BlueAir Posted June 11, 2014 Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 This is one thing I didn't get,why did they sometimes keep using the same actor playing a different character?One good example is John Santucci.In "Golden Triangle Part 2" he is a CIA agent from Castillos past but 8 episodes later he is a mobster in "Lombard".The same goes with Ned Eisenberg though I will always think of him as Charlie Glide Why did they do this,did they think people wouldn't notice? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators James Posted June 11, 2014 Administrators Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 Well, I didn't notice when I watched the series the first time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Posted June 11, 2014 Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 (edited) Had noticed Ving Rhames in couple episodes(The Maze and Child's Play),at first I thought "wait,did he die in one episode" but for me that actor was always as I say a Miami actor,because most of the movies was made in Miami with him so after time to me it was cool to see pure Miami faces on screen.well at least thats my opinion Edited June 11, 2014 by Victor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinger390X Posted June 11, 2014 Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 (edited) Watching the original episodes on TV back in the 80's, there was time between the said episodes and people, like myself, did not take notice of these things until closer scrutiny....... Michael Mann likes his actors and the ones he likes more got to come back and got another chance to impress him again on the second take. One that I recall (sorry forgot his name) was Sonny's co-worker in the pilot episode opener who got busted at the end for giving info to the bad guys. If you recall Sonny drives the Daytona to the guys house and he asks him to come outside for a chat in the front seat of the Daytona and freaks out on him. In season one the exact same guy has a different name and is a federal cop giving Sonny instruction in a sting operation! It's the same with the drag queen murderer in the pilot which is Izzy. In the season one series Izzy is now the relative of the drag queen who was shot and he is also on the wrong side of the law, but is comic relief for the show now. Same guy...two different characters. Choogotitmang ? Edited June 24, 2014 by Stinger390X 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt5 Posted June 11, 2014 Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 I enjoyed seeing these actors again - many fine actors 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilders Posted June 22, 2014 Report Share Posted June 22, 2014 I love it when they look pretty much identical to their past role Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Hanna Posted September 28, 2014 Report Share Posted September 28, 2014 A lot of shows back in the day just reused actors 'cause people couldn't exactly tell the difference. You couldn't pause and rewind stuff or be able to watch every episode on demand and pick apart little details. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miami Beau Posted February 22, 2022 Report Share Posted February 22, 2022 Hey pals, great topic. The reuse of actors has bugged me on repeat viewings. It happened a lot throughout the 5 seasons. I do understand it was a different time back then and common practice. Compared to Michael Mann’s other TV show Crime Story, the reuse of actors never occurred. I recently published a new analysis video on this topic for my YouTube channel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedDragon86 Posted February 22, 2022 Report Share Posted February 22, 2022 They reused this guy seen here in the pilot 4 more times, maybe more. Brothers Keeper-Glades-Walk Alone-Viking Bikers-Contempt of Court. Maybe its partly to do with trust, they know that they are good actors and more than capable of doing the part. It doesn't bother me to be honest. Another favorite show of mine "The Rockford Files" reuses actors as well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vicegirl85 Posted February 22, 2022 Report Share Posted February 22, 2022 2 hours ago, RedDragon86 said: (snipped) It doesn't bother me to be honest. (snipped) It also never bothered me. If the reused actors had been famous, leading men/ major stars I might have noticed more/minded, but like any other acting role, I'm sure the casting people held auditions (maybe not for every small part, LOL), or had a list of actors they contacted when there was a part that needed someone to play it. The majority of reused actors were versatile actors who made a living doing these small parts. Plus, if an actor lived in MIami or was able to come and go easily--instead of being tied up on location or in Southern California--I'm sure that made it much easier for MV to get them for intermittent work. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie C. Posted February 22, 2022 Report Share Posted February 22, 2022 It happens all the time. Clint Eastwood did it quite often in his movies, and you see it all the time in the Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s. Even Perry Mason did it. And actors tend to rotate between genre shows to this day (check iMDB and see how many people have played minor roles in any of the Law and Order shows for one, and then cross it with CSI and Criminal Minds). People tend to forget that prior to the rise of cable and streaming there were only three networks, and if you were a genre actor parts were rather limited. And the flip side is good actors for those genres weren't always available, either. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted February 22, 2022 Report Share Posted February 22, 2022 (edited) Easy answer. Most of these small roles were casted with local actors or extras by Dee Miller´s Miami Casting Agency whereas the leading guest roles were casted in NY by Bonnie Timmerman. Mario Ernesto Sanchez (diplomat in Rites of passage and goon in Everybody´s in Showbiz, Morales in Miami Squeeze), Marc Mac Aulay (Doc Jerry in Bad Timing, the hitman in Streetwise), Julio Mechoso who played Lester, Anwar Zayden (who played the Bolivian in El Viejo and a river dealer in Badge of dishonor, the old guy in Glades was seen in Borrasca teaser as well, ...) and many more lived in Greater Miami. It makes no sense to cast someone from other states for this and fly them in. And if you fish in a relatively small local pond of talent, it is not unusual that some individuals are re-used within 5 years and 100+episodes, especially if it was good to work with them the first time. Edited February 22, 2022 by Tom 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Calderon Posted February 22, 2022 Report Share Posted February 22, 2022 Maybe because, Miami in the 80´s was kinda wild or a jungle for acting jobs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Ferrariman Posted February 22, 2022 Administrators Report Share Posted February 22, 2022 On 6/10/2014 at 10:15 PM, BlueAir said: This is one thing I didn't get,why did they sometimes keep using the same actor playing a different character? Why did they do this,did they think people wouldn't notice? I think the short answer is nobody ever thought we would watch these episodes a hundred times and disect every little detail. So yeah, they didn’t think we’d notice. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Ferrariman Posted February 22, 2022 Administrators Report Share Posted February 22, 2022 Robert Conrad who starred in “The Wild Wild West”’ had a major fight scene in most of the episodes and he once revealed in an interview that he had a small select group of stuntmen that played different bad guys all the time. He also did ALL of his own stunts! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadrian Posted February 22, 2022 Report Share Posted February 22, 2022 I always liked Dan Hedaya in “One-Eyed Jack” and “Payback”. He was great at both roles, and even had a pretty convincing Cuban accent in the latter. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Ferrariman Posted February 22, 2022 Administrators Report Share Posted February 22, 2022 16 hours ago, Dadrian said: I always liked Dan Hedaya in “One-Eyed Jack” and “Payback”. He was great at both roles, and even had a pretty convincing Cuban accent in the latter. And don’t forget Nick Tortelli on “Cheers”. Very versatile actor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakespyder Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 For the most part it didn't bother me when they re-used an actor for a different role. The one exception was when John Leguizamo popped up in s5 as a new character. Are we really to suspend disbelief at seeing that?! I mean, to make it to the end of the series and waste a possible Orlando Calderone return... It showed me the producers really didn't care anymore. Of course for that to have occurred the s3 "The Afternoon Plane" would need to be erased from history. I'd be fine with that. To have had the show end with the Calderone arch. Could have been awesome. And at least Miguel Pinero looked completely different in Prodigal Son. I didn't realize it was him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pahonu Posted February 23, 2022 Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 There are several accurate responses here, many pointing to different and valid reasons. Ultimately, the show followed typical network production standards of the time, complicated by being a location series. Only larger guest roles were brought from other places. Small roles were filled locally. There was also a much smaller pool of consistently working actors with only network programming. I remember when the new, fourth network, FOX, was a huge deal. So the short answer is yes, no one at the time likely noticed or was bothered by many of the flaws we detect today with binge watching, and the producers expected we wouldn’t. Perhaps that is hard for some younger forum members to understand, but as someone who watched the series originally as others here did, it is true. Before VCR’s were widespread, you watched the show when it was on and if you liked it, you tried to catch it in rerun later in the summer. If you missed an episode you had to wait for that as well. Otherwise, you never saw it again for years until a show was syndicated… if it ever was. The choices we have today at our fingertips is truly astounding by comparison. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Ferrariman Posted February 23, 2022 Administrators Report Share Posted February 23, 2022 10 hours ago, pahonu said: Perhaps that is hard for some younger forum members to understand, but as someone who watched the series originally as others here did, it is true. Before VCR’s were widespread, you watched the show when it was on and if you liked it, you tried to catch it in rerun later in the summer. If you missed an episode you had to wait for that as well. Otherwise, you never saw it again for years until a show was syndicated… if it ever was. The choices we have today at our fingertips is truly astounding by comparison. You're dating yourself buddy. and I'm right there with you! When I was a kid ( last century ) movie theaters only showed 1 movie. It stayed for a week and was gone until hopefully one day it showed up on late night TV. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detective_Crockett Posted September 6, 2023 Report Share Posted September 6, 2023 I think the most silliest re-use/recycle of an actor was John Leguizamo as a random gangster in Season 5 - Victim Of Circumstance. Did they really think we wouldn’t notice Orlando Calderone? That in my opinion was just pure laziness or just daft, even by the late 80’s standard, it’s silly. The man played a Calderone, the biggest bad name in the entire franchise. At least when they reused Miguel Pinero as Esteban Revilla in Prodigal Son (yeah, I know.. same first name as Calderone) at least I didn’t recognise him at first until it was pointed out to me that it was him. I would love to know what they were thinking casting John again and truly thinking people wouldn’t notice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Vigilante Posted September 7, 2023 Report Share Posted September 7, 2023 7 hours ago, Detective_Crockett said: I think the most silliest re-use/recycle of an actor was John Leguizamo as a random gangster in Season 5 - Victim Of Circumstance. Did they really think we wouldn’t notice Orlando Calderone? That in my opinion was just pure laziness or just daft, even by the late 80’s standard, it’s silly. The man played a Calderone, the biggest bad name in the entire franchise. At least when they reused Miguel Pinero as Esteban Revilla in Prodigal Son (yeah, I know.. same first name as Calderone) at least I didn’t recognise him at first until it was pointed out to me that it was him. I would love to know what they were thinking casting John again and truly thinking people wouldn’t notice I hate Victim of Circumstance more than Missing Hours, partially because of what you mentioned, and that's saying something. Only thing I can figure is it had been 2 years since "The Afternoon Plane", and yes, they probably either thought nobody would notice, or they just didn't care. Back then you couldn't stream/watch a series from start to finish. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedDragon86 Posted September 7, 2023 Report Share Posted September 7, 2023 They did the same in "The Rockford Files" more I would say. I don't know how many times I saw the same actor in a different role, but it doesn't really bother me as long as they play the part well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king77 Posted September 7, 2023 Report Share Posted September 7, 2023 21 hours ago, Detective_Crockett said: I think the most silliest re-use/recycle of an actor was John Leguizamo as a random gangster in Season 5 - Victim Of Circumstance. Did they really think we wouldn’t notice Orlando Calderone? That in my opinion was just pure laziness or just daft, even by the late 80’s standard, it’s silly. The man played a Calderone, the biggest bad name in the entire franchise. At least when they reused Miguel Pinero as Esteban Revilla in Prodigal Son (yeah, I know.. same first name as Calderone) at least I didn’t recognise him at first until it was pointed out to me that it was him. I would love to know what they were thinking casting John again and truly thinking people wouldn’t notice I would guess that at that very early stage of John's career he was looking for any role and the CD based in NY got him a job. Happens all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king77 Posted September 7, 2023 Report Share Posted September 7, 2023 5 hours ago, RedDragon86 said: They did the same in "The Rockford Files" more I would say. I don't know how many times I saw the same actor in a different role, but it doesn't really bother me as long as they play the part well. James Garner's brother Jack played over 20 different characters during the run of the show Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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