Nowadays your face is everything. An actor like Lon Chaney, The Man Of A Thousand Faces, was indispensable in the early days of Hollywood, making his way as a consistently credible actor who could nonetheless utterly transform himself using prosthetics, make-up and performance so as to render himself totally unrecognisable, being absorbed completely into any role he was cast in. Thats not so much of a worry in the modern entertainment industry. In fact the opposite is true, with face rather than name recognition being the driving force behind getting people to go see films, to buy albums, to tune into TV shows, to shell out for perfume, cars, clothes, you name it. Selfies are the primary form of communication for a reason. Its all about the face. At a time when likenesses are at such a premium, the entertainment industry is naturally inclined to make as much use of famous faces to make as much money as possible. At the same time, celebrities have to be constantly on their guard so that their brand isnt being diluted by lookalikes appearing on every billboard, screen or stage in the world. And yet, on more than one occasion, theyve slipped up. Theyve not guarded their looks quite as well as they should, or somebodys gotten cocky enough to think they can get away with pinching it. Video game dopplegangers, movie magic, and a con man pretending to be Stanley Kubrick all figure into the ten celebrities who had their likenesses stolen.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
