i thought i qas the only one who remembered Early Edition.

Christopher Loyd as Reverend Jim

The Lloyd Braun character in Seinfeld. He looks out of place in serious roles...like he will suddenly say, "serenity now".

just thought of an example

the entire cast of American Pie (except the redheaded flute player from Buffy) will forever in my mind be recognized as their AP role. Even Eugene Levy whom I lived from Second City TV became the father of a pie forker.

bearamedic99 said:

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just thought of an example

the entire cast of American Pie (except the redheaded flute player from Buffy) will forever in my mind be recognized as their AP role. Even Eugene Levy whom I lived from Second City TV became the father of a pie forker.

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redheaded flute girl is maybe most widely known as Lily from How I Met Your Mother.

A 9 year TV series run with 9-10 million per episode.

Scorpio from Dirty Harry

For a lot of these, I can see where people can have these views, but I do think it depends on whether you saw them before that particular role.

For example, Elijah Wood as Frodo is mentioned, but I remember seeing him in several films before LotR, so I see him as an actor, not as Frodo. Viggo Mortensen, on the other hand, I had never really seen in anything before LotR, so he's always Aragorn to me.

Bryan Cranston is an interesting case for me. Breaking Bad took some adjustment because I had only known him as the dad in Malcolm in the Middle before, so I had never taken him seriously as an actor. For him, Breaking Bad actually changed my view of him completely, and I have since been able to separate him from his roles.

For me, it most applies to B or C list actors who have a decent role in a show and never really grow beyond it to stardom. Examples include:
* The Mayhem Guy from the All State commercials (Brooklyn 99 and Rescue Me)
* Dennis Haysbert - Even though I saw him in Major League first, he's always President Palmer to me
* Sophie Turner - I can't watch the most recent X-men without seeing her as Sansa instead of Rogue
* Really, most of the actors in Game of Thrones. You see them a lot in BBC shows in particular.

Beware of Doug said:

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Corporal Punishment said:

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Vic Morrow or Brandon Lee

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I see what you did there

For me Kevin is still the kid from Rookie of the Year.

MookieBlaylock said:

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Beware of Doug said:

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Corporal Punishment said:

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Vic Morrow or Brandon Lee

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I see what you did there

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Good for you...so now I'll throw in a bonus Jon-Erik Hexum as well.

My work is done here.

Larry Linville

free_mhayden said:

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It's like saying Steve Buschemi only got quirky/weird roles instead of the star/hero role because of Reservoir Dogs. No, he only got quirky/weird roles because that's the type of guy he is.

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Disagree. Google Steve Buschemi 9/11. He plays serious characters very well just averge joes expect to see him reprise his roles in Adam Sandler movies.

Culkin was still getting a ton of roles up until Richie Rich. His retirement was self-imposed, so I think his case is unique.

With kid actors, I think it depends on if they continue with acting throughout their childhood and early adulthood. The Olsen Twins will always be Michelle Tanner even if one were to become some big time award winning actress. If a child actor disappears during their teens and then resurfaces a few years later, they may not be recognizable.

aggiejim70 said:

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Bruce Dern. He was never forgiven for killing John Wayne in The Cowboys.

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he was nominated for two academy awards after The Cowboys.

Long career with some good roles.

He will always be Bobby Lee from Middle Age Crazy to me.

He was fantastic in Nebraska (one of his Oscar nominations).

I drove bus said:

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I see him as Barry Zuckerkorn. And he was fantastic in Barry. The Fonz stigma has worn off for awhile now in my opinion.

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The guy was arguably the biggest TV star in the world in 1976, he's now basically relegated to doing bit parts. Sure he's good on Arrested Development but he is not a main star of the show and will always be remembered primarily as the Fonz.

bearamedic99 said:

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free_mhayden said:

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It's like saying Steve Buschemi only got quirky/weird roles instead of the star/hero role because of Reservoir Dogs. No, he only got quirky/weird roles because that's the type of guy he is.

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Disagree. Google Steve Buschemi 9/11. He plays serious characters very well just averge joes expect to see him reprise his roles in Adam Sandler movies.

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I shouldn't have said "only". Buschemi is a very talented actor, much like Bruce Dern.

I was just pointing out that he wasn't typecast because of what he did in one specific movie - he is typecast because that's the kind of character he looks like and plays well.

I've never seen The Cowboys, but I couldn't picture Bruce Dern as any grand protagonist anyway.

while not necissarily ruined career (or maybe even ever really famous) seeing Jerry Ferrara (turtle from entourage) in shooter trying to be serious, was hilarious and I couldn't unsee turtle.

It took me a while for Chris Pratt to not be andy, but he's done enough roles to be over it.

Kelly McGillis could never NOT be "Charlie" from Top Gun.

Then she went and became whatever she is today and it's just as hard imagining her as Charlie 30 years ago. Woof.