TV Actors Who Played Two Roles 180º From Each Other?

Cafe Society
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By this I mean a TV actor or actress who played a role, (meaning in a series not as a one time shot), where they played totally opposite of their previous role

For instance, Larry Hagman, played Major Nelson on I Dream Of Jeannie. He was a great guy and very nice. Then he goes on to play JR Ewing, on Dallas, one of the most evil and hated people in TV history.

Another example is Conrad Bain, he played Arthur Harmon on Maude. He was very conservative and old fashioned. Then he switches over to Diff’rent Strokes and Mr Drummond was very liberal and forward thinking.

Both Rue McClanahan and Betty White, played opposites of their previous roles on the Golden Girls

You see what I mean by playing roles at the opposite end.

I mean regular TV series with regularly appearing cast members, not one or two time shots, cause it’s always easy to find actors who do that.

I mean Bob Newhart basically played the same guy on both his TV series.

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Carrol O’Connor. He played Archie Bunker, a conservative bigot, on All in the Family and then Chief Bill Gillespie, a racially progressive liberal, on In the Heat of the Night.

3

Michael C Hall on Six Feet Under and Dexter.

4

Ted Danson’s role as the crotchedy doctor on Becker was quite a change from the jovial Sam on Cheers.

Bob Newhart headlined three series; The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart, and the rather short-lived Bob.

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Stephen Collins

7th Heaven - Rev. Eric Camden

No Ordinary Family - Dr. Dayton King

spouse watches

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Bryan Cranston

Hal (Dad) on Malcom in the Middle

Walter White on Breaking Bad

I half expected this to be the inspiration for the OP.

7

Patrick Duffy ~ now known for Bobby Ewing in Dallas, but I fell in love with him as the Man From Atlantis. (What can I say, I was 12 years old?)

8

J.K. Simmons - Vern Schillinger on Oz vs. Dr. Emil Skoda on L&O:SVU.

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Bill Cosby ~ The Cosby Show vs. I Spy

Then-marrieds Barbara Bain and Martin Landau in their divergent parts in Mission: Impossible versus their sci-fi Space 1999 show. (Heck, add Leonard Nimoy to the Star Trek vs. Mission: Impossible** stint.)

William Shatner ~* Star Trek* vs. Boston Legal

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This makes me think of Ed Asner in Mary Tyler Moore and Lou Grant, although that’s probably not what the OP had in mind.

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He still played to type in Bob, however.

(On the other hand, depending how you interpret the Newhart finale, Bob Hartley and Dick Loudin may actually be the same person…)

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Michael Chiklis - The Commish vs. The Shield.

Both cops, but extreme polar opposites.

13

How about 7th Heaven vs The lifetime movie “The Babysitters Seduction.” I turned on the TV one day to find Rev Camden raping Felicty.

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Four actually: The Bob Newhart Show, Newhart, the rather short-lived Bob and the equally short-lived George & Leo (which starred Judd Hirsch after Indenpendance Day, so perhaps he was the headliner).

15

Taking the OP overly literally, Victor Garber from ALIAS is a TV actor who played a role – Jack Bristow, the brutal secret agent who sleeps with hot chicks and excels at torture – that was the total opposite of a previous role, when he’d earnestly played Jesus as a twentysomething song-and-dance man in clown shoes who goes around cheerfully face-painting flower children and playing jaunty piano tunes in GODSPELL.

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Well, then, Hugh Laurie. Played bubble-headed socialite Bertie Wooster, and sarcastic genius Dr. Crankypants Greg House.

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Rainn Wilson in Six Feet Under and The Office.

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Hugh Laurie also played “idealistic upper-class Edwardian twit Lieutenant George” in Blackadder Goes Forth. That’s pretty much the anti-House. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMwXMLQAoSg&p=E751B4E97E47F70D&playnext=1&index=14

Ben Kingsley won an oscar for his portrayal of Gandhi, and was nominated for another for his portrayal of psychopath’s psychopath Don Logan in Sexy Beast. And yes, I’m aware those are films and not TV shows, but it’s still the canonical example for me.

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Thomas Gibson was the goofy, yuppie husband on the sitcom Dharma and Greg. Now, he’s an all-business FBI profiler on Criminal Minds.

Ed O’Neil was the loud, uncouth slob Al Bundy for so long that it didn’t quite work when he tried to play Joe Friday on the ***Dragnet ***remake.

On the other hand, his “wife” Katy Sagal went from lazy bimbo on Married with Children to cold-blooded biker matriarch on Sons of Anarchy.

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Patrick McKenna who was excellent at playing Marty Stephens (the hot-tempered, cold-hearted, head floor-trader of the frictional bank of Gardner-Ross) in traders, while concurrently playing Harold Green (the geeky nephew of the title character) on the Red Green Show.

It was literally: wake up; eat breakfast; star in a comedy in the afternoon; star in a dramatic role in the evening…