Actors and actresses known for one definitive role

Haing S. Ngor

Adam West - Batman

Robert Conrad as James West in the Wild Wild West

James Tyrone as the Count of Monte Cristo!

Roz/Mame Dennis

George Reeves

Roz is most famous for Mame Dennis but she is also known for many other roles. She wasn't a one hit wonder.

Does this count as two roles?

Richard Thomas (and his mole) as John Boy Walton

Margaret was also known for Cora.

Jennifer Aniston

James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano

Of course she's known for many other roles, r6. But she was the definitive Mame Dennis. Nobody has come close.

Bonnie Franklin best known for her definitive role as Ann Romano in ODAAT (even though she did some acting until her death).

Mackenzie Philips for her role as Julie Cooper in ODAAT, even though she was a break-out star in 1973's "American Graffitti".

Barbra Streisand - I think in most people's minds (not her adoring fans) she will always be "Funny Girl", despite making another 18 movies after that.

Lindsay Wagner as The Bionic Woman

M as Florence Griffith Joyner.

Carrie Fisher.

Mark Hamill

David Duchovny - Agent Mulder

Jean Stapleton.

Marlo Thomas.

Valerie Harper.

Clayton Moore...

George Reeves...

Everyone on Gilligan's Island.

Christopher Reeve as Superman.

Tina Louise as Ginger on Gilligan's Island

Ray Walston...

Oops, sorry didn't see R21!

The Brady Bunch kids

Estelle Getty

George Takei

Elizabeth Montgomery...

Jerry Seinfeld is Jerry Seinfeld......and he knows it. Imagine the movie and tv offers he must have turned down during and after Seinfeld? He made his fortune and does standup when he feels like it. Good for him.

Barbara Eden...

All of these guys...

Jason Alexander as George Costanza

Michael Richards as Kramer

Jimmy “JJ” Walker

r20 see r5

Larry David as Larry David

William Shatner - Captain James T. Kirk

Falconetti as Joan of Arc

Joan Hickson as Miss Marple.

Al Pacino = Michael Corleone

Sorry, Al.

Vivian Vance as Ethel Mertz

Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan.

Raymond Burr as Perry Mason

Mr Rogers as Mr Rogers

Max Bear Jr as Jethro

Donna Dixon as Ellie May Clampett

Irene Ryan as Granny

"The Apprentice's" donald trump.

Roz Russell is most famous for playing Hildy in His Girl Friday. If she had a signature role, that would be it, but I don’t think she fits this thread.

Joan Collins as Alexis.

She has admitted this time and time again. Despite trying to launch different television programs on different networks, they never went beyond the 'pilot' stage. Network execs have all told her test audiences only saw her as 'Alexis' in every show she starred in (comedies and dramas). She said she didn't get as much work making guest appearances either, in the past 30 years since 'Dynasty' went off the air - producers of those shows have also told her agents they only see her as 'Alexis'. The role made her a household name in the 80s, and made her a lot of money - but also ended her acting career while in her mid-50s.

R47. I always associate Roz with Auntie Mame. She was perfection.

Linda Blair was, is, and forever shall be little pea soup-spewing Regan MacNeil!

Viola

R40 for many Al is Tony Montana from Scarface

Al is also the bank robber from Dog Day Afternoon

Yul Brenner - the King

Hattie McDaniel - Mammy

Donna Douglas - Ellie Mae (poor woman was still wearing the Ellie Mae hairdo in her 70s)

Joan Van Ark - Val Ewing

James Arness - Matt Dillon

Marion Ross - Marion Cunningham

Tom Welling - Clark Kent.

Timothée Chalamet - Box Office Poison.

Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes (though he did splendidly in many other roles).

Which century are you posting from R57?

Michael Richards - Seinfeld

Jessica Walter - Arrested Development

Henry Thomas - E.T.

Beatrice Straight - Network

Dame Angela Lansbury - Murder, She Wrote

Charlotte Rae - The Facts of Life

Mark Hamill - Star Wars

Matthew Perry - Friends

Matt Leblanc - Friends

Jennifer Aniston: Friends

Courtney Cox: Friends

David Schwimmer: Friends

Lisa Kudrow: Friends

Susan Lucci

Eric Braeden

Kim Zimmer

Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo.

Raymond Burr was also known for Ironside.

Of course, Perry Mason is more seen in reruns today but as a kid I only knew him as Ironside and I thought he really was in that chair.

Dude was one believable actor.

Patrick Duffy as Bobby Ewing.

Does anyone really recall Man for Atlantis or Step by Step?

Honestly!

Sandy Duncan

IS

Sandy Hogan on…

NBC’S The Hogan Family

Katherine Bach as Daisy Duke

Telly Savalas as Kojak

Donna Mills as Abby Fairgate Cunningham Ewing Sumner.

Jacklyn Smith in Charlie's Angels

Lucille Ball - The Lucy Show (1962-1968).

Al Pacino is not only known for The Godfather. What a ridiculous assertion. Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Scarface, Angels in America... The list is long.

And Angela Lansbury may be best-known by the masses for Murder, She Wrote, but she had a great film career and an unbelievably successful theatre career. To me she will always be Mrs. Lovett and Mame. Jessica Fletcher was not her definitive role.

Jennifer Coolidge as Jennifer Coolidge.

There are a few posters who don't understand this thread. They put down people like Roz Russell, Angela Lansbury and Al Pacino. This thread is not about such people. It's about people like George Reeves who is only known for Superman. Though if the truth be told because he is so handsome in the role I also think of him as one of the Tarleton twins.

Bryan Cranston - Walter White (despite being around for a long time prior to the role)

The kids from "The Middle" - never saw them in anything else. They were brilliant in The Middle, however

Tina Louise as Ginger Grant

Farrah Fawcett as Jill Munroe.

Mickey Rooney as Andy Hardy.

Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale.

Marjorie Main as Ma Kettle.

Jean Alexander as Hilda Ogden

June Brown as Dot Cotton

Moose as Eddie.

I agree with R72. Al Pacino does not belong on this list.

Sharon Stone/Basic Instinct

Sure, she did other big budget movies, and even got an Oscar nomination for Casino, but she’s never reached the heights of BI and it’s still the one movie everyone associates her with and every article mentions.

Tony Perkins is Norman Bates despite the fact that he's neem in numerous films: Murder on the Orient Express, Catch-22, Mahogany, Pretty Poison . . .

Carol Channing

Eric McCormack - Will Truman.

R87 exactly.

This seems to happen a lot. You have this great ensemble cast on a TV show, but when that hit show ends, you basically never see those people again in anything worthy.

Don Adams as Maxwell Smart.

Meghan Markle in that paralegal role on Suits.

Julian Sands in Lost.

Megan Mullally as Karen in W&G.

I think it's even harder for Mullally and Jean Stapleton, especially since they altered their voices for their characters. Once they come out of their character and talk in their regular voice, audiences turn away.

Barbra Streisand = Barbra Streisand

No movie role can compete.

This thread is owned by June Spencer.

She played Peggy Woolley in The Archers.....

For our American friends....The Archers is a British radio soap opera currently originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural setting". Having aired over 19,500 episodes, it is the world's longest-running present-day drama by number of episodes.

June played the role for over 60 years. Making her the world's seconds longest serving soap opera star.

I suppose Dierdre Hall is the first longest, R94

R95 It's Pat Greene, who plays Jill Archer.

She's been doing it for 66 years. Making her now the longest soap opera star in the world.

I might tune in now tomorrow.

R72, Pacino is only known for The Godfather to anyone born after 1990. Nice try, Granny.

Clayton Moore - Lone Ranger

Jay Silverheels - Tonto

George Reeves - Superman

Noel Neill - Lois Lane

Jack Larson - Jimmy Olsen

Johnny Depp - Captain Jack Sparrow

Jim Nabors - Gomer Pyle

Robert Conrad was in dozens of tv shows (most of them terrible) but he's only remembered for the Wild Wild West.

Gilbert M. Anderson - Broncho Billy

Nah, R99.

He was Willie Wonka, the nelly Ichabod Crane, Edward Scissorhands, the Mad Hatter…

Al Pacino has done many good films- the Godfather movies are simply the best of his many critically and popularly acclaimed roles.

^ R73 wins

Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane.

Along with Seinfeld being known for Seinfeld, co-stars Jason Alexander and Michael Richards as George and Kramer as well. I think Veep was big enough to not put JLD in that camp.

I was gonna say SJP as Carrie, but I think she did enough other things. Though that has to be the first reference point for a lot of people. So maybe.

Definitely Kim Catrall as Samantha. It's not that she hasn't done other things, even other good things, but she's really known for that one definitive role.

The others, I'm not sure. I didn't know who Cynthia Nixon was before SATC and I associate her with Miranda. Kirsten Davis I knew as Brooke from Melrose Place.

Bette Davis as Margaret Carter in "Seed" (1931).

Oh, I saw that movie once. It was pretty good and—oh, wait, no. I was thinking of the one with Dawson.

Sharon Tate. Jennifer North/Valley of the Dolls

[Quote] Pacino is only known for The Godfather to anyone born after 1990. Nice try, Granny.

what about his Oscar wining role in Scent of a Woman (1992) or Donnie Brasco (1997), gran?

Sharon Tate - Manson victim.

[quote]James Tyrone as the Count of Monte Cristo!

???

All you little old ladies calling each other granny would you kindly shut the fuck up?

R72, I understand what you mean by Pacino and The Godfather, but nowadays I see far more references everywhere to his "Say hello to my little friend!!!" scene from Scarface.

And R116, don't forget "Attica! Attica!" from Dog Day Afternoon.

Susan Lucci as mentioned before owns this...

Roz Kelly as Pinky Tuscadero.

Speaking of pink, Pink Lady as...well...Pink Lady.

Jerry Mathers as the Beaver

Viola Davis - Victim

Alison Arngrim - Nellie Oleson

anjelica huston - witches

raoul julia - the addams family (before that he was known as that guy from kiss of the spider woman)

dixie carter / delta burke - designing women

colleen dewhurt - anne of green gables

cher - moonstruck (out of all her films and even her music, people seem to reference that shitty one above all else)

whoopi goldberg - sister act

bette midler - for the boys

madonna - a league of their own (even if you could cut her role and it wouldn't be noticed)

mary stuart masterson - fried green tomatoes

winona ryder - heathers

drake aka wheelchair jimmy - degressi the new generation

adam sandler - drunk punch love

angela basset - strange days

halle berry - monster's ball

billy bob thornton - sling blade

john malkovich - being john malkovich

ellen muth - dead like me

jasmine guy - a different world

cree summers - rugrats

debbie allen - fame

sister pete - west side story

elliot stabler's ass - oz

elijah wood - lord of the rings

sean astin - goonies

roseanne - roseanne

Bonnie Franklin as Ann

tim curry (legend) - rocky horror picture show

Linda Lavin - cunt

jennifer connelly - labyrinth (while she's done many acclaimed films, she can never escape david bowie's codpiece)

rita pearlman - cheers

ron pearlman - beauty and the beast

linda hamilton - terminator

faye (what's the fish of the day) dunaway - mommie dearest

madeline kahn - clue

anthony hopkins - silence of the lambs

jodi foster - nell

marlee matin - children of a lesser god

meg tilly - agnes of god

jennifer tilly - bride of chucky

gina gershon - bound

bea arthur - the star wars holiday special

betty white - lake placid

estelle getty - stop or my mom will shoot

rue mcclanahan - golden girls

noah hathaway - the neverending story

peter fonda- on golden pond

hanoi jane - barbarella

R118- For me it's Susan Lucci as EBBIE

The broken shift key person sure is invested.

Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster

pamela anderson - striperella

Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden

debra wilson - whitney houston, mad tv

shannyn sossamon - a knight's tale

michelle pfeiffer - batman returns

claudia black - farscape

john barrowman - torchwood, dr who

shohreh aghdashloo - the expanse

Larry Hagman as JR Ewing.

majel barret - st:ngm ds9

jake gyllenhaal - bottom - donnie darko

The theme is a little confusing. Actors known for only one, major, definitive role (aka one-hit wonder), or actors who are known for a definitive role, among many other famous ones (like Henry Fonda in Mister Roberts, for ex.)?

maggie gyllenhaal - secretary

julie brown - earth girls are easy

kathleen "the hutt" turner - serial mom

edie mcclurg - elvira

vincent price - thriller

Jennifer Hudson - Effie

Tyler Perry - Madea

radha mitchell - high art

Martin Balsam IS Cummings in the Joe Don Baker film “Mitchell.”

jason mewes - clerks

bruce campell - army of darkness

Pauly Shore - Dumb as Rocks

john cleese - monty python

kevin kline - a fish called wanda

OJ Simpson - Killer

R171, THe Big Chill, Dave, In & Out???????

DJT - Liar, grifter, buffoon

r173 most referenced, film, tho. like jamie lee and halloween

R174, Nah he is one singular adjective and that is:

Traitor

mercedes mcnab - addams family values

Marisa Tomei - My cousin Vinny

r176 obsessive, much? do you fake your hatred to orgasm over him like a vegan over meat at a bbq?

I hesitate to say it was only one role, but it was certainly definitive.

katie holmes - beard - as cowboy boot clad hannah green in wonder boys

R179, Ho please, take your Maga ass on.

Truth hurts doesn't it.

r182 being tired of people that bring djt into everything is not being a magot. . . do you orgasm and scream out fuck trump as if you were Lauren Graham in Bad Santa? Are you a crazed baglady that goes up and down the street with your cart full of collared cats, and a ring of sausages around your neck, MmmHmm, they're strays, muttering djt to ya, djt, djt.

R183, Bye Felicia. I didn't bring up Trump. You lost your medication again?

james earl jones (wonderful actor yet he says the fans that recognized him the most were those of) - star wars

r184 oh, you're an outdated faux queen as well. . . someone that picked up that phrase from one too many episodes of drag race and pretends it makes you witty... rather like the ladies that lunch, eh?

ryan phillippe - the gay kid on - One Life To Live

Neil Patrick Harris as Neil Patrick Harris in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.

(yes, there's barney and doogie, but that one brief role revitalized his career and made him a household name again... after it finally died... died.. died.)

Nathan Fillion - Firefly/Serenity

Fred Rogers as Mr. Rogers

nancy kulp - beverly hillbillies

R186, Bitch I don't watch Drag race. I'm done with you now. You're a loser.

margaret hamilton - wizard of oz

r192 how am I loser for succeeding at making you cry over your inability to go a single thread without your lust over djt. most of us would like to have a single day without him and just watch as his narcissistic empire continues to crumble in the distance; a forgotten memory.

paris hilton - supernatural

ray j in the film that would make kim k a household name in a blatant copy of one night in paris, "kardashian, superstar" long before she was an alleged superstar

joanna lumley - absolutely fabulous

stephanie cole - waiting for god

bob hope in oh, my god you devil

morgan freeman in bruce almighty and every other sarah silverman skit

sigourney weaver in the alien franchise

^

James McAvoy - Split

A certain poster defintely made me remember this.

R199 that's George Burns not Bob Hope. Of course you miht have been thinking of Ted Waas

This thread started out fun and then one obsessive loon took over with a hundred posts in a row.

Edmund Gwenn - Miracle on 34th Street

r203 I would have thought faun nipples.

r205 I'm here to ruin every thread just for you. It's all about you. You alone. Just you baby.

My pussy stinks.

Merle Oberon in WUTHERING HEIGHTS.

Patrick Macnee as John Steed in The Avengers and The New Avengers.

Dawson as The Cum Dump

Patty Duke has 2: The Miracle Worker Valley of the Dolls

Crsipin Glover - George McFly, Back To The Future

Bud Cort - Harold And Maude

Madeline Kahn -- THE Eunice Burns

Barbara Stanwyck - Double Indemnity