Is there a term for this? When an actor is playing someone who is essentially the same character no matter what movie it is in (even in different thematical universes)?
John Wayne played so many characters named “John” or “Duke.” So many that I just tried to count how many roles and I lost track. I counted twice and got two different numbers, but I believe my final tally is 39 roles where his character had at least one of those 2 names.
Is there a term for this? When an actor is playing someone who is essentially the same character no matter what movie it is in (even in different thematical universes)?
It’s called getting type cast.
This is one level beyond type casting though, unless Hector is a well established role.
Getting Hector Cast
Happened to me once :)
John Wayne played so many characters named “John” or “Duke.” So many that I just tried to count how many roles and I lost track. I counted twice and got two different numbers, but I believe my final tally is 39 roles where his character had at least one of those 2 names.
EDIT: Final tally:
36 - “John” or “Johnny”
3 - “J” first initial, no full name given
5 - “Duke”
And of course his most iconic role of John “JD” Duke!
/s
Considering how many military roles he had, I’m going with Lt. Col. J.B. “Johnny the Duke” Thomas
I would argue that “a Hector” is a recognizable Hispanic trope in a similar fashion to how “a Karen” is an American one.
Ok Hector!
It’s called “getting Munched”.
“type cast” is the casual phrase
in technical acting terms it’s usually referred to as “playing close to self”