Actors Who Revisited Roles They Played Long Ago Quiz

Answer: Diamonds Are Forever

This is the chronological order of James Bond films in which Sean Connery played 007: "Dr. No" (1962), "From Russia With Love" (1963), "Goldfinger" (1964), "Thunderball" (1965), "You Only Live Twice" (1967), "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971), and "Never Say Never Again" (1983). So we can see that it was 12 years between 1971 and 1983, from "Diamonds Are Forever" to "Never Say Never Again".

There were however several other James Bond films released during that gap--the character just wasn't played by Connery.

After "Diamonds..." Roger Moore took over the role and starred in 1973's "Live and Let Die", 1974's "The Man With The Golden Gun", 1977's "The Spy Who Loved Me", 1979's "Moonraker", 1981's "For Your Eyes Only", and then in 1983, alongside Connery's "Never Say Never Again", there was in that same year, Moore's "Octopussy".

Answer: No one else did

Jeff Daniels had been asked to reprise his role as Flap Horton, Aurora's son-in-law, however the actor was committed to appearing in John Hughes' film version of "101 Dalmatians". Aurora's grandchildren all appear in both films, but they are played by different performers: Juliette Lewis, George Newbern, and Mackenzie Astin play Melanie, Tommy and Teddy, all grown up. Only Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson reprise their roles in the sequel.

Answer: Rob Riggle, as twins Travis and Captain Lippincott

Rob Riggle only appeared in "Dumb and Dumber To", not the original "Dumb and Dumber". The Farrelly Brothers were back in the directors' chairs again for this sequel, and they had trouble finding Brady Bluhm to reprise his role as Billy. They eventually found him through Facebook of all things, and he agreed to do the sequel but he did have to audition due to Screen Actors Guild regulations.
This was the first film since "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" (1995) in which Jim Carrey reprised a character from a previous film.

Answer: The "Rambo" series

Sylvester Stallone has not one, but two film franchises in which he reprised roles many years apart. It was 9 years between Stallone's playing Rocky Balboa in "Rocky Balboa" (2006) and "Creed" (2015) but it was even longer, 16 years, between him playing Rocky in "Rocky Balboa" and the previous Rocky flick: "Rocky V" (1990).

But wait! That's not all! It was a full 20 years between Sly playing John Rambo when he revisited the role for 2008's "Rambo" and the previous incarnation in "Rambo III" (1988).

Answer: Sylvia Miles

Michael Douglas played Gordon Gekko and won an Oscar for it in 1987's "Wall Street". Oliver Stone, who directed both films, makes a cameo in both as well. Along with Charlie Sheen, Sylvia Miles appears in both films. Sylvia Miles played Dolores the realtor in "Wall Street" (1987), and returned to the realtor role of Dolores in "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" (2010).

It was her last notable film role. She made a short film in 2013, and her last feature was called "Japanese Borscht" in 2019. She spend the last months of her life in a nursing home, dying at the age of 94, when she was being transported to a hospital in 2019.

Answer: Vera Miles and Virginia Cregg

It was 23 years between Anthony Perkins' memorable 1960 performance as Norman Bates in the Hitchcock classic "Psycho" and his reprisal in 1983's "Psycho II". Perkins even directed "Psycho III" in 1986. Vera Miles played Lila Crane, the sister of the doomed Marion Crane, and Virginia Cregg was the voice of Norman Bates' mother, Norma Bates. Along with Virginia Clegg and Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles is one of only three actors to appear in both "Psycho" (1960) and "Psycho II" (1983). Ms. Miles has complained about the Donald Spoto biography of Alfred Hitchcock, insisting that the book's contention that she and Hitchcock had an antagonistic relationship were false and that she thought "very fondly" of the director.

Answer: Meryl Streep and Laurence Olivier

A close contender for the longest gap in time between reprising a film role was Paul Newman playing Eddie Felson in 1961's "The Hustler" and reprising the role 25 years later in 1986 for "The Color of Money". He finally won his Oscar (the 7th time's a charm).

He is the first performer to win an Oscar for a reprised role that he was also nominated for playing in the original movie. The first person to hit the jackpot in this notable Oscar trivia category was Bing Crosby who was nominated both times for playing Father Chuck O'Malley in "Going My Way" (1944) and "The Bells of St. Mary's" (1945). Now, Bing won for the first nomination but not the reprised role. Peter O'Toole was the second actor to get Oscar nominations for playing the same role in two different films: he played King Henry II in "Becket" (1965) and in "The Lion in Winter" (1969). Al Pacino was Oscar-nominated for the same role in both "The Godfather" and "The Godfather: Part II" although he won for neither movie.

The fifth performer to be an Oscar nominee playing the same role is Cate Blanchett who was nominated for playing Queen Elizabeth in 1998's "Elizabeth" and again for playing Queen Elizabeth in 2007's "Elizabeth: The Golden Age". Sylvester Stallone is the sixth person to attain this distinction having been nominated for Best Supporting Actor in "Creed" (2015) and for Best Actor in "Rocky" (1976), both times playing Rocky Balboa. So, Meryl Streep, despite her countless acting nominations has not been nominated for playing the same role in two different films.

She still has a chance, but alas the great Laurence Olivier does not.

Answer: "The Player" and "California Suite"

Jack Lemmon played himself in "The Player", but Walter Matthau did not appear in that film; vice versa regarding "California Suite"--Matthau was in that one but Lemmon was not. Both Matthau and Lemmon were in all the others: "The Fortune Cookie", "The Front Page", "Grumpy Old Men", "Grumpier Old Men", "Buddy Buddy", and "JFK". And to round out the 10 films, the other two films they both appeared in were "Out To Sea" and the "Grass Harp". One could make a case for them also appearing in the film "Chaplin", but it's a bit of a cheat because they were playing themselves in the Oscar Awards sequence. I also didn't count "Kotch" in which Jack Lemmon played an uncredited role as a sleeping bus passenger, nor the documentary "The Gentleman Tramp", which they narrated.

Answer: Jeff Bridges

When shooting the first movie, "Tron", the producers provided many video games for the cast to play for inspiration. Apparently the tactic worked too well as Jeff Bridges became quite good at them, and it was difficult to call him back to shooting once he got on a video game roll. No wonder he was only too happy to return to his role for the 2010 follow-up "Tron: Legacy". For "Tron: Legacy" Jeff Bridges was scanned by laser into a computer in order to get some CGI visual effects to work; ironically, for the original film Bridges was laser-scanned as well, but on a fictional level. His character was scanned.

Along with Jeff Bridges, Boxleitner is the only other actor to appear in both films "Tron" and "Tron: Legacy" (2010). Bruce Boxleitner is the only actor from the 1982 film "Tron" who is also in in "Tron: Uprising", as the voice of Tron in 17 episodes from 2012 to 2013.

Answer: Harrison Ford

It's hard to believe but it was 19 years between Harrison Ford's portrayal of Indiana Jones in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008) and the previous one "Indian Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989). But even longer than that, it was 32 years, yes 32 years, since Harrison Ford played Han Solo in 1983's "Return of the Jedi" and 2015's "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens". That surpasses "The Odd Couple's" 30-year gap.

However, in 2017 Harrison Ford reprised yet another role of his that resulted in a... get this... a 35 year gap! Director Denis Villeneuve's 2017 film "Blade Runner 2049" saw Harrison Ford reprise the role of Rick Deckard, 35 years after 1982's "Blade Runner".