Typecasting--Not

In spite of a perceived affection for the familiar, audiences are often eager for their favorite actors to change their spots and try something different.

The most recent example is Tom Hanks. Critics and moviegoers have embraced his performance as a taciturn hit man in “Road to Perdition.” In just two weeks, the downbeat morality tale has earned more than $47 million.

Harrison Ford had less luck with his new film, the submarine thriller “K-19: The Widowmaker,” which eked out a disappointing $12.8 million its opening weekend. Ford’s fans, it seems, couldn’t buy Han Solo and Indiana Jones as a dour Russian submarine commander, although they had been willing to accept him as a homicidal husband two years ago in “What Lies Beneath.”

Actors--let’s make that stars--try an about-face of their usual screen images for various reasons. They want to stretch as actors and break out of what they perceive as a stereotype. Dramatic actors like to try their hand at comedy, such as Emma Thompson in “Junior” (1994). Comedic actors often try to shift their focus to drama, such as Jim Carrey in “The Truman Show” (1998). Action star Arnold Schwarzenegger proved he could tickle funny bones in “Twins” (1988) and “Kindergarten Cop” (1990).

When careers start to wane, performers often look for ways to remake their images in hopes of giving their careers a boost. In other circumstances, a director or producer often likes to cast against type. Director Billy Wilder was exceptionally astute in bringing out different aspects of an actor’s personality, for example, casting good guy Fred MacMurray as the murdering insurance agent in “Double Indemnity” (1944) and as the womanizing heel in “The Apartment” (1960). Wilder took Ray Milland, best known for his comedic roles, and cast him in his Oscar-winning part as the dipsomaniac in “The Lost Weekend” (1945).

In reviews of “Road to Perdition,” critics have observed that Hanks is following in the career footsteps of Jimmy Stewart, who made his film debut in 1935. Stewart made his mark before World War II playing boy-next-door, aw-shucks types in Frank Capra’s “You Can’t Take It With You” (1938) and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939) and in his Oscar-winning role in “The Philadelphia Story” (1940). His fans, though, tend to forget that he played murderers in two films from 1936--”After the Thin Man” and “Rose Marie.”

Stewart left Hollywood at 34 to fight in World War II and came back three years later. Not only had he aged during his years in combat, his persona had a world-weary quality. The boy-next-door was gone and his film roles reflected that. Even in the Capra holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” from 1946, his character of George Bailey is at the brink of despair and contemplates suicide. Darker roles followed in the late ‘40s, including the Alfred Hitchcock murder mystery “Rope” (1948).

But it was really in the 1950s that the edgier, hardened Stewart image blossomed. Teaming up in 1950 with director Anthony Mann for “Winchester ‘73,” the two made a series of gritty westerns in which Stewart played an uneasy protagonist. And that image was further enhanced by Hitchcock, who cast Stewart in two of his best films from the ‘50s: “Rear Window” (1954) and “Vertigo” (1958). Especially with “Vertigo,” it is difficult to believe that the obsessed police detective is the same man who played the naive young senator in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

Like Stewart, Jack Lemmon began his film career with light, airy comedies such as “It Should Happen to You” and “Pffft” (both 1954), winning his first Oscar for “Mister Roberts” (1955) for his supporting performance as the ambitious young Ensign Pulver.

It wasn’t until the 1960 Oscar-winning Wilder comedy “The Apartment” that he got his real chance to show off his dramatic chops in the cynical, dark comedy about a young man desperate to climb the corporate ladder. Audiences and critics admired the darker side to Lemmon’s breezy screen personality.

Two years later, he received a best actor nomination for his raw performance as a young alcoholic in Blake Edwards’ unflinching “The Days of Wine and Roses.” The movie put Lemmon on the map as a dramatic actor, and 11 years later he won his second Oscar--this time for best actor--as a desperate garment manufacturer in “Save the Tiger.” Though he continued to star in numerous comedies until his death last year, Lemmon is often best remembered for his dramatic turns in these films as well as in “Missing” (1982) and “The China Syndrome” (1979).

Everybody gets bored at some time or another with their jobs. Even actors. They feel they are in a rut and want to try something different. But often, actors choose the wrong time or the wrong vehicle. And fans don’t always want to see their favorites playing against type.

Clark Gable was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood--the king of the MGM lot--known for his comedic flair in “It Happened One Night” (1934), for which he won his only Oscar, and playing he-men in such films as “Manhattan Melodrama” (1934) and “Mutiny on the Bounty” (1935).

Perhaps being the “king” of the box office gave Gable a swelled head. Why else would he have starred in the 1937 film “Parnell”? The macho Gable seemed out of place in this bloated melodrama as Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell, who struggled to gain independence for his country from England. The film was Gable’s biggest financial disaster and he vowed never to do a period piece again or an Irish accent for that matter. Thanks to the prodding of MGM, he did play Rhett Butler two years later in “Gone With the Wind,” but Gable never again attempted a role so out of his league.

Tyrone Power was another one of Hollywood’s major box-office stars. After his first starring role in “Lloyd’s of London” (1936), he was a dependable, handsome leading man who starred in everything from dashing period pieces such as “The Mark of Zorro” (1940) to Sonja Henie ice-skating musicals such as “Thin Ice” (1937) to melodramas such as “The Rains Came” (1939).

Returning to Hollywood after serving in World War II, Power immediately starred in two box-office hits, the 1946 drama “The Razor’s Edge” and the 1947 swashbuckler “Captain From Castile.” Both films didn’t stray much from Power’s prewar persona.

But audiences stayed away in droves when he did “Nightmare Alley,” also released in 1947. Fans didn’t want to see their wholesome idol play a heel in this gritty film noir. It was their loss. Power arguably gives his best performance in this drama as a conniving young man working in a carnival who stops at nothing to achieve success. The final scene in the film in which he is reduced to playing a geek in the carny sideshow was just too much for postwar audiences to take.

With the failure of “Nightmare Alley,” Power returned to roles audiences were more comfortable seeing him in. It wasn’t until “Witness for the Prosecution” (1957) that Power was able to parlay his good looks and charm into an evil character.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences loves it when actors change their spots. Hanks won his first Oscar playing a young lawyer dying of AIDS in “Philadelphia” (1993). Ginger Rogers and Grace Kelly received Oscars for changing things up. In Rogers’ case, she spent most of the 1930s as the delectable partner of Fred Astaire in a series of seminal movie musicals for RKO such as “The Gay Divorcee,” “Swing Time” and “Top Hat.” And when she wasn’t dancing the continental with Astaire, Rogers was starring in a series of sparkling romantic comedies such as “Vivacious Lady” (1938) and “Bachelor Mother” (1939).

When Rogers and Astaire parted company after 1939’s “The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle,” Rogers darkened her long blond locks and went dramatic in “Kitty Foyle” (1940), playing an unwed mother. She so impressed academy members with her change-of-pace role that she won the best actress Oscar, beating out such favorites as Joan Fontaine in “Rebecca,” Katharine Hepburn in “The Philadelphia Story” and Bette Davis in “The Letter.”

Although she had only been in films for three years, Grace Kelly was the epitome of sophistication and glamour in such films as “Rear Window.” But she deglamorized herself for “The Country Girl” (1954), playing the long-suffering, bitter wife of an alcoholic singer (Bing Crosby, who also changed his spots for this role). Transforming herself into a rather dowdy woman, Kelly won her only Oscar, beating out the favorite, Judy Garland, in “A Star Is Born.”

Contemporary stars have had a mixed report card when it comes to tackling different parts. Bill Murray was miscast in the vapid 1984 remake of “The Razor’s Edge.” Murray essayed the Tyrone Power role of an altruistic young man trying to find himself between the two World Wars. Though it was supposed to be a drama, Murray played everything with a smirk and a grin. The film tanked, and Murray has never attempted another straight dramatic role.

Steve Martin had a starring role in just one film, “The Jerk” (1979), when he was cast in the downbeat Depression-era drama with music, “Pennies From Heaven” (1981). Audiences didn’t want to see the “wild and crazy guy” from “Saturday Night Live” playing a two-timing salesman accused of murder. Seventeen years later, though, Martin found the perfect vehicle to show off his dramatic side, playing a mysterious executive in David Mamet’s enigmatic “The Spanish Prisoner.”

Jim Carrey has endured a bumpy road trying to make the transition from comedic genius to dramatic star. He won the Golden Globe and the hearts of critics and fans with “The Truman Show” (1998). Under director Peter Weir’s guidance, he was able to transform his often out-of-control antics into a more dramatic style. But he hasn’t had much luck since then. He won the Golden Globe playing the iconoclastic comic Andy Kaufman in “The Man in the Moon” (1999), but audiences stayed away, as they did for last year’s “The Majestic,” in which he gave it his Jimmy Stewart best in the languid melodrama that was part fable, part blacklist expose.

Sometimes an image makeover is just the ticket for a flagging career. Frank Sinatra, for example, was one of the biggest recording artists and movie stars during the 1940s, starring in one hit musical after another, such as “Anchors Aweigh” (1945) and “On the Town” (1949). But both his singing and acting career began to wane in the early 1950s. He left MGM and made a few forgettable films at other studios, such as “Meet Danny Wilson” (1952) and “Double Dynamite” (1951).

Sinatra’s luck changed when he landed the role of the doomed Italian American soldier Maggio in “From Here to Eternity” (1953). He won the Oscar for best supporting actor and found himself one of the top dramatic actors in Hollywood. The following year he played an assassin in the cult film “Suddenly” and received another Oscar nomination for his gritty turn as a heroin addict in the 1955 film “The Man With the Golden Arm.” Thereafter, Sinatra was better able to work in different genres.