# You first knew actor/actress from a role different from one they're widely known in. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139 "2015-03-16T19:15:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/61 "2015-03-17T15:29:16Z")
Daniel Tosh to me is the smart ass kid sneaking into country clubs in Taco Bell commercials. And every role Philip Seymour Hoffman had was always Scotty from _Boogie Nights_ all grown up. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/62 "2015-03-17T15:34:05Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > Jennifer Aniston will always be Jeannie Bueller to me. Always. > > To me ‘Friends’ was Jeannie Bueller’s new TV show. Jeannie Bueller was played by Jennifer “Strong Nose and Curly Hair” Grey, not Jennifer “Strong Nose and Straight Hair” Aniston. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/63 "2015-03-17T15:36:48Z")
To me David Duchovny was Jake Winters on _The Red Shoe Diaries_ until he was Fox Mulder on _The X Files_. Then he became Hank Moody. It says a lot about Duchovny as an actor that I never saw Mulder when I watched _Californication_. Hank Azaria was the dog walker on _Mad About You_, before he started voicing for _The Simpsons_ ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/64 "2015-03-17T15:39:34Z")
Morgan Freeman will always be Easy Reader. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/65 "2015-03-17T15:44:45Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > Jeannie Bueller was played by Jennifer “Strong Nose and Curly Hair” Grey, not Jennifer “Strong Nose and Straight Hair” Aniston. Wrong. Well, OK, right but also wrong. In the movie (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,”) Jeannie was indeed played by Jennifer Grey, the daughter of Broadway great Joel Grey. But in the short-lived TV series “Ferris Bueller,” Jeannie is played by Jennifer Aniston. Interestingly, in the universe of the TV series, Ferris is a real person upon whom the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” was loosely based. TV-Ferris takes a chainsaw to a cardboard cutout of Matthew Broderick as Movie-Ferris to express his primacy as the real Ferris. Also interesting, Grey wasn’t the only daughter of fame cast in the franchise. Ami Dolenz, daughter of Mickey Dolenz of “The Monkees,” played Ferris’ girlfriend Sloan in the TV series. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/66 "2015-03-17T15:49:06Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I always remember him as the kid from _Fright Night_. As will I. Additionally, from the same movie, Amanda Bearse will always be his girlfriend, instead of Marcy from Married With Children. Funny, somewhat related story…my Mother used to say, “oh he’ll always be that old west actor to me…” whenever Ronald Reagan was giving his State of the Union address. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/67 "2015-03-17T16:01:23Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Wrong. > > Well, OK, right but also wrong. > > In the movie (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,”) Jeannie was indeed played by Jennifer Grey, the daughter of Broadway great Joel Grey. But in the short-lived TV series “Ferris Bueller,” Jeannie is played by Jennifer Aniston. Wow, I had no idea. And when I say “no idea,” I mean I had no idea there even _was_ a TV series. I learned something new today, **Bricker**. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/68 "2015-03-17T16:14:04Z")
> [@ch51](#): > > To me George Clooney is Sela Ward’s boyfriend Detective James Falconer from “Sisters”. He’s “_ **Roseanne** _”'s supervisor, Booker, from the early days. Jennifer Aniston will always be the groupie who locked herself, with Julie Brown, in a trunk to go on tour with (I think) Aerosmith on “_ **The Edge** _” (Fox, 1992). Later in the episode they were talking skeletons. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/69 "2015-03-17T16:15:17Z")
Ferris Bueller got its butt kicked by “ **Parker Lewis Can’t Lose** ” on Fox. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/70 "2015-03-17T17:00:23Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Before he was Happy Gilmore or Opera Man, Adam Sandler was that guy from the American Express commercial furnishing his apartment to impress a cute female neighbor. He even put in a girl mannequin. Hope he paid it all off in one month! I remember him first from MTV’s [Remote Control](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Control_(game_show)) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/71 "2015-03-17T17:10:34Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Forget _MASH_ (the movie), _Animal House_, _Klute_, etc. To me, Donald Sutherland will always be the satellite boffin in [Sebastian](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063570/). (Although he did appear in _The Dirty Dozen_ just before that.) To me, he was Jessel from the 1967 episode “The Superlative Seven” of **The Avengers**. I should’ve known him from the anthology movie **Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors** from 1965, which I saw, but I guess he didn’t make that deep an impression in that. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/72 "2015-03-17T17:18:41Z")
To me, William Daniels isn’t Dr. Mark Craig from _St. Elsewhere_ or the Voice of K.I.T.T. from _Knight Rider_, or even John Adams from _1776_ (I saw him onstage in the original Broadway run) or Sam Adams or John Quincy Adams (he had the entire Adams family sewn up). Nor Dustin Hoffman’s father in _The Graduate_. Or Wynn Quantrill of Seaside Heights, New Jersey in _The President’s Analyst_ (where Seaside Heights didn’t look anything like the way it really does). No, to me, he was always Carter Nash, alter ego to spoof superhero Captain Nice in the pretty much forgotten 1967 sitcom **Captain Nice** from the folks who gave us _Get Smart!_ ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/73 "2015-03-17T17:37:42Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > Wow, I had no idea. And when I say “no idea,” I mean I had no idea there even _was_ a TV series. I learned something new today, **Bricker**. Thanks! It came and went pretty quickly. 15-year-old me thought it was the funniest thing on television. Adult me is afraid to go back and watch. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/74 "2015-03-17T18:20:10Z")
Jonathan Frakes (ST:TNG) had a recurring role in \*The Waltons, \*back in the '70s. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/75 "2015-03-17T19:21:59Z")
Bob Denver: _Far Out Space Nuts_ Kyle MacLachlan: _Dune, The Hidden_ Sid Haig: _Jason of Star Command_ Jonathan Harris: _Space Academy_ Jennifer Aniston: the “black-haired beauty” from Bob Segar’s “Night Moves” video. Courtney Cox: the girl from Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” video. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/76 "2015-03-17T20:02:39Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Jennifer Aniston: the “black-haired beauty” from Bob Segar’s “Night Moves” video. I thought that was Daphne Zuniga? Michael Richards - Translyvannia 6-500 George Clooney - The Facts of Life 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/77 "2015-03-17T20:08:30Z")
John Hurt – Richard Rich in the movie **A Man for All Seasons**. He had _hair!_ Leslie Neilsen – Commander J. J. Adams (the proto-Captain Kirk) in **Forbidden Planet** ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/78 "2015-03-17T20:10:09Z")
In 1967 I watched a televised version of Maxwell Anderson’s play [The Star Wagon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiZmrC8a5Ao). The lead actors were Orson Bean (one of my favorite actors) and Dustin Hoffman (who was, to me, totally unknown). Hoffman just blew me away. His performance as a slow-witted man named Hanus Wicks was one of the finest jobs of acting I have ever seen. I made a note of his name and hoped to see him again. Much to my delight, I did see him again, not long after, in _The Graduate_ and _Midnight Cowboy_ and on and on… It has been 48 years since I saw _The Star Wagon_, yet I think of Hanus Wicks every time I see Dustin Hoffman. I just discovered that someone has posted _The Star Wagon_ on YouTube, and I think I’ll see whether 67-year-old me likes this play as much as 19-year-old me did. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/79 "2015-03-17T20:19:47Z")
> [@Poysyn](#): > > I thought that was Daphne Zuniga? Checking Wikipedia, I stand corrected. For me, Dustin Hoffman will always be Little Big Man. And Faye Dunaway will always be the preacher’s wife. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139/80 "2015-03-17T20:22:19Z")
I can’t be the only one with the following. **Daniel Dae Kim is Gavin from Angel.** He later went on to be Jin from Lost and I guess he is on Hawaii 5-0 now. Still, he was Gavin to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-first-knew-actor-actress-from-a-role-different-from-one-theyre-widely-known-in/715139.md?page=5)