NPCs - give me your actor references

[Flyspeck23]

AFAIK many people think of certain actors (or their roles in certain movies) when impersonating NPCs.

If you do that, what are your references, and what role do they fill in your campaign?


I'll give you some examples of what I'm looking for:
- Groucho Marx (Rufus T Firefly, Duck Soup - mixed in with some Lord Julius, if you know that character) as a backwater dictator with illusions of grandeur (as some would say). [And no, I'm not wearing a painted on moustache when doing this.]
- Chico Marx (Horse Feathers) as the not very intimidating bouncer of an uptown tavern.
- Daniel Day-Lewis (Bill the Butcher, Gangs of New York) as the very intimidating gang boss.
- Carrie-Ann Moss (Trinity, the Matrix) as a self-confident bounty hunter sometimes crossing the way of the party.
- Andy Serkins (Gollum, LotR) as an egocentric, slightly schizophrenic goblin information-broker.
- Marlon Brando (Don Corleone, Godfather) as the chief of a city guard. [And yes, I put handkerchiefs in my mouth.]
- Frances McDormand (Marge Gunderson, Fargo) as lieutnant in the same city guard (no, she's not pregnant).

 

[diaglo]

- Frances McDormand (Marge Gunderson, Fargo) as lieutnant in the same city guard (no, she's not pregnant).

you betcha.

 

[francisca]

- Groucho Marx (Rufus T Firefly, Duck Soup - mixed in with some Lord Julius, if you know that character) as a backwater dictator with illusions of grandeur (as some would say). [And no, I'm not wearing a painted on moustache when doing this.]

Heh! My homebrew featured a nation named Freedonia, ruled by Roofuz T'Firefly.

-Khan, from Star Trek has made an appearence more than once as the BBEG.
-Sir Robin from Monty Python and the Holy Grail as a reluctant hero-type NPC.
-Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show as the corporal of the town guard.
-Sid from Ice Age (John Leguzamo) as an annoying teenager who wants to join the party.
-Bennie from The Mummy as the sniveling turncoat/rogue (he didn't last long).
-Bert from Mary Poppins as the local bard / story teller. (very good contact. knows everyone in town, but is a bit cryptic and flighty in dealings with the PCs)
-The "I'm crushing your head!" guy, from Kids in the Hall, as a bizarre tavern patron. Turns out to be the Lord Mayor's son, who is "touched in the head".
-Slash, of Guns 'N" Roses fame, as an exotic carpet dealer, who also imports various bizarre spell componenents.
-Salah, from Indiana Jones flicks, as, well, a local guide.
-The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly characters from the movie, as NPCs in various capacities.
-All the main characters in "The Big Lebowski", especially the Nihilists, in appropriate roles.
-and many many more.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Well, I know a really good DM that ran an aging priest of a God of War as a thinly veiled Charlton Heston, with a bit of Ben Hur & Planet of the Apes coupled with the modern Heston...

I'm sure I've run various incarnations of Clint Eastwood - the tough loner types.

I had a somewhat pompous cleric from a noble family that I ran like Charles Emerson Winchester from MASH (I even named him Emerson and nobody caught on...)

I ran an old lady as a combative & crotchety old radical like the old woman & Dennis from Monty Python & the Holy Grail, "Help Help I'm being repressed!" - that was way back in the 80s and when i saw one of the guys at his wedding in late 2003, he even remembered that NPC!

Of course, when I was younger and had a smaller group, I always tried to have a cool Han Solo type.

 

[barsoomcore]

• Sidney Greenstreet from The Maltese Falcon as an informant for hire.
• Brigitte Lin as ASIA THE INVINCIBLE from Swordsman II as a lesbian vampire sorceress (crossed with Xena:Warrior Princess and your friendly neighborhood drag queen)
• The leprechaun from Lucky Charms as a talkative airship captain

But most of my NPCs are such a mish-mash of characters and ideas it's hard to pin them down to just one influence.

 

[devilish]

Group has 2 NPC brothers following them around as hirelings...I've
made them Hank and Dean from the Venture Bros. and it's worked great!

 

[Hjorimir]

I'll give you some examples of what I'm looking for:
- Groucho Marx (Rufus T Firefly, Duck Soup - mixed in with some Lord Julius, if you know that character) as a backwater dictator with illusions of grandeur (as some would say). [And no, I'm not wearing a painted on moustache when doing this.

Cerebus owns.

 

[John Morrow]

AFAIK many people think of certain actors (or their roles in certain movies) when impersonating NPCs.

Honestly, I usually don't. But recently, I've run an NPC cleric inspired by Gene Hackman's Rev. Frank Scott from the Poseidon Adventure. The GM in the D&D game I'm playing in, on the other hand, uses pictures of various actors for his NPCs. It seems to work pretty well.

 

[R-Hero]

Carl from 'Slingblade' keeps popping up at our gaming table.

I've played a satyr cleric of oldimarra that sounded a lot like Joey from 'Freinds' (at least he did when he flirted with a centaur npc.)

Cavalier= take a helping of Muhammid Ali, mix in equal amounts of Jonny Bravo and Eric Cartman. For the body language, think Dirk the Daring from the Dragons Lair video game.

Barny Fife is the best for a captain of the guard that "don't cotton to no foolishness from vagrant adventurin' companies." (actual quote from a recent game)

I also have a Half troll fighter that sounds a lot like Homer Simpson. I'm sure its just a coincidence, though.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Well, at least 45% of the voices I do associate with either an actor or a particular character. Some are regulars, like these four who appear in basically every campaign:

Ian McKellan (present): Whenever you need a wise old mentor dude...
Ian McKellan (20 years ago (heck, maybe more)): Stuffy, upper-crust scheming villains
Sean Connery: At least one ruler over the age of 50 MUST have his voice
Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith): Mercantile or 'suit' villains
Kurt Russel (Jack Burton): Ineffective mercenary or minor local hero
David Hayter (Solid Snake): EFFECTIVE mercenary
Anthony Andrews (The Scarlet Pimpernel): At least one ruler under the age of 40

Others pop up as oddball characters, like this series of (Krynnish-style, though not in a Dragonlance campaign) minotaurs:

Eddie Murphy: Comic relief minotaur
Wesley Snipes (probably the worst impression of any of these): Badarse minotaur
(whoever did CEO Morgan's voice in Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri): Aristocratic minotaur