Movie Trivia: Actors Appearing in 2+ Trilogies

[grodney]

Apparently this is a real (short) film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0354351/

Which kinda gives Chevy Chase (Vacation) entrance into the club.

I doubt the Fletch prequel "Fletch Won" will really be released this year, and I doubt it will have Chevy in it, but it might:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275354/

[dmmx3]

I've been waiting for this movie to come out for ~5 years. I really don't think it will ever come out. And if it does, it really isn't Fletch anyway without the original Fletch.

[LarryZ]

Kane Hodder was in Friday the 13th 7-10 and also in House 1, 2 and 4.

[Bill]

Robbie Coltrane <snip> did some movie called Henry V, but I can't find the first four films of that series.

Funny.

Of course, the play that the film is based on is the last play in a tetralogy.

And that tetralogy was a prequel to another tetralogy. (Like the later Star Wars trilogy was a prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy.)

Can anyone name a character that was in all four plays in one of the tetralogies?

No more takers on this one?

[Ken Jennings]

I actually thought a lot about this but couldn't come up with it. A little Internet research makes it look like both my best guesses were wrong (Edward IV doesn't seem to be in Henry VI Part 1 and Mistress Quickly isn't in Richard II) so I'm stumped.

[Rex Kramer]

The original poster suggested we might beat 11; so far we're up to 26 (29, if you count the three iffy actors):

Harrison Ford: Star Wars (3); Indiana Jones (4)
Clint Eastwood: Dollars Films (3); Dirty Harry (5)
Talia Shire: Rocky (5), Godfather (3)
Sylvester Stallone: Rocky (6), Rambo (4)
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Conan (3, counting Kalidor in Red Sonja), Terminator (3)
Orlando Bloom is in LotR and Pirates.
Hugo Weaving is in LotR and Matrix.
Ian McKellen is in LotR and X-Men.
Warwick Davis: Harry Potter (6) Leprechaun (6, including a few direct to video)
Mike Myers - Shrek & Austin Powers
Eddie Murphy - Shrek & Beverly Hills Cop
Matt Damon in Bourne and Oceans.
Mel Gibson - Mad max and Lethal weapon
Michael J. Fox (BttF and Stuart Little).
Patrick Stewart -- X-Men and Star Trek.
George Kennedy (Airport and The Naked Gun).
Christopher Lee for Dracula and . . . Star Wars II, III & Clone Wars?
George Sanders was in the Saint and Falcon movies.
William Powell was in the Thin Man and Philo Vance movies.
Frank Oz for the voice of Yoda in the Star Wars series, and a whole bunch of voices in the Muppets movies
Ann Rutherford was in the "Whistling" movies and the Andy Hardy movies
Mickey rooney in andy hardy and Mickey MacQuire Movies
Sydney Poiter in the Uptown Saturday Night movies and Mr. Tibbs movies
Bruce Campbell has appeared in 3 Evil Dead movies and 3 Spider-Man movies
Michael York (The Three/Four/Return of the Musketeers and the Austin Powers series).
Kane Hodder was in Friday the 13th 7-10 and also in House 1, 2 and 4

Iffy:
Ah, here's a good one that I didn't think of right away: Marc McClure (Superman and Back to the Future). - Edit: IMDb says his BttF 2 scenes were deleted. Wait, really?
Vin Diesel has played Richard Riddick in Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick, and voice acted in the straight to DVD animated Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury. He was also in 3 of the Fast & Furious movies
Apparently this is a real (short) film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0354351/ - Which kinda gives Chevy Chase (Vacation) entrance into the club

Rex

(P.S. -- I thought I had posted this earlier today . . . but maybe I just never finished the message. If I did post it and it was deleted by our fearless leader, my apologies for my persistance.)

[Paucle]

Edit: IMDb says his BttF 2 scenes were deleted. Wait, really?

Rex, even if they were... was his image in the movie? Did Marty ever glance at that family photo? We could maybe use that in a pinch.

[Bill]

I actually thought a lot about this but couldn't come up with it. A little Internet research makes it look like both my best guesses were wrong (Edward IV doesn't seem to be in Henry VI Part 1 and Mistress Quickly isn't in Richard II) so I'm stumped.

Both good guesses, but your research is correct.

The answer I was looking for was Margaret, who has an amazing character arc that spans the four plays of the First Tetralogy, from beautiful young princess, to controlling wife Queen, to evil mother Queen, to withered witch hag.

I also would have accepted her husband, Henry VI, who appears in the three plays that bear his name, and makes a cameo as a ghost in a dream sequence at the end of Richard III. He appears on stage, speaks lines, and even identifies himself as Henry VI. But if you don't want to count that, then Margaret is the sole answer (as far as I know).

There is no character (as far as I know) who appears in all four plays of the Second Tetralogy. But oddly enough, there is one character who appears in both Richard II (the first play) and Henry V (the fourth play). This character does not appear in either Henry IV play between them. Who is that character?

(Warning: This question is much, much harder than it looks. Feel free to use all resources at your disposal.)

[Neel Mehta]

And I don't think we need to be too picky on whether or not something is a true trilogy, as long as the actor is playing essentially the same role.

Looking back at this qualification, the candidacy of Bruce Campbell is called into question. He plays a different role in each Spider-Man film.

Of course, I consider this a failing of the qualification. Spider-Man is a true trilogy, even though Bruce Campbell's characters have no connecting character arc. An example like this was probably not anticipated.

[Dobie]

And I don't think we need to be too picky on whether or not something is a true trilogy, as long as the actor is playing essentially the same role.

Looking back at this qualification, the candidacy of Bruce Campbell is called into question. He plays a different role in each Spider-Man film.

Of course, I consider this a failing of the qualification. Spider-Man is a true trilogy, even though Bruce Campbell's characters have no connecting character arc. An example like this was probably not anticipated.

Bruce Campbell in Spider-man is a special case.

[dmmx3]

And I don't think we need to be too picky on whether or not something is a true trilogy, as long as the actor is playing essentially the same role.

Looking back at this qualification, the candidacy of Bruce Campbell is called into question. He plays a different role in each Spider-Man film.

Of course, I consider this a failing of the qualification. Spider-Man is a true trilogy, even though Bruce Campbell's characters have no connecting character arc. An example like this was probably not anticipated.

Bruce Campbell in Spider-man is a special case.

A special case, to be sure, but I don't think this qualifies. The point was more that the actor plays the same role. The trilogy aspect is not significant, except for the fact that when an actor plays the same role 3+ times, it tends to be in a trilogy.

That said, I wonder if there is anyone like Eugene Greytak (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0340745/), who played a second role multiple times as well. Greytak played The Pope in a handful of completely unrelated movies and TV shows, but doesn't seem to have much else to his (acting) credit(s).

[camillofan]

Okay, it's not much like Gene Greytak, but I thought it was cool when Edward Herrmann played FDR in the movie version of Annie after having played him in the two "Eleanor and Franklin" TV minis 5 years before.

And now that we're tangenting... This topic also made me wonder about actors who might have played the same role (or corresponding roles) in both a film and its remake. For instance, someone's mention of William Powell a page or so ago made me think of Frank McHugh, who played the petty-thief sidekick in One Way Passage (1932) and then again in the 1940 remake Till We Meet Again. One would imagine this happened more than once in old Hollywood, where they were all about the remakes, and I think there is actually another example with McHugh. But are there others?

[silverscreentest]

Does Jeanette Charles belong in this discussion? She's played Queen Elizabeth II in several movies and television shows.

[grodney]

John Cho (Sulu in the new Star Trek) looks to be added, perhaps in 2010, when the 3rd Harold and Kumar movie is made/released, having already been in 3 of the American Pie movies (where he uttered the now-standard-usage "MILF").

He's also been in 3 unrelated "American" movie franchises (Beauty, Pie/Pie2/Wedding, Dreamz), and in a meta movie ("See This Movie").

[Ken Jennings]

John Cho (Sulu in the new Star Trek) looks to be added, perhaps in 2010, when the 3rd Harold and Kumar movie is made/released, having already been in 3 of the American Pie movies (where he uttered the now-standard-usage "MILF").

He's also virtually a lock to have been in three Star Trek movies by 2012 or so. Would he be the world's only three-trilogy man?

[Sequin]

Frankie Faison appeared as Barney the nurse in three of the four recent Hannibal Lecter films (he wasn't in Hannibal Rising), but appeared as a different character in Manhunter, the original Hannibal Lektor film! (I don't know why they changed the spelling either). If they remake Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, maybe he could join the list?

[grodney]

And now that we're tangenting...

Somewhat related and interesting to me is Paul Newman playing Eddie Felson in two films 25 years apart. Other examples of spans anywhere near that long between playing the same character?

[grodney]

Other American Pie/Pie2/Wedding near misses:

Sean William Scott has been in 2 "Ice Age" movies.
Eddie Kaye Thomas was in both Harold & Kumar -- perhaps in the 3rd if/when it happens?
Eugene Levy was in Father of the Bride and II
Jennifer Coolidge (Stifler's Mom) was in Legally Blonde 1 and 2
Including Direct-to-DVD spin-off Band Camp: Chris Owen was in Dorm Daze 1 & 2.

[Dobie]

And now that we're tangenting...

Somewhat related and interesting to me is Paul Newman playing Eddie Felson in two films 25 years apart. Other examples of spans anywhere near that long between playing the same character?

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthuau, 28 years apart.
Anthony Perkins, 23 years apart.

[braggtastic]

Other examples of spans anywhere near that long between playing the same character?

Jack Nicholson as Jake Gittes (26 years)

[RingoOSU]

Harrison Ford 19 years since last Indy movie, but 27 years from the first...and man it was painful.

[grodney]

Those are all good ones.

Women? Probably not near the top, but Jamie Lee Curtis had 10 years between Halloween 4 and Halloween H20, and 24 years total span between the first and the latest. No word of a My Girl 3, so she doesn't make the double-trilogy list.

Edit: Oh geez, Karen Allen at 27 years between appearances in Indy.

[grodney]

Allegedly (according to "the internet"), Police Academy 8 is being made with Steve Guttenberg, which will give him at least 22 years between appearances. Supposedly it will have Kim Cattrell from the first one, and Sharon Stone from the 4th one, giving them huge gaps too, assuming they're playing the same characters.

Also, from the same source, Three Men and a Bride is being made, which will give him the double-trilogy.

If only we could get a Cocoon 3 for the triple-trilogy.

[Dobie]

Carl Reiner, 29 years (Alan Brady).

[Bill]

I guess Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker would qualify for both double-trilogy and large-gap lists as well.