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Open Thread

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I’m watching O Brother, Where Art Thou? for the umpteenth time, and while I think it is the greatest performance Clooney has ever made, I just remembered how much I loved Stephen Root as a character actor. I still think his role as Jimmy James in Newsradio is one of my favorite characters. I still get hysterical when I watch the marriage negotiations or when he faked the around the world trip. I also think Jerry Orbach from Law and Order is one my favorites, and William Daniels from St. Elsewhere and Blind Date (which is a great movie that will make you laugh out loud) is also awesome.

So let’s have an open thread discussing great character actors. I’m curious who you think is great and why.

*** Update ***

A couple quick thoughts after re-reading this post- I love John Goodman. Every role he is in he fucking owns. So he should be on my list. Whether it was the speaker of the house in West Wing, his role on Treme, his role in O brother, his role in Lebowski, he’s fucking genius. I don’t think of hims as a stereotypical character actor, though. He’s just a great actor.

I also realized how much I dated myself in this post. St. Elsewhere was mid 80’s and NewsRadio was mid 90’s. They were both great, though.

Reader Interactions

176Comments

  3. 3.

    David Koch

    Peter Stormare as Dino Velvet in 8mm was incredible, as well as Fargo and Lebowski.

  6. 6.

    brent

    James Cromwell, whose favorite role of mine is from Babe (the talking pig movie) but who recently did a great turn as the butler in the silent movie The Artist.

  9. 9.

    Don K

    Definitely Jerry Orbach.

    Now, going back in history, how about Claude Rains? Sydney Greenstreet? Peter Lorre? (just naming a few who supported Bogart)

    And can anyone come up with comparable female character actors?

  12. 12.

    JGabriel

    John Cole @ Top:

    So let’s have an open thread discussing great character actors …

    You could do this for ages. I can name more than a dozen from, to pull a name out of a barrel, Deadwood alone: John Hawkes, William Sanderson, Molly Parker, Robin Wiegert, W. Earl Brown, Powers Boothe, Kim Dickens, Brad Dourif, Jim Beaver, Titus Welliver, Anna Gunn, Garret Dillahunt, Brian Cox, Sarah Paulson, Pruitt Taylor Vince, and Alice Krige.

    On the other hand, I suppose it’s possible that Deadwood just had an exceptionally good casting director.

    .

  13. 13.

    BobbyMac

    Harry Dean Stanton has his moments..but then there’s always the classic: Walter Brennan.

  14. 14.

    BigD

    The greatest actors, in my opinion, are Sean Penn and George Clooney. The second greatest actor is that guy on the Full Metal Jacket movie. And the fourth greatest actor is the entire cast of Meatballs. I love TV.

  15. 15.

    Don K

    @hilzoy:

    Good one. Thanks for answering my Q about female character actors before I asked it.

    Now that I think about it, I’ll add Agnes Moorehead. Before she was Endora, she played vaguely creepy women better than anyone.

  16. 16.

    sfinny

    Wallace Shawn. In one of many performances was part of the Princess Bride, my favorite movie for sick days when a couple of hours on the couch is as good as it gets.

  19. 19.

    Mnemosyne

    @Don K:

    And can anyone come up with comparable female character actors?

    Thelma Ritter. Eve Arden. Beulah Bondi. Una O’Connor. Marjorie Main.

    ETA: Also, post-Falcon, Mary Astor. Though I guess you could probably call her a character actress in that given how Brigid turns out.

  22. 22.

    John Cole

    @piratedan: There are some I disagree with on that list. Chris Cooper, for example. I don’t think of him as a simple character actor- I think of him with Alan Arkin as one of the quintessential American actors.

  23. 23.

    David Koch

    James Crownwell, John Vernon, David Huddleston, Mykelti Williamson, Jeffrey Tambor

  25. 25.

    piratedan

    @John Cole: true JC, but it’s a great starting point for discussion …. I mean one of my favorites isn’t on the list, that being Bob Gunton from Shawshank (the warden) and Matewan (Coal Company Spy). It’s just that a good many of the guys on their list were like the go to guy for certain character types, i.e. the understanding Dad you’d pick William Schallert for example. You want a scruffy western outlaw/cowboy type, LQ Jones was on your speed dial.

  26. 26.

    BigD

    Morgan Freeman is also a very good actor. The best thing about Morgan is that his great that intelligence that shines through in all of his actor-roles. This guy is an inspiration. I think he might be the second best actor ever, the only one better might be that guy who played Luke Skywalker on Star Wars.

  28. 28.

    JGabriel

    Well, when discussing great character actors, one shouldn’t leave out John Cazale.

    Cazale was only in five feature films (he died of bone cancer at 42), but every one of them was nominated for Best Picture: The Godfather, The Godfather II, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter.

    .

  29. 29.

    Jager

    Cole,

    You bring this up, I glance at the post. Fix a Knob Creek in the kitchen, go in the other room to see what Mrs. J is doing and she has TMC on watching “Forbidden” a 1932 flick starring Barbra Stanwyck and Adolf Fucking Menjou with Ralph Bellamy. Its a Frank Capra film about unwed mothers.

  31. 31.

    Jewish Steel

    I also once heard some snarky Brit say that in England character actors are called, “actors.”

  33. 33.

    El Cid

    John Goodman is fantastic in Community — he was the imperious leader of the mafia / evil big business style HVAC department. That department brought in all the money, so the school was HVAC’s empire. He really plays it up. I’m sure it’s become a touchstone role & setup for HVAC guys everywhere.

  34. 34.

    Mnemosyne

    @Jager:

    That’s what we all call a “Pre-Code” film, as in it was made before the Breen censorship office was allowed to pre-censor scripts before the movies were shot.

    Watch it and be astonished that the bad girl is allowed to have an actual happy ending instead of having to be eternally punished for her horrible, horrible crime of having Teh Sex.

  36. 36.

    magurakurin

    @Jewish Steel:

    Well that snarky pom is, as they say, a tosser.

    From the Pom’s own bloody dictionary

    A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as “an actor who specializes in character parts”, defining character part in turn as “an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or peculiarities”. The earliest example of character actor cited by the OED derives from the 9 November 1883 edition of The Stage, which defined the term as “one who portrays individualities and eccentricities, as opposed to the legitimate actor who […] endeavours to create the rôle as limned by the author”.[1]

  37. 37.

    David Koch

    Syriana is full of great character actors: Christopher Plummer, Chris Cooper, Jeffrey Wright, Tim Blake Nelson, Jamey Sheridan

  38. 38.

    Hidden Heart

    I’m glad someone else already tapped James Cromwell. Just watch L.A. Confidential and Space Cowboys back to back. :)

    Michael Wincott. “Paranoia is just reality on a finer scale” is one of those lines that makes Strange Days such a good movie, and he’s so much fun in The Crow and The Count Of Monte Cristo and on and on.

    Jenette Goldstein. Always reliable good support, whatever she’s in.

    Penelope Cruz. Ditto.

  39. 39.

    Funkula

    John Turturro. He and John Goodman are the best things about any Coen bros. movie they’re in, which is why Barton Fink is the best Coen bros. movie, since they’re the leads.

  41. 41.

    patrick II

    I thought Shelly Long’s “Diane Chambers” was one of the great all-time TV characters. I agree with John about Steve Root and “News Radio”. His blind radio manager in “O Brother” was remarkable.

  43. 43.

    NotMax

    @hilzoy

    Loves me some Edna May. Mention of her name brings up James Gleason as a skilled character actor too, as they were paired now and again.

    A few more: Percy Kilbride. Guy Kibbee. Frank McHugh. Rags Ragland. Robert Morley. Billie Burke. Marie Dressler. ZaSu Pitts.

  44. 44.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, too, we had dinner sitting a couple of tables away from Stephen Root a few months ago. Nothin’ fancy, just the Gordon Biersch in Burbank. He was with a nice-looking blonde who I think was his wife (at least, his wife’s IMDb picture resembles the woman I remember him being with).

  46. 46.

    Richard Fox

    Have a few that move me beyond words. Walter Huston, Charles Laughton, Raimu, Jean-Louis Barrault, Miles Malleson, W.C. Fields, Alec Guiness, Dennis Price, Peter Sellers, Vivien Leigh, Carole Lombard, Peter Lorre, Ernest Thesiger, Eugene Pallete, Walter Connolly, and let’s throw in Joan Greenwood and the great Alistair Sim to round it all off. Each of these folks have stayed in my mind and given me great joy in their own unique ways through the years. What characters..!

  47. 47.

    JGabriel

    @magurakurin: By that definition, Brad Pitt could be considered a pretty good character actor; c.f., Twelve Monkeys, Snatch, and Inglourious Basterds.

    That’s not a criticism, by the way. I honestly think Pitt IS a pretty good character actor.

    .

  48. 48.

    hilts

    Everett Sloane (Lady From Shanghai, Citizen Kane), Dan Duryea (The Woman in the Window, Scarlet Street) Allen Garfield (The Conversation, The Candidate) Richard E. Grant (Gosford Park, The Player) and James Rebhorn (The Game)

  49. 49.

    Andrew long

    Phillip Baker Hall, the girl’s father in Magnolia, and the brilliant Lt. Joe Bookman. Now on modern family.

  54. 54.

    danielx

    @brent:

    Also, too – James Cromwell as a corrupt police commander in LA Confidential, one of the great underrated movies. Kim Basinger, Kevin Spacey and a young Russell Crowe too…

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    @Richard Fox:

    I dunno. Though they played some great character parts, I think that Walter Huston, Charles Laughton, W.C. Fields, Peter Sellers, Vivien Leigh, and Carole Lombard would all be considered lead actors. Especially Huston — it was only in the late 1930s that he became a character actor. In the silents and up until the mid-30s, he was a leading man.

    Though I do appreciate the Ernest Theisiger love. “Have a po-ta-to.”

  59. 59.

    cbear

    Jack Elam
    Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges is a must see)

    * Richard Farnsworth, also, too

  60. 60.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, no one has mentioned my all-time favorites of the 1970s, Warren Oates and Oliver Reed.

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    Someone whom even the young’uns might know from his voice work on Rocky and Bullwinkle — Edward Everett Horton.

  63. 63.

    artem1s

    Love John Goodman and Steve Buscemi as well.

    No one has mentioned Forest Whitaker yet so I will throw that one out there. So many rolls before he became a headliner. The Crying Game, Good Morning Vietnam, Platoon, Ghost Dog, Way of the Samurai, totally awesome

  64. 64.

    Jewish Steel

    @magurakurin: Yes, that was the pommy bastard’s point. American actors can be divided into gorgeous leading types, whose skill is dubious, and real actors, who, naturally, are interested in roles that stretch their craft.

    As for my favorite character actor, I’d have to say it was Richard Nixon.

  66. 66.

    Richard Fox

    @Mnemosyne: I would say they were leads and characters combined. Transcended through force of personality. Though I take your point. And yes, please do have a po-tat-o. As for myself gin is my only weakness..

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    Gotta run, but a few more names from the heyday of character actors popped into the noggin.

    C. Aubrey Smith
    Akim Tamiroff
    Eric Blore
    Donald Meek
    William Demarest

    Truly an embarrassment of Hollywood riches for several decades.

  72. 72.

    Tehanu

    George Wyner, David Huddleston, John Hillerman, George Furth, Harvey Korman, Burton Gilliam, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, Peter Boyle, Cloris Leachman, Ron Carey, Howard Morris, Christopher Lloyd, Charles Durning … if this sounds like the Mel Brooks Comedy Troupe, it is. Also Jessica Walter and Holland Taylor.

  73. 73.

    Kane

    Robert Duvall: True Grit, MASH, The Godfather, Joe Kidd, Network, Apocalypse Now, The Natural, Sling Blade.

  75. 75.

    Anne Laurie

    Margaret Dumont. Walter Matthau. Joe Morton (John Sayles, too, come to think).

    And I agree that Brad Pitt is a better “character actor” than “movie star”.

  76. 76.

    satanicpanic

    That big scary guy in The Kid who tries to punch Charlie Chaplin. That guy cracks me up.

  78. 78.

    Citizen_X

    Pete Postlethwaite. Loved that, in The Town, one of his last roles (tho maybe his last was in Inception), he got to play a real evil S.O.B.

  79. 79.

    brent

    @Bs23: Tony Shalhoub is freakin’ fantastic. I never liked Monk much but I appreciated what he did with the role and every other thing he is in, he totally dominates the second he enters the frame. He is awesome.

  82. 82.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    Not that I don’t appreciate Stephen Root, but how can you mention NewsRadio and not bring Phil Hartman into the conversation?

    That was such a great show with a great cast. You look at most of the regular cast- Dave Foley, Vicki Lewis, Maaura Tierney, Root and Hartman, and even Andy Dick- who were at the top of their games, then you add in the recurring roles (Patrick Warburton, Tone Lōc), and the recurring actors who played a few different roles (David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Dave “Gruber” Allen, Mark Higgins and the character actor’s character actor, Toby Huss), and it makes you wonder why this show never really rose above cult status…Then you consider how NBC scheduled it all over the fucking place and you realize…

    Oh, my favorite character actor of all time (comedy division): William Demarest. Root and Hartman aren’t very far behind him, though.

  83. 83.

    Smiling Mortician

    @Yutsano: @Bs23: Tony Shalhoub and Stanley Tucci together in Big Night. With Campbell Scott, Isabella Rosselini, Ian Holm, Liev Schreiber, Allison Janney. Awesome.

  84. 84.

    dance around in your bones

    @Anne Laurie:

    Gawd, I was gonna mention Brad Pitt but thought it would be too….he’s a STAR now, amiright?

    But damn, when I first saw him in Thelma and Louise…..

    breakout.

  86. 86.

    David Koch

    Raymond Cruz (Clear and Present Danger, Training Day, Breaking Bad, Under Siege)

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    @Smiling Mortician:

    And the busboy is played by Marc Anthony. Yes, the ex-Mr. J-Lo Marc Anthony. He’s in that very last scene where they cook breakfast.

    It’s a helluva cast.

  90. 90.

    Elizabelle

    David Straitharn.

    Another “Oh yeah — THAT guy.”

    He’s going to be William Seward in Spielberg’s upcoming “Lincoln” (based on “Team of Rivals”).

  91. 91.

    brent

    @dance around in your bones: When I think of Pitt’s early roles (I think he is vastly unappreciated as an actor as opposed to a leading man), I always think of him as the pothead from True Romance. He was, even in that very minor role, quite memorable.

    Looking at it, Thelma and Louise was actually a couple of years earlier but his early career is filled with a number of offbeat roles like that.

  95. 95.

    Mnemosyne

    @Elizabelle:

    He’s also in the abovementioned LA Confidential, playing the small but pivotal role of the upper-class pimp.

    That’s one of my all-time favorite movies.

  96. 96.

    Citizen_X

    @brent:

    the pothead from True Romance

    He’s a riot in that role. “Pick up some…cleaning…products.”

  98. 98.

    Karen

    Ned Beatty, especially on Homicide. Christopher Meloni,especially on Oz and SVU. Vincent D’onofrio kept me watching Criminal Intent, he had that edge that suggested he knew what made criminals tick a little too well and that it was only his sense of righteousness that kept him on the good side. Christopher Noth, both on Law and Order and Sex in the City. Alec Baldwin, who has a gift for comedy as well as drama. Harrison Ford, especially in Blade Runner. And yes, Ian Sommerhalder, playing Damon Salvatore with a mixture of evilness and vulnerability.

  99. 99.

    karl

    Unbelievable that no one’s mentioned Rip Torn. Let me throw Andre Brauer in the list, too.

  100. 100.

    Mnemosyne

    Last thing before bedtime: “Treme” is probably my favorite show that nobody watches and it’s filled to the brim with great character actors, many of them African-American. It even has a six degrees connection with the original topic — Khandi Alexander played Catherine on “NewsRadio.”

    ETA: Also, too, Melissa Leo. How many great character actors has the David Simon/Tom Fontana axis brought us?

  102. 102.

    Baron Elmo

    Ninety goddamn comments plus John’s post and NO ONE mentions the immortal Alec Guinness? Fer shame, people, fer shame. Precious few are the actors capable of disappearing into a role like Sir Alec. The sad thing is that, at least in this country, he’s best known for the fifteen minutes of acting he did in Star Wars, the least interesting performance in the man’s entire career (and the bane of his twilight years).

    Check out Tunes of Glory, The Prisoner, The Ladykillers (Tom Hanks should be bitchslapped for his sorry stab at Alec’s role in the remake) and The Horse’s Mouth, for starters, and be dazzled. Oh yeah, and a little something called Bridge on the River Kwai.

  103. 103.

    Baron Elmo

    @Mnemosyne: Khandi Alexander was amazing in David Simon and Charles Dutton’s The Corner, as a drug-abusing mom desperately trying to clean up her life. Years later, I’m still pissed that she didn’t take home an Emmy for her performance.

  104. 104.

    FlipYrWhig

    Stephen Root also deserves credit for doing voices on _King of the Hill_, especially sad-sack Bill Dauterive and the LBJ-esque boss at the propane company, Mr. Strickland. Does that count as character acting?

  105. 105.

    Gib

    If they have not already been cited here…I’d add character actor workhorses Ned Beatty (Deliverance, Nashville, Network) and Charles Durning (Dog Day Afternoon, Tootsie, O Brother, Where…)

  106. 106.

    Mnemosyne

    Really, really last thing before bed — I realized that probably only horror movie fans are familiar with Ernest Thesiger, but I found one of his best clips on YouTube. This is Dr. Praetorious showing his experiments to Henry Frankenstein in Bride of Frankenstein. The special effects are still pretty damned convincing for a movie that’s 77 years old.

    ETA: Corrected spelling of actor’s name. D’oh!

  107. 107.

    Elizabelle

    Six degrees of separation.

    Stephen Root was in “Everything Must Go”, a terrific small movie.

    Starring Will Ferrell, in a serious turn.

    Ferrell’s got more range than most credit him for.

  108. 108.

    JGabriel

    Wait, have we really hit over 100 comments about character actors without anyone mentioning Philip Seymour Hoffman?

    We should all be ashamed of ourselves.

    Also, seconding David Koch’s mention of Paul Giamatti.

    .

  110. 110.

    James E. Powell

    Ricardo Montalban – the way he said, “Aaadmeeral Kirk”

    Teri Garr – I will never stop loving her for her many Letterman appearances back in the day

    Wilford Brimley – his scene in “Absence of Malice” plus everything else he ever did

  111. 111.

    Jamey

    William Fichter, for his perf in “Go” alone…@Elizabelle: I agree! I thought “Stranger than Fiction” was a wonderful movie BECAUSE of Will Ferrell, and not in spite of him.

  112. 112.

    de stijl

    Harvey Keitel
    Sarah Polley
    Martin Donovan
    Leslie Mann
    Chris Penn
    Frances McDormand
    Danny Trejo
    Robert LaSardo
    John C. Reilly
    Juliette Lewis
    Keith David
    Peter Stormare
    Seymour Cassel
    Adrienne Shelley
    Kevin Corrigan
    Don Cheadle (Character or Lead? I’m including him for Boogie Nights)
    Debi Mazar
    Luis Guzman
    John Carroll Lynch
    William Forsythe
    Michael Rooker
    Alfred Molina
    Parker Posey
    Lance Henriksen

    Cool topic. The hard part is separating character from lead actors / actresses. Is someone like Parker Posey, Don Cheadle, Lance Henrikson, John C. Reilly, etc. a lead or character actor? Hell, Michael Rooker is arguably a lead actor. Jennifer Jason Leigh?

  114. 114.

    brent

    @Elizabelle: His comedy work is just not my thing. I can appreciate why its funny but it just doesn’t make me laugh. But I agree about Ferrell’s dramatic work. Stranger Than Fiction is semi-comedic but without much of his sort of over the top man-boy antics. Great work from him.

  115. 115.

    MaryRC

    @Don K:

    And can anyone come up with comparable female character actors?

    Mary Wickes. A wonderful actress who specialised in wise-cracking nurses and housekeepers (Now Voyager, White Christmas). Her last role was one of her best, crabby old Aunt Marsh in the 1994 remake of Little Women. The putdown she gives to Eric Stoltz when he says she’s looking well is priceless.

    Alice Brady, Ginger’s cynical aunt in The Gay Divorcee (she seems amused and incredulous when her husband is supposedly pursuing Ginger, but then again her husband was Edward Everett Horton. You’d be amused too). Even better as Carole Lombard’s batty mom in My Man Godfrey.

  116. 116.

    Kris Collins

    @JGabriel:
    Actually, IMHO, Brad Pitt is a brilliant comic character actor trapped inside a drop-dead gorgeous movie star face and body. Just watch him in “Burn Without Reading;” I rest my case. I agree with most of those named (I especially love William Daniels, please somebody bring back St. Elsewhere on TV, that show got me through law school.) As for female character actors, there are so many I hardly know where to begin. I would agree with all those named above, Thelma Ritter and Eve Arden being my personal faves. And did anyone mention Marjorie Main, Elsa Lanchester, or Margaret Hamilton (the Witch from the Wizard of Oz, and many other roles?) Also, Hattie McDaniel, brilliant in GWTW.

  119. 119.

    Triassic Sands

    Any list of great character actors would be incomplete without mention of JT Walsh, who, sadly, departed at only 54.

  120. 120.

    NotMax

    Several not yet mentioned:

    Sydney Greenstreet
    Peter Lorre
    Margaret Hamilton
    Alice Pearce
    Ann Sothern

    and, why the hell not, Hoot Gibson

  121. 121.

    burnspbesq

    Scott Glenn
    John Spencer (remember how good he was in “Presumed Innocent?”)
    Richard Jaeckel
    Avery Brooks (before there was Sisko, there was Hawk)
    George Dzundza
    Chow Yun-Fat

  122. 122.

    NotMax

    Totally forgot about dear, dear S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall

    Living and unmentioned thus far?

    Andrea Martin
    Brian Blessed

  125. 125.

    Suezboo

    Aaaand my personal fave : Austin Pendleton
    Always the bespectacled nerd, always just right.

  127. 127.

    Lavocat

    Just off the top of my head, here’s five that are seared into my brain from a collection of four fucking amazing movies:

    1. John C. Reilly (as Chest Rockwell) from Boogie Nights (this movie is so fucking awesome, it still gives me chills);

    2. James Cromwell from L.A. Confidential (exuding pure evil);

    3. David Morse as Brutal from The Green Mile (humanizing being a prison guard);

    4. William Macy in Fargo (shit, ANYONE from Fargo!);

    5. Robert Ridgely as The Colonle from Boogie Nights.

    Christ, I could go on and on and on.

    Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, and Philip Seymour Hoffmann OWN this category though.

    When I first saw O Brother Where Art Thou, I honestly thought someone had slipped some acid into my drink. That whole movie is just one long acid trip.

    Only by the third viewing did I realize that it was a mind-blowing retelling of the Odyssey in modern times. I guess I’m a little slow.

    Great thread, John!

  128. 128.

    Lavocat

    @Elizabelle: HOLY SHIT!

    Team of Rivals is being made into a movie!!??

    This is – hands down – the best book I’ve EVER read about Lincoln and that era. The scholarship that went into writing that book is mind-boggling. Doris Kearns Goodwin is a modern-day Shakespeare with prose. If you haven’t read this book, you’re doing yourself an immense disservice.

  129. 129.

    Schlemizel

    @Lavocat: I’ll get excited as soon as I can think of a single great book Hollywood didn’t mangle into pulp.

    I’m surprised Wm H Macy only got a couple of mentions and Selma Diamond none.

  131. 131.

    gogol's wife

    I have to run and read this thread later, but I just want to put in a word for Franklin Pangborn, William Demarest, and Claude Gillingwater. Edna May Oliver is enthusiastically seconded. Jane Darwell, Sara Algood. I could go on and on just with the great pantheon of the 1930s and 40s.

  132. 132.

    Randy P

    Oh man, I could go on for hours.

    I see people mentioning William Macy. For Macy fans, I highly recommend the Hollywood satire “State and Main”. It’s a great movie anyway (and written by David Mamet, how can you go wrong?) but the Macy character is just wonderfully cynical and completely different from other stuff I’ve seen. You’ll see many other familiar faces (Philip Seymour Hoffman for instance) but I especially love Macy.

    Females? Kathy Bates would have to be on top of my list. Sure she could get type cast as scary in “Misery”, but she’s done a much wider range of stuff. She’s downright timid in “Fried Green Tomatoes”.

    People who keep surprising me at where they turn up and how different they are: Chris Cooper, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Thomas Haden Church. Edited to add: Rhys Ifans, a Welsh actor who I first saw as a stereotypical Welshman in Notting Hill, and just saw as the bad guy in the new Spiderman.

    Like Cole said about Goodman, a great actor rather than a character actor: Frank Langella. He hasn’t done a lot of movies, and nothing I’d call the lead. Just awesome on stage. I saw him as Molieri in Amadeus and he commanded that huge Broadway stage when he was all alone on it. In the movies, he’s been mostly a bad guy: The Twelve Chairs (an early Mel Brooks), Dracula, and I think it was the chief of staff in Dave.

  135. 135.

    gogol's wife

    I wish I had been awake when this thread started last night! There are some great ones up above. I also wanted to mention Theresa Harris, but I think she was really a lead actress who had to be a minor actress because she was African-American. She is electrifying.

    Helen Westley, Edmund Gwenn.

  136. 136.

    Randy P

    Did anybody mention Seth Green? I’ll watch him in anything. He was key to the Buffy series, and while I wasn’t a huge Austin Powers fan, his role as Dr. Evil’s disgruntled son was one of the best parts.

    I keep thinking of people. Giovanni Ribisi is another one who keeps popping up and is always fun to watch.

  138. 138.

    Cluttered Mind

    I’m surprised no one has mentioned Leonardo diCaprio yet. I first saw him in Titanic and dismissed him as just a pretty face, but then I saw a few more movies he was in and completely changed my opinion. He was downright amazing in The Man in the Iron Mask, playing two completely different roles in the same movie and bringing both to life vibrantly. He has a huge range, and I would say the same thing about him that was said upthread about Brad Pitt, that judging him by his looks is a bad idea.

  139. 139.

    gravie

    Oh yes, Melissa Leo. Hell, the entire cast of Homicide: Life on the Streets. Also, Laurie Metcalf, Catherine O’Hara. The entire supporting cast of The Closer.

  140. 140.

    quannlace

    ‘O, Brother’ is right up there with my top favorite comedies. Along with ‘My Favorite Year’ and ‘All About Eve.”

    Thelma Ritter! ‘What a story. Everything but the bloodhounds snapping at her rear end!’

  142. 142.

    Summer

    Enrico Colantoni for “Galaxy Quest” and “Veronica Mars.” And second the Laurie Metcalf.

  143. 143.

    BudP

    This is a great thread. Really love a lot of those already mentioned. Here are a few more…

    Helen Broderick (Top Hat)
    Spring Byington (You Can’t Take It With You)

    Dominique Pinon (Amelie, Diva)
    Mischa Auer (My Man Godfrey, You Can’t Take It With You

  146. 146.

    kd bart

    The Interchangeable Crew:

    Ned Beatty, Charles Durning, Jack Weston, James Coco and Jack Warden.

  148. 148.

    Tokyokie

    Late to the thread because my Internet connection was down, but 146 posts, and I’m the first to mention the great Slim Pickens.

    Up until the 1970s, American character actors could basically be divided into those who were predominantly in Westerns and those who weren’t. And I claim that the 1973 Sam Peckinpah movie Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid has the greatest collection of character actors ever assembled in one movie, to wit:
    R.G. Armstrong
    Luke Askew
    Richard Bright
    Matt Clark
    Elisha Cook Jr. (who I think has the role that was intended for Peckinpah regular Strother Martin)
    Jack Elam
    Gene Evans (Sam Fuller’s favorite actor other than Neyle Morrow)
    Richard Jaeckel
    L.Q. Jones
    Slim Pickens
    Charles Martin Smith
    Harry Dean Stanton (who I think has the role that was intended for Peckinpah regular Warren Oates)
    Barry Sullivan
    Dub Taylor
    Chill Wills

    Now, of course, some of those guys were more associated with genres other than Westerns. (I’m pretty sure it’s the only Western that Bright ever made, and Cook didn’t show up in very man.) But other than Lee Van Cleef, it’s hard to come up with a Western character actor who’s not in that movie who was still living at the time it was made.

  149. 149.

    fraught

    Laurie Metcalf, Roseanne’s tv sister, has been considered one of the best theater actors for years and years. Right now, she’s killing them in London as Mary Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey an next season will be on Broadway in a new play.

  151. 151.

    peorgietirebiter

    Ruth Gordon and Hume Cronyn. And I can’t hear O Brother without thinking of Sullivan’s Travels. Veronica Lake and Joel McCrea as the contract director trying to convince his studio to produce O Brother Where Art Thou.

  152. 152.

    Ben Cisco

    Unmentioned yet: the cast of Third Watch.

    Second burnsie’s choice of Avery Brooks (xtra props for the Hawk reference) – also, his work in American History X and Roots: The Gift.

  153. 153.

    Countme In

    Root played a creepy dentist in an episode of Louis C.K.

    I think of character actors and actresses as distinct from leading actors, burning holes in the screen in supporting roles and ensemble acting, but yes, of course, Alec Guinness and Robert Duvall, who mastered both.

    Claude Rains, Elisha Cook Jr (in .. everything), L.Q. Jones, Ned Beatty, Beatrice Straight, Edward Everett Horton (king of the stuttering double take among so many early comedy character actors) , Strother Martin (prairie scum), Rip Torn, Murray Hamilton (Jaws, The Graduate), Jack Warden, Allan Melvin (for awhile, he played entire towns full of guys ie Andy Griffith), Kathy Bates, Sydney Greenstreet, Jonathan Banks (Syndechoche New York, and a creepy holy roller doctor explaining the crucifixion to a young Louis C.K.), Peter Sellers (earlier in his career), Catherine Keener, Allison Janney, Akim Tamiroff, Billy Bob Thornton, Bruce Davison (growing on me, along with David Morse), Sam Elliott, Edward Arnold, Pete Postlethwaithe sp?, Francis McDormand, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Gloria Grahame, Chill Wills, Frank Whaley, Joseph Cotton, Marty Balsam, Philip Seymore Hoffman (in the running for all-time #1, challenging Claude Rains) and king and queen of character actors and movie sidekicks — Walter Brennan and Thelma Ritter, who should have starred as a married couple somewhere along the line offering infinite but unwanted amounts of advice and judgement (“You was wrong, Mr. Dunson, and whatever advice Ritter schlepped later in her career to a succession of virgins thinking of giving it up to Rock Hudson, Cary Grant, or both).

    Charles Lane, Robert Blake, Barry Fitzgerald (me dear sainted mother’s favorite), and Jeff Goldblum.

    Lee J. Cobb

    OK, I’m done

  154. 154.

    Mnemosyne

    @NotMax:

    Totally forgot about dear, dear S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall

    Love! Another of my favorites is Felix Bressart, who was in the Lubitsch repertory company. He could be really funny (especially in The Shop Around the Corner), but his Shylock diversion in To Be or Not To Be is unexpectedly heartbreaking and angry as hell at the same time.

    @Randy P:

    People who keep surprising me at where they turn up and how different they are: Chris Cooper, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Thomas Haden Church.

    G always teases me because for some reason I never remember Bryan Cox from role to role. Whenever I don’t recognize someone, he says, “Maybe it’s Bryan Cox!” and about a third of the time, it is.

  155. 155.

    Countme In

    Yes, Cuddles.

    Also, Richard Haydn, In “Ball Of Fire”, along with Cuddles and Oscer Holmolka, among others, supporting the great Barbara Stanwyk and Gary Cooper.

  156. 156.

    NotMax

    @Mnemosyne

    Bressart was also a hoot-and-a-half in Ninotchka.

    I harbor a pet theory that Leonard Nimoy partially modeled his early portrayals of Spock on Garbo’s performance in that movie.

    And another name from movies past tunnels up from the recesses of the cortex: Hugh Herbert.

  158. 158.

    Alexander Dope

    As an unabashed SCTV fan from back in the day I have to add Catherine O’Hara.

    Not sure of the leading/character actor distinction here, but also too Toni Collette, Laura Linney, Hope Davis and Laura Dern (who probably couldn’t avoid it if she wanted to as Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd are also two of the best.)

  159. 159.

    lou

    Yes on Philip Seymour Hoffman. And what about Gene Hackman?

    Also, a lot of Brits haven’t been mentioned and there are so many of them. Someone mentioned Pete Postlewaite, so I’m including a lot in my list. But how about:
    Ian McNeice
    Lindsay Duncan
    David Bamber
    Charles Dance
    Donald Sumpter
    Michelle Forbes
    James Frain
    Alfre Woodard
    Viola Davis
    Stellan Skarsgard
    Fiona Shaw
    Djimon Hounsou
    Max Pirkis (playing Octavian in Rome and the kid in Master and Commander)

  160. 160.

    gogol's wife

    @Richard Fox:

    I adore Eugene Pallette and Guy Kibbee, who was mentioned earlier. I love his character’s name in “Gold Diggers of 1933”: Fanueil Peabody.

  161. 161.

    gogol's wife

    @Richard Fox:

    You’re probably not reading this thread any more, but my husband and I quote Alastair Sim all the time. He has the greatest line in the movie “Green for Danger” and he reads it SO well: “Don’t be fatuous.”

  162. 162.

    gogol's wife

    @Kris Collins:

    I realize I’m talking to myself by now, but Hattie McDaniel is brilliant in just about anything. I love her in the 1934 “Show Boat.”

  163. 163.

    Mr. Furious

    The really good police procederals are fertile grounds for sure… Homicide’s regular cast is obvious, but the guests and cameos and early roles of the people that ended up in “The Box” is pretty long: Isaiah Washington, J.K. Simmons, Steve Buscemi, Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden, Mekhi Phifer and countless others…

  164. 164.

    Mr. Furious

    @lou: Gene Hackman

    A master. Always amazing. Also ageless. The guy looked the same for thirty years!

  165. 165.

    Kevin

    The entire supporting cast from One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest…So many winners that I saw for the first time in that movie.

  167. 167.

    Spike

    Stephen Root is really good in a recurring role as a judge with a reputation for wearing red speedos under his robe on Justified. And one character actor not mentioned yet that I like is Kurtwood Smith (That 70s Show, Dead Poets Society, and countless other “That Guy” roles).

  168. 168.

    Spike

    Stephen Root is really good in a recurring role as a judge with a reputation for wearing red speedos under his robe on Justified. And one character actor not mentioned yet that I like is Kurtwood Smith (That 70s Show, Dead Poets Society, and countless other “That Guy” roles).

  169. 169.

    Bettencourt

    155 posts, and no one’s mentioned J.K. Simmons? I’m a little ashamed of you people. (though I’m certainly glad that Thelma Ritter, and Stephen Root’s work on News Radio, got early mentions).

  170. 170.

    Bettencourt

    So of course, someone posts J.K. Simmons’ name before I hit refresh, and I Iook like an idiot. Before I go hunting again, has anyone mentioned Margot Martindale and John Carroll Lynch? Or an amazing character actor who looks like a leading man, Bruce Greenwood?

  171. 171.

    Bettencourt

    Thank you, Lou, for mentioning Max Pirkis — I was racking my brain recently trying to remember that young British actor who looked just like Mark Lester in Oliver

  172. 172.

    Baron Elmo

    A couple of Kurosawa veterans:

    Toshiro Mifune, who most hardcore movie buffs should know from Rashomon, Seven Samurai and Yojimbo (remade almost shot for shot as A Fistful of Dollars). Perhaps the finest intense actor of all time, Mifune could go way over the top and make it work like no one else.

    Then there’s the far less known but equally brilliant Takashi Shimura. To watch him portray a terrified, cancer-riddled elderly bureaucrat in Ikiru, then see him as the placid yet deadly warrior in The Seven Samurai a year later… well, that’s as great as acting gets.

    By the way, all four of the Kurosawa films I cited above are stunning cinematic experiences that no one should miss. Ikiru is one of those rare works of art that can actually make you a better person.

  173. 173.

    Mr. Furious

    I always think Bruce Greenwood is Sam Neill for a moment…

    Another really good guy that was alongside Greenwood in the excellent “Meek’s Cutoff” is Will Patton.

  174. 174.

    Tokyokie

    @Baron Elmo: I’ve always found Tatsuya Nakadai to be more intense than Mifune. (They’re both in Yojimbo, Sanjuro and High and Low.) He’s one of those rare actors who never looks happy, and on the rare occasions that he smiles, looks even more frightening. But I’d consider Nakadai and Mifune to both be leading men rather than character actors. Agreed on Shimura though. And from Kurosawa movies, don’t forget Minoru Chiaki, who’s the wood-chopping samurai in The Seven Samurai and one of the comical peasants in The Hidden Fortress, but he could also play darker roles as well..

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