San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Repeater Awards: Best actors in enduring roles
Harrison Ford was 38 when he played Indiana Jones for the first time, in “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Now he’s playing him again at 80 in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” That’s a span of 42 years, which could be a record for the onscreen life span of one character, depending on how you count Leonard Nimoy’s run as Mr. Spock.
In the movies, Nimoy played Spock from “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979) through “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013). That’s 34 years. But if you include his TV debut in 1966, Nimoy’s Spock run was 47 years.
However you measure it, these actors played the same character, on and off, for decades. Others have, too. Yet this phenomenon is a fairly recent one in movies. In the old Hollywood days, William Powell’s six-film, 13-year stretch in “The Thin Man” series (1934-1947) was considered extraordinary. Today, it takes 20 years for people to even notice.
Here are eight long-running series with the same actor in a leading or co-leading role, ranked in order of preference.
Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa
From “Rocky” (1976) through “Creed II” (2018), Stallone has found ways to make the character grow and deepen, such that he’s become a presence in our lives. The quality of the movies has been hit and miss, but even the worst of them have been watchable. And the movies have made a virtue of time passing,
allowing us to see Rocky in various stages of life.
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones
The distinguishing virtue of this series has been the quality
of the movies, which have ranged from above average to great. Starting with 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” the series has incorporated Ford’s aging into the story, culminating in
the latest film, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which shows a digitally de-aged Ford at 40, then shows him four decades later looking more like a mere mortal than a movie star.
Sean Connery as James Bond
Between “Dr. No” (1961) and “Never Say Never Again” (1983), Connery starred as Bond in seven movies. Over the first few appearances, we see him moving from confidence to magnificence and then, by “Diamonds are Forever” (1971), into boredom. At 52, in his last appearance, he was an old guy having fun: Connery was old school and allowed himself to get older onscreen.
Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
Technically, in the later “Star Trek” movies, he didn’t play Mr. Spock but Spock Prime — which sounds like a deal where you pay a little extra and then, for the rest of the year, Mr. Spock delivers your packages. In any case, the virtue of these Spock appearances wasn’t in the way they showed Spock developing as a character, because Spock never changed. Rather, their appeal was in the way that we, as longtime viewers, got to gauge our continuing affection both for Nimoy and for Spock as a character.
Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto
From “The Fast and the Furious” (2001) through “Fast X” (2023), Diesel has played racing enthusiast and international man of mystery Dominic Toretto. And because bald guys don’t age — or rather, because we bald guys like to get all our aging done in one shot – nothing much has been made of Diesel’s going from 33 to 55 years old in the role. This has been for the best: We don’t want Dominic to deepen into a worried family man. We want him to stay mythic.
Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill in the ‘Star Wars’ series
Han Solo started off as a wiseguy in “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope” (1977) and ended up a wiseguy in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (2015), albeit one who gets stabbed and falls off a bridge. Carrie Fisher brought a new gravity and weariness to her last appearances as Princess Leia. But it was Mark Hamill who really took the journey, from spunky ingenuousness in the 1977 film to cynicism and dejection in “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (2017). He also made an appearance in “Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker” (2019), so he has played Luke for more than 42 years, so far.
Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt
The first “Mission: Impossible” (1996) was pretty good, and most of what has followed (including the latest, “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One”) has been even better. The movies haven’t made much of Ethan Hunt’s aging process, because Tom Cruise has no age, but that’s fine. We like him that way. It should be mentioned that Cruise has played Pete Mitchell in the “Top Gun” series for even longer (1986-2022), but there have only been two “Top Gun” movies, so they count, but barely.
Sylvester Stallone as Rambo in the “First Blood” series
Rocky is all about finding triumph in defeat. Rambo is all about finding defeat in triumph. That means that, no matter how many people he kills, he’s never satisfied. Over the course of five films, from “First Blood” (1982) through “Rambo: Last Blood” (2019), Rambo has stayed the same miserable guy. The same actor plays him, but he ain’t no Rocky.