7 Famous Actors Who Hated Their Iconic Roles

We’ve all taken a job we don’t like for a paycheck, and that includes famous actors and actresses. While it’s hard for sitcom fans to imagine, many of the talented people who brought characters we all love to life didn’t enjoy playing them. In fact, some downright hated both the sitcoms and roles that made them household names. So, grab some popcorn, put on your reading glasses, and get ready to learn the truth about some of your favorite actors and actresses.

1. Robert Reed – Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch

Here’s the story…of a man named Reed. Mike Brady consistently ranks high on “Best TV Fathers” lists, and for good reason. He’s a devoted husband to Carol and an amazing father to all six Brady kids. Smart, principled, and responsible, Mike Brady set the bar for TV dads high. And while sitcom fans everywhere love the Brady family patriarch, Robert Reed didn’t share those sentiments. A trained thespian, he had trouble adjusting from Shakespeare to slapstick.

Furthermore, he found the show’s brand of humor “embarrassing.” He often fought with creator Sherwood Schwartz over the scripts, fact-checking them mercilessly. According to The New York Post, Reed once picked a fight over—of all things—strawberries. The script originally had Mr. Brady walk into a preserve-making session and proclaim that the kitchen smelled like “strawberry heaven.” After doing a little research, Reed discovered that strawberries don’t give off a smell when being cooked and refused to say the line. Eventually, it was amended to “I do believe I’ve died and gone to strawberry heaven.”

Mr. Brady isn’t featured in the show’s final episode “The Hair-Brained Scheme” because Reed objected to the premise. He hated the script so much that he refused to appear in the finale at all. “Bob Reed called and said, ‘Outlandish story, unbelievable, ridiculous, and I won’t do the show. He didn’t tell me this the week before; the morning of the show, he calls and tells me he won’t do the show,” Schwartz later said in an interview.

2. Tina Louise – Ginger Grant on Gilligan’s Island

Just sit right back, and you’ll hear a tale, the tale of a fateful casting choice. Poor Sherwood Schwartz had awful luck when it came to casting actors who hated their characters. Like Reed, Louise felt that Gilligan’s Island was beneath her. She also went into the show with the impression that she would be the main star. Of course, that honor went to Bob Denver, the eponymous Gilligan.

While the other six cast members got along famously, Louise purposely distanced herself from her costars. In an interview with Forbes, Dawn Wells—the former beauty queen who played farm girl Mary Ann Summers—said of Louise, “We’re not enemies, but we’re not close.” Reportedly, she brought friction onto the set and even fought with Denver. However, Denver refused to confirm the rumors. “Look, I don’t want to talk about it. I have nothing to say,” he stated. “To me, the guys on Gilligan’s Island are the greatest bunch of fellows I’ve ever worked with. We’re always pulling gags on one another; we eat together and work together. That’s professionalism.” Professionalism, indeed!

Louise continued to distance herself from the show long after it ended, even turning down the opportunity to play Ginger in the 1978 movie Rescue from Gilligan’s Island. To Louise’s credit, she did appear in a 1988 Gilligan’s Island Reunion on The Late Show and even spoke positively about her time on the show. Perhaps by this point, she’d developed a different perspective on the role that cemented her place in pop culture history.

3. Larry Hagman – Tony Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie

The chemistry between Jeannie and Tony is undeniable, but the rapport between Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman might not have been as pleasant. Hagman was resentful when he learned that he wasn’t the real star of I Dream of Jeannie. “Suddenly, Larry found himself in a show with a beautiful, half-naked girl and there was no way that it would be his show,” showrunner Sidney Nelson later explained. “I tried everything, but it was always only Jeannie the public was interested in, and through five seasons, he became frustrated and very angry.”

While Eden has been nothing but gracious and understanding of her costar, she detailed his behind-the-scenes antics in her memoir, Jeannie Out of the Bottle. “On one unforgettable occasion, when Larry didn’t like a particular script, his answer was to throw up all over the set. Nerves? Method acting? I didn’t stick around long enough to find out, but took refuge in the sanctuary of my dressing room instead,” she wrote.

On yet another unforgettable occasion, Hagman also terrorized a group of elderly nuns who came to see the show. He borrowed an axe from the prop department and swung it around while shouting profanities. Much to both Eden and the nuns’ horror, he supposedly started trying to chop some cables until the crew dragged him off the set. “In many ways, Larry was like a very talented, troubled child whose tantrums sometimes got the better of his self-control,” said Eden. Based on everything we’ve read about Hagman, that might be an understatement!

4. Faye Dunaway – Joan Crawford on Mommie Dearest

Based on Christina Crawford’s tell-all of the same name, Mommie Dearest stars Faye Dunaway as actress Joan Crawford. The movie was critically panned, due in part to Dunaway’s exaggerated performance. It’s hard to forget lines like, “NO…WIRE…HANGERS…EVER!” Though she rarely speaks of the performance, Dunaway did address Mommie Dearest in an interview with People magazine.

“I think it turned my career in a direction where people would irretrievably have the wrong impression of me,” she stated. “And that’s an awful hard thing to beat. I should have known better, but sometimes you’re vulnerable and you don’t realize what you’re getting into. It’s unfortunate they felt they had to make that kind of movie. But you can’t be ashamed of the work you’ve done.”

Christina Crawford also laments the film version of her memoir. “It was meant to be a window into a tortured soul. But it was made into camp,” she told The Guardian. Although the film flopped with the critics, it performed well at the box office and has since developed a cult following.

5. Christopher Plummer – Georg Von Trapp in The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is one of the most beloved movies of all time. Who can forget such songs as “So Long, Farewell” and “Edelweiss”? And while both critics and viewers alike hold the film in high esteem, Christopher Plummer despised it with a passion. Purportedly, he referred to it as “The Sound of Mucus” and compared working with Dame Julia Andrews to “being hit over the head with a big Valentine’s Day card, every day.”

Like Tina Louise with Gilligan’s Island, Plummer avoided all things The Sound of Music after the movie’s release. Not only did he refuse to attend the film’s 40th-anniversary reunion, but he also openly despised his character in the movie. “Although we worked hard enough to make him interesting, it was a bit like flogging a dead horse. And the subject matter is not mine. I mean, it can’t appeal to every person in the world. It’s not my cup of tea,” he told The Boston Globe in 2010. Among other criticisms of the movie, he found it “so awful and sentimental and gooey” and complained about how difficult it was to inject humor into the role.

However, Plummer remained lifelong friends with Andrews until his death. She had only positive things to say about her costar, stating that they “became great friends, really until he passed away fairly recently. We saw each other a lot, we knew each other, he stayed a friend and it was very pleasant.”

6. Harrison Ford – Han Solo in the Star Wars franchise

While Luke Skywalker is the undeniable hero of the Star Wars movies, Han Solo is a fan favorite. The character first appeared in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, played by the irrepressibly charming Harrison Ford. While his acting prowess transcended his personal feelings, Ford has never been shy about his dislike of his iconic character.

In fact, he even asked creator George Lucas to kill off his character. “I thought Han Solo should die. I thought he ought to sacrifice himself for the other two characters[Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa]. I said,’ He’s got no mama, he’s got no papa, he’s got no future. He has no story responsibilities at this point so let’s allow him to commit self-sacrifice.’”

Ford eventually got his wish in 2015’s The Force Awakens. And though Star Wars fans might be disappointed to learn that Ford hated Solo, he’s recently been complimentary of his work on the juggernaut franchise. “I was grateful because it changed my life,” the 81-year-old actor admitted. “I had opportunities that extended beyond director George Lucas’ and my success in making that film. It gave me freedom and opportunities that I never had imagined I might have.”

7. Sean Connery – James Bond

Sean Connery played the father to Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones in the 1989 film The Last Crusade. But the two actors might have more in common than the Indiana Jones film. Namely, that Connery hated the role that made him a household name. Connery was the first actor to bring James Bond to the big screen. However, the straight-shooting actor never felt the need to hide his opinion of the character.

“[I am] fed up to here with the whole Bond bit,” Connery once told The Guardian, also adding, “I have always hated that James Bond. I’d like to kill him.” Fellow actor Michael Caine even cautioned others about bringing up the character in Connery’s presence. “If you were his friend in these early days, you didn’t raise the subject of Bond. He was, and is, a much better actor than just playing James Bond, but he became synonymous with Bond. He’d be walking down the street, and people would say, ‘Look, there’s James Bond’. That was particularly upsetting to him.”

However, Connery’s disillusionment might make more sense in light of some recent revelations. Reports state that he was never able to renegotiate his contract, despite the profitability of the franchise. Another interview with Connery also reveals why he began to hate the iconic spy. “It [From Russia with Love] had a credibility in the story and was interesting, and the places, and the characters, and the, uh, whole feel of the film, I think.” In other words, Connery felt that films grew more outlandish and less believable as they went along, deepening his resentment for the franchise.

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