10 Actors Who Returned To Famous Roles After A Very Long Time

4) Paul Newman – 25 Years

There’s a clear trend with these belated role reprisals where the return is not as successful as the first time around. This isn’t true of Paul Newman though and the two times he played conman Fast Eddie Felson.

He first played the role in 1961’s The Hustler, which earned nine Academy-Award nominations including Best Actor. In 1986, Newman returned to Fast Eddie in The Color of Money. While the film only got four Oscar nominations this time around (only four!), Newman managed to nab the Best Actor award on this occasion.

Thanks to being directed by Martin Scorsese and featuring a fresh from Top Gun Tom Cruise, The Color of Money is probably better known nowadays than the original film.

3) Jeff Bridges And Bruce Boxleitner – 28 Years

2010’s Tron: Legacy was one of the most unlikely Disney projects in recent years. Updating their cult favourite movie Tron with state-of-the-art special effects was a clever idea, but the film was a sizeable 28 years old by the time the sequel arrived.

Apart from the visuals, the big draw of Legacy was getting Jeff Bridges back as Flynn. Now an Oscar winner, Bridges gives a much more mature performance here as a more nuanced version of the character. It’s a pity the eerie recreation of his younger face – used for the corrupted Clu program – isn’t so successful. Talk about uncanny valley.

Also reappearing from Tron is Bruce Boxleitner, who reprised his role as the titular security program and its creator Alan Bradley.