Comic actors that missed their true calling as serious actors

Just watched Reign Over Me a few days ago...Sandler was great.

Ben stiller was great in the secret life of walter mitty

I thought he was great in KOC too-- however he was playing himself mainly. As great as he was in early comedy, I think he has/had too much ego to become a truly serious actor

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I'm going to put my Doctor Who hat on again – as I seem to be doing a lot at the moment for some reason – and talk about Jon Pertwee. He was phenomenal in the show in the early Seventies and had previously been known as a comic actor especially on radio. He was cast with his comedic abilities in mind but gravitated firmly towards quite a serious characterisation of the Doctor that you could liken to Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes. I really like the fact that Pertwee played it straight and even though as a dramatic actor he was perhaps not as good as his predecessors, this gave him the authority and command on screen and made him a real pleasure to watch. He had a fair amount of emotional material to play over the time and did it exceptionally well and convincingly. I like him in The Sea Devils for example, but perhaps one of the key moments is at the end of The Green Death.

I loved Jerry in The King of Comedy, but I don't think his career would have progressed the way it did if he had concentrated on dramatic roles.

He was good wasn't he? I haven't seen it in ages – I liked him in The Nutty Professor when I was a kid .

Steve Carrell is the first one that comes to mind. Go watch “Foxcatcher,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love” or “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.”