Can't separate the actor/actress from one specific character

Agree with you to a point. While for those of us over 50, Winkler will forever be associated with his iconic role and 70's pop culture superstardom, I think there are a fair number of younger viewers for whom his memorable portrayals of attorney Barry Zuckerkorn (Arrested Development) and acting coach Gene Cousineau (Barry) are more familiar roles.

 

Yes, Margaret did do other things over a long career, but whenever I hear her name I immediately think of her role in The Wizard of Oz, and little else.
As a matter of fact her role is what helps me remember her name all these years later.

 

Liked him as Muldoon in "Car 54,Where Are You?", and even much later in "My Cousin Vinny", but Fred Gwynne will always be Herman Munster to me.

 

That was one of those movies that was so iconic that you can't help but imagining most of the characters doing any role.

It was definitely the children's movie back in the decades where we all grew up. There just was not any movie you could compare it to back then. There isn't really a movie that you can compare it to today.

Not only was it cast well but the production quality stood the test of time. I understand that it was only the 2nd three strip technicolor movie that MGM made.

People used to watch B&W movies on TV. It was OK back then because everyone had B&W TV's. Once color TV's became the norm, B&W movies faded away. OZ was so fortunate to have made that leap to technicolor.

 

I'd add Foolproof. Nice little heist film.

 

me too! one of my favorite shows.

 

I go back to Forbidden Planet with Leslie Nirlsen. He was so known for playing straight drama, that his roll in Airplane was funny because of how it contrasted with the type of rolls he always played.

He typically was cast as an average American actor. Which I took him for all those years.

A couple of decades ago, he was a guest at the Fort Lauderdale film festival. When he gave a talk, he spoke with a distinct German accent. That really made me do a double take. Later I deliberately went and re-watched Forbidden Planet and is was all those years ago and he did not have a trace of a foreign accent.

 

Interesting correlation here:

She played the daughter of Erica Kane on "All My Children."

 

This was more of "bad career choice" in leaving "Cheers." Shelly Long had ambitions of launching a movie career. After "Troop Beverly Hills" bombed, it was basically over.

 

They gave her a shot in several movies, none of which were very memorable.

I think that she was "too white". By that I don't think that average American audiences resonated with her or her characters. She had that aloof aspect that audiences did not find relatable.

She made a lot of films but her movies did not have much substance. Most that people will remember are from the late 80's. In the 90's she played Florence Henderson's part in the Brady Bunch Movie. She seemed perfect for that part.

I doubt if most people could even name movies that she has made over the past twenty-five years?

 

Treat Williams will always be Andy Brown.

 

I've seen Bryan Cranston in a few things since Breaking Bad & he can change up his looks a bit but he's got some facial mannerisms combined with his voice that will always make him Walter White to me.

 

You're overanalyzing. The average movie goer doesn't dissect the intracacies of relating to the character. "Troop Beverly Hills" received substantial promotion, but it didn't perform well at the box office. It may have done all right on HBO, but that basically sealed her fate. Yes, she did luck into the Brady Bunch role a few years later.

 

Yep, his role in Barry is great, as his performance, and I think enough time has passed since he played the Fonz to where it is easy to separate him from that role.

I think what didn't help Shelley Long either is that, by many accounts I have read about her time on Cheers, she was more like Diane Chambers than was probably healthy (for her career), and having that kind of uppity, snobby personality doesn't help when your acting chops are already pretty limited.

I think he looked different enough for much of the series (bald with the goatee) that it is easy to separate him from other roles he has done. He already had a memorable side character role from Seinfeld and then a lead role from Malcolm in the Middle in the bank before Breaking Bad, so I can't imagine ever thinking of him as just Walter White, but that is me.

 

Don Johnson, will always be the Miami Vice character.

Tom Selleck, Magnum.

 

I agree with you there. The average movie goer wasn't dissecting the intricacies of her characters. Therein lies the problem. She really didn't play any real "characters", she played Shelly Long.

With Cheers exposure in her back pocket (from '82-'87) she was given several movies that were prominent during the mid to late 80's. They didn't analyze her, they just didn't like her!

1984 Irreconcilable Differences (Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress)
1986 The Money Pit
1987 Outrageous Fortune
1987 Hello Again
1989 Troop Beverly Hills

Correct on all accounts...

In what of her many movies do we see any sort of a breakthrough role as an actor?

The only transition she made was from the Diane character on the little screen to the same Diane character on the big screen.

When she did the Brady Bunch Movie, she was again playing the character that Florence Henderson played on TV on the big screen. That character worked for her.

Unfortunately, while the Brady Bunch were always entertaining, to the point of becoming cultural icons, their only real memorable moment was "Marsha - Marsha - Marsha". In other words, The Brady Bunch Movie didn't exactly move her career forward either.

Not many actors can make that many movies without having any enduring roles. You just can't go blaming every movie. In order to create "enduring", you have to first make that connection to the public, Shelly never did that. When Shelly left Cheers, what happened to the show? Nothing!

Do the same with Friends or Seinfeld and the character will be missed. Other than reprising her role as Carole Brady a year later, how many people can even name any of her movies over the past quarter of a century?

 

Joe Don Baker / Buford Pusser

 

Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean

 

Michael C. Hall as Dexter. Recently watched the first episode of Six Feet Under, and could not separate him from Dexter.

 

Let's not turn this into a Shelley Long bashfest. I'll say this, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Roger Ebert called her one of his "favorite actresses" in 1984. That ain't nothing!

Irreconcilable Differences movie review (1984) | Roger Ebert

Her parents are played by Shelley Long of "Cheers," who is one of my favorite actresses, and Ryan O'Neal, who is not usually one of my favorite actors but is right for this role and good in it.

 

I'm just the opposite.

 

I saw Eric Bogosian in the film Talk Radio years ago, and though he's had parts in other films, the Talk Radio character is the one I associate him with

 

james woods-the character he plays now

 

Indeed. : )

 

A shame, he was great in The Trial.