Recently I've gotten on a Princess Bride and Columbo kick, and the greatest common factor between the two is Peter Falk. In Columbo he plays a police investigator and in the Princess Bride he plays a grandfather reading his grandson a fairy tale, and in both he is basically the same character. Same mannerisms, same vocabulary, same rhythm of speech. Even same behavior--his police investigator character is very observant and smart yet plays dumb to put suspects off their guard, and his grandfather character pretends to be clueless as to how disinterested his grandson and disrupts the story a few times just to mess with him and build suspense. Different stories, same character.
But that's fine, it's a great character and I love every minute of it. Are there any actors like this that you admire, who play the same character no matter what they're in but it never gets old?
Yay, another thread in which I can gush over Armin Shimmerman, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Mike Pollock again!
For Armin Shimmerman, I think his most reoccuring role (besides being Quark from Star Trek) has got to be Dr. Nefarious from the Ratchet and Clank series. He's done the voice so many times that I can even tell when his intonation is off, but even then I still love him in every role. Personally I found his performance in A Crack in Time to be his best performance as the character and it just never gets old.
Warning, spoilers in these videos.
Up Your Arsenal- First appearance of the character
A Crack in Time- personal favorite performance as the character yet
All 4 One- Last appearance as of this point. Although he is scheduled to be in the new movie coming out this year and possibly the re-imagining of the first game as well.
Mike Pollock has been Dr. Ivo "Eggma" Robotnik now for almost 10 years, and while Deem Bristow was a great Dr. Eggman I believe Mike Pollock manages to outdo himself on every new iteration of the doctor. Even in the spinoff, Sonic Boom, Dr. Eggman is the most hilarious character. He's definitely comical, but as of Sonic Lost World I think he's shown that he can make the character menacing as well.
Shadow the Hedgehog- his first game apperance
Sonic the Hedgehog 2006- (a.k.a those glorious golden nipples)
Sonic Unleashed- I felt Eggman, while comical, was still a bit menacing.
Sonic Colors- Purely comedic in this, but definitely my favorite performance Mike Pollock has done as the character.
Sonic Generations- Definitely shows the insanity of the Eggman by this point, and I think Mike does and excellent job with it.
Sonic Lost World- Definitely Mike Pollock's most menacing performance as the character, primarily for this scene alone.
Sonic Boom (T.V Show)- even on a spinoff Eggman is still hilarious. Sure he's not menacing, but saying I didn't laugh at some of his lines would be a bold face lie.
The final one is Kevin Michael Richardson. Doesn't sound familiar? Well if you've heard his voice once you'll probably recognize him. A more recent think, connected again with Ratchet and Clank, was his performance as Chairman Drek in the first game, and he will be reprising his role in the upcoming movie as well. He's also done Emperor Milleous from the Ben 10 television series, and is the voice of Captain Gantu in the Lilo and Stitch movie and series (bar the anime). He always tends to have the same intonation for his evil characters, which one would think would get old after a while, but honestly I don't think it does at all. He makes them sound menacing, but also threatening in a way.
Chairman Drek- Not the best villain ever, but Kevin Michael Richardson makes him at least admirable.
Captain Gantu- What I remember him most from, if only because I grew up with a lot of Lilo and Stich.
Emperor Milleous- Definitely interesting as he tends to mix two of his more common intonations at random with him.
Hope I answered this right...cause I feel like I didn't.
I wouldn't say he's a great actor, but he's an actor I enjoy. He plays the same exact character in every show though.
Supernatural, White Collar, Warehouse 13, Leverage, he just plays the same archetypal character over and over again just on a slightly different set each time. Still enjoy him though, in fact he's basically the only reason I still watch Supernatural.
For the past 20 years or so Tommy Lee Jones has played the grumpy old man or grumpy serious authority figure in almost every movie he's been in, and he is perfect in every one. They don't hire him to play a new character. His mannerisms and tone are the same in every role. They hire him to be himself, just with a new job and motive. He is chosen because the part fits him, not because he can fit the part.
Mark Hamill also has a tendency to play villains with raspy, creepy voices. Though he has more range than just that. Some of those roles: The Joker in many Batman works, Fire Lord Ozai in The Last Airbender, Mr. Salacia in Metalocalypse, Emperor Griffin in Dark Cloud 2/Dark Chronicle, Hobgoblin in Spiderman The Animated Series, etc
Benedict Cumberbatch is always playing the socially awkward genius (Stephen Hawking, Julian Assange, Sherlock Holmes, Alan Turing) and/or a narcissistic super-being (Khan, Smaug). I love the guy but come on. Typecast.
Yes and no. Up until The Maltese Falcon he played mostly bad guys. After that movie he started playing the typical world-weary, cynic-on-the-outside, romantic-on-the-inside hero. But even he went against type now and then. Two stand-out performances of his are in The Treasure of Sierra Madre, in which he plays a weak, greedy coward, and Mutiny on the Caine, in which he plays a paranoid neurotic with a sharp case of denial.
Sean Connery, the greatest living exponent of playing the same character all your career. By about 1965 had perfected the act and stuck with. Its a good act and many people paid to see that act but it's the same act all the time.
Queen Michael said:
I haven't actually seen any Humphrey Bogart films, but I'm told he always plays the same basic character.
His most famous roles are basically the same character with the name changed but there are other less well known films where he doesn't play the off white knight. There are even a few comedies.
Yes and no. Up until The Maltese Falcon he played mostly bad guys. After that movie he started playing the typical world-weary, cynic-on-the-outside, romantic-on-the-inside hero. But even he went against type now and then. Two stand-out performances of his are in The Treasure of Sierra Madre, in which he plays a weak, greedy coward, and Mutiny on the Caine, in which he plays a paranoid neurotic with a sharp case of denial.
His most famous roles are basically the same character with the name changed but there are other less well known films where he doesn't play the off white knight. There are even a few comedies.
Random interesting Bogart fact: Most/all of his early bad guy roles - the ones that made him famous - were roles that George Raft turned down because he was already associated with gangsters and was trying to shake off the bad reputation he was acquiring.
Liam Neeson seems to be stuck in the badass hypercompetent old man role.
Al Pacino has confused screaming at the top of his lungs with dramatic performance years ago. No one seems to have the heart to correct him.
In the realm of voice actors, both Nolan North and Troy Baker had been typecasted to death. Both are very talented and ranged (North is the Penguin, Baker is Kanji Tatsumi), but most people seems to like them to make "male voice A".
I would include actors like Keanu Reeves or Adam Sandler, but the title says "great actors"...
Judd Hirsch. He always shows up as the "Wise Jewish Grandfather" kind of character. You've seen him for years in tons of stuff. I've always found him a very enjoyable actor, even though he is typecast.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002139/?ref_=tt_cl_t5 - his imdb page.
Kevin spacey can just radiate evil when he wants to, so I get why he's always the villain, but I'd like to see him in more sympathetic roles. He was the best character in American Beauty (not that there was any competition). There's a lot of potential for different parts.
Nolan north and Troy Baker seem to be stuck in generic white guy purgatory, despite Baker nailing both a wizened post apocalyptic survivor and a homosexual Japanese teenager. The mans talented. While we're on the subject, Laura Bailey has gotten type cast as the ditzy seductress. This is too bad, as she was the only good thing about SH2 HD. She's enormously talented, and really deserves more diverse roles.
Does Johny ray Bosch playing John ray Bosch in every show count? I don't think I'd call him a "great" actor, though.
Kevin spacey can just radiate evil when he wants to, so I get why he's always the villain, but I'd like to see him in more sympathetic roles. He was the best character in American Beauty (not that there was any competition). There's a lot of potential for different parts.
Not a single mention of Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise? The only times I've seen Cruise play a significantly different role from his usual "slick charismatic guy with sexy smile" are Collateral and Tropic Thunder. Pitt I haven't actually seen in that many movies considering the size of his roster, but I've understood he's a typecast actor as well.
Pretty much any person who got their career started on Saturday Night Live. They had some skit that was really popular, and when they left the show, they milk that same performance until the day they die.
Adam Sandler
Chris Farley
James Spader
Will Farrell
That guy from Deuce Bigalo, Male Gigalo (can never remember his name)
Chevy Chase
Eddie Murphy....
you know I'm just going to stop listing them now and just say SNL Stars.
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