# TV Actors Who Played Two Roles 180º From Each Other? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 26, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382 "2010-10-26T04:36:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/61 "2010-10-26T19:11:57Z")
William Daniels as Dr. Mark Craig and as K.I.T.T. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/62 "2010-10-26T19:39:15Z")
> [@Glory](#): > > J.K. Simmons - Vern Schillinger on Oz vs. Dr. Emil Skoda on L&O:SVU. Several bad guys on Oz played good guys on Law & Order. Chris Meloni: Chris Keller on Oz vs. Elliot Stabler on L&O:SVU Dean Winters: Ryan O’Reilly on Oz vs. Brian Cassidy on L&O:SVU ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/63 "2010-10-26T19:41:19Z")
Stephen Colbert played a twisted, clever forger and murderer on an episode of **Law & Order: Criminal Intent**. He was actually really good at it. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/64 "2010-10-26T19:43:36Z")
[QUOTE=muldoonthief] My personal theory is that Modern Family is the spiritual sequel to MWC. Remember that the Bundy curse was lifted when Al defeated Igor in a jousting contest in Lower Uncton. The problem was that Peg was part of the curse, and she remained afterwards. I believe that after Peg died, Al was able to use his formidable talents to start a thriving shoe business, as well as finally succeed with one of the gorgeous women he was always meeting. Kelly got hit on the head again, and regained her intelligence (note that they often refer to Claire’s colorful past) and Bud finally gave up on women and embraced his true nature. [/QUOTE] Claire and Mitchell’s mom is still alive (played by Shelley Long), and her character is nothing like Peg Bundy. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/65 "2010-10-26T19:43:37Z")
> [@Strainger](#): > > Several bad guys on Oz played good guys on Law & Order. > > Chris Meloni: Chris Keller on Oz vs. Elliot Stabler on L&O:SVU > Dean Winters: Ryan O’Reilly on Oz vs. Brian Cassidy on L&O:SVU Kathryn Erbe: Death row serial killer Shirley Bellinger on Oz vs. Detective Eames on L&O: CI ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/66 "2010-10-26T19:56:39Z")
> [@whole\_bean](#): > > Claire and Mitchell’s mom is still alive (played by Shelley Long), and her character is nothing like Peg Bundy. That episode sucked anyway! Besides, that’s why I say “spiritual” sequel. If it wasn’t for that POS episode I’d claim it was the actual sequel. Notice how Mitchell is shorter than Claire? ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/67 "2010-10-26T20:05:23Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Rainn Wilson in Six Feet Under and The Office. Wow, I don’t see that at all. They both seem to be socially awkward, semi-creepy characters to me; it’s just that the situation around them is different (i.e. funeral home vs. office). I’d love to see him tackle an entirely different kind of role one day, but I don’t think this is it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/68 "2010-10-26T20:10:22Z")
Stephen Colbert has 28 acting credits on [IMDB.com](http://IMDB.com), none of them as conservative pundit “Stephen Colbert,” much to my surprise. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/69 "2010-10-26T20:24:30Z")
Kerri Kenney played a pretty brash Euro-babe on **Viva Variety**. She played a mousey, shy, socially unaware cop on **Reno 911**. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/70 "2010-10-26T21:08:54Z")
> [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > 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?) Me, too! I even have it on VHS. I’m such a nerd. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/71 "2010-10-26T21:18:18Z")
> [@Silent\_Kal](#): > > Garret Dillahunt as the disheveled, mentally feeble Jack McCall \*and \*the intelligent, sociopathic Francis Wolcott on Deadwood. Aaaand now the smarmy gardening/pool cleaning father on “Raising Hope.” > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > **Stephen Root** ; swaggering, millionaire media mogul Jimmy James on _NewsRadio_, and sad-sack Army barber Bill Dauterive on _King of the Hill_. > > Actually, Root also played rich lout Buck Strickland on KotH, so here’s a guy who played two opposite roles _on the same show_. …and Root appeared on “True Blood” as a gay will-let-you-bleed-me-for sex milquetoast character with quite an, er, explosive end. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/72 "2010-10-26T23:30:48Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Timothy Omundsun played the effete, clueless Brom Garrett on “Deadwood” and then the bearded town mayor/warlord/asskicker Phil Constantino on “Jericho” > > In between I think he played the smarmy yet intelligent Lt. Lassiter on “psych” which did sort of bridge the gap. He also played “Eli, the stand in for Jesus” on Xena, which is wildly different than Lassiter (I missed Jericho) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/73 "2010-10-27T01:49:17Z")
Peter Davison went from the undependable but charming Tristan Farnon in “All Creatures Great and Small” to a real bastard plastic surgeon in “Distant Shores”. (Between those he also played Doctor Who, but since I’m not a fan, I don’t know where that fits in.) ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/74 "2010-10-27T02:55:35Z")
Ian McShane of _Deadwood_ played a handsome, urbane, young European tour guide who romanced Suzanne Pleshette in the movie “_If It’s Is Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium_”. And Rock Hudson, famous for his roles in romantic comedies with Doris Day, played a seductive high-school football coach/serial killer who had affairs with some of the school’s most beautiful students and then began murdering them for various reasons in the black comedy “_Pretty Maids All In A Row_”. Then he did another 180 and began playing Commissioner Stuart McMillan in one of my favorite husband-and-wife crime series, _McMillan & Wife_. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/75 "2010-10-27T03:14:16Z")
How about Gary Cole, from good guy hero in _Midnight Caller_ to sinister, quite literally devilish Sheriff Lucas Buck on _American Gothic_? This happens often on soap operas, where actors often move from playing nice guys to malicious bastards, sometimes on the same show – sometimes _simultaneously_. (Evil twins and multiple personalities, don’tcha know.) One very acclaimed example: Ellen Wheeler, Anne Heche, and Jensen Buchanan each played twins Marley Love (sweet, repressed, ethical) and Vicky Hudson (spicy, sharp-tongued, slippery-moralled) on _Another World_. Unlike many “evil twins,” Vicky wasn’t just brought on to be a psycho villain and wind up in jail; both roles were longstanding characters and appeared on the show simultaneously for years. Wheeler and Heche both won Emmys for the roles in different years; Buchanan was nominated but didn’t win. On _Days of Our Lives_, Judi Evans Luciano played kind-hearted, down-to-earth Adrienne Johnson for many years during the '80s-'90s; later she was inexplicably brought back to play trashy, greedy, manipulative Bonnie Lockhart. (I say ‘inexplicably’ not because she was bad in the role – she wasn’t – but because members of Adrienne’s family were still on the canvas, so it was ridiculous to have the actress playing a different role opposite the same people who had once played her other character’s brother/sister-in-law. But soaps are notorious for insulting b.s. like that.) Then you have the soap hoppers. Matthew Ashford played bland good guy Drew Ralston on _One Life to Live_, moved to down-to-earth, working class supportive hubby Cagney McCleary on _Search for Tomorrow_, then had his 180 degree turnaround by playing sophisticated, educated, scheming, wealthy wife-raping-but-hating-himself-for-it villain-turned-antihero Jack Deveraux on _Days of Our Lives_. Next he bounced back to playing a more traditional white bread hero Tom Hardy on _General Hospital_. Then another flip-flop when he returned to _One Life to Live_, this time as a brilliant professor haunting his campus as a sadistic serial killer. Oh, and speaking of _One Life to Live_, Judith Light played tormented ex-prostitute Karen Wollek before moving to primetime comedy _Who’s the Boss_ as fairly prim, upper-class executive and divorced mom Angela. I could go on with dozens of other examples, but no one wants me to. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/76 "2010-10-27T03:15:58Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Actually, Root also played rich lout Buck Strickland on KotH, so here’s a guy who played two opposite roles _on the same show_. “My daddy’s havin’ a heart attack!!!” ---
**Author:** ![oliversarmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/eb8c5e/32.png) [@oliversarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oliversarmy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/77 "2010-10-27T03:37:59Z")
Heck, Steven Root in “News Radio” vs. everything else he ever played, from “Office Space” to “Justified,” and everything before, after and in between. He pretty much fills the shoes of M. Emmit Walsh as the consummate character actor. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/78 "2010-10-27T07:39:16Z")
William Frawley played super grouch Fred Mertz on “I Love Lucy” and later was the somewhat kinder father-in-law substituting as housewife on “My Three Sons”. Of course Fred MacMurray had played heels in movies like “Double Idemnity”, “The Caine Mutiny” and “The Apartment” before super dad Steve Douglas. Never saw the tv series of “Nine to Five” but didn’t Jean Marsh played the brown nosing snitch after playing Rose in “Upstairs, Downstairs”? ---
**Author:** ![gonzoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/79 "2010-10-27T12:32:32Z")
> [@Silent\_Kal](#): > > Garret Dillahunt as the disheveled, mentally feeble Jack McCall \*and \*the intelligent, sociopathic Francis Wolcott on Deadwood. No to mention the badass terminator Cromartie, and the infant-like proto A.I. John Henry, both on _Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles_. Do _not_ attempt to catch up on the last few episodes of T:TSCC interspersed with watching _Raising Hope_. Damn near gave me whiplash. (Watch out, Maw Maw! There’s a terminator behind you!!) ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382/80 "2010-10-27T13:11:16Z")
I like Dillahunt, but lets be honest - playing a badass terminator does not take much in acting skills. He does have the intelligent sociopath role nailed in recent years, doing turns on the short-lived _Life_ and in _Burn Notice_. I was surprised to see him doing something so different in _Raising Hope_, but not surprised enough to give it a second episode. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-actors-who-played-two-roles-180-from-each-other/558382.md?page=5)