Who DOES he look like?
January 16, 2012 1:32 PM   Subscribe

My wife and I are enjoying the show "Downton Abbey" quite a lot, but she is bothered by the fact that the actor Brendan Coyle (who portrays Mr Bates) reminds her of a Hollywood actor of a bygone era, perhaps someone from the days of black and white films.

I don't really know who she might be thinking of, so I figured that I would post a query here, because you guys and gals know so much!
So, to reiterate, which Hollywood actor, perhaps from the golden age of Hollywood, does this man, resemble?
posted by newfers to Grab Bag (15 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Not golden age, but there's Liev Schreiber.
posted by notned at 2:10 PM on January 16, 2012 [1 favorite]


Not an actor, but from some angles he remind me a lot of Richard Nixon.
posted by coppermoss at 2:24 PM on January 16, 2012 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: He sure does resemble Liev Schreiber to me, but my wife insists that's not who she's thinking of...and at his jowl-iest, he does resemble Nixon a little, also!
posted by newfers at 2:37 PM on January 16, 2012


At some angles, he kind of reminds me of a more jowly Humphrey Bogart.
posted by superlibby at 2:53 PM on January 16, 2012


A bit of a long shot, but could she be thinking of Bela Lugosi?
posted by Telpethoron at 2:58 PM on January 16, 2012


Let's try these:

Thomas Mitchell

Jackie Cooper


And someone more contemporary:

Tom Wilkinson

If you'd like to play along at home, I'd suggest googling "character actors" with terms like "british," "golden age," or "hitchcock" thrown in as her memory directs.
posted by zueod at 3:00 PM on January 16, 2012


Looks a bit like Carl Malden with a fixed nose.
posted by leafwoman at 3:06 PM on January 16, 2012


From certain angles, maybe Lou Costello?
posted by bcwinters at 3:16 PM on January 16, 2012


Beats me. You should check out the "That Guy! page of character actors.

I've been waiting for years to reference that page!
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 4:07 PM on January 16, 2012 [2 favorites]


He reminds me of Orson Welles.
posted by candyland at 5:46 PM on January 16, 2012 [2 favorites]


My theory: He just looks Irish. I am relatively Irish myself, Irish enough to say that we all look alike. He looks like a cross between Pierce Brosnan and Mad-Eye Moody. And probably many other Irish people as well.
posted by gentian at 7:09 PM on January 16, 2012 [1 favorite]


I totally see the Tom Wilkinson, in his younger days.

And I have to agree with the most recent comment from that post: "Brendan Coyle just magnifies me..."
posted by therewolf at 12:27 AM on January 17, 2012


I totally agree with your wife. Every time I look at him I see that actor, but, like your wife, I have no idea what his name is or what movies he was in. I am going to continue to obsess about it, though, and maybe will come up with something.
posted by DMelanogaster at 5:19 PM on January 19, 2012


Robert Ryan?

John Raitt?

Pat O'Brien?
posted by DMelanogaster at 5:29 PM on January 19, 2012


John Hillerman?

Not exactly Golden Age but was the first actor that came to mind.
posted by screamingnotlaughing at 4:51 PM on February 10, 2012


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