Are there any tv characters that no matter what other roles they play, you can't see them except for that one role?

List them here. ; )


Larry Hagman from DALLAS. I watched him on I DREAM OF JEANNIE during syndication, but once he became J.R. Ewing, anytime I see him in any role before or after DALLAS, I only see him as J.R. Ewing.

Bob Denver from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND. Yes I know he was on DOBIE GILLIS as Maynard but I had seen him first as Gilligan. Afterwards while watching DOBIE GILLIS in syndication I saw him on there and could not get it out of my head that it was Gilligan.

JK Simmons as Vern Schillinger from Oz. He can be playing the nicest character in the world, and a part of me will still be expecting to see him try to burn a swastika on someone's ass.

I know a lot of you youngsters think of him as Deadwood's Cy Tolliver, but Powers Boothe will always be the Rev. Jim Jones to me.

I know that even though she was only a guest star, I (and many other due South fans) will never see Melina Kanakaredes (currently of CSI: New York) as anyone other than that bitch Victoria, who broke Fraser's heart (and nearly his soul), almost destroyed his friendship with Ray, and freakin' shot Diefenbaker.

Also, Patrick Stewart can do all the Shakespeare he wants, and appear in as many movies as he possibly can (which for a while there seemed to be his goal), but he will always be Captain Picard to me.

Yeah, he'll always be Picard to me, too.

Clancy Brown played some creep who molested his daughter or killed someone or something in a made-for-TV movie when I was a kid, and I will always think of him as that guy. People love him, but I always think of this creepy look he was giving his daughter in this one scene.

That's nothing. As soon as he says one word, I immediately think of Lex Luthor. (The same goes for Keith David and Goliath from Gargoyles.)

And thanks to the margin from that last paragraph, I just noticed how ironic the casting was for that role....)

Funny, I only see her as Frank Cooper's first wife on Guiding Light.

Same goes for Eddie Cibrian. He can be the hero of the movie-of-the-week, but he's still Sharon's rapist from Young & the Restless for me. Ditto Roger Howarth (ex-Todd Manning) from OLTL.

But I've only seen William Peterson on CSI Original Recipe, so I have a feeling that he's only going to look like Gil Grissom.

Kelsey Grammer will always be Frasier Crane for me. It's part of the territory of playing the same character across two incredibly successful sitcoms for twenty years. I love Frasier, so it's not it's any tragedy- but still the other roles I've seen Kelsey in felt very weird.

I don't care how old he is, Fred Savage will always be Kevin Arnold.

Alyson Hannigan will always be Willow, Adam Brody will always be Seth Cohen and Michael Cera will always be George Michael.

It doesn't help that they play those same characters over and over again and don't have the acting talent to put in some nuances.
Charisma Carpenter sort of has the same problem , but at least she can range from bitchy to bitchy with a good heart to good heart with an attitude.

At least Lex Luthor didn't traumatize you in your youth. That I know of.

Speaking of which, there's an actor whose name I don't know who played a guy who raped this woman and beat her with a hammer on this one episode of Unsolved Mysteries, and every time I see him in something else (which isn't often, thankfully), he scares me.

Chiming in on this for my friend: Anytime I mention Zachary Quinto she says she will never be able to take him seriously as anything because to her he will always be Tori Spelling's gay best friend. She burst out laughing when I mentioned how attractive I find him.

Four years ago, I'd have agreed with you, but by the end of the first season of How I Met Your Mother I stopped thinking about her secret past in Sunnydale. (The same goes for Neil Patrick Harris' teenaged medical degree.) Now, Nicholas Brendan, on the other hand, shall now and forever be Xander Harris, and I defy you to tell me differently.

Meg Ryan can play any movie role she wants. I, however, will always see her as Betsy from As the World Turns.

I can't watch Vincent D'onofrio in anything other than Law and Order: Criminal Inent, where he plays Det. Bobby Goren. He simply owns that role.

Are you perhaps thinking of Matthew McConahey*? I know he was on Unsolved Mysteries once, but I forget who he played.


*(I know that's not spelled right, but I'll be danged if I can ever remember how to spell that man's name.)

Ohhhh I so agree with you there. I remember the whole Rev. Jim Jones saga from when it made headlines. Creepy and disturbing. When it was made into a movie, I was so captivated by Mr. Boothe's performance. He was dead on. Fantastic performance.


You are thinking of that fact-based movie, "Love, Lies and Murder." I agree, his performance made him seem like he was indeed a bad guy. He was also in the movie BAD BOYS with Sean Penn. I knew him from that movie first. Still I can't shake him as a bad man from my mind. I do pretty well though when I watch Spongebob Squarepants with my son. Knowing he does the voice for Mr. Krabs is a hoot.


I know who you are thinking of. He is a black or jamaican actor. He had dreadlocks. I can't think of his name but I do know his face and you are right. When I see him in anything else, I always think of that UM segment.

David Duchovny will always be Mulder to me. Also, Will Smith will always be The Fresh Prince. I really don't think either is talented to begin with, so it's no surprise that I get that dejavu feeling every time I see them on the screen.

This brings up the old question of whether a character is so strong and well written that it leaves a 'mark' on the actor, or the actor is incapable of moving away from a character that made him/her due to a lack of talent.

Of course it's not easy to know if it's a case of poor acting, or good writing, or both conspiring to make someone so recognizable by a single role that they are incapable of overcoming it.

For certain people, I'd say they're just much easier to package and sell as a certain character - Jennifer Aniston comes to mind - while, for others, it's clearly a function of not developing their craft, like say that Olsen twin, who sometimes tries to act, and still seems to be portraying what that kid from Full House would have turned out like after growing up.

I forget he was ever Fresh Prince. He is one of the exceptions. I used to see him as Fresh Prince when I would see him in for example, Men In Black. But when the serious roles came around, that was it. He made me forget that character.

I think it's very possible for an actor to move away from a very strong character but often it needs an equally strong character to break the illusion.

Case in point: Timothy Busfield. I thought he would always be Elliott Weston. In fact, when he showed up in stuff after thirtysomething, I'd holler "Elliott!" at my television.

And then... sigghh... Danny Concannon. Unless some new mind blowing role comes along, Busfield will always, always be Danny Concannon (who, by the way, I loved far more than Josh or Sam).

In Clancy Brown's case I think it's because he just does the creepy bad guy archetype so well that the first time you really notice him, it sticks with you. For me, he'll always be The Kurgan from the original Highlander movie.

And for me, he'll always be the evil head prison guard, Captain Myron Hadley, in "The Shawshank Redemption"..."If I hear so much as a mouse faht, I swear by God you'll all go to the infirmary!"



Not even "Full Metal Jacket"?

Yeah, that's the guy. He was on some sitcom a few years ago, and also, he was in the "Black or White" video.

Yeah, that's the one.

That's something I haven't thought about. That explains why someone up thread said they started not seeing 'Fresh Prince' when Will Smith started playing dramatic, stronger characters.

A change in genre should certainly help, I'm sure. With that in mind, is Duchovny doing well in Californication? I don't have Showtime, so I wonder if he managed to finally put Mulder behind him by moving to cable and comedy.

I used to think Mark Harmon was cute - but after the Ted Bundy movie he morphed into that character for me, and ever since I have found him to be creepy.

I agree that every time I see Powers Boothe I think of Jim Jones.

Oh yeah, that's right. Thank you for reminding me. Does anyone know his name?

My first TV obsession was the X-files. After that, I didn't think I could see Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny as anything else. I wasn't really sure I wanted to. Still, I tried and Anderson had no problem convincing me of any other character she played. Not once did I have the feeling that I was watching Scully. However, when it comes to Duchovny, I always had the feeling that he didn't really play anything but himself. And that has continued. I watched a few movies with him, and I tried Californication and yup, I still see Mulder. Or possibly Duchovny.
So, in their case, I think it's a matter of how good an actor is.

And then there is the case of Victor Garber playing Jack Bristow on Alias. In his case I don't want to see him as anything else. I know, it's unfair and completely unjustified but still, I don't want to see him sing or dance. I hope I'll get over it, I started watching him in interviews and can't see Jack in him at all but still, a singing and dancing Spydaddy? That's hard for me.

Michael J. Fox. I cannot see him as anything but Alex P. Keaton. For the simple fact that all his roles seem the same to me. To me it makes me wonder, was Alex P. Keaton really Michael J. Fox just playing himself? I have seen Michael's other tv work and films but his mannerisms and characteristics just can't shake it off.

Victor Garber is Spy Daddy no matter what.

Yeah, I can see how sometimes it is the public who is attached to a character the actor's fault. A good example of it would be Topher Grace for me, whom I always liked in his 70's show role, so much so I possibly developed a refusal to see him as anyone else but Eric, even though he is a decent actor.

My sister used to call his movies "Alex Goes back In Time", "Alex Turns Into A Werewolf", "Alex Goes To Vietnam", etc. Michael Gross, on the other hand, can play Burt Gummer in the "Tremors" movies and make me forget about Steven Keaton. (Maybe the big mustache, big sideburns, and dirty Atlanta Hawks cap helped.)



That's what I thought till I saw "Godspell" on cable a while back.

Also, I defy anyone to watch the scene in the old movie "Lonely Are The Brave" where the truck driver hits Kirk Douglas and his horse and not go, "Wow, that's Archie Bunker!"

Aw geez. That cracked me up. Your sister knows of what I speak. Great way of describing how it is when I have seen his movies.

I think that for me, even though I adored Victor Garber on "Alias" - and gnash my teeth at the thought that he did not get even one Emmy Award for his work therein - he can never be only SpyDaddy to me, because I had seen so much of his work elsewhere before "Alias" came on the air. I had seen him as a fine musical theater performer, and had fallen head over heels in love with his ship designer in "Titanic", among other roles.

So while Jack Bristow may be one of his greatest roles, to me it's one of several that show off the depth and talent of a remarkable performer.

Kristen Bell will always be Veronica Mars to me. It was Forgetting Veronica Mars, Veronica's Choice, and Veronica undercover as "Elle" on Heroes. And it's a good thing. When I see Fanboys, or the Rome movie I'm sure she'll still be Veronica.

On the negative side, I've hated Logan Echolls so much on VM that Jason Dohring was Logan the vampire on Moonlight, and when I saw a rerun of Judging Amy, Logan was in court for sleeping with his sister.

However, somebody that broke away was Lee Pace who I originally saw Pushing Daisies as "Aaron Tyler moves away from New York and starts a pieshop with Glinda and the principal from Boston Public. Falls in love with a woman who's aunt fought a giant plant" but the show has become so awesome that Kristen, Lee, and Chi have been changed to their PD characters.

My Clancy Brown stuck-in-my-head role will probably always be Brother Justin Crowe from Carnivàle. It has the creepiness of some of his other roles, but his character has this hypnotic charisma (thanks to Clancy Brown) that I can totally understand him building a large following. He, more than anyone, made me follow that show. And almost any time I see him on screen, I expect his eyes to turn black or for him to say, "Your mama told you how to pray, didn't she?"

Eliza Dushku will always, always be Faith from BTVS. Always. Whenever I saw her next series fail (Tru Calling), to me it was because "she wasn't Faith".

I've watched Lori Loghlin on Summerland and 90210 but to me she'll always be Aunt Becky from Full House.

Politically speaking, that's unlikely, haha.



I'll see you that and raise you Carroll O'Connor as one of Caesar's assassins in the Liz Taylor Cleopatra. Et tu, Archie?

I think all the (original) Beverly Hills 90210 could fit in this category for me. With exception of maybe Doherty, they'll always be Dona and Kelly in any role they play. Then again, neither Tori or Jenny seem to have had much acting work come their way if we exclude the occasional lifetime film.

In the whole debate of bad actor, bad writing, strong character arguement, I'll submit William Shatner. Who would have thought he could ever be thought of as anything other than Captain Kirk? But now there is Denny Crane. (I know he also did that cop show (Hooker?) but I never watched that so I don't know how well he overcame being "Kirk" there.) Of that whole cast, who would have thought he'd be the one to most successfully shake his character? Of course, now we also have George Takei (Sulu) on Heroes.

Hearing George Takei regularly on the Howard Stern radio show shook whatever image I had of Sulu on Star Trek. ; )

Gardel - I would have agreed with you until I saw an episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Brian Austin Green is definitely not David Silver any more.

The fact that he has increased exponentially in hotness since his 90210 days certainly helps distinguish between the two roles!

And in badassery. I will always David Silver freaking out when his friend accidentally shot himself, and being nervous around the gun beforehand....but I certainly don't see scared little David Silver when Dererk pulls out a gun. He's a badass. Possibly crazy, but a badass.

I never, ever thought Brian Austin Green could pull off that.

Ahem, on topic.....Nathan Fillion will first and foremost be Joey to me; after that, he is Dr. Pomatter. But I'll watch Castle to see if it changes. Still, I think he'll always be Joey Buchanan.

Ha, me too! I never really watched Firefly (it was cancelled before I could make sense of it) and he was an evil dude on Buffy, so not really crushworthy there. But I loved me some Joey B. Except when he was with Dorian, I kind of had a problem with that. Castle looks promising.
(Oh, just remembered that I watched him in that silly Two Guys and a Girl show. I liked him there too!)

I have to say, I don't even vaguely see Sulu when I see Kaito Nakamura.

Same with Walker Koenig, his performance as Bester on Babylon 5 completely overshadows any memories of Chekhov. (Though Bester is a more strongly written character).

Kevin Sorbo will always be Hercules. Hercules in Space, Hercules The Bounty Hunter, Hercules hunting werewolves, whatever, always Hercules. I blame the fact that, that couple episodes TOLD us he's Hercules, pretending to be Kevin Sorbo, pretending to be Hercules.

A friend e-mailed me a trivia question last week about MacGuyver. And it reminded me that Teri Hatcher -- no matter how skeletal and weird she gets -- will always be Penny from MacGuyver. That betrays both my age and less than discerning tv viewing habits but there you go. Penny. It's why I can never quite bring myself to dislike her.

You ask me, she'll always be real, and spectacular. :)

Really? I guess things are relative. I'd think most people identify her mainly from Lois & Clark, at least before Desperate Housewives.