10 Iconic Movie Characters Only ONE Actor Could Play

If you've only ever seen the first Evil Dead, you might wonder why Bruce Campbell's Ash Williams has remained an enduring horror icon. In that first flick he's actually a bit of meathead and inept at saving the day, only surviving where his friends died through a good dose of luck.

It was the sequel where the character really came into his own though, which was necessary considering the first half of the film is essentially an Ash one-man show. Blending horror and physical comedy in a way few other actors have achieved, the first half of Evil Dead 2 is a gauntlet of personal nightmares for Ash, and Campbell captures the manic insanity with gusto.

After being put through the wringer, the second half - and subsequent rest of the franchise - sees the character transformed into a bumbling (yet unwaveringly charismatic) action hero with a chainsaw for an arm and a shotgun for a partner. The lines this dude spouts would have sounded ridiculous coming out of any other actors mouth, but Campbell turned them into some of cinema's most memorable.

Unlike some other entries on this list, the franchise doesn't technically need Campbell's Ash to still be successful (Fede Alvarez's excellent reboot proved that), but it can also never expect anyone else to fill the character's shoes.