Watching Tristram Coffin play (well) the hero in KING OF THE ROCKETMEN has set me thinking about serial casting-against-type. For the most part, folks in serials stuck in their rut--the heroes always played heroes, the heroines always played heroines, and the villains always played villains. Coffin's hero in ROCKETMEN is a notable exception; some others are Charles Quigley as a heavy in SUPERMAN, Bob Kortman as a sidekick in WILD WEST DAYS, and Raymond Hatton as a henchman in UNDERSEA KINGDOM. Can you think of any others?

Adrian Booth aka Lorna Gray probably did more roles as a good girl heroine in serials like Captain America, Deadwood Dick,Flying G-men and Daughter of Don Q but she's probably best remembered as the villainess Vultura in Perils of Nyoka and your favorite, Jerry, Federal Operator 99 as that tough broad Rita Parker. So which is the definitive Lorna/Adrian? I think it's hard to say.

This falls more into the "series" rather than "serial" area but I always thought the casting of everyones favorite villian, Roy Barcroft, as the camp counselor in Walt Disney's SPIN AND MARTY TV show went against the grain. And, another one that doesn't really fall into the hero/villian category is, of course, me when I played Mike McGuirk in the Dick Tracy serial. I still find it odd to see me with a fedora instead of my signature black, floppy stetson. Smiley

The early wooden George J Lewis played mostly bad guys except for Zorro's Black Whip. As he grew older he played older good guys like Don Alejandro de la Vega on Zorro and his acting improved greatly.
Clayton Moore was equally adept playing heavies or good guys. His iconic LR role masks his ablility at playing bad guys to most folks.
Classic good guy Henry Fonda had a great bad guy role in Once Upon a Time in The West.

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