# Vain actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 7, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963 "2010-09-07T20:57:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/21 "2010-09-08T13:37:13Z")
In _Stripes_, Harold Ramis and Bill Murray had pretty long hair for boot camp. John Candy had a more authentic buzz cut. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/22 "2010-09-08T14:04:18Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > In _Stripes_, Harold Ramis and Bill Murray had pretty long hair for boot camp. John Candy had a more authentic buzz cut. Wasn’t the joke that Candy got the buzzcut thinking that it was required but it turned out that they didn’t have to get one? I love the scene of him holding clumps of hair looking down at them sadly. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/23 "2010-09-08T14:08:08Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > All actors are vain. And probably think this thread is about them. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/24 "2010-09-08T14:29:34Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Wasn’t the joke that Candy got the buzzcut thinking that it was required but it turned out that they didn’t have to get one? I love the scene of him holding clumps of hair looking down at them sadly. No, it was required. And I loved the look on Candy’s face as he pouted at his hair clumps, too. That’s what makes the fact that Murray didn’t get his hair cut so glaring. They show a little scene of all the recruits getting buzzed, and for some reason, Ramis and Murray (Murray I remember especially) just get a trim. It’s so obvious that Bill wasn’t about to let a set of clippers anywhere near his thinning hair. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/25 "2010-09-08T14:33:33Z")
I don’t know about anybody else, but I really dislike paying good money to see ugly people on screen. I can see enough of that looking in a mirror. So if casting people started actually getting actors that looked like the real people, the movies would die. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2010, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/26 "2010-09-08T14:41:23Z")
I have a friend who loves historical epics but jokes that they always have much better, fuller, cleaner, bouncier hair than they actually would have at the time. Daniel Day Lewis’s hair in _The Last of the Mohicans_ and Mel Gibson’s in _Braveheart_ are two that spring to mind. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/27 "2010-09-08T14:48:46Z")
I think a lot of you are missing the point of the thread. It’s not asking for actors who are much better-looking than their real-life counterparts – it’s asking for actors who have refused to do things in movies because it would hurt their vanity. Like, imagine if Charlize Theron had refused to uglify herself while acting in **Monster** when the part required it. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/28 "2010-09-08T16:44:14Z")
I’ll never get over Matt Damon’s perfect stark white teeth in his “me and my brothers” story in _Saving Private Ryan_ I’ve never been to war…but there is no way your entire body is covered in mud, and your teeth are THAT bright ---
**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:** [September 8, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/29 "2010-09-08T17:18:05Z")
No matter if they couldn’t be resupplied with weapons, ammo or food. The 101st Airborne _always_ had toothbrushes and Crest, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/30 "2010-09-08T19:30:25Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > > [@Bob Ducca](#): > > > > Wasn’t the joke that Candy got the buzzcut thinking that it was required but it turned out that they didn’t have to get one? I love the scene of him holding clumps of hair looking down at them sadly. > > No, it was required. Maybe not. You can see in [this clip](http://movieclips.com/watch/stripes-1981/chicks-dig-me/) (heh heh) that Judge Reinhold doesn’t get a buzzcut, either. And this was one of his first roles, so I doubt he could demand special treatment. Besides which, Bill Murray needs a certain hangdog expression for the comedy to work. It’s hard to look hangdog with a buzzcut. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/31 "2010-09-08T19:36:32Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > I think a lot of you are missing the point of the thread. It’s not asking for actors who are much better-looking than their real-life counterparts – it’s asking for actors who have refused to do things in movies because it would hurt their vanity. Like, imagine if Charlize Theron had refused to uglify herself while acting in **Monster** when the part required it. But it is very hard to know when its the actor’s choice or the directors choice or even the studio’s choice without some evidence. I’m not sure if at that point I’d have cut Robert Redford’s hair if I had to market Brubaker - the idea being women go to the film to see a cute Robert Redford - cut his hair and cut your market. Realism and accuracy wasn’t the thing in the 60s and 70s with movies - if you had good looking people, you tended to keep them good looking - even if Elizabeth Taylor still looks more like Elizabeth Taylor than Cleopatra. ---
**Author:** ![smaje1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@smaje1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smaje1)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/32 "2010-09-08T23:44:09Z")
I was completely distracted by Bryce Dallas Howard in Terminator Salvation. Everyone else in the movie was grimy and dirty, after years of fighting and hiding underground. But Bryce’s makeup and hair were perfect in every scene - and she even looked like she was wearing makeup (i.e., bright red lips, noticeable eye shadow). Everyone else was attractive, of course, because it’s a movie, but Bryce actually looked _made up_. It seriously bothered me. That, and her acting skills. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/33 "2010-09-09T00:29:42Z")
The 70s seem to me to be an era of film that epitomized the gritty realistic look. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/34 "2010-09-09T00:45:52Z")
[quote=“Dangerosa, post:31, topic:552963”] > [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > I think a lot of you are missing the point of the thread. It’s not asking for actors who are much better-looking than their real-life counterparts – it’s asking for actors who have refused to do things in movies because it would hurt their vanity… The Redford Hair Incident reminds me, even though it’s a TV show, of _Little House On The Prairie_. Pa is old and worn-out looking in the books. Without a lot of hair. But not after Michael Landon buys the rights… Does “Li’l Joe” cast a good, solid actor as a believable Pa? Nope, he casts… himself. Does he get into the role and age himself to fit the part? Nope. Does he play a weathered pioneer with 70s-Style-Blow-Dried-Bobby-Sherman Hair? Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/35 "2010-09-09T18:24:39Z")
Back when I worked in movie theatres, I ran the Harrison Ford move Presumed Innocent. Women complained to me, the movie theater manager, about Harrison Ford’s haircut. People are crazy like that. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/36 "2010-09-09T19:10:37Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I don’t know about anybody else, but I really dislike paying good money to see ugly people on screen. I can see enough of that looking in a mirror. So if casting people started actually getting actors that looked like the real people, the movies would die. That’s not the point of the thread. The OP was about actors screwing with plot points or making unreasonable demands to avoid looking less gorgeous in a way that is counterproductive within the context of the film. For example, I am Mr. Famous in the re-make of _Marathon Man_, but I insist that they re-write the dentistry scene because I’d have to spend the rest of the movie without perfect teeth. Or I play a concentration camp inmate, but don’t want to be bald onscreen, so I get to walk around as the only one with hair. > [@Zebra](#): > > Back when I worked in movie theatres, I ran the Harrison Ford move Presumed Innocent. > > Women complained to me, the movie theater manager, about Harrison Ford’s haircut. Perfectly reasonable, however, if the actor is Nicholas Cage. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/37 "2010-09-09T19:30:38Z")
How about vain movie producers and script writers? I saw the movie The Running Man yesterday which I was excited about because I really liked the book. The movie should actually have been called The New Schwartzenegger Movie We Made And Fucked Up an Excellent Story For Because Arnold Needed to Wear Spandex And Kill People. Seriously, they destroyed everything except the character name and the TV show portion of the plot because they needed Ahnold to beat up Jesse “the body” Ventura. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/38 "2010-09-09T19:34:12Z")
Cesar Romero wouldn’t shave his mustache to play the Joker. It’s just there, covered with whiteface. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/39 "2010-09-09T22:22:47Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > they needed Ahnold to beat up Jesse “the body” Ventura. I don’t think you’re remembering that right. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963/40 "2010-09-09T22:49:29Z")
Often in movies and TV shows ,when they show down and out bums on the street, they have perfectly capped white teeth. A bum with a 50 K grille. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vain-actors/552963.md?page=3)