Is there a term for this? When an actor is playing someone who is essentially the same character no matter what movie it is in (even in different thematical universes)?
John Wayne played so many characters named "John" or "Duke." So many that I just tried to count how many roles and I lost track. I counted twice and got two different numbers, but I believe my final tally is 39 roles where his character had at least one of those 2 names.