Why Tinker with a Tailor-made Performance?

The best film casting for a mystery – ever! – was Alec Guinness in the 1979 BBC mini-series adaption of John Le Carré’s “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.”

Alec Guinness as the iconic spy and detective George Smiley (1979).

I say “the best” because I had read the novel, “Tinker, Tailor,” first, and as always, I constructed a visual avatar in my head for the primary characters. But for the next three decades, whenever I think of the protagonist, George Smiley, I see Alec Guinness in my mind.  He completely reprogrammed my brain to become my visual persona of the famed character.

Even in the other two books in Le Carré’s “Karla Trilogy” – “The Honourable Schoolboy” and “Smiley’s People” – Alec Guinness populates my mind’s eye. Despite the fact that I read all three novels before the mini-series aired in the States.

That’s impressive.

Audience participation time: Which actors or actresses best personified characters from your favorite mystery or thriller adaptations?