Reflections on Levels of Fame

I think that in our house, you can identify 4 levels of fame of actors

Have seen before

Pretty certain we've seen this person before. Not sure where or in what context.

Oh that person played so and so (in such and such)

Can identify actor by some key role, but still don't remember their real name. Just the names of the roles. Sometimes the name of the show/movie has to accompany the role name.

That's XXX YYY. They played so and so (in such and such)

Can identify actor by name. Still needs some extra information about key roles to remember them properly.

That's XXX YYY

Actor is known by name. No need to refer to any extra information.

Not all actors have to pass through all stages. Michael Wincott went from 'he was in Three Mustketeers' to Michael Wincott after two more movies. What a lovely voice he has. Other actors never move out of the first stage of 'seen them before'. A lot of actors get stuck in stage 2 'he played General Burkhalter in Hogan's Heroes.' It takes something special to past stage 2.