Defining Roles

Some of these may be a bit contentious to you serious movie buffs but for me it goes:

Jack Nicholson - McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Marlon Brando - Don Corleone in The Godfather
Gregory Peck - Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird
Paul Newman as Luke in Cool Hand Luke
Audrey Hepburn - Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffanys
Michael Caine - Alfie in Alfie
Peter O'Toole - T.E Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia
Tom Hulce - Mozart in Amadeus
Malcolm McDowell - Alex in A Clockwork Orange
Gene Hackman - Popeye Doyle in The French Connection
Sissy Spacek - Carrie in Carrie
Ben Kingsley - Mahatma Ghandi in Ghandi
Jodie Foster - Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs
Vivien Leigh - Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind
Clark Gable - Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind
Kirk Douglas - Spartacus in Spartacus
Charlton Heston - Ben Hur in Ben Hur

I could go on...but I won't!

You forgot...

Lassie in Lassie and Benji in Benji.

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howbout:

Kevin Costner as Robin of Loxley(sp?)
Bruce Willis as John Mclane
Sean Connery as James Bond
Uma Thurman as The Bride
Antonio Banderas as El Mariachi

I would also like to add that Robin Williams will always be Popeye, or Cid in 1 hour photo, before he was Mrs Doubtfire. IMO.

as great an actor as he is jonathan pryce will always be sam lowry to me..

christopher reeve will be superman as well

aaarrgghh!!!! this thread is too flawed!!
the defining role of an actor for an individual is going to be the first movie you saw them in, cos if its your first it would probably be one of their best as well. i know cos if i was to list a few of mine their would be much argument over why.
but i will list the ones that i am 100% sure on.

sean connery as bond
malcom mcdowell as alex
george c. scott as General Buck Turgidson
kirk douglass as spartacus
harrison ford as indiana jones
paul newman as fast eddie felson (i know this one is touchy but i dont care if no one else cant find it)


ps. if anyone else attempts to choose the defining role for the actors dustin hoffman, jack nicholson, robert de niro or travolta i might just lose it!!!

Biggest one that comes to my mind is Bela Lugosi as Dracula. Type casted ever since then. Hell he died without a penny left on him.

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I'm your Huckleberry, and that's just my game.

Dustin Hoffman: The Graduate

Jack Nicholson: Chinatown

Robert Deniro: Taxi Driver

John Travolta : Saturday Night Fever


As for H. Ford, what about Han Solo? Quite a few years before Indy I would say, and EVERYONE knows Solo.

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Judy Garland as Dorthy was great.

How about :
Errol Flynn as Robin Hood
James Cagney as Cody Jarrett
Sylvestor Stallone as Rocky
Tyrone Power as Zorro

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"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others."- Groucho Marx

samuel L jackson will always be jules.
Jamie Lee curtis will always be laurie strode.

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"A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theater admission and the babysitter were worth it."
- Alfred Hitchcock

I totally disagree with you… almost all actors play bit parts in movies and a lot of people don’t even remember their name… so the defining role for an actor is the character they made come alive for the individual viewer… and that could be the first movie you saw them in or the 50th…

If you want to get along with everyone on this forum, I suggest an attitude change… and if you lose it, you and I will be properly introduced…


BTW… George C. Scott will always be General George Smith Patton Jr. - IMO

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How about............

Humphrey Bogart - Rick Blaine in Casablanca
Ingrid Bergman - Ilsa Laslo in Casablanca
Brendan Fraser - Rick O'Connell in The Mummy
Cary Elwes - Westley in The Princess Bride
Robin Wright Penn - Buttercup in The Princess Bride
Demi Moore - Jules Jacoby in St. Elmo's Fire
Kate Winslet - Rose in Titanic
Jimmy Stewart - George Bailey in Its A Wonderful Life

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Great call on Jimmy Stewart, birdy.

Russel Crowe- Maximus
Michael J Fox- and Marty McFly

matthew broderick played ferris

but you're right about marty mcfly

well you have your opinion. i still think that it is much too hard to have a completely unbiased decision on what is an actors defining role.

and i only said 'lose it' as an exaggeration, because those several actors i mentioned are so gifted that there are way too many characters and roles of theirs that are timeless, and cant be put ahead of their others.
if you continue to take everything literally you and i will be properly introduced.

you may have your opinion and i hate to say this, but caitlyn is right..

first time i saw the late great katherine hepburn was in little women, but that's not the role i remember her for...her defining role for me was on golden pond...

lee marvin..he'll always be kid sheleen to me and he's been so many great films...

This statement has me very curious. Exactly what do you mean by 'properly introduced'?

Shut the **** up, moron. The only person who thinks you're cool...is you.

Besides, Harrison Ford's defining role (the role that made him a household name first) is Han Solo.

Absolutely....................