Your favorite character actors

[JackFavell]

I never noticed Lois Smith in East of Eden, kingrat! Thanks. I think I must have seen her first on The Doctors, which my grandma used to watch when she visited us. I would bring her prune juice and if I was quiet I could watch soaps with her. All I know is, it seems like I've known Lois Smith all my life.

Chris Cooper is pretty much great in anything he's in, not flashy but totally invested, and he deserves more and better roles. I'd love to see him play a lead role again, but I doubt this will ever happen. I can dream though. Maybe he and Strathairn can share a double bill.

I thought of two more actresses recently.

Melinda Dillon - not sure she qualifies as a character actress, but her approach to roles seems very much in that vein. Geez, why hasn't anyone cast her as Lois Smith's daughter?

Lila Kaye - I just saw her again in a Brit series that I had seen before, and I thought, every time I see her I get a smile on my face. At one point in time, she was in every Brit production I saw. She can do broad comedy and always stands out. There's a Marie Dressler quality to her that I just love. Her best role for me was as Mrs. Crummles the theatrical wife in the Nicholas Nickleby 8 hour show directed by Trevor Nunn. Sadly, she died just last year.

[RedRiver]

BREACH is an intriguing pot-boiler. Chris Cooper is outstanding in this and pretty much everything. See LONE STAR, AMERICAN BEAUTY, MARRIED LIFE. I also like the young star of BREACH, Ryan Phillipe. He has a natural, effortless style, very believable.

Melinda Dillon...was the original Honey in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

I didn't know that. I would have thought she'd have been too young. Time flies! I like Sandy Dennis in the role. What a basket case!

[JackFavell]

I think Maven was right about Myrna Dell and there being too many starlets of the same type.

I didn't know that about Brenda de Banzie. I like her tremendously in Hobson's Choice.

[CineMaven]

Remember this British series, "HOUSE OF CARDS" with the devastating Ian Richardson?



Well it looks like one of my favorite character actors, Kevin Spacey will be recreating an American-version of this famed series. Our politics is very well-suited for palace intrigue, and Spacey can be as Machiavellian and out-Iago Iago. This will appear as a series one can stream from Netflix and you can click on the Spacey foto for more details. It starts this Friday, February 1st.



This features another of my favorite character leading ladies, Robin Wright-Penn. If you know and like Kevin Spacey's work...there will be hell to pay.

[JackFavell]

That's a good fit for Spacey. But man, the original was soooooooo goood.

[CineMaven]

Whoa, a slew of character actors appeared on this local NBC show called "Talk Stoop" where host Cat Greenleaf talks to celebrities from her Brooklyn brownstone stoop. Today she interviewed several character actors I admire. Her guests included: Kevin Bacon, Blythe Danner, Juliet Lewis, Marcia Gay Harden and Stanley Tucci. They all seemed so unassuming, and "wonder where they'll get their next job from."

[JackFavell]

ARRRGGGH! I missed Stanley Tucci! Also love Blythe Danner.

[RedRiver]

I should try that in Kentucky. "We're here with, um...Charley Weaver!"

[moira finnie]

ARRRGGGH! I missed Stanley Tucci! Also love Blythe Danner.

Tucci's interview, along with many others, can be seen here on youtube. Just scroll down to Stanley on the stoop.

Talk Stoop has more here too:
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/shows/ ... tml?page=1

[JackFavell]

Ahhhhh. Thank you. What a class act. Of course they didn't bring up Joe Gould's Secret, but it was only 4 minutes....

[CineMaven]

Thank you Moira, for the "TALK STOOP" links

Lois Smith - Awwwww man!! A friend recently excitedly wanted to show me a scene from “THE MINORITY REPORT” where Tom Cruise gets schooled by this scientist. “Ya gotta see this actress.” Okay. I never saw the movie so I watched the scene. And there she was. I laughed, “Aahhh Lois Smith.” “Who?” I chuckled again. Yeah, I liked her in “RESURRECTION” “FIVE EASY PIECES” “BLACK WIDOW.” She plays kind of dotty characters. I love her. And now I want to see “The Minority Report.”

Lois Smith is just so great, every time I see her I am awestruck at her career. It literally took me years to realize that the young woman she was is the older woman she is. Wonderful, and I'll post a pic since her name flies under the radar - I guarantee you'll all know who she is.

The next time you watch EAST OF EDEN, look for Lois Smith as the young woman in Jo Van Fleet's business establishment who has eyes for James Dean. She was already good back then. She had some good roles on the soaps, as a psycho murderess on Somerset and as a woman in love with a younger man on The Doctors, and she has done a lot of theater.

I never noticed Lois Smith in East of Eden, kingrat! Thanks. I think I must have seen her first on The Doctors, which my grandma used to watch when she visited us. I would bring her prune juice and if I was quiet I could watch soaps with her. All I know is, it seems like I've known Lois Smith all my life.

I saw these clips below of Lois Smith and James Dean and I wanted to share them on this CHARACTER ACTOR thread. I LOVE the music so much in the first one; it doesn't need the video filter the editor put on here. (Ugh! Leave well enough alone, I say! ) The second YouTube clip has no filters on it.

[youtube][/youtube][youtube][/youtube]

Don't Lois and James look like they're having such a << pauses to catch my breath >> lovely time with each other? Sigh. Their eyes...

[JackFavell]

WOW!

[Bronxgirl48]

Fab thread, Wendy! Hey, who's the bird-faced, officious little mustached actor (sort of a Donald Meek type, but minus Donald's ugly/cute Tweety-ish likeability) who plays gossipy insurance man Mr. Barker in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN? I also remember him as the loan company flunky pestering George Raft and Humphrey Bogart for back payments on their truck in THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT. I've seen him in many 30's and '40's movies, usually reminding people that they owe him money.

Is Porter Hall the Medford, Oregon character from DOUBLE INDEMNITY?

[RedRiver]

"I'm a Medford man. Medford, Oregon. We never forget a face!" That's Porter, allright. Also featured in PETRIFIED FOREST, HIS GIRL FRIDAY, and as Wild Bill Hickock's mousy assasin in THE PLAINSMAN! Apparently, this annoying but memorable player appears as President Franklin Pierce in THE GREAT MOMENT, a Preston Sturges film about a dentist! I haven't seen it. I've been on IMDB!