With the passing of James Gandolfini, I can't help but think that this guy will always be remembered as - singularly, but most admirably - Tony Soprano.

Same with Carroll O'Connor - he'll always be Archie Bunker.
Anthony Perkins - Norman Bates.


I can name one: Harrison Ford - Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Jack Ryan.

Who else?

Clint Eastwood - the Man With No Name; Dirty Harry

Eastwood - Man With No Name, Dirty Harry

Karloff - Frankenstein monster, The Mummy

Bogart - Sam Spade, Rick Blaine

De Niro - Vito Corleone, Travis Bickles, Jake LaMotta

Stallone - Rocky, Rambo

Sellers - Inspector Clouseau, Dr Strangelove, Chance

Sylvester Stallone - Rocky and Rambo
Mark Hamill - Luke Skywalker and Joker

Charlton Heston - Judah Ben-Hur, Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid
Al Pacino - Michael Corleone, Tony Montana, Big Boy Caprice
John Travolta - Tony Manero, Danny Zucco
Marlon Brando - Vito Corleone, Jor-El, Colonel Kurtz, Fletcher Christian, Marc Antony, Stanley Kowalski, Emiliano Zapata, Terry Malloy, Johnny Strabler

Michael J Fox - Marty McFly and Alex P Keaton
Paul Newman - Butch Cassidy, Luke, Reggie Dunlap, Henry Gondorf
Gene Hackman - Popeye Doyle, Lex Luthor, Coach Dale, Little Bill
Dustin Hoffman - Tootsie, Raymond Babbit, Carl Bernstein

"Ratso" Rizzo

Hugo Weaving - Agent Smith, Elrond, Megatron

Was just going to post that.

"Hey! I'm walkin' here!"

Sean Penn - Jeff Spicoli, Jimmy Marcum, Harvey Milk

Gregory Peck - Atticus Finch, Captain Ahab
Clark Gable - Rhett Butler, Fletcher Christian
Peter O'Toole - Henry II, T.E. Lawrence
Alec Guiness - Colonel Nicholson, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Prince Feisal

Kurt Russell - Jack Burton & Snake Plissken

Ian McKellan: Magneto and Gandalf
Patrick Stewart: Captain Picard and Professor X

I have to question some of these characters' given "iconic" status.

I wouldn't say iconic, I think being famous for more than one character.

Jack Nicholson - The Joker and Jack Torrence
Arnold Schwarzenegger - The Terminator and Conan
Robert De Niro - Travis Bickle and Jake La Motta
Johnny Depp - Edward Scissorhands and Jack Sparrow
Keanu Reeves - Neo and Ted
Mel Gibson - Riggs and Mad Max

Peter Cushing for Dr. Frankenstien, Van Helsing and Star Wars Grand Moff Tarkin.

Mark Hamill is a big stretch. He's basically Luke when animated is not considered.

Exactly. Iconic to me means the average joe can come up with the name and association. Some of the these names I had to really think about and I am a movie nerd.

It just turned into.. Name some roles these actors played.

I was thinking the same thing. IMO an iconic character is one where if you showed a picture of the character, most could name the character.

I will use Harrison Ford as an example. If you show a picture of him dressed as Han Solo or Indiana Jones, most will say the character's name. But show a picture of Jack Ryan and most people would say it's Harrison Ford.

Mike Myers - Austin Powers & Dr Evil. Of course if voice is considered, Shrek.

Lorne Greene - Ben Cartwright & Commander Adama

Michael Landon - Joe Cartwright & Charles Ingalls (or the father on Little House on the Prarie

Dirk Benedict - Starbuck & Face

Ford is a given, as is Stallone. I think an argument can be made for Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan as well. Everyone else mentioned in this thread is just a list of good/noteworthy performances, not iconic characters.

Part of me wants to nominate Robert Downey Jr, but while his Tony Stark is definitely iconic, I'm not so sure about his Sherlock Holmes.

For the John Travolta answer, I could say that

Tony Manero AND Danny Zucko are good answers b/c of the iconic status of each of those films.


Same with Julie Andrews:

Mary Poppins and Maria Von Trapp only appeared in one movie each, but because of the iconic status of those films, she qualifies, right?

Agreed. In fact, I'd say for a character to truely be considered iconic, most people could name the character just by looking at their silhouette (Frankenstein, Darth Vadar, Mickey Mouse, Indianna Jones....)