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What is "title role"

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
title role
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Carl Lumbly stars in the title role.
▪ Director Redgrave tips sympathy somewhat toward the conspirators through his portrayal of the title role.
▪ I also announced that Robert Lindsay would soon be appearing on the London stage in the title role of a classic story.
▪ The title role went to school pupil who left earlier this year.
▪ Winningham delivers Oscar-caliber work, too, in the less showy but equally complex and demanding title role.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Title role

Role \R[^o]le\, n. [F. See Roll.] A part, or character, performed by an actor in a drama; hence, a part of function taken or assumed by any one; as, he has now taken the r[^o]le of philanthropist.

Title r[^o]le, the part, or character, which gives the title to a play, as the part of Hamlet in the play of that name.

WordNet
title role

n. the role of the character after whom the play is named [syn: name part]

Wikipedia
Title role

The title role in the performing arts is the performance part that gives the title to the piece, as in Aida, Giselle, Michael Collins, or Othello. The actor, singer, or dancer who performs that part is also said to have the title role.

The performer playing the title role is not always the lead and the title role may or may not be the protagonist. In the television miniseries Shogun, for example, Toshirō Mifune had the title role, but the lead was played by Richard Chamberlain. In the James Bond film and novel The Man with the Golden Gun, the title character is the primary antagonist. The title role and the lead can be different genders; for example, in the 2003 revival of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Whoopi Goldberg had the title role, but the lead was Charles S. Dutton.

Usage examples of "title role".

Warner Brothers offered him the title role in a new series of Batman movies, Miramax wanted him to play a transvestite sheriff in a sensitive drama about anti-gay bigotry in Texas circa 1890, and Universal hoped he would sign a ten-million-dollar deal for two films that he would also write and direct.

Larry Lanspeak played the title role in Jeeves, and he'd make a perfect butler.

No one seems to know, but instinct suggests that he plays the title role.

I even acted the title role in some classics, how does it go again .

They want Sean Connery for the title role, Tom Cruise for the part of the Prince.

I refer, of course, to the Tragical History of Doctor Faustus as enacted by the players of the Earl of Nottingham and with the nonpareil Edward Alleyn in the title role.