Character actors.

I'm not sure if I'm using the proper term but I'm thinking of actors who are famous for playing a certain character, who really embodied a certain character. Here's a couple of examples.

Barney Fife by Don Knotts. If I see a movie with Don Knotts in it I don' think 'This movie has Don Knotts in it' I think 'this movie has Barney Fife in it.' Everyone thinks of Knotts as Barney.

The Harry Potter movies has a large proportion of actors who play the character to a T. The most obvious is Alan Rickman as Snape. But it's also true of the folks who play Hagrid, McGonagall, Filch, Neville, Ron, Draco, and Lucius. It's a little early to tell but I think they've struck gold with Voldemort, too. I think the girl who's been cast as Luna at least certainly looks just my image of Luna.

I think Ian Holm, Ian McKellan, and Christopher Lee in the LOTR movies played their parts so well. They were exactly how I pictured Bilbo, Gandalf, and Sauraman when I read the books. Granted, occasionally their parts weren't written correctly but they still carried the personality off perfectly.

Then there are really fun animated characters who are drawn with every twitch exhibiting personality. Scrat is my personal favorite. The Beast from the Beauty and the Beast has more personality than dozens of more sophisticated, CG characters.

I need to go eat lunch. More later, hopefully!