No, I think of the US President (Deep Impact) and God. Hard to get more iconic than God.

Here's where Ford wins hands down.

Adjusted for inflation, he's starred in four of the top 17 movies of all time playing two different roles. By my count, Charleton Heston and Julie Andrews (omitting the rest of the cast of Star Wars) are the only other actors with as many as two movies in the top 25.

The other difference between the roles is that neither Heston nor Andrews played original roles. These were roles that existed in literature and in many cases have been played by multiple actors over the years. The have been more than one Moses and more than Maria Von Trapp. There's only one Han Solo and one Indiana Jones.

To challenge Ford, you'd need to play a lead in one of the top 20 movies or top 20 TV shows of all time, and play that character more than once. No one else is even in the ballpark.

The gross numbers are skewed because much of the international market was relatively ignored during Heston's heyday.

Now if you want to make sequels a part of the requirements, sure Ford wins.

edit: "Who is Kowalski" hurts me more than anything ever written on this board.

If animation is kosher here, Mel Blanc wins this thing hands down.

Will Smith:

Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Agent J in MIB.

Michael J Fox:

Marty McFly and Teen Wolf

Eddie Murphy:

Axel Foley and Professor Klump.

How about this:

My wife just said Jacob(Twilight Series) and Shark Boy.

Tom Hanks:

Forrest Gump and Woody(Toy Story).

James Earl Jones as Darth Vader, Terrance Mann, and Mufasa.

...and, "this is CNN." :)

File for divorce.

Based on the number of Woody costumes that I see every Halloween, that is a pretty good call to partner up with Forrest Gump.

What about Samuel L Jackson in...oh screw it.

Storm and Cat-Woman, Halle Berry

Gregory Peck

Captain Horatio Hornblower and Atticus Finch.

Also Josef Mengele, Philip Schuyler Green (Gentleman's Agreement), and Captain Keith Mallory (Guns of Navarone)

Has anyone mentione Tommy Lee Jones?

Samuel Gerard from The Fugitive & US Marshals
Agent Kay from MIB I, II and in 2011 III

This thread is why we can't have nice things.

This one is more of a joke one but if you are looking at all at box office numbers, Hugo Weaving was Elrond in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Agent Smith in the Matrix trilogy, Megatron in the Transformers movies, and V in V for Vendetta. Agent Smith is certainly an iconic role as Neo's adversary and I might argue that V or Megatron are as well. Elrond, not so much but a Tolkein fan may disagree with me there. Weaving is also apparently reprising the role of Elrond in The Hobbit and he's the Red Skull in the upcoming Captain America movie.

Oh, and Eddie Murphy for Axel Foley and the guy that makes a bunch of awful pictures.

I hate Kodos for starting this thread and I hate myself even more for continuing to read it.

You're welcome.

Stella!!!!!!! I couldn't agree more.

This thread suffers from a lack of a good definition of "iconic."

My sense is that an iconic role is one that most people recongnize not only the image of the character -- Sly Stallone in boxing gloves with his arms raised in victory -- but also the basic character archetype -- a big-hearted but uneducated palooka from the streets of Philly trying to make it big with his one and only chance. If you say, "wow, that guy is just like Rocky," everyone knows what you mean.

When I mentioned the Stella shout from Streetcar, I'll bet most of you now have some idea who Stanley Kowalski is and what he means. Some of you won't -- it is a 60 year old movie -- but most of you do and that is because of the iconic nature of the character and Brando's performance.

I guess it's generational (save for the movie fanatics of any age) because "Stella" means "beer" to me and I doubt I could point out Bogart from a lineup of actors from the same era.

Bill Murray as Bill Murray in any movie he's in

Are people really answering the main question or just randomly posting two good performances for every actor they can think of?

I'm just wondering if anyone really thinks Samuel Gerard and Agent K really compare to Han Solo/Indiana Jones?

I agree that Brando is getting shortchanged, but someone above asked "who is Travis Bickle?" Are you shitting me? Maybe we need a new thread, but is there a scene in any movie that defines "iconic" more than "are you talking to me?" Let's see:
1. Indy running from the ball
2. I am your father (actually a lame scene)
3. I don't give a damn
4. Stella
5. I'll be back (edit to add: Only in a re-run)
Damn, this does need a new thread...

This is an issue I've been thinking about. Bill Murray and Jack Nicholson are iconic figures for always playing the same character. You know it has reached that point when you can't remember the character's name 10 minutes after seeing the movie.

In my own mind, I give Stallone and Brando a little bit of a nod over Ford and Eastwood because their iconic characters are distinctly different. Indiana Jones is basically Han Solo with a PhD and a bullwhip.

Why wouldn't they? The only difference is that Star Wars and Indiana Jones are older franchises.

I actually think the #1 and 2 spots are taken (Indy/Han and Rambo/Rocky) which is why I introduced things for conversation rather than competition. I assume that is what most are doing.

Nicholson has had some pretty iconic roles. i don't know if anybody even mentioned nathan Jessup yet.

Ron Howard is also a great pick. Opey and Richie are truly iconic.

A pair of roles that are, or will be, iconic and memorable (albeit small and supporting) are Amon Goeth and Voldmort.

okay, okay Ive got one. I don't know if it will even count but two iconic preformances beyond measure come from Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster and as the narrator of the original "The Grinch."

I don't understand all you Harrison Ford fanboys. Sure, he gets a good iconic role in Indy, but his role as Han Solo is NOT iconic. He's not even the main character of the movies.

I call BS. Han Solo is a more iconic character than Luke Skywalker. There's a reason that in 500 Days of Summer, when the main character looks into a mirror, he sees Han Solo looking back at him and not Luke.

Nah.

I'm surprised there is such unanimity with Solo. While Star Wars is a major iconic film...I'm not sold on Solo being as much of a pop culture icon as either Rocky or Rambo. To me...Stallone leads this hands down followed by Ron Howard (Opie Richie Cunningham). I'd even put Mike Myers (Wayne, Austin Powers) ahead of Ford as well.

Who lived in the late 80's or late 90's without repeating one of Mike Myers' lines? Even people who never saw his movies were saying the catch phrases and could identify the characters. I'm not sure many non-Star Wars fanatics were quoting Han Solo.

Hehe...I was typing a similar post up as I was right there with this thought process.

Very good point on Mike Myers too SteveMax.

Meh...the icons of Star Wars are (in no particular order) Darth Vader, Yoda, & maybe Chewbaca. An icon has to have some resonance with people who never even saw the movie (which I know is hard to find with Star Wars...but not seeing it for 20+ years can sorta simulate this). I would contend these are the most recognizable and most easily emulated icons. Solo? Skywalker? I cannot honestly recall why they would be iconic(I could be forgetting something big...but that tells me something in and of itself).

Agree, Yoda, Storm Troopers and Darth Vader are all more iconic than Han Solo.

Ford used to have that little bit of trivia as being the actor in the two highest grossing franchises of all time. I think LOTR maybe broke that up though.

Begrudgingly, Rocky / Rambo probably has the nod on the actor with 2. I have to clarify, that does not mean good acting or even quality movies. Just purely Iconic Roles. Meaning an insanely recognizable role highly associated with that actor.

My personal favorite is The Man With No Name and Dirty Harry. One role defined a genre (I call it "good westerns") and the other started a genre (detective action hero).

I still say Andy Griffith / Matlock easily trumps Opie / Richie Cunningham if you extend things into the realm of TV. The shows weren't named 'Opie' and 'Richie Days'.

'

And Happy Days is a good example of why you can't just say - Lead character = More iconic. I don't think anyone in their right mind would say Richie is more iconic than Fonzie.

Yeah, I'm not really as sold on Ron Howard's characters being as iconic as maybe memorable. But I'd argue that while Andy Griffith is still a highly recognizable actor, and most people would identify him to AG Show & Matlock, his characters were never "iconic". So I guess I lump Griffith and Howard together in the same boat. Maybe neither belongs on this list.

Fonzie is definitely the biggest icon from Happy Days (possibly the only one) but obviously has no other iconic role to speak of.

Matlock is totally an icon! He's the current cultural symbol of entertainment for old folks (taking over the crown of Murder She Wrote). Andy Griffith not so much anymore, but in his time dude was everywhere...though I would concede that the Andy Griffith character isn't particularly epic in scope. That's kinda like Bob Newhart playing Bob Newhart / Bob Newhart....awesome, but probably not 'iconic' in terms of character.

Someone is suggesting that Chewbacca is more iconic than Han Solo? Really?

This non-Star Wars fan says hell yes.

Another to toss out...

Dr. Frankenstein & Willy Wonka (& Jim from Blazing Saddles) = Gene Wilder

and I agree - Han Solo was a supporting character.

The point is not whether Ford as Solo was the most iconic (probably not even within Star Wars), but whether Ford as Solo AND Jones was more iconic than any other pairings. I would say that only Stallone would challenge that (with Rambo only being a moderate financial success - i.e., the whole Rambo franchise made only a fraction of just the first SW).