10 Movie Actors Who Can't Escape Their Most Iconic Role

7. Robert Englund - Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare On Elm Street)

Few people are unlikely to recognise Englund beyond the melted face, striped jumper, brown fedora and trusty metal-clawed glove, that makes Wolverine's adamantium knuckle protrusions about as intimidating as a plastic spork. It's the role of serial dream-haunting teen slasher Freddy Krueger that brought Englund to prominence during the 1980's in Wes Craven's A Nightmare On Elm Street franchise and for which he is continues to be best remembered. But, in a 2012 interview with Shock Till You Drop, Englund insisted that he doesn't resent being typecast as Krueger and was thankful for the opportunity to cultivate a new image away from his role as the good alien in the science fiction show V:

"And for every door Fred closed, he opened a hallway of opportunities... Freddy made me an international star. I continue to work in Europe and beyond."