Roles: Actors to Role

This page is about characters that have been played in films (and/or television, in some cases) by more than one actor. Some of the characters are real people.

Please note that in the interests of succinctness, I use the term 'actor' to include both male and female actors.

Where the titles of the films are not given, this usually means that to give the titles of the films would give away the answer. In most cases, the titles are either all the same or they include the name of the character.

Michael Caine (1966), Alan Price (1975 sequel), Jude Law (2004 remake)		Alfie (Elkins)
Greer Garson (1940), Keira Knightley (2005), Lily James (2009, in a comedy–horror parody with zombies)		Elizabeth Bennet
Roy Rogers (... Returns, 1938), Paul Newman (The Left Handed Gun, 1958), Kris Kristofferson (Pat Garrett and ..., 1973), Emilio Estevez (Young Guns 1988, and Young Guns II 1990), Val Kilmer (Gore Vidal's ..., 1989) – among many others		Billy the Kid
Charles Laughton (1935), Trevor Howard (1962), Anthony Hopkins (1984)		Captain William Bligh
Donald Pleasance (You Only Live Twice, 1967), Telly Savalas (On Her Majesty's Secret Service, 1969), Charles Gray (Diamonds are Forever, 1971), Max Von Sydow (Never Say Never Again, 1981 – "unofficial") (Bond villain)		Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Claude Rains (in Hearts Divided, 1936), Herbert Lom (War and Peace, 1936), Ian Holm (three times, once on TV and twice on film – including Time Bandits 1981), Rod Steiger (Waterloo, 1970), Kenneth Haigh (Eagle in a Cage, 1972), David Swift (War and Peace, TV 1972)		Napoleon Bonaparte
Jane Russell (opposite Bob Hope in The Paleface, 1948), Doris Day (eponymously, 1953); Ellen Barkin (opposite Jeff Bridges in Wild Bill, 1995)		Calamity Jane
Paul Muni (Scarface, 1932), Rod Steiger (eponymous, 1959), Jason Robards (The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, 1967), Robert de Niro (The Untouchables, 1987); the character played by Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar (1931) – his breakthrough role – is often said to be based on the same real–life person		Al Capone
Halle Berry (Catwoman, 2004), Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns, 1992)		Catwoman
Clark Gable (1935), Marlon Brando (1962), Mel Gibson (1984)		Fletcher Christian
Richard Attenborough (1971), and Tim Roth in a 2016 BBC1 television mini–series		John Reginald Christie
Peter Sellers (5 films plus one compilation, 1963–82); Alan Arkin (1968); Roger Moore (1983); Roberto Benigni (1993); Steve Martin (2006, 2009)		Inspector Clouseau
Joel McCrea (title character, 1944), Charlton Heston (Pony Express, 1953), Paul Newman ( ... and the Indians, 1976)		Buffalo Bill Cody
Ronald Reagan (Santa Fe Trail, 1940), Errol Flynn (They Died With Their Boots On, 1941), Philip Carey (The Great Sioux Massacre, 1965), Robert Shaw (Custer of the West, 1967), Richard Mulligan (Little Big Man, 1970)		General George Armstrong Custer
Fay Wray (1933), Naomi Watts (2005) – in King Kong. (In the 1976 version, the equivalent character is called Dwan and played by Jessica Lange in her first film role)		Ann Darrow
Sam Neill (Omen III: The Final Conflict, 1981); Tim Curry (Legend, 1985); Robert de Niro (Angel Heart, 1987); Jack Nicholson (The Witches of Eastwick, 1987); Gabriel Byrne (End of Days, 1999); Peter Fonda (Ghost Rider, 2007); also Walter Huston (1941) and Al Pacino (1997), in films where the character was named in the titles		The Devil
Rex Harrison (1967), Eddie Murphy (1998 and 2001)		Dr. Dolittle
Herbert Lom (7 films, 1964–93); Kevin Kline (2006); John Cleese (2009)		Inspector Dreyfus
Richard Harris and Michael Gambon (in the Harry Potter films – Gambon took over the role after Harris' death)		Professor Dumbledore
Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw (2007 – all in the same film!)		Bob Dylan
Henry Fonda (My Darling Clementine, 1946), Burt Lancaster (Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, 1957), James Stewart (Cheyenne Autumn, 1964), James Garner (Hour of the Gun, 1967), Kevin Costner (1994 biopic)		Wyatt Earp
Bette Davis (The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, 1939), Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love, 1998), Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth, 1998); also Helen Mirren in a 2005 TV miniseries		Queen Elizabeth I
Lon Chaney (1922), Alec Guinness (1948), Ron Moody (1968)		Fagin
Ronald Colman (1927), Gary Cooper (1939), Guy Stockwell (1966)		Beau Geste
George Burns (Oh God!, 1977), Morgan Freeman (Bruce Almighty, 2003, and sequel Evan Almighty 2007), Alanis Morissette (Dogma, 1999)		God
Private investigator: played by Biff Elliot in I, the Jury (1953), Robert Aldrich in Kiss me Deadly (1955), Robert Bray in My Gun is Quick (1957), Armand Assante in a 1982 remake of I, the Jury, and by his creator in The Girl Hunters (1963)		Mike Hammer
Robert Donat (1935), Kenneth More (1953), Robert Powell (1978)		Richard Hannay
Laurence Olivier (1939), Timothy Dalton (1970), Ralph Fiennes (1992)		Heathcliff
Charles Laughton (The Private Life of ..., 1933), Robert Shaw (A Man for All Seasons, 1966), Richard Burton (Anne of the Thousand Days, 1969), Keith Michell (TV, 1970), Ray Winstone (TV, 2003)		Henry VIII
Errol Flynn (1938), Richard Todd (1952), Kevin Costner (1991); Sean Connery (in Robin and Marian, 1976), Russell Crowe (2010); also by Richard Greene in the ATV series (1955–59), and Jason Connery in Robin of Sherwood (TV, 1986 – 3rd series)		Robin Hood
James Mason (1962), Jeremy Irons (1997)		Humbert Humbert
Cesar Romero (on television, in the 1960s) and in films by Jack Nicholson (1989), Heath Ledger (2008), and Joaquin Phoenix (2019)		The Joker
Mick Jagger (1970), Heath Ledger (2003)		Ned Kelly
Played by Joel McCrea in one film (1937) and Lew Ayres in nine (1938–42) – later by Richard Chamberlain on TV		Dr. Kildare
Glenn Campbell (1969), Matt Damon (2010) – in True Grit		La Boeuf
Orson Welles (1967), Mads Mikkelsen (2006) – in Casino Royale		Le Chiffre
Brian Cox (1986), Anthony Hopkins (1991, 2001, 2002), Gaspard Ulliel (2007 prequel, as a young man)		Hannibal Lecter
Gene Hackman (3 films, 1978–87), Kevin Spacey (2006), Jesse Eisenberg (2016) – comic book character		Lex Luthor
Bernard Lee, Robert Brown, Judi Dench (a role or position – not a single character)		M (Bond films)
Humphrey Bogart (The Big Sleep, 1946), Robert Montgomery (Lady in the Lake, 1947), George Montgomery (The Brasher Doubloon, 1947 – released in the UK as The High Window), James Garner (eponymous, 1967 – based on the novel The Little Sister), Elliot Gould (The Long Goodbye, 1973), Robert Mitchum (Farewell My Lovely 1975, The Big Sleep 1978), Danny Glover, James Caan; also played on radio by Dick Powell (1945) and on TV by James Caan (Poodle Springs, 1998)		Philip Marlowe
Title character played by Danny Kaye in 1947 and Ben Stiller in a 2004 remake		Walter Mitty
Mexican entertainer Cantinflas (1956, opposite David Niven), Jackie Chan (2004, opposite Steve Coogan)		Passepartout
Tony Randall (The Alphabet Murders, 1965), Albert Finney (Murder on the Orient Express, 1974), Peter Ustinov (Death on the Nile 1978, and two more films – also in 3 made–for–TV films); also on TV by David Suchet		Hercule Poirot
Lon Chaney (1923), Charles Laughton (1939), Anthony Hopkins (1982); voiced by Tom Hulce (Disney, 1996)		Quasimodo
Christopher Lee (1966, when he was the title character); Tom Baker (in Nicholas and Alexandra, 1971 – his first major film role)		Grigori Rasputin
Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October (1990), Harrison Ford in Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), Ben Affleck in The Sum of All Fears (2002), Chris Pine in Shadow Recruit (2014)		Jack Ryan
Alastair Sim (Scrooge, 1951), Albert Finney (Scrooge, 1970), Bill Murray (Scrooged, 1988), Michael Caine (The Muppet Christmas Carol, 1992)		Scrooge
Richard Roundtree (1971), Samuel L. Jackson (2000)		Shaft
Laurence Naismith (A Night to Remember, 1958), Bernard Hill (Titanic, 1997)		Capt. E. J. Smith
Christopher Reeve (4 films, 1978–87); Brandon Routh (2006); Henry Cavill (4 films, 2013–21)		Superman
Chief Thundercloud (1938, 1939), Jay Silverheels (television, 1949–57), Johnny Depp (2013)		Tonto
Peter Cushing (1958–74), Nigel Davenport (1973), Frank Finlay (BBC TV, 1977), Laurence Olivier (1979), Anthony Hopkins (1992), Christopher Plummer (2000), Hugh Jackman (2004), David Suchet (Granada TV, 2006)		Professor Abraham van Helsing
Peter Finch (The Trials of …, 1960); Stephen Fry (Wilde, 1997)		Oscar Wilde

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23