Character Actors in Multiple Distinct Roles in the Same Film in Horror Film Stars Forum

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Character Actors in Multiple Distinct Roles in the Same Film

Author	Comment
Rick		#41	[-]
Apr 4 10 6:43 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	These are all fine and true examples, but they are not the sort of thing Jim was looking for in his original post. He mentions "tour-de-force" performances (Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers), "twins or siblings" (DEAD RINGERS, MAN IN THE IRON MASK), as the sort of things he's NOT referring to. I also think he intends to exclude "dream" scenarios like WIZARD OF OZ. What he's asking for are those bizarre instances where actors play more than one small role in a film, either for economy or because of some predeliction on the director's part, and are not probably intended to be recognized as such, as in the HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME examples of Thomas Mitchell and George Tobias.
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captainmarvel1957		#42	[-]
Apr 4 10 8:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Until you mentioned it I had forgotten that the two characters in The Man in the Iron Mask were twins separated at birth. Pardon me.
Grant		#43	[-]
Apr 5 10 8:40 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	A pretty popular one has been left out here, Donald Sutherland as both the comic relief police detective and the crone in Castle of the Living Dead. Also the man watching the stage show at the beginning (although that might just be the detective in an early moment; I'm not sure).
Wich2		#44	[-]
Apr 5 10 11:13 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	True what Mister Rick says. There's a difference between: 1. "Hey - this actor's playing more than one part! And we (the audience) are supposed to be in on that trick." - and - 2. "Let's see if we can have "X" double here - he can pull it off, it'll save us a few bucks, and it'll be a hoot at cast screenings." -Craig
MYST0		#45	[-]
Apr 5 10 7:25 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Speaking of tour-de-force, didn't Ed Wood use Conrad Brooks in several roles in one of his films because he knew what a range he had as an actor? I am sure it wasn't to save a few bucks. Didn't he stick him in a dress in GLEN OR GLENDA and have him (as a gigolo) hit on Ed Wood in a dress in the same film? Talk about a versatile craftsman!!
jplibby		#46	[-]
Apr 5 10 9:12 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Again at the Hal Roach studios, Ferdinand Munier plays Santa Claus in BABES IN TOYLAND. I am certain Munier also appears as Toyland citizen in a few other scenes. He is wearing a tricorn hat which, when combined with his moon face, makes him look a bit like a Toby Jug brought to life!
MYST0		#47	[-]
Apr 8 10 12:36 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Re Conrad Brooks: He was also in a beard in a 3rd role in GorG. Maybe even a 4th somewhere if I recall. All kidding aside, heck of a nice guy. He'd be the first guy to tell you he is no Olivier.
Rick		#48	[-]
Feb 21 12 9:11 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bumping this thread because Paul Frees is discussed a bit here. I just watched FLIGHT FROM ASHIYA on Netflix streaming and Frees is not only the narrator at film's end, he also seems to be the voice of almost every male character not played by Yul Brynner, Richard Widmark, or George Chakiris. I caught him as two different air pilots, a radio man, an Arab waiter, and, possibly, a Japanese soldier. I think I'm forgetting a couple. It's odd. I mean, he does slightly different intonations for different characters, but it's just so clearly the same voice over and over. Did people really not notice?
TomWeaver999		#49	[-]
Feb 21 12 10:41 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've always called him The Man of a Thousand Voices ...... .... That All Sound Exactly Alike.
Wich2		#50	[-]
Feb 22 12 12:37 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, when he did cartoon stuff, really going full-bore into accent & etc., he's amazingly talented (i.e., the Bullwinkle show, & commercials.) But yeah, when playing "straight" roles, I can always pick him out a mile away - just as with Welles, when he loops every supporting male in some of his flicks.
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clore103051		#51	[-]
Feb 22 12 11:24 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	TomWeaver999 wrote: I've always called him The Man of a Thousand Voices ...... .... That All Sound Exactly Alike. When we went to "The Hall of Presidents" at Disney World in 1980, even my six year old son noticed that all the Presidents sounded the same. It was Frees doing all the voices. He even mentioned that it sounded like some cartoon character which I've long since forgotten. It may have been one of those Rudolph or Frosty specials instead of a cartoon. I do remember explaining to him that this was someone known for doing different voices and the wiseass kid said "They don't sound different."
MacXoftheMounted		#52	[-]
Feb 22 12 1:35 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	While watching a dubbed version of Gorath, I decided to count how many characters were voiced by Frees (and, yeah... he ain't hard to pick out)... I lost count at 23 during a space flight sequence in which he played 3 different nationalities all talking to one another. Beach Dickerson played two or three roles in Teenage Caveman because "you-know-who" wnated to save a couple of bucks. He gets killed early on, and then just comes back with a different name, if I remember correctly. Also plays the "cave bear" under some sort of rug or something. MacXoftheMounted.....................formerly known as Professor Von X
Rick		#53	[-]
Feb 22 12 4:59 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Looking back over this thread, the one film that really baffles me is the '39 HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. That's not an instance of a serial re-using a stunt man, or a studio deciding Paul Frees was enough voice for a dozen minor characters, or a stunt like Donald Sutherland in CASTLE OF THE LIVING DEAD. HUNCHBACK was an "A" production in every way. A big studio, big budget, big star, Major Motion Picture. Why cast Thomas Mitchell and George Tobias in multiple roles? I can see some possible, if inadequate, answers. (1) Dieterle felt that nobody would notice, so why not? (2) Dieterle felt that they were the best choices for each role, so even if someone did notice, who cares? (3) It was some sort of game. Not a 'stunt' actually, because, far as I know, no mention was ever made of the casting. If it was a 'game', nobody seems to have played. That one is a real puzzle to me. Just don't get it.
atenolol		#54	[-]
Feb 22 12 6:55 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Rick--is it possible the actor who was supposed to play the part was sick and so Mitchell filled in? A few others--Yakima Canutt in Gone with the Wind played the guy trying to rape Scarlett in the wagon, but was also Rhett Butler in the burning of Atlanta scene. It is common in serials with stuntmen and the like, but also minor characters, probably because with weeks between chapters, they assumed no one would notice. Robert Wilkie in The Black Widow had two bits, being questioned about the murdered man in the first chapter and in a later chapter as the guard in the jail in which The Black Widow fakes her death. Glenn Strange I believe plays two on screen roles in Flash Gordon, one early as a "robot" and in the last few chapters as one of Ming's soldiers. I have read that he also played both of the "lobster" monsters, whatever they were called, for a total of four roles. Ray Corrigan--didn't he play the hero and a gorilla in the same movie once? Tom Steele in King of the Rocketmen is seen driving a truck in the back of which Steele in Rocketman regalia is fighting with David Sharpe. Last Edited By: atenolol Feb 22 12 7:31 PM. Edited 3 times.
atenolol		#55	[-]
Feb 22 12 7:15 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The best I have seen for double roles is the serial FLAMING FRONTIERS (1938) starring Johnny Mack Brown. 1--Jack Rutherford plays two major roles, both on screen a great deal and in the same chapters--He is the heroic Buffalo Bill, replete with the flowing wig, moustache, and goatee--and also a scruffy henchman of Charles Middleton called Rand. He does a great job. I admit I didn't notice it was the same actor the first time I watched this serial. I only learned about it reading IMDB. Rutherford does such a good job that a major website covering serials lists the roles as being played by different men--Rutherford as Buffalo Bill, but Jack Richardson as Rand. Of course, I can't be certain, but once tipped, it certainly looks to be the same man physically, across the shoulders and back and his facial features. 2--This serial is full of Indian attacks, and Iron Eyes Cody got a workout in all of them. Whenever a tomahawk waving brave attacked Brown or the heroine, anywheres from Missouri to California, regardless of the tribe, it seemed that Cody got the call. These attacks, though, were spread over several chapters. Cody also got to dance around the campfire while Brown was being burned alive. 3--Odd as Cody's appearances might be, they were nothing compared to Chief Yowlachie, who played several roles in this serial even though HE WAS NOT IN THE CAST. This serial is full of silent movie footage, some of which I recognized as from THE RED RAIDERS, which I own. Yowlachie was a main character in that one. I assume some of the other footage is from the lost Tim McCoy film, WAR PAINT. Yowlachie played a main character in that one also. The stock footage allowed Yowlachie to appear twice as Chiefs leading attacks, first on a wagon train and then on a fort, and to die twice. He also is in the roasting Johnny Mack scene. Quite a workout for a man who wasn't in the movie, or at least quite a workout for the man he had been more than ten years earlier. Last Edited By: atenolol Mar 18 12 2:22 AM. Edited 2 times.
Wich2		#56	[-]
Feb 22 12 9:42 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>Whenever a tomahawk waving brave attacked Brown or the heroine, anywheres from Missouri to California, regardless of the tribe, it seemed that Cody got the call.< Howabout his own? The de Cortis's of Louisiana?
rvoyttbots		#57	[-]
Feb 26 12 11:03 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Robert Vaughn has said he was a chariot driver in THE TEN COMMANDANTS and also played one of the freed slaves during the exodus.
Rapfred		#58	[-]
Feb 28 12 12:40 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	In FRANKENSTEIN 1970, Mike Lane played both Hans, the over-eager actor in the opening scene, and the bandage-swathed monster In GENGHIS KHAN (1965), Omar Sharif played both the title character and, in a memorable pre-title sequence, the Khan's ill-fated papa.
Jerry Blake Federal Operator 99.thenostalgialeague	Character Actors in Multiple Distinct Roles in the Same Film	#59	[-]
Feb 28 12 12:10 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	One of the most noticeable examples of this phenomenon is on the 1950s British-made Robin Hood TV show. Victor Woolf plays a recurring role as a Merry Man called Derwent, but can usually be trusted to appear at least once an episode in a second role. At least one episode features him in four different roles--Derwent, a second Merry Man (with different makeup), a crippled beggar who carries messages for Robin Hood, and one of the Sherrif of Nottingham's men-at-arms. Then there's Dick Van Dyke's turns as Bert and as the hilarious Mr. Dawes, Senior in Mary Poppins. Also, in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Sammy Smith plays both Mr. Twimble (head of the mail room and the guy who sings the "Company Way" song) and Wally Whomper, the all-powerful Chairman of the Board who appears towards the end of the movie. I believe this double casting might have been a carry-over from the Broadway production. The Files of Jerry Blake: Movie Serial Reviews and Other Cliffhanging Material
jplibby		#60	[-]
Mar 1 12 8:03 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Jerry Blake Federal Operator 99 wrote: Also, in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Sammy Smith plays both Mr. Twimble (head of the mail room and the guy who sings the "Company Way" song) and Wally Whomper, the all-powerful Chairman of the Board who appears towards the end of the movie. I believe this double casting might have been a carry-over from the Broadway production. It was.
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Character Actors in Multiple Distinct Roles in the Same Film