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Tunnel Vision: Actors Who You Could Never See Outside of That One Role


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I saw Dennis Hopper in a made-for-tv movie in the 80's, wherein he was physically abusing his wife and his daughter. I was about 10, and my dad was doing the same thing. In fact, I got in trouble by my dad for watching the movie and he stormed in and turned it off.

Dennis Weaver may have been a perfectly pleasant man in real life, but I hated his ass in anything else I'd ever seen him in. He had done that convincing of a job in that one movie, and it was over for me.

It used to be David Duchovny. But I saw a bit of Californication, and it's different enough that I can see him outside of just playing Mulder. Will be checking out Aquarius when it airs for the heck of it.

 

@ Selkie: That's me too in regards to JK Simmons, only it's with his role on Law and Order and as the Yellow Peanut M&M. My mom and I even have a run on joke about it. We call him the 'M&M man' XD.

Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce.  M*A*S*H went on for so long, I just can't separate him from the role.

 

Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton.  Probably why I never watched Spin City and generally don't watch his movies.  I've had enough Alex P Keaton to last me a lifetime. 

 

I think most of the cast of Mad Men is heading this way too.

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I got over it somewhere into the second season, but I had the hardest time accepting Michael C. Hall as Dexter. I couldn't shake his character from Six Feet Under. Of course, now I won't be able to see him as anyone but Dexter for a long while.

 

Lucy Lawless as Xena was hard to shake as well. The whole time she was on Battlestar Galactica, it was distracting to me. I was totally over it by the time she did Spartacus, though. She was amazing as Lucretia.

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Dennis Hopper or Dennis Weaver? I'm pretty sure they're not the same guy. Although now that I think on it, I've never seen them together... :)

I've never been able to see Harry Morgan in anything other than M*A*S*H without some major cognitive dissonance. Not even Dragnet.

Sorry--Dennis Weaver!

JK Simmons as Vern Schillinger in Oz- a character that was pure evil, and even when he plays a good guy (and he does often) I'm still remembering him burning a swastika into Beecher's ass.

If he's the guy from the Farmers Insurance commercials, I'm with you. He played scum so well on Oz. I'm like, you can't be giving people museum tours or confiscating keys from reckless teen drivers!

I could add Dean Winters. He will never not be O'reilly so I find it funny that he is Mayhem for Allstate and Schillinger is Farmers. Always have to be competing.

He'll I'm just going to say everybody from Oz is always going to be that character for me. They all deserved awards.

Absolutely!Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje will forever be Simon Adebisi to me. It always trips me out to hear him speak in his natural English accent

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He had a longer tenure as DS9's Captain Sisko, but for me Avery Brooks will always and forever be Spencer For Hire's Hawk.

Spencer for Hire was my Aunt Cynthia's SHOW! We couldn't bother her when it was on, because it would interrupt her drooling over Avery Brooks. She swore up and down he played Gordon on Sesame Street and she'd marvel at how versatile an actor he was. I knew he wasn't the same guy, but those were the pre-Google days, and I was kid and therefore prohibited from "correcting" an adult. Lol!

(And howdy, Snowprince, Master of the Southland Posts. Pity about that show, no?)

Absolutely!Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje will forever be Simon Adebisi to me. It always trips me out to hear him speak in his natural English accent

I'm with you. I'm halfway expecting him to pull out that little beanie and stick it to the side of his head whenever I see him in something.

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(edited)

Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad will probably always be Jesse Pinkman to me, as much as I don't want that to be true.

 

 

I think most of the cast of Mad Men is heading this way too.

The only ones I see it being a significant issue for are January Jones and Vincent Kartheiser, neither of whom are very strong actors in film. I think Jones would fare pretty well if she stuck to TV, but she probably won't.

Edited by ScullyInApt42
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He had a longer tenure as DS9's Captain Sisko, but for me Avery Brooks will always and forever be Spencer For Hire's Hawk.

Definitely. He was just bad ass, period ;).

I could add Dean Winters. He will never not be O'reilly so I find it funny that he is Mayhem for Allstate and Schillinger is Farmers. Always have to be competing.

He'll I'm just going to say everybody from Oz is always going to be that character for me. They all deserved awards.

 

He is MAYHEM. Now and forever :D.

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I'm doing a rewatch of Scrubs, and Neil Flynn will always be the Janitor to me. I'm aware he's had zillions of roles (including a bit part in The Fugitive, which they make fun of in an ep of Scrubs), and of course I know he's the dad on The Middle now, but the Janitor was such a weird and fascinating character, that's all he'll ever be in my mind. 

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Richard Armitage is a good actor and a very, very attractive man with a very sexy voice. I still think he's the most gorgeous man in the world. No matter what else he does, he will always be Guy of Gisbourne to me.

 

Also, I will never--never--forgive Peter Jackson for obscuring the beauty with dwarf make-up. Fuck you, Jackson! God. It's like George Lucas casting Liam Neeson and Ewan MacGregor, two actors never shy about shedding their clothes, and making them remain fully clothed. Idjit.

 

Ahem. Forgive my rant, please.

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The only ones I see it being a significant issue for are January Jones and Vincent Kartheiser, neither of whom are very strong actors in film. I think Jones would fare pretty well if she stuck to TV, but she probably won't.

 

Jones was in X-men First Class as Emma Frost and she totally was still Betty Draper. 

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(edited)

I never saw Oz, so he'll always be Dr. Skoda of Law & Order for me.

That, sure.  But he's also big parts Will Pope, and there's often more than a little bit of J. Jonah Jameson mixed in there too!  Also, he did so many annoying commercials as the Farmer's Insurance Guy, that even with me not seeing many commercials anymore (I skip), I still have a strong mental impression of a linkage.

 

Heck, with all that, I think Simmons is more of a HITG (minus the non-recognition aspect) for me than linked to any one role.

Edited by Kromm
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James Rebhorn did a lot of work in a lot of movies and tv shows that I watched over the years, but I still couldn't quite get over the fact that he'd played Bradley Raines on The Guiding Light--a character who'd molested (maybe raped--it's been so long, I forget exactly) his teenage step daughter.  It got better over the years, but it was always in the back of my mind. 

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Robin Williams will never be anyone but Mork.  I kept waiting for the rainbow suspenders in Good WIll Hunting.

 

I feel like Tamoh Penikett will always be Helo from Battlestar Galactica, although I haven't seen him on Supernatural, where he supposedly has a meaty role.  

 

And, to make an old soap opera connection, Amber Tamblyn will never not be Emily Quartermaine from GH.  Not that that's a bad thing.  

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There are a few Star Trek franchise actors who qualify for this with me, especially Rene Auberjonois, Ethan Phillips, and Michael Dorn. It doesn't help that those three also have distinctive voices, so even their voice work in video games qualifies.

Oddly enough, William Shatner doesn't fall into this for me, probably because I saw him in other things before I started watching Star Trek.

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Mark Harmon will always be Ted Bundy to me, I don't care how long he is on NCIS.

Pah!  He's that guy on The West Wing who protected CJ.  Also that guy on Chicago Hope who... did stuff I barely remember, but I remember him.  But really in the end he's mostly that guy on St. Elsewhere who was kind of like that guy on Chicago Hope, but much younger.

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(edited)

I just saw this guy on Ray Donovan last night, and he dropped the f-bomb (as is probably a requirement on that show). It didn't even sound right, as he's the Annoying Cox Cable Guy to me. He's got a series of commercials, and I cant see him as anyone else.

Neither can I. GAWD I hate those commercials...whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

 

Never saw Amber Tamblyn on GH, so she'll always be Joan of Arcadia's titular character to me.

Edited by Snowprince
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I've seen Judith Light in two plays both of which garnered her a well deserved Tony and yet a part of me still thought I was watching a very special Who's the Boss where Angela does Broadway.

 

Judith Light will always be Karen Wolek to me.

 

She won a Daytime Emmy for this performance:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSLLTBaR9gQ

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXM5INvrl-s

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For me, it's the entire cast of LOST. I will never be able to see any of the actors as anyone but their LOST characters (even Nikki & Paolo who I hated). I'm the one who will watch something & OMG it's Sawyer, or Boone (even though Ian Somerhalder will also be forever Damon). My Mother & BF will attest to that.

^^^ He was amazing in that role.

 

For me, it's the entire cast of LOST. I will never be able to see any of the actors as anyone but their LOST characters (even Nikki & Paolo who I hated). I'm the one who will watch something & OMG it's Sawyer, or Boone (even though Ian Somerhalder will also be forever Damon). My Mother & BF will attest to that.

 

I had the hardest time accepting that Matthew Fox's character was named Jack. I called him by his Part of Five name 'Charlie' for the longest, which could get confusing because there was a Charlie on LOST, too.

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(edited)

Lucy Lawless as Xena was hard to shake as well. 

Never shook it.

Buffy as well. She's Buffy. I always have to think 2 seconds before remembering SMG's name. 4 to remember it in full.

 

For me, it's the entire cast of LOST. I will never be able to see any of the actors as anyone but their LOST characters (even Nikki & Paolo who I hated). I'm the one who will watch something & OMG it's Sawyer, or Boone (even though Ian Somerhalder will also be forever Damon). My Mother & BF will attest to that.

 

Same here for the cast of The West Wing. CJ, Leo (well not much of a choice here...), Mr and Mrs Bartlet, Josh, Toby... 

Edited by Pollock

I loved Ben but I have no problem accepting Michael Emerson as Harold on Person of Interest. OK, I do sometimes think Harold and Ben were separated at birth and one of them had a good father. But mostly I think ME is a very good actor who managed to distinguish the two roles even while looking very Ben-like in the POI pilot.

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(edited)

Any of the Harry Potter stars, particularly the trio.

 

Calm Meany: He is always going to be Miles O'Brien to me, even though he's been in a lot of stuff.

 

Wil Wheaton: while he looks a lot different I still associate him with star trek. And everything I've seen him in he plays an argent nerd (TNG, big bang theory and leverage).

Edited by blueray
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(edited)

^^I agree about the Harry Potter kids. I never got into it, but I could recognize most of them if I saw them in those movies, or in the press. So when the blond fella was in Rise of the Planet of the Apes as the cruel caretaker, it seemed out of place to me.

( @blueray please help me with the actor's name or the character he played in the HP movies.)

Edited by RubyWoo72

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