This will probably reveal to all just how stupid I am, but, hey, you all have to learn sometime...
I was watching Perry Mason today and a familiar face popped up. "Hey," I said, "That's Lee Marvin! (http://imdb.com/name/nm0001511/)"
Except it wasn't.
It was James Coburn. (http://imdb.com/name/nm0000336/)
This is not the first time I've confuse Coburn for Marvin. this won't be the last time.
What I can't understand is why I keep doing that! They look nothing alike. They don't even sound alike! What in the wide, wide world of sports am I thinking of?
Anyone else have this problem?
yep, I've seen them both in a number of films and can understand your difficulty. It took a monumental journey into the Western genre to recognize the difference between James Colburn and Lee Marvin. Lee Marvin can also be confused with Anthony Quinn like in the movie THE WILD ONE.
These are the four actors that I have had trouble recognizing the difference Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, Dean Martin, and Robert Mitchum. Though again I'm much better at it due to the Western marathon during the last year.
Though I've never mistaken these to I have recognized the likeness of both Jim Carey and Bruce Campbell. Maybe they should do a movie together.
They both play the same kind of character in the same kind of movies. (rugged hero in Western or War movie)
I have never confused Coburn with Marvin. I think their both good looking..Coburn especially. Has anyone ever seen Waterhole No. 3 with James Coburn? It is an ok western starring Coburn.
I used to confuse Jack Palance and Cameron Mitchell, but I don't have any problem telling them apart now.
I have also had problems with Henry Silva and Dan Hedaya a few times (maybe because they are both character actors who have played many similar roles).
I saw Coburn in an interview when "Hudson Hawk" came out where he joked about how popular he still was in Japan. He said when he would go there, he couldn't walk down the street without people recognizing him and saying his name, "Lee Marvin! Lee Marvin!"
For some reason I used to get Peter Cook and Peter Finch mixed up.
I also mistake director Peter Hyams for actor Peter Boyle sometimes.
even tho they don't look alike to me i've always mixed up robert deniro and al pacino
for years i also thought clint howard was chacka from 'land of the lost', but that's another story.....
Post Edited (11-05-03 21:02)
>for years i also thought clint howard was chacka from 'land of the lost', but that's
>another story.....
That's an insult, to Chakka! :)
Before they became more well known, I used to confuse Neve Campbell and Holly Marie Combs. Also, David Schimmer and David Duchovny.
Great topic!
I have a picture up at work of me with John Goodman. Most people get who it is, but a significant minority think that it's Norm from Cheers!! One lady even thought it was Rush Limbaugh(!?!?).
I often confuse Susan Sarandon with another actress whose name just slipped away -- damn!
There's an actress on the TV show The Practice who is so similar to another actress who was fired from West Wing and who now resides at CSI Miami. What is this trouble with names I'm having right now?
In the silent days, much of this confusion was intentional, as a good character was expected to be imitated & ripped off. Charlie Chase and Harry Langdon both started out as Stan Laurel imitators until they found their own "voice".
peter johnson
You think that's bad for the longest time I would get Keith David and David Keith mixed up. This irritated me since not only do they not look alike, they're not even the same race!
I used to get Dennis Quaid and Randy Quaid mixed up.
I used to confuse Ian McKellen and John Neville. I guess they're both droopy-faced old English gentlemen with slightly similar voices, but they aren't that much alike. Can't think why I couldn't keep them straight.
I have problems distinguishing The Baldwins
FearlessFreep wrote:
> I have problems distinguishing The Baldwins
Who doesn't?
Also bill maher and Craig Wasson always looked alike to me. I used to have an interest in celebrities who looked like eachother where I started to put it on my website but I never kept up with it (even tho i periodically get people who submit possible entries) I keep saying one of these days I'll expand it and add more but I never do.
For the curious:
lookalikes (http://www.geocities.com/smvgrey/deadringers.html)
The Baldwins are easy to tell apart:
Alec - the pretentious overly serious one, If it's a mainstream movie or an SNL episode, it's him.
Daniel - the fat crackhead one. If it's a really horrible movie ("Harley Davidson And The Marlboro Man, Active Stealth")or an old episode of "Homicide" it's him.
Stephen - the stupid goofy one with blonde hair. If the movie (Bio-Dome, those TBN funded end times movies he turns up in, etc.)is worse than a Daniel Baldwin movie or if it's his one really great movie "The Usual Suspects" it's him.
Billy - the bland one left over by the process of elimnation. The Zeppo Marx of the Baldwins, then again this goober is married to China Phillips, the hot blond from Wilson Phillips.
The Baldwins are easy to tell apart:
Alec ....
Daniel ....
Stephen ....
Billy .....
Why did I just get the feeing I was reading the plot origination story for "Multiplicity"?
I have often been baffled by the difference between Mary Kate and Ashley.
I don't think mary kate and ashley are identical twins - but fraternal.
I loved the gunfight. Coburn and the guy he's in the showdown with are walking to their opposite ends of the street. Coburn walks around his horse , takes his rifle from the sheath and shoots the guy. I have always maintained that this is the most realistic gunfight in any movie. Carol O'Connor was quite good in it too.
I always mixed up Jon Favreau & Jeremy Piven for some reason.
They both star in PCU.
When they were both younger, I used to mix up Dennis Quaid and Anthony Edwards (think Dreamscape & Gotcha).
Here's another two: Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton. There's no real reason for it (and, in truth, it's not as big a problem as the Corburn/Marvin thing), but every now and then...
Is Bill Maher really Craig Wasson?
That was Lee Marvin, wasn't it? heh heh
Maybe theres a movie with BOTH of them!
-Ed
I got the same problem with David Niven and Alec Guiness.
Always thought David Niven played the lead part in River Kwai. Not so, clearly...
How do these ancient threads get resurrected?
This one's almost a year old! I found that I replyed to this last year -- it's like opening a time capsule . . .
That being said, I recall a story told by Charlton Heston:
It seems that Heston was walking near his home in Beverly Hills, when a woman stopped him on the street.
"Oh, I just have to say that I loved you in Spartacus!," she said, "And I just love your oldest boy's work, and think that wife of his, Katherine Zeta-Jones, is just the cutest thing . . .". She goes on like this for a few minutes, then Heston stops her:
"Ma'm, I'm really sorry, but I think you have me confused with someone else!"
The woman gets taken aback, then says, very offended: "Well, if you ain't Burt Lancaster, then who the hell are you?"
peter johnson/denny crane
Samuel L. Jackson and Lawrence Fishbourne!! I never know who has been in what movie.
-Ed
Dont know if anyone is still here or not.....but i used to get bill paxton and dennis quaid mixed up. I sometimes still do when im thinking about their movies. Does anyone else?
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Liam Neeson and Ralph Feinnes, I think it's just because they were both in Schindler's List and I didn't know who was playing who. I guess they look kind of the same, but if they always talked with their own accents i could tell because Liam Neeson is Irish and Ralph Feinnes is English.
Also in Dawn of the Dead(original) one of the characters, I think his name was Steve, looks a lot like Mr. Rhodes from Married With Children.