^^^ If I may, I'd add Robin Williams and Tom Hanks to the list of versatile actors.

Williams & Hanks can do comedy & drama, but they definitely have a type they fall back on, especially Hanks. Have you ever seen Hanks play a bad guy? He's his generation's Gary Cooper.

Williams was more versatile, but even in his dramatic roles, he couldn't play them completely straight. Maybe in Insomnia where he played a serial killer, but I haven't seen it. His best-known dramatic roles - e.g., Dead Poets Society, The Fisher King, Good Will Hunting, Awakenings, The World According to Garp, etc - are still interlaced w/ a lot of Williams' trademark humor.

I can’t honestly think of one actor or actress who can run the spectrum of personalities. Pretty much they’re all one, at most two, trick ponies. If they try to step outside of their selves, sometimes it seems ridiculous.
I always enjoyed Peter O’Toole more than any other actor, but to a great extent, he was always the same half manic, half belligerent, conflicted person in all his movies. I didn’t see Goodbye Mr. Chips, so maybe I’m wrong.

Is an Aston Martin a one trick pony? Yes, but they're still awesome.

quote:

Originally posted by FrankMoses:
I can’t honestly think of one actor or actress who can run the spectrum of personalities. Pretty much they’re all one, at most two, trick ponies. If they try to step outside of their selves, sometimes it seems ridiculous.

I think early Charlize Theron was very good at immersing herself into a role, see her soles in Monster and North Country. Daniel Day Lewis and Edward Norton are two others.

quote:

Originally posted by heydrich:
Brosnan in Mobland was epic!

I haven’t yet seen Mobland, but I’ll admit I’m a Brosnan fan. If I made a list of “if this actor is in it, then I’ll watch it,” he’d be on that list.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by FrankMoses:
I can’t honestly think of one actor or actress who can run the spectrum of personalities. Pretty much they’re all one, at most two, trick ponies. If they try to step outside of their selves, sometimes it seems ridiculous.

I think early Charlize Theron was very good at immersing herself into a role, see her soles in Monster and North Country. Daniel Day Lewis and Edward Norton are two others.

Yes, DDLewis always gets love, but there has always been something annoying about him.
But that’s just me.
Truthfully, so many movies these days are action, revenge, military/special forces/fantasy that a guttural voice and cold eyes are the only requirements. Oh yeah, fit and hard.

Check out Bronson in The Foreigner. With Jackie Chan.
Pretty decent flick!

I will add Audie Murphy to the list of one trick ponies. As much respect as I hold for him as a WWII vet his acting was terrible. I can't watch any of his movies. Add Randolph Scott, Alan Ladd, Joel Mcrae and so on. I don't think it's fair to add Eastwood to the list he has run the gauntlet of acting characters and always showed himself quite well. His biggest downfall was Sondra Locke. She was terrible even in Josey Wales and always drug Clint's acting and scripts down.

I knew one of the co-writers for Pale Rider. He told me Clint made an effort to keep movies with him and Sondra Locke off TV so she wouldn't get royalties but there were so many it was impossible to do.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by lastmanstanding:
I will add Audie Murphy to the list of one trick ponies. As much respect as I hold for him as a WWII vet his acting was terrible.

Go watch "No Name on the Bullet" where he plays a hired killer. He channeled the calculating killer coolness he had under fire in real life; very interesting (and a bit unnerving) to watch...