Holden in Chasing Amy, and Holden and himself in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back.
There are a whole bunch of others.
Warwick Davis also played both Flitwick and Griphook in the Harry Potter movies.
Mark Lenard most notably. He even meets the OP, since he played a Klingon Captain in ST:TMP and Sarek in ST:TSFS, ST:TVH and ST:TUC.
Actor Albert Popwell wiki link appears in several of the Dirty Harry films in various incarnations.
In Dirty Harry, he is the bank robber to whom Callahan delivers the “Do you feel lucky?” speech. Powell’s line is, “I gots to know” regarding how many bullets are left in the chamber.
In the follow-up, Magnum Force, he is now a pimp who gets pulled over in a traffic stop and then subsequently wasted. I guess he could be the same guy from the first film but that seems unlikely.
He pops up again in The Enforcer listed as “Mustapha” in the imdb link but I don’t recall his role specifically.
Then he crosses over to the good side and is Harry’s former partner in Sudden Impact.
Quite the run though it looks like his career hit the skids coinciding with his demise in 1999.
Lots of shows did. If you watch the 1968-1969 incarnation of Dragnet you see the same actors popping up in different roles constantly.
The Timothy Hutton-produced (and starring) A&E Nero Wolfe series did this very openly and obviously, re-using the same ensemble of actors to play completely different characters every week. (It was kinda nice to see actor Mike Tolkan stretch outside the box he’s been typecast into, and play something besides the Tough Cop for a change.)
But I’ve steered clear of TV shows, since the OP did. There are tons of cases on TV.
In the TV series Babylon 5 the actor Louis Turenne played two different characters. He played Draal in two episodes, and Brother Theo in three episodes.
Also Tim Russ who plays a Starfleet Lieutenant in ST: Generations (movie) but also a terrorist in a TNG episode and Tuvok in ST: Voyager.
In Empire Strikes Back, Jeremy Bollock plays Boba Fett as well as an Imperial officer.
Michael Dorn: Worf in STAR TREK: GENERATIONS, and Worf’s grandpa – which is to say, Captain Kirk’s defense attorney – in STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY.
Jack Purvis played the Chief Jawa, Chief Ugnaught, and Ewok medicine man in the respective original trilogy installments.
Which has to be close to unique as the Toecutter and Immortan Joe are the arch-villains in each movie, not little throwaway characters.
I’m certain that Stan Lee makes it a condition of using his comic-book material that he be given a cameo role in every Superhero film.
If so it’s not surprising that he plays a lot of (minor) characters.
Natalie Trundy in the Planet of the Apes movies; she was in all of them except the first.
One of the underground bomb worshipers in Beneath the Planet of the Apes
One of the doctors who helps Cornelius and Zira in Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Lisa (Caesar’s main squeeze) in Conquest of and Batle for the Planet of the Apes
Jack Palance played Curly Washburn in City Slickers, and Duke Washburn in City Slickers II.
Lucy also played several lookalike characters during the run. At least three I can think of; Meg, Diana and a hestian priestess whose name escapes me.
Leah. There were more but the OP doesn’t encourage TV examples.
TCMF-2L