perfect casting

[jyoungfan2]

I was watching a Columbo episode today and was thinking Peter Falk was cast perfectly for that role. I can't think of anyone who would have done a better job. That got me thinking of movie and tv roles that have been cast so perfectly, you can't picture anyone else in that role.

Peter Falk- columbo
bob denver- gilligan
alan hale- skipper
don rickles- CPO Sharkey
johnathan hillerman- higgins on Magnum PI
telly savalas- kojack
jack lord- hawaii 5-0
darrin mcgavin- kolchak
stallone- rocky and rambo
johnathan harris- dr smith in lost in space
gene wilder- willie wonka
raquell welch- one million bc
gary burghof- radar o'reilly
julia roberts- pretty woman
jack nicholson- batman
jim carey- ace ventura
walter mathau- grumpy old men
david spade- finch on just shoot me
stuart margolin- angel on rockford files

[PeteLeo]

You mean to say you believe Telly was better than Ving as "Kojak"? My, my, I believe I'm getting the vapors . . .

Hey, I thought I was the only person to remember "Angel" from "Rockford"! Do you recall his all-time peak performance on that show? It came when Angel and Jim were being held at gunpoint by that week's bad guy and Angel showed his true courage by begging the thug to "Kill Jimmy and let me go, and I'll tell everyone how tough you are!" What a guy.

How about Lucille Ball as "Lucy"?
Barbara Eden as "Jeannie"?
Tony Shaloub as "Monk" (with any other actor, I think I would be more interested in kicking Monk's ass than in watching him solve a crime)?
Jerry Seinfeld as "Seinfeld" (he was far from your typical "cuddly" TV leading man, but still funny as hell)?
Or on that topic, Jason Alexander as "George," Julia Louis-Dryfess as "Elaine," and, of course, Wayne Knight as "Newman" (bet you thought I was going to say Michael Richards as "Kramer" now, didn't you?)?
Gillian Anderson as "Scully"?
John Cleese as "Basil Fawlty"?
William Shatner as "Captain Kirk"?
Tom Hanks as "Captain John Miller"?
James Caan as "Sonny Corleone" (physically, he was a mite small for the very powerful Sonny, but Caan made it work)?
Val Kilmer as "Doc Holliday"?
Don Knotts as "Barney Fyfe"?
Charles Bronson as "Chaney"?
Christina Applegate as "Kelly Bundy"?
Lon Chaney Jr. as "Lennie"?
Tony Curtis as "Danny Wilde" and Roger Moore as "Lord Brett Sinclair"?
Robert Armstrong as "Carl Denham"?
Ernest Borgnine as "Mike Rogo"?
Kevin Spacey as "Mr. X" (SE7EN)?
Terry-Thomas as "Leftenant Colonel Algernon Hawthorne"?
Caroline Ellis as "Joy"?
Max Baer Jr. as "Jethro Bodine"?
Eva Gabor as "Lisa Douglas" (I always thought she was better-looking than Zsa Zsa)?
Alan Ladd as "Shane" (damn, what an ending)?
And too, too many more for this late at night. PeteLeo.

[jyoungfan2]

granny, jed, mr drysdale, and max baer were perfectly cast.
brando as the godfather
I disagree with gillian anderson, both muldar and scully could have been replaced.

favorite angel moment, rockford is so pissed off at angel, his hands are literally shaking as he's yelling at him, "look at what you're doing to me angel" and angel replies "I'm sorry jimmy'

leanard nimoy as spock

[PeteLeo]

Ric Mayall as "Ric."
Craig Charles as "Lister."
Dennis Franz as "Sipowicz."
Bruce Willis as "John McClain."
David L. Lander as "Squiggy."
Kumi Mizuno in anything she ever appeared in (the woman was a goddess, I tell you, a goddess!).
John Malkovich as "Cyrus 'the Virus' Grissum."
Stella Stevens as "Linda Rogo."
Strother Martin as "Poe."
John Belushi as "Senator John 'Bluto' Blutarski."
Jim Bacchus as "Thurston Howell III."
Jonathan Winters as "Lennie Pike."
Lynda Carter as "Diana 'Wonder Woman' Prince" (for obvious reasons).
More later. PeteLeo.

[kikibalt]

Leo
Don't forget Robert Blake

[Hagler04]

Al Pacino in 'Scarface'

Rutger Haur in 'Blade Runner'

Alfonso Arrau in 'Three Amigos' and 'Romancing the Stone' (why wasn't this guy employed more as a comedic actor? I know he went on to be a successful director but man he cracks me up whenever I see him on screen)

Daniel Day-Lewis in 'Gangs of New York' (one of the best acting peformances of the past decade in my opinion)

Jack Nicholson in 'the Shining'

Jean Reno in 'the Professional'

Andre the Giant in 'A Princess Bride'

[PeteLeo]

Dan Blocker as "Hoss Cartwright." There could have been no other actor in that role. PeteLeo.

[cyberboxingzone]

Perfect casting -- I'd say it was uncredited guest star John Candy as Ron Franz's ass double on the classic shower scene from NYPD blue.

Eli Wallach as "Tuco"

Oh yeah, I agree on Jonathan Winters as "Lennie Pike."

[PeteLeo]

Robert Blake as "Barretta" or as "Not Guilty"? PeteLeo.

[jyoungfan2]

mike, time to let dennis franz buttocks go...
I know that scene has haunted you since they aired it, but let it go....


jim nabors as gomer pyle
cameron diaz in mask
robert conrad as james west
burl ives as the snowman in rudolph the red nosed reindeer
dustin hoffman-tootsie
charles durning-everything
tom baker- dr who

[PD99]

How do you think THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING would've gone with Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable (as orig. intended by John Huston) in lieu of Sean Connery and Michael Caine? Or John Wayne as Marshall Matt Dillon in GUN SMOKE rather than James Arness?

You gotta laugh when certain actors lament the passing up of a lead role in a film/series which turned out to be smash hit. As if the actor who actually did take the role (and their interpretation of same) wasn't an integral part of the film/series' sucess. A lot of actors morph the orig. profiled character to their own liking, personality, comfort zone etc.. Ultimately, it would be impossible for anyone to play the resulting character more convincingly (aka - better) than themselves. Eg. Dr Zachary Smith - Jonathan Harris in LOST IN SPACE.

[writehooks]

Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker -- seven years after he flunked a screen test to be the Skipper on Gilligan's Island.

Patrick McGoohan as "No. 6" in The Prisoner -- five years after he turned down an offer to be the original James Bond, and the part was then given to Connery.

Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison in TV's "The Odd Couple." As good as Lemmon and Matthau were in the big screen version, these guys were even better.

Raymond Burr as Perry Mason (hey, you knew I had to sneak a fellow Canuck onto the list).

[kikibalt]

Robert Blake in NOT GUILTY ONLY IN CALIFORNIA

Frank B.

[cyberboxingzone]

Oh, if only Winona Ryder had played the part of Michael's daughter!

[DscribeDC]

Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley in Absolutely Fabulous.

Ricky Gervais in The Office.

Thanks to jyoungfan for proving that I wasn't the only living human who watched "CPO Sharkey"!

[PeteLeo]

Saunders has just announced her retirement from acting. (She'll continue to write and direct, however.) Is she still married to Adrian "Vyvian" Edmonson?
Never watched "The Office," and I remember Lumley most fondly from "The New Avengers" (great legs back then). PeteLeo.

[DscribeDC]

Yes.

The AbFab box set has as an "extra" old documentary interview footage of Lumley when she was about 18. What a babe! Funny thing is, she sounds exactly like a younger version of Patsy Stone!

[Steve Coughlin]

Hey Pete & DC,

You both sound to be big Brit Com fans. Have either of you guys seen the series "Bottom" staring Ric Mayall and Adrian Edmundson? I like it even better than "The Young Ones". If you're interested I'd be happy to tape a few episodes for you guys to share/ pass around.

[DscribeDC]

I've heard of it, but never seen it...Glad to take you up on your offer! I'm behind the times...I only recently got turned on to BLACK ADDER.

[Steve Coughlin]

DC, you've got quite a bit of laughing to catch up on. Black Adder gets better with each season and there were four of them. There's also a very nice Christmas Special. But let me get you introduced to my favorite sit com ever - Bottom! Send me your mailing address and I'll get something out to you this weekend. Mail your address to me at:

spcedwards@yahoo.com

[jyoungfan2]

I've almost got the wife convinced we need the BBC channel. I was a huge "Red Dwarf" fan. also enjoyed all of Doctor Who. I have to see more of chef ramsey.
Don Rickles and rodney dangerfield are the only comedians that make me laugh so hard i cry.

[StingerKarl]

Robert Blake as Perry Smith in "In Cold Blood".
Robert Blake as Jimmy Hoffa in "Blood Feud".
Vic Morrow as Artie West in "Blackboard Jungle".
Nick Adams as Private Hackett in "The Hook".
Karl

[PeteLeo]

Dorothy Janis as sweet little island girl "Tito" (not Trinidad!) in 1929's THE PAGAN. God, she was a gorgeous thing. It's a shame her career never went anywhere after that (by choice: like a number of other young actresses throughout the years, she met a man, married, and dismissed show biz altogether. Michael G. Ankerich did a very nice, if too brief, chapter on Dorothy in his 1993 book BROKEN SILENCE).

THE PAGAN was also one of the last film appearances of the unfairly forgotten and quite beautiful Renee Adoree. The poor kid died young only a couple of years after it. PeteLeo.

[PeteLeo]

Robert Armstrong as "Carl Denham" (KING KONG).

Ron Howard as "Opie Taylor."

James Remar as "Ajax" (THE WARRIORS).

Barbara Eden as "Jeannie" (or was she mentioned already? I'll bet she was).

Pat Buttram as "Mr. Haney."

Michael Madsen as "Mr. Blond/Vic Vega" (RESERVOIR DOGS).

John Travolta as "Vincent Vega" (PULP FICTION -- Yes, Travolta's and Madsen's characters were brothers in Tarentino's universe).

Roland Young as "Jimmy" (MADAM SATAN).

Steve McQueen as "Chief Mike O'Halloran" (THE TOWERING INFERNO).

Sandra Dee as "Tammy."

Jamie Lee Curtis as "Laurie" (HALLOWEEN).

Buddy Hackett as "Benjy Benjamin" (IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD).

PeteLeo.

[cyberboxingzone]

Man, wasn't that movie just about the best cast film ever?

Dick Shawn? Spencer Tracy? Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Durante! Peter Falk! There isn't a bad performance in the movie!

[PeteLeo]

You said it, buddy! It's high in my all-time Top Ten. PeteLeo.

[cmoyle]

Stephen Gordan as "Gordoom"

[PD99]

Rathbone and Bruce as Holmes and Watson.

John Wayne in The Shootist

Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird

Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka

Jackie "The Kid" Coogan as Uncle Fester

Leslie Nielsen in comedic roles rather than serious ones.

[gregbeyer]

bogart as rick in casablanca.

if they ever did a remake who plays rick today? i imagine clooney would get the part, maybe tom cruise but it would not be as good IMO.
greg

[DscribeDC]

Clooney is too much of a pretty boy to be Rick. I would prefer Nick Nolte, or even Jack Nicholson. Somebody who has been around the block.