Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2022 July 1

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July 1

Unknown players of title roles

Joseph Wiseman is a member of an exclusive club, consisting of people who played the title role in a film, but whose name would mean nothing to all but a few aficionados. In his case, he was Dr. No. Most everyone can tell you it was a James Bond film, and it was Sean Connery's first foray as Bond, but not one person in a thousand could tell you who played the title role, or who Joseph Wiseman was.

I'd be grateful for some other examples of this phenomenon. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 23:15, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

(PS. A sort of similar example is movies based on Rebecca, but the title character never appears at all, so it doesn't really count.) Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 23:15, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

OK then. Harry and the Hendersons, Alien, Weekend at Bernie's, Stalker, Eraserhead, The Lawnmower Man, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Karate Kid, Saving Mr. Banks*, Zardoz.

* People know who Colin Farrell is, but his Mr. Banks-esque character just isn't in the film much.  Card Zero  (talk) 04:07, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

The Colin Farrell I think of when people say "Colin Farrell" almost always isn't the Colin Farrell they're thinking of. DuncanHill (talk) 23:11, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

Ricardo Montalban is far from the sort of unknown the question referred to.--User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 07:40, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

I'd also take issue with Alien (the creature wasn't played by a human actor), The Karate Kid (Ralph Macchio is permanently identified with that role), and Saving Mr Banks (maybe Farrell's role was not as big as Emma Thompson's or Tom Hanks', but it wasn't just a quick cameo either). -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 08:17, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

The creature was played by a human actor! Alien_(film)#Cast.  Card Zero  (talk) 12:44, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

Thanks. I stand corrected. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 01:00, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

The problem is trying to quantify "unknown". To fans of the James Bond films, and I'm sure there are many, Joseph Wiseman is well-known. --←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:06, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

I did say "whose name would mean nothing to all but a few aficionados". -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 01:00, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

Yes, which raises the question of what "a few" means. --←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:28, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

I'd wager that even a lot of Bond fans would not know who played Dr No. There's no way of proving that, I know. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 01:47, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

It seems a bit of a pub quiz factoid, than anything that can be quantifed as a "phenomenon". I could tell you the actor from Eraserhead in a heartbeat, but in the same vein, I've never seen The Lawnmower Man. You could then go off on a tangent and ask what the character's name was in films such as Layer Cake. Or who was the actor that you could get into his head in Being John Malkovich.... Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 20:06, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

Is the pub quiz question to give the name of the eponymous character (who is an actor in the film) or the name of the actor portraying this character? (There is a subtle difference. Bonus question: What is the difference?)  --Lambiam 00:02, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

According to his article, David Huddleston has been referred to as "the actor who played The Big Lebowski in The Big Lebowski". (Though I fancy myself a bit of a film buff, I couldn't remember his name, despite having seen his face in many productions). Not-so-famous Robert Clotworthy speaks the part of Charlie Townsend in Charlie's Angels (2019 film), replacing the famous late John Forsythe who had spoken it in earlier movies as well as in the original TV series. ---Sluzzelin talk 15:39, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

Fans of Blazing Saddles know who Huddleston is. --←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:28, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Well, I enjoyed the film but didn't remember his name, and it's one of Mel Brooks's best works, ... yet Jack did discount aficionados ... anyway, I thought it was a worthy example, but I've never even managed to get into the finals of my local annual Filmbuff quiz. ---Sluzzelin talk 22:54, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

(.. and an example comparable to Rebecca is Waiting for Guffman where Guffman never shows up, in turn, of course, based on the example of that kind: Waiting for Godot). ---Sluzzelin talk 17:48, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

Harvey is another in Sluzzelin's list :-) MarnetteD|Talk 19:17, 3 July 2022 (UTC)

Characters which never actually appear on-screen could be a special category. --←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:28, 4 July 2022 (UTC)

Unseen character was once a list. —Tamfang (talk) 00:24, 6 July 2022 (UTC)