I'm not trying to be difficult, but I hardly think these are in the same leage as Connery as Bond, Chaplin as the Tramp and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones:
Jackman as Wolverine
Lynda Carter-Wonder Woman
Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty
Burt Reynolds as the Bandit.
Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws
Jim Parsons as Dr. Sheldon Cooper
Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman
Christopher Lee - Dracula
Peter Cushing - Baron Frankenstein and Van Helsing
Max Schreck - Nosferatu
Roger Moore - James Bond
Marlon Brando - Don Vito Corleone
Liza Minnelli - Sally Bowles
Sylvester Stallone - Rocky Balboa
Anthony Hopkins - Hannibal Lecter
Harrison Ford - Indiana Jones and Han Solo
Christopher Reeve - Superman
Clint Eastwood - Man With No Name
Sigourney Weaver - Ellen Ripley
Matt Damon - Jason Bourne
William Shatner - Captain Kirk
Basil Rathbone - Sherlock Holmes (Rathbone's image and portrayal is iconic, but Jeremy Brett will always be Holmes for me)
I'm not trying to be difficult, but I hardly think these are in the same leage as Connery as Bond, Chaplin as the Tramp and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones:
Jackman as Wolverine
Lynda Carter-Wonder Woman
Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty
Burt Reynolds as the Bandit.
Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws
Jim Parsons as Dr. Sheldon Cooper
Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman
Well, you did set the bar high in your question! It's hard to think of many. The only one I can think of is Desmond Llewelyn as Q.
I don't think Q qualifies, even though he is loved. The bar is high and it should be. The Tramp, Indiana Jones, Rocky, Rambo, The mam with no name (technically they were three different characters with names, but ...) and a few more. There are very few.
I was hoping for more of a debate on this, actually. In my opinion this get boring fast if everyone just lists who they think is as iconic as Connery as Bond. It gets more interesting if people offer their opinion, positive or not, about the suggestions.
If people have opinion about my suggestions too, that's okay, even though I may disagre and express it.
That being said I should probably have phrased my comments about the Blade suggestion in a better way.
I think the suggestion of Downey Jr as Iron Man is an interesting one, mostly because I'm not sure I quite agree with it, and yet I think it might still be right!
I don't put Iron Man quite up there myself; but a lot of people have now grown up with him as Stark, and it was a damned good and very fresh performance across a whole slew of movies. And in fact you could even say that one original performance got the whole MCU thing going and off to a flying start, so I think he'd have to be up there.
I'd probably even say that if you're going for people I'd say who are properly iconic casting for superheroes it'd be only him and Christopher Reeve making the list. Maybe Chadwick Boseman, but that would be more for the culture around the film rather than the performance itself, good though it was.
Funnily enough, even after all of the countless attempts we've seen, I don't think anyone has really made Batman their own: there's no Connery of Batman. Bale would probably be closest I guess but I don't he shaped it to himself particularly.
I think if you're going for TV, as good as he was, there are so many others I'd put over him for that. David Jason as Delboy, Cleese as Fawlty, Thaw as Morse, Falk as Columbo, Rigg as Mrs Peel, Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Hickman as Marple, Guinness as Smiley, Cumberbatch and Brett as Holmes etc.
I think characters like Q or Number 6 are definitively the creation of those actors who first developed them. Both are iconic, I've seen both specifically parodied in other films/tv/comics. Other actors have played Q since, and there was a dreadful attempt to remake the Prisoner a couple years back. Those characters cannot be successfully reinvented by another actor.
the remake test is a good one. Does Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka make anybody forget Gene Wilder? nobody I know.
Usually if the original interpretation was memorable, any attempt at a remake must either replicate (which is pointless) or go against type (which usually doesnt work). A bit like the challenge of a musician trying to cover a classic recording.
Basil Rathbone is a really good example of an iconic portrayal, in a number of ways.
Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes eighty odd years ago, the characters been portrayed by dozens (hundreds?) of actors since, yet Rathbone is still the definitive portrayal. Certainly not Downey or Cumberbatch even if they're most recent.
And there were Sherlock Holmeses onscreen before Rathbone no one remembers. And the character was an adaptation, first visualised by those Sidney Paget drawings. Yet we all know Sherlock Holmes looks and acts like Rathbone.
I bet people who've never even seen an actual Rathbone film know Sherlock Holmes certainly doesnt look like Tony Stark.
I think characters like Q or Number 6 are definitively the creation of those actors who first developed them. Both are iconic, I've seen both specifically parodied in other films/tv/comics. Other actors have played Q since, and there was a dreadful attempt to remake the Prisoner a couple years back. Those characters cannot be successfully reinvented by another actor.
I wouldn’t count Q in that. It was a fun performance but it’s not one of the most iconic in cinema: it’s a fun little comedy character.
Basil Rathbone is a really good example of an iconic portrayal, in a number of ways.
Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes eighty odd years ago, the characters been portrayed by dozens (hundreds?) of actors since, yet Rathbone is still the definitive portrayal. Certainly not Downey or Cumberbatch even if they're most recent.
And there were Sherlock Holmeses onscreen before Rathbone no one remembers. And the character was an adaptation, first visualised by those Sidney Paget drawings. Yet we all know Sherlock Holmes looks and acts like Rathbone.
I bet people who've never even seen an actual Rathbone film know Sherlock Holmes certainly doesnt look like Tony Stark.
I think it’s debatable as to whether he acts like Holmes all of the time, but regardless he’s certainly an iconic Holmes. But I’d say he shares that with Cumberbatch and Brett: they’re the big three who owned the role and are most associated with it.
Mr MartiniThat nice house in the sky.Posts: 2,707MI6 Agent
Many iconic roles mentioned, but surprising nobody has mentioned Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone.
Some people would complain even if you hang them with a new rope
I would also chuck Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley in the mix, along with Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura (as bizarre as it sounds). Other ones that spring to mind would be Stallone as Rocky Balboa / John Rambo, along with Russell Crowe as Maximus. Possibly also Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates?
Not my cup of tea really and not in the league of Connery as Bond, but Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow is pretty iconic to many.
"Any of the opposition around..?"
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,656MI6 Agent
This one is for Higgins...
Timothy Dalton-Rhett Butler, the definitive version )
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara is still considered by a lot of movie people (and movie buffs) as the culmination/triumph of the greatest casting search in history.
Or how about Humphrey Bogart (known previously for playing likable lightweights) in THE MALTESE FALCON?
I also think there's a lot of apples and oranges in the suggestions. To me there's a BIG difference between the question of whether a role made an actor a star and whether an actor made a character iconic in a way that endures and influences other films and series (and pop culture in general).
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,761Chief of Staff
Basil Rathbone is a really good example of an iconic portrayal, in a number of ways.
Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes eighty odd years ago, the characters been portrayed by dozens (hundreds?) of actors since, yet Rathbone is still the definitive portrayal. Certainly not Downey or Cumberbatch even if they're most recent.
And there were Sherlock Holmeses onscreen before Rathbone no one remembers. And the character was an adaptation, first visualised by those Sidney Paget drawings. Yet we all know Sherlock Holmes looks and acts like Rathbone.
I bet people who've never even seen an actual Rathbone film know Sherlock Holmes certainly doesnt look like Tony Stark.
Rathbone will ALWAYS be Holmes for me...I’ve seen many different interpretations of Holmes over the years but no one comes close to Rathbone...although I do enjoy Sherlock as portrayed by Jonny Lee Miller ;%
It’s always Rathbone’s voice I hear when reading any of the myriad Sherlock Holmes novels -{
When an actor is mentioned as being "iconic" they surely should be offering the audience a representation of a previous portrait.
If a part is created specifically for the screen, it surely can't be an "iconic" performance.
I assume the word is used instead of the actor themselves or of a perceived "genre role" (eg. Clint Eastwood as The Man with no Name / Joe ).
That, to me, doesn't make those portraits truly iconic. In fact, it is only retrospectively we see them as iconic, as other roles define & redefine an actor's career & we appreciate what we've already seen. So Eastwood's Man with No Name is iconic of himself, not the role.
Meanwhile, Connery as Bond is iconic because his portrayal of 007 became considered a brilliant interpretation of the literary figure. Ditto the posters who reviewed Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara.
When I read the original post, these were the 3 cinematic examples which immediately sprung to mind.
At a push, I'd also include Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep.
It's an interesting topic. I fear it could easily upset some people. Nice posts from lots of members.
I'm not sure that I'd agree that an actor has to be playing a previously existing character before their performance in a role can qualify as 'iconic'.
In DH #1, #2 and #3, certainly.
Imho, even in #4.
By #5, a hopelessly bland film, McClane has lost all of his original McClane-ness and Willis plays him, for bucks, as if he was any standard-issue hardass approaching his pension.
The original 'Die Hard' is a great, ground-breaking movie, a genre hybrid (the Western meets 'Towering Inferno') which ends up surpassing genre. It proved highly influential (including, briefly, on Bond).
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Many iconic roles mentioned, but surprising nobody has mentioned Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone.
See my list
Whoops! My apologies.
A great call.
Maybe add Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, a rising star in #1 who, by #2, has degenerated into an embodiment of American tragedy, a depressed and hollow man. It's a pity that Francis Ford Coppola was overruled by Paramount when he wanted to name the flawed #3 'The Death Of Michael Corleone'.
But it's as Tony Montana that Pacino is truly iconic. Brian De Palma's 'Scarface' (1983) is a movie vaunted and valourised by gangstas and would-be gangstas, who apparently watch it repeatedly.
For me, De Palma's other great film is 'Carrie' (1976), making a horror icon of Sissy Spacek, who will be forever associated with that one-off role. (Kimberly Peirce's 2013 remake with Chloe Grace Moretz is rather pointless.)
Movie icons often have iconic moments, captured in publicity images and posters. For Pacino's Tony Montano there's the action image of him inviting us to "Say hello to my little friend!" and, for Spacek's Carrie, there's the image of her standing in front of the inferno she's created, hands posed in the expressionistic style of Nosferatu, her prom dress drenched in blood (symbolic of menstruation).
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Comments
Jackman as Wolverine
Lynda Carter-Wonder Woman
Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty
Burt Reynolds as the Bandit.
Robert Shaw as Quint in Jaws
Jim Parsons as Dr. Sheldon Cooper
Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman
Peter Cushing - Baron Frankenstein and Van Helsing
Max Schreck - Nosferatu
Roger Moore - James Bond
Marlon Brando - Don Vito Corleone
Liza Minnelli - Sally Bowles
Sylvester Stallone - Rocky Balboa
Anthony Hopkins - Hannibal Lecter
Harrison Ford - Indiana Jones and Han Solo
Christopher Reeve - Superman
Clint Eastwood - Man With No Name
Sigourney Weaver - Ellen Ripley
Matt Damon - Jason Bourne
William Shatner - Captain Kirk
Basil Rathbone - Sherlock Holmes (Rathbone's image and portrayal is iconic, but Jeremy Brett will always be Holmes for me)
Well, you did set the bar high in your question! It's hard to think of many. The only one I can think of is Desmond Llewelyn as Q.
(I'm aware I'm not being very sympatic here, but it seems wrong to just nod and agree to anything.)
If people have opinion about my suggestions too, that's okay, even though I may disagre and express it.
That being said I should probably have phrased my comments about the Blade suggestion in a better way.
I don't put Iron Man quite up there myself; but a lot of people have now grown up with him as Stark, and it was a damned good and very fresh performance across a whole slew of movies. And in fact you could even say that one original performance got the whole MCU thing going and off to a flying start, so I think he'd have to be up there.
I'd probably even say that if you're going for people I'd say who are properly iconic casting for superheroes it'd be only him and Christopher Reeve making the list. Maybe Chadwick Boseman, but that would be more for the culture around the film rather than the performance itself, good though it was.
Funnily enough, even after all of the countless attempts we've seen, I don't think anyone has really made Batman their own: there's no Connery of Batman. Bale would probably be closest I guess but I don't he shaped it to himself particularly.
I think if you're going for TV, as good as he was, there are so many others I'd put over him for that. David Jason as Delboy, Cleese as Fawlty, Thaw as Morse, Falk as Columbo, Rigg as Mrs Peel, Tom Baker as Doctor Who, Hickman as Marple, Guinness as Smiley, Cumberbatch and Brett as Holmes etc.
Usually if the original interpretation was memorable, any attempt at a remake must either replicate (which is pointless) or go against type (which usually doesnt work). A bit like the challenge of a musician trying to cover a classic recording.
Basil Rathbone is a really good example of an iconic portrayal, in a number of ways.
Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes eighty odd years ago, the characters been portrayed by dozens (hundreds?) of actors since, yet Rathbone is still the definitive portrayal. Certainly not Downey or Cumberbatch even if they're most recent.
And there were Sherlock Holmeses onscreen before Rathbone no one remembers. And the character was an adaptation, first visualised by those Sidney Paget drawings. Yet we all know Sherlock Holmes looks and acts like Rathbone.
I bet people who've never even seen an actual Rathbone film know Sherlock Holmes certainly doesnt look like Tony Stark.
I wouldn’t count Q in that. It was a fun performance but it’s not one of the most iconic in cinema: it’s a fun little comedy character.
I think it’s debatable as to whether he acts like Holmes all of the time, but regardless he’s certainly an iconic Holmes. But I’d say he shares that with Cumberbatch and Brett: they’re the big three who owned the role and are most associated with it.
See my list
Timothy Dalton-Rhett Butler, the definitive version
-{ -{ -{ Completely agree!
And one more: Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. I can't see anyone ever topping his interpretation.
Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara is still considered by a lot of movie people (and movie buffs) as the culmination/triumph of the greatest casting search in history.
Or how about Humphrey Bogart (known previously for playing likable lightweights) in THE MALTESE FALCON?
I also think there's a lot of apples and oranges in the suggestions. To me there's a BIG difference between the question of whether a role made an actor a star and whether an actor made a character iconic in a way that endures and influences other films and series (and pop culture in general).
Rathbone will ALWAYS be Holmes for me...I’ve seen many different interpretations of Holmes over the years but no one comes close to Rathbone...although I do enjoy Sherlock as portrayed by Jonny Lee Miller ;%
It’s always Rathbone’s voice I hear when reading any of the myriad Sherlock Holmes novels -{
Whoops! My apologies.
If a part is created specifically for the screen, it surely can't be an "iconic" performance.
I assume the word is used instead of the actor themselves or of a perceived "genre role" (eg. Clint Eastwood as The Man with no Name / Joe ).
That, to me, doesn't make those portraits truly iconic. In fact, it is only retrospectively we see them as iconic, as other roles define & redefine an actor's career & we appreciate what we've already seen. So Eastwood's Man with No Name is iconic of himself, not the role.
Meanwhile, Connery as Bond is iconic because his portrayal of 007 became considered a brilliant interpretation of the literary figure. Ditto the posters who reviewed Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara.
When I read the original post, these were the 3 cinematic examples which immediately sprung to mind.
At a push, I'd also include Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep.
It's an interesting topic. I fear it could easily upset some people. Nice posts from lots of members.
Good one.
In DH #1, #2 and #3, certainly.
Imho, even in #4.
By #5, a hopelessly bland film, McClane has lost all of his original McClane-ness and Willis plays him, for bucks, as if he was any standard-issue hardass approaching his pension.
The original 'Die Hard' is a great, ground-breaking movie, a genre hybrid (the Western meets 'Towering Inferno') which ends up surpassing genre. It proved highly influential (including, briefly, on Bond).
A great call.
Maybe add Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, a rising star in #1 who, by #2, has degenerated into an embodiment of American tragedy, a depressed and hollow man. It's a pity that Francis Ford Coppola was overruled by Paramount when he wanted to name the flawed #3 'The Death Of Michael Corleone'.
But it's as Tony Montana that Pacino is truly iconic. Brian De Palma's 'Scarface' (1983) is a movie vaunted and valourised by gangstas and would-be gangstas, who apparently watch it repeatedly.
For me, De Palma's other great film is 'Carrie' (1976), making a horror icon of Sissy Spacek, who will be forever associated with that one-off role. (Kimberly Peirce's 2013 remake with Chloe Grace Moretz is rather pointless.)
Movie icons often have iconic moments, captured in publicity images and posters. For Pacino's Tony Montano there's the action image of him inviting us to "Say hello to my little friend!" and, for Spacek's Carrie, there's the image of her standing in front of the inferno she's created, hands posed in the expressionistic style of Nosferatu, her prom dress drenched in blood (symbolic of menstruation).
‘Iconic’ doesn’t suggest that at all, no.