# "Wait, it's a different guy?" moments **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157 "2022-02-26T16:45:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**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:** [March 7, 2022, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/141 "2022-03-07T22:01:17Z")
I was impressed by Robin Williams’ performance as the blind man in _Young Frankenstein_, until the credits rolled and it turned out to be Gene Hackman. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/142 "2022-03-08T02:27:25Z")
In 2005 I moved from Mexico (where the dancer/singer Chayanne was popular) to the US (where the future Mrs. Map loved the Croatian doctor character in E.R.), and I could have sworn the latter was playing the former. Nope. I’ll rustle up some photos in a moment. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/143 "2022-03-08T02:29:21Z")
[https://images.app.goo.gl/T6gGwutqbaqd8TTe9](https://images.app.goo.gl/T6gGwutqbaqd8TTe9) [https://images.app.goo.gl/86VEpHAYQapaqgkL9](https://images.app.goo.gl/86VEpHAYQapaqgkL9) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/144 "2022-03-08T02:31:15Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Gene Hackman Wilder. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/145 "2022-03-08T08:28:26Z")
I see from the Last Surviving Cast Member thread that Laurel Goodwin (“Yeoman Colt” in the first _ **Star Trek** _ pilot) has passed away. [![](https://www.startrek.com/sites/default/files/images/2019-01/5bf8aaef51c6e0d363cbe554acaf3f20.jpg) ](https://www.startrek.com/sites/default/files/images/2019-01/5bf8aaef51c6e0d363cbe554acaf3f20.jpg) I saw **this actress** (Judee Morton) in an episode of _ **That Girl** _ the other day and initially mistook her for Laurel. [![](https://www.sitcomsonline.com/photopost/data/3296/vlcsnap-2019-08-04-12h39m34s413.jpg) ](https://www.sitcomsonline.com/photopost/data/3296/vlcsnap-2019-08-04-12h39m34s413.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/146 "2022-03-08T12:38:30Z")
Gene Wilder played Fredrick Frankenstein; Gene Hackman played the blind man. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/147 "2022-03-08T12:44:02Z")
Oh! Forgot that. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/148 "2022-03-08T17:41:48Z")
While watching What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, I got to thinking that **Kevin Tighe** looked awfully familar. In that film, he played the husband of the woman who has an affair with Gilbert Grape. I thought he must be the same actor who played Connie Corleone’s boyfriend Merle Johnson in The Godfather: Part II. > **[Kevin Tighe - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001798/?ref_=tt_cl_i_8)** > > Kevin Tighe. Actor: Another 48 Hrs.. This beefy, genial-looking character actor was born Jon Kevin Fishburn in Los Angeles. Performing as a child from age 10, Tighe initially attended Pasadena City College. He later obtained a Master's Degree in... Nope. Turns out that Merle Johnson was played by **Troy Donahue** and the two actors look alike (in those films, made in 1974 and 1993): > **[Troy Donahue - IMDb](https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0001148/?ref_=m_ttfcd_cl21)** > > Troy Donahue. Actor: A Summer Place. Troy Donahue was a journalism student at Columbia University when he began playing in stock productions. He made his film debut in Man Afraid (1957) and in 1959 signed as a contract player with Warner Bros., which... After looking further at Tighe’s credits, I think he seemed familiar because I’d seen him, probably for the first time, as Roy DeSoto, the blond paramedic in the TV series Emergency! Please note that, while I found all of this mildly interesting, the exclamation point is part of the show’s title. 😄 But there’s more… It turns out that Troy Donahue was a screen name given to him by Hollywood press agent Henry Willson (same guy who named Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter and many more), his real name being… wait for it…Merle Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/149 "2022-03-10T05:08:22Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > Colin Hanks does. Either Colin Hanks has a remarkable and very long term sense of humor . . . . or perhaps Rita Wilson has some 'splaining to do. Except that Colin so obviously and strongly resembles Tom, we don’t know what goes on at these Hollywood parties. Thank you posting this. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/150 "2022-03-10T07:44:37Z")
Rita Wilson isn’t Colin’s biological mother. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/151 "2022-03-10T16:53:29Z")
I was watching _Clue_ with my wife last night, and we were both amused by the subtle _Rocky Horror Picture Show_ nods: Tim Curry, big scary gothic mansion, Susan Surandon shows up at the door in the middle of a storm. We both thought it was a shame they couldn’t have cast Barry Bostwick in the film somehow. It wasn’t until the credits roll that we both realized that wasn’t Susan Surandon, it was Leslie Ann Warren. ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/152 "2022-03-10T17:19:37Z")
Of course not, thank you for the correction. Jeez, can’t even land a joke this month! I did think of looking it up, but decided to rely upon the fact that they are famously one of the longest married couples in modern Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/153 "2022-03-10T17:34:12Z")
Not actors, but rather singers: I’ve was a lifelong Queensryche fan, at least up to the mid-90s. In the aggregate, I must have heard weeks or months of singer Geoff Tate’s voice. Sometime in the mid-2000s, I heard Helloween’s _[Halloween](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOAl0enE7kI)_ for the first time, and I was absolutely convinced that the singer must be Tate. In some registers, their late-80s voices were simply identical. I had to immediately google the song to make sure Tate hadn’t done it as a side project or something, and even watching the video and seeing the (totally not-Geoff-Tate-looking) actual singer Michael Kiske my brain still gets confused. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/154 "2022-03-10T17:45:46Z")
A couple of more for me: When the SyFy series _12 Monkeys_ first came on, I thought, “They got Naomi Watts for this?” And then watched the credits, and nope, Amanda Schull. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/A5A_syaXYZ4/maxresdefault.jpg) ](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/A5A_syaXYZ4/maxresdefault.jpg) When the character of Ariel was introduced on _One Upon a Time_, I thought, “They got Amy Adams for this?” And then watched the credits, and nope, JoAnna Garcia. [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdDGmIdXoAAuctZ.jpg) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdDGmIdXoAAuctZ.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/155 "2022-03-10T17:57:37Z")
Whole careers can be built on the basis of “He/she’s a poor man’s \_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/156 "2022-03-10T17:58:12Z")
I’m apparently [not the only person](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ge6xFOB9rg) who thinks Tate and Kiske look alike. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/157 "2022-03-10T18:24:13Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Whole careers can be built on the basis of “He/she’s a poor man’s \_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” 🙂 Can’t afford Martin and Lewis? [Sammy Petrillo and Duke Mitchell await your call](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Petrillo) [The Ritz Brothers.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritz_Brothers) will make you ask “Groucho who?” ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/158 "2022-03-10T19:27:05Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > When the character of Ariel was introduced on _One Upon a Time_, I thought, “They got Amy Adams for this?” And then watched the credits, and nope, JoAnna Garcia. > > [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdDGmIdXoAAuctZ.jpg](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdDGmIdXoAAuctZ.jpg) I was looking at that photo and thinking “Kate Mara really doesn’t look that much like Amy Adams.” But it’s not Kate Mara either! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/159 "2022-03-10T19:30:41Z")
Wow. Joanna Garcia was great in Mad Men, right? I had to look it up, that was Christina Hendricks. ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157/160 "2022-03-13T05:00:16Z")
Since reading through the _Songs About Other Musicians_ thread, I find the song from post number 81 running over and over in my mind. > [@Songs about other musicians](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-other-musicians/959255/81): > > I won’t even bother listing all the musicians mentioned in this one: [[Reunion - Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)] ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16kh-AP4OCU) I have listened to it dozens of times since it was posted (and still couldn’t quote one single line from it accurately), but earlier today I actually looked up the song and realized there were references to both Carly Simon and Carole King. That reminded me of this thread because while I know they are two different people who might not even resemble each other – I couldn’t differentiate their works if you held a gun to my head. I decided I had better correct this deficit in my knowledge base so I opened a new tab and typed in the name Joni Mitchel who isn’t even one of the two in question. Eventually, I embarrassingly typed in all three names scolding myself for my ignorance on the topic of 1970’s female songwriters. I was shocked to learn that there exists a biography shared by all three women: [https://www.amazon.com/Girls-Like-Us-Simon-Generation/dp/0743491483](https://www.amazon.com/Girls-Like-Us-Simon-Generation/dp/0743491483) So I did end up feeling a little bit vindicated; I might not know all of what makes them different, but I do know enough about what makes them similar to put them into the same category. I did know that Carole King was the one who was on **Gilmore Girls**. (And to be honest, my confusion on this matter dates back to the first time I viewed the movie **Love Actually** when the Emma Thompson character talks about [some female American songwriter] teaching a cold British woman how to love.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wait-its-a-different-guy-moments/960157.md?page=9)