John Hurt in Alien
John Hurt in Spaceballs
They did. All three of the below appeared together in the episode “Blood Oath.” Colicos appeared in two additional DS9 epsidoes, and Ansara in one.
- John Colicos (Kor)
- Michael Ansara (Kang)
- William Campbell (Koloth)
Not really. Rowe played an actor playing Holmes. Ian McKellan played Holmes.
I thought about making the distinction, but it was too complicated. The way I see it, it Rowe was playing an actor playing Holmes in the movie, then he was playing Holmes.
Surprised no one’s yet mentioned the 2019 revival of Mad About You, which featured Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt reprising their roles as Paul and Jamie Buchman, from the 1992 series.
I had forgotten about that revival. My understanding is that, in the U.S., it was only available on Spectrum cable; if that’s accurate, it was likely little-seen. (Edit: I stand corrected; it’s apparently now on Amazon Prime.)
I don’t think Kelley fits the purpose of this thread. He made his guest appearance on TNG in 1987, but played Bones in two more movies, The Final Frontier in 1989 and 1991’s The Undiscovered Country. Hardly decades between his appearances.
Same with Doohan. He played Scotty in Star Trek: Generations in 1994, just two years after appearing in Relics.
It was mentioned here.
I’m not rereading the thread to check, but I’m sure someone mentioned Tobey McGuire and Andrew Garfield revisiting their roles of Peter Parker in the most recent Spider-Man film, right?
Paul Reubens played Tucker Cobblepot (Penguin’s dad) in 1992’s Batman Returns and again on the TV show Gotham 23 years later.
Frankie Avalon and Annette Funnicello made Back to the Beach in 1987, 22 years after the last of the original six beach movies. They were couldn’t use their characters’ original names for legal reasons, but they were clearly the same people.
Bob Denver and Alan Hale were in it too as Gilligan and the Skipper, but were never referred to as such. Edd “Kookie” Byrnes was in it as a valet, the same job he had in 77 Sunset Strip.
There were cameos by other actors as well, notably the surviving members of the Cleaver family, but not as June, Wally, or Beaver. Paul Reubens played Pee-Wee Herman at the height of his fame.
Tony Dow played Wally in the courtroom skit in Kentucky Fried Movie. Jerry Mathers didn’t play The Beaver, though.
Jack Webb created the 1950s series Dragnet (and the radio series) as well as its later 60s revival. Of course, he played Joe Friday in every episode (as well as writing and directing many). A number of actors played in all 3 series.
“A Christmas Story”, a 1967 episode, was a remake of “The Big Little Jesus” from 1953. In both episode, the priest was played by Harry Bartell. At least one scene used the exact same shots. Dragnet "Big Little Jesus/Christmas Story" Edited Together - YouTube
Correction: Annette Funicello. Other cast members reprising their roles were Connie Stevens and surf musician Dick Dale.
How about Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche reprising their Trading Places roles as cameos in Coming To America.
Only five years later, however (Bellamy and Ameche); the OP is looking for recurrences that were much further apart.
Which I mentioned in post 62.
How do we count soap opera actors that have been playing the same part more or less continuously? Wikipedia lists a score of actors in the U.S. and U.K. who have played the same character in the same show for 40 or more years.
Unless they leave and come back later, I don’t think the OP is concerned about them. They’d have to be Kevin Kline/“Jeffrey Anderson” to qualify.
The original Law & Order had a 1st season episode “Indifference” based on the Joel Steinberg case.
They followed up in the 15th season episode “Fixed” with the same actor playing the same character being released from prison.
In my heart I feel like actors playing the same role for decades is a different phenomenon than an actor coming back to reprise their role after decades away. That said, it’s still a fairly rare and noteworthy phenomenon that deserves to be acknowledged in some way.