# When one role/action overshadows a whole career **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003 "2004-11-22T00:04:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/1 "2004-11-22T00:04:08Z")
I didn’t want to hijack [thread=168993]this thread[/thread], but wanted to branch out and ask this question. What performers have had their careers overshadowed by a single role, or action? So much so that when their obituary is written, many years hence, it will start off with something like “best known for their role as So-and so in the movie/TV series Whatever” This theme could be extended to folks in other careers too. Topping my list are any of the actors from ST-TOS. No matter what they did before or after they will be the folks who were Kirk/Spock/Uhura, or whatever. Another is Tim Curry. I lived for a while in East Lansing Michigan, and heard part of a radio interview he gave. He was in town as the lead singer in the revival of some musical from the 1920’s. Of course the interviewer asked him about HIS OTHER BIG ROLE and he kind of sighed. Curry said that no matter what her’s performing in, be it live musical/non-musical, no matter what the character is in a movie he’s acting in, among the first questions people ask him about in interviews is THAT CHARACTER HE PLAYED IN THE OTHER MOVIE. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/2 "2004-11-22T00:10:58Z")
I agree, he was awesome as The Lord of Darkness in _Legend_. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/3 "2004-11-22T00:25:50Z")
Peter Falk. Y’know, the grandfather from _The Princess Bride_? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/4 "2004-11-22T00:34:09Z")
I’m pretty sure that Margaret Hamilton wins the prize for this category. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/5 "2004-11-22T00:36:05Z")
Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Christopher Reeve as Superman. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/6 "2004-11-22T00:38:34Z")
Any child actor ever. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/7 "2004-11-22T00:41:08Z")
Alec Guiness as Obi Won. Even worse then Mark Hammill who really didn’t do that much of note before or after SW. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/8 "2004-11-22T04:17:09Z")
Mark Hammill has done boatloads of voice work as an actor. His [IMDB listing](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000434/) has 90 listings before it gets to his Return of the Jedi credit. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/9 "2004-11-22T04:35:30Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > I’m pretty sure that Margaret Hamilton wins the prize for this category. Yep, her role in that Folger’s Coffee commercial really set the standard! 😃 d&r ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/10 "2004-11-22T05:03:34Z")
Adam West. Case closed! ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/11 "2004-11-22T05:28:20Z")
Colin Firth, I remember hearing, had some difficulty getting work after _Pride and Prejudice_, because he didn’t want to fall into that trap, but Darcy-esque roles were the only ones being offered. Seems like he decided to bite the bullet. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/12 "2004-11-22T08:48:26Z")
Hi, I’m actor Tom Baker. You might remember me from such roles as the fourth Doctor Who, and, err, well, that’s it really." ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/13 "2004-11-22T09:19:40Z")
I think that the definitive answer is George Reeves, the TV Superman of the 50’s. After his TV role, he found that he was so identified as Superman that work was hard to find. It probably contributed to his suicide (but that’s kind of open to debate). ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/14 "2004-11-22T09:31:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Adam West. Case closed! Nope, Burt Ward. He almost got cast in the leading role in _The Graduate_, but missed out 'cuz of the Boy Wonder gig. Pretty much sliced off any hopes for a post-Batman career. ---
**Author:** ![Netbrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71e660/32.png) [@Netbrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Netbrian)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/15 "2004-11-22T10:18:06Z")
I think that an even more archetypical answer would be Alan Alda, from M_A_S_H_. I don’t think he will ever be able to escape that role, to the extent that nobody remembers (including me!) anything else he did or will do. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/16 "2004-11-22T10:24:13Z")
Bela Lugosi springs to mind, as does Fay Wray. They will be forever remembered for Dracula and King Kong, but little else. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/17 "2004-11-22T11:07:30Z")
> [@Middlecase](#): > > Hi, I’m actor Tom Baker. You might remember me from such roles as the fourth Doctor Who, and, err, well, that’s it really." And the truly ironic thing about this one is that I remember a quote he made about taking the Who role. He’d done the wizard Kura in_The Golden Voyage of Sinbad_ and Rasputin in _Nicholas and Alexandra_, and found that after those two roles “all I was being offered was blue-eyed maniacs” He did do Sherlock Holmes afterwards, and Puddleglum the Marshwiggle, in C.S. Lewis _The Silver Chair_. ---
**Author:** ![Einmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Einmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einmon)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/18 "2004-11-22T11:12:19Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > Peter Falk. Y’know, the grandfather from _The Princess Bride_? Nah, as far as I recall that was inspector Columbo reading to the little boy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/19 "2004-11-22T11:29:20Z")
Tom Baker has made a serious comeback on British television lately. Not only has he popped up as a regular character on _Monarch of the Glen_ (along with another fighting-against-typecasting actor, Anthony Head), but he also seems to be doing a lot of voiceover work (including _Little Britain_ and half the television commercials currently airing). Speaking of British TV, Wilfrid Brambell and Harry Corbett never escaped the stigma of _Steptoe and Son_, forever doomed to be associated with their characters. Warren Mitchell has had slightly more success getting other work after _Till Death Us Do Part_, but Alf Garnett haunts him as well. (For US readers, these two shows were the models for _Sanford and Son_ and _All in the Family_, although each version is strongly rooted in the culture of its home country.) ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003/20 "2004-11-22T12:58:31Z")
Anthony Perkins will always be Norman Bates [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-one-role-action-overshadows-a-whole-career/276003.md?page=2)