I bought the DVDs for the old Blondie movies, the series of movies in the 40s, and the leads Penny Singleton (Blondie) and Arthur Lake (Dagwood) are just TOO perfect, at least I think so.
So my question is, what actors do you think were just born to play a certain role? Or just fit that role too perfectly?
The only criteria, I ask is that the roles be of a character established elsewhere.
Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz was from a book. Or Dagwood was a comic strip. I’m not talking about charachters specifically created for a film and just play that character well.
I guess I’m looking for, if you’d say “I can’t imagine anyone else playing that role.”
In the mini-series of Stephen King’s The Stand, the guy who played Tom Cullen, Bill Fagerbakke, was exactly the guy I pictured while reading the book. Perfect casting choice, laws yes.
One of the best examples is Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl in the Robert Altman’s Popeye movie. I like much of the rest of the casting in that movie as well, but Duvall was born to play that character.
Actually who I came in to say. I had always assumed if they made an X-Men movie, Stewart would play Professor Xavier; I could not think of a better fit between actor and role.
None of the other roles in “X-Men” were filled by anyone I’d ever heard of or thought of in those roles and I’m sure you could come up with other actors who could play them just as well. But not the Professor. That had to be Stewart.
Seconded. Both were just perfect and Patrick Stewart was born to play Professor X.
And on that note. Jamey Sheridan played The Walkin’ Dude exactly as I pictured him when I was reading the book.
I’d also like to nominate the entire cast of Batman: The Animated Series. Every other depiction of any Batman character will forever be compared to that show.
Clark Gable as Rhett Butler/Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara/Hattie McDaniel as Mammy/Thomas Mitchell as Gerald O’Hara
Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine
Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford/Lawanda Page as Aunt Esther/Whitman Mayo as Grady
David Hyde Pierce as Niles Crane
Toby Jones as Truman Capote (you’ll want to snatch Hoffman’s Oscar and give it to Jones after seeing Infamous [especially when you learn Jones is straight and sounds nothing like that in real life)
Two for Robert Downey, Jr.: Tony Stark in Iron Man and Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin. The Tony Stark casting actually made my mouth fall open when I first heard it-- the personal troubles of both character and actor are quite similar, and I thought my friend was just making a joke about it when he told me.
George “The Animal” Steele as Tor Johnson and Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. (Frankly, the entire cast is well chosen, but these two stand out.)
Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar in American Splendor.
I was going to say Shelley Duval as Olive Oyl, too, but you beat me to it.
I can’t imagine anyone besides Lotte Lenye as Rosa Klebb in From Russia with Love – which is too bad, in a way. She was considered an earthy and even sexy singer in her day, and it’s a pity that she’s immortalized as a character Fleming described as “froglike”.
Similarly, I can’t see anyone beside Gerte Frobe as Auric Goldfinger in Goldfinger. Even if they did have to dub his voice.
Could anyone else than Ben Kingsley have done Mohandas Gandhi as convincingly? Besides Gandhi himself, of course.
When David Carradine died recently, I learned that he played Atahuallpa in The Rioyal Hunt of the Sun opposite Christopher Plummer’s Francisco puizarro. When they filmed it, Carradine wasn’t in, but Plummer played Atahuallpa. His performance was wonderful, but he looks as much like an Incan as I do. Carradine, though, had the lookks to pull it off. I wish i’d seen him do it onstage.
Not as much as Richard Libertini was born to play Geezil. His entire career was pretty much performing that character (though few people know about Geezil – who was in the comics but not in the movies).
That’s what I came here to say. When I heard he’d been cast I was actually relieved because I couldn’t imagine anyone better than him. He just nails it. And I so love his voice…sigh. Maggie Smith was a perfect choice for Professor McGonagall, too. I had pictured someone just like her.
I thought Darryl Hannah was a very good choice as Ayla in Clan of the Cavebear.
Michael Caine as Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol. In my opinion, one of his best roles. He did a fantastic job in that.
