# Sitcom actors who became famous for dramatic movie roles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, movies\ **Created:** [December 12, 2024, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533 "2024-12-12T04:45:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/61 "2024-12-13T17:28:38Z")
Aubrey Plaza, who played his wife on _Parks and Rec_, seems to be on a similar path. (See her recent starring role in the crime drama _Emily the Criminal_.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/62 "2024-12-13T18:39:41Z")
How about Zendaya? She first became famous in Disney sitcoms like _Shake It Up_ and _K.C. Undercover_. But then she did a dramatic series, _Euphoria_, and now she’s making movies like the _Spiderman_ and _Dune_ franchises and _The Greatest Showman_ and _Challenger_. ---
**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:** [December 13, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/63 "2024-12-13T20:49:25Z")
Not exactly the case of “sitcom actors becoming famous for dramatic roles”, but there have been quite a few comedians who played straight dramatic parts. Ed Wynn – the “Perfect Fool”, who voiced The Mad Hatter in Disney’s **Alice in Wonderland** and was Uncle Albert in Disney’s **Maty Poppins** played non-comedic dramatic roles in **The Diary of Anne Frank** and **Requiem for a Heavyweight** and **The Great Man** , among others.\* The movie **Fail Safe** gave us a bunch of comedians and usually comic actors in serious roles, including Walter Matthau, Larry Hagman, Sorrel Booke, and Dom de Luise Danny Kaye played Jazz musician Red Nichols straight in **The Five Pennies** Jackie Gleason plated it mostly straight in **Gigot** (1962) as mute and mentally challenged man. Jerry Lewis famous starred in the controversial **The Day the Clown Cried** , which was never finished and never released (although a copy of what there is has been deposited in the Library of Congress, and got a limited viewing this year.) \*Ed Wynn, by the way, briefly ran a major radio network, Amalgamated Broadcasting System, in 1933. It was a difficult undertaking, and was partially responsible for Wynn’s nervous breakdown. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/64 "2024-12-13T21:51:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Jackie Gleason plated it mostly straight in **Gigot** (1962) as mute and mentally challenged man. And completely straight in _The Hustler_, _Requiem For a Heavyweight_, and _Soldier in the Rain_. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/65 "2024-12-14T05:58:13Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I grew up detesting Lucille Ball, hating her shtick. (I’m somewhat humor-impaired and particularly uninclined to find “wince and cringe” humor remotely funny). To our generation she is known mostly as a sitcom star (and could arguably be credited with creating the modern TV sitcom with Desi). But by the time they created “I Love Lucy” in 1951, she was 40 years old, and had been working in Hollywood for 20 years. She had appeared in more than 80 movies, many in uncredited parts, but by the 40s was getting starring and leading roles, mostly light or comic, opposite big stars like Bob Hope and William Holden. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/66 "2024-12-15T00:52:10Z")
Before he was a big-name film star, Shia LaBeouf rose to fame as the younger brother on the Disney Channel sitcom _Even Stevens_. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2024, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/67 "2024-12-25T22:59:22Z")
I’m not sure if you’re talking about Bill Murray, who was a staple on the original Saturday Night Live and traded quips with Chevy Chase and Eddie Murphy. I was surprised that Lost in Translation got an Oscar or something like it. Bill Murray was fine, I guess, but I didn’t think much of the movie at all. But I don’t see much in his resume for Action movies. For that matter, I don’t see much in Chase’s c.v. for dramatic roles. Eddie Murphy did some action flicks (48 Hours 1 & 2; Beverly Hills Cop 1-4, et cetera) I don’t see drama parts in his history. I believe Carol Burnett was recognized for her role in Friendly Fire but the latter is a TV Movie and her work is mostly in sketch comedy (The Carol Burnett Show, etc) rather than SitComs. Or maybe you’re thinking of later SNL cast members? –G? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2024, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/68 "2024-12-25T23:00:36Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > Or maybe you’re thinking of later SNL cast members? I was light-heartedly referring to Robert Downey Jr. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2024, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/69 "2024-12-26T00:04:38Z")
Perhaps more clarity next time? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/70 "2024-12-26T00:07:56Z")
Some of us got it. “Man, I don’t drop character ‘til I’m done with the DVD commentary.” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2024, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/71 "2024-12-26T01:31:38Z")
Sarah Jessica Parker started out as one of the leads on the 80s high-school sitcom **Square Pegs**. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2024, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/72 "2024-12-26T01:55:01Z")
Well, I don’t think he became famous for it, but John Ritter who was known mostly for his slap-stick physical comedy in _Three’s Company_, turned out an excellent performance in _Sling Blade_. He returned to TV sitcom in _8 Simple Rules for Dating my Daughter_. I think he would have had many more dramatic roles like that except for his untimely death. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2024, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533/73 "2024-12-26T04:43:31Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Perhaps more clarity next time? The last line of the post made it extremely clear who was being talked about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sitcom-actors-who-became-famous-for-dramatic-movie-roles/1011533.md?page=3)