Your favorite character actors

Discussion of the actors, directors and film-makers who 'made it all happen'
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JackFavell
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Re: Your favorite character actors

Post by JackFavell »

ChiO wrote:Ten Favorites (at this moment):

Timothy Carey - merely the Greatest

Steve Buscemi & John Turturro - the heirs of Timothy Carey

Percy Helton - seems so cute and lovable...until he portrays a Bad Guy and suddenly that cherubic countenance and wispy voice converts to an oozing slime-meister who sounds like a cross between a snake and a rat (or, maybe, a rat being swallowed by a snake)

Whit Bissell - ever-reliable

Joe Sawyer - Good Guy, Bad Guy, Dramatic Guy, Funny Guy, and forever Sgt. Biff O'Hara

Roy Roberts - just listen to that voice...you just know he's trying to teach you something

J.C. Flippen - to know him is to love him

Thomas Browne Henry - see him and you know there will be casualties, but the country will survive

Charles McGraw - square-jawed Tough Guy, at your service

I thought you would be the first to post, since I said there was no one as evil as Bob Amory in One Eyed Jacks. Well, I guess Tim Carey's character wasn't evil, he was just flat out crazy. :D

I love both Buscemi and Turturro. Excellent actors, both can turn on a dime, playing neurotic, crazy, depressed.... suppressed rage, whatever. Why is it I actually feel a little sorry for Buscemi in Fargo? :shock:

Percy Helton - nuff said. Totally agree. ewww!

I adore Joe Sawyer! He's relatively new on my radar, I've seen him in countless movies for years, but when you start really noticing him, and the little expressions he has, the bits of business he is doing, all in the background, he's just fantastic! Adds so much to any movie he's in. Love him.
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JackFavell
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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Vecchiolarry wrote:Hi,

Wonderful names - all; and great performers, indded.... I agree with every one of all your choices...
STARS - each and everyone of them!!!!!!

My add-to's are all ladies:
Judith Anderson
Marjorie Main
Minerva Urecal
Verna Felton
Jesse Royce Landis
Connie Gilcrest
Mary Nash
Florence Bates
Lee Patrick
Isabel Jewel
Mildred Dunnock
Betty Field
Una Merkel
Gale Sondergaard


Larry

Larry, every one of these ladies is a gem. Florence Bates alone is worth a mint. Isn't it amazing what a stunning array of women were working in pictures?
RedRiver
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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I'm impressed that you know Billy Gilbert's name, Wendy. I had to look it up! Another example of, "The guy who played..." I won't rest till I've added Ward Bond to my list. One of my favorite actors, period. I'm sure we'll forever be adding names. Otherwise, we'd be here all day. There are even the comic types who became best known for TV.

Fred Clark
Richard Deacon
Frank Sutton
John McGiver
Allan Melvin and the various Allan Melvin lookalikes.
Raymond Bailey is almost unrecognizable when he's not Mr. Drysdale.
And my brother's favorite comedian. Larry Storch!
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CineMaven
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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WoW!

I counted ninety-four actors' names. You folks are remarkable! :) If I didn't break away from what I was doing...absolutely all the rest of my favorites would be on your lists. So let me weigh in here and pretend I have an original thought in my head by naming these talented people:

MY HOLY GRAIL ( Ann & Lurene )

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ANN DORAN - Oh you know her. She’s been in tons of things. I always figure her for smart & efficient. And anything Eve can do, Ann can do. I love them both. She’s mostly always in and out of the picture. I like her copper twangy voice and I thought she was pretty. Yes, her claim to fame can be in “Rebel Without A Cause.” But I like her small turn in “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.” She’s a pip in just a few short sexy moments with Van Heflin.

LURENE TUTTLE - Myrna Loy has the moniker of “The Perfect Wife” but I think she should share that title with the lovely Ms. Tuttle. ( She is mother of musical comedy star Barbara “Carousel” Ruick, who died at 41. ) Tuttle most often always plays The Wife. Now seriously, who can watch “Psycho” and NOT hear Lurene say “...periwinkle blue.” She's married to the blowhard cereal executive in “Niagara” and doesn't she leave her child with an unhinged blonde babysitter in “Don't Bother to Knock”? Aaaah...for me she is character actress supreme. She can be ditsy ( as she was in “Psycho” ) or deadly serious as she was in her one powerful scene in “Sweet Smell of Success.” For my money “Tomorrow Is Another Day” is one of Lurene’s standout performances.

UBIQUITOUS

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ALLYN JOSLYN, JOHN RIDGELY & MINOR WATSON and MORONI OLSEN.

When I see them, I know it’s the 1940’s. They make me smile. Minor has such a distinctive voice and he'd be my second favorite Sugar Daddy after my Sammykins. ( :oops: ) Allyn does have the Jerome Cowan sleeeeeze factor, but his performance in “Moonrise” astounded me and showed me he was much much more than a foil in a nice fitting tux with a little mustache. Don'cha just love Moroni as the police chief who wants to get to the bottom of things in “Mildred Pierce”? ...And Veda's at that bottom, too! And what can one say about John Ridgely? He was in every movie ever made even before Edison invented them!!

THE DOWAGER-TYPE

Yeah yeah yeah...pin-up queens and bombshells are a’ight. But man cannot live by Glam alone! ( Or can they? ) Well, either one of these actors can cut you to ribbons with her quips:

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HELEN BRODERICK - Even big burly Broderick Crawford had to have a mother. And Helen was his. She was wonderful in movies with her big eyes and long face. Her dead pan delivery is killer. Look at her in “Swing Time” when she chastises Victor Moore for eating her ham sandwich. Fred & Ginger who.

CECIL CUNNINGHAM - Her words are like laser beams and you won’t even feel the slice until you see the blood. She played Aunt Paddy in “The Awful Truth.” When she gives Ralph Bellamy that ‘Dear John’ letter and says, “...here’s your diploma” I fell on the floor. Saw her in a bit part as a Madam in “Safe in Hell” and yelled at the tv, “HEY...Aunt Paddy!!!” ( She didn't answer. :shock: )

MOTHER COURAGE

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ALINE MacMAHON

I idolize Aline. She is strong, she is striking and she is beautiful. D’ya remember in “Guest in the House”? ( I need to revisit that one!! ) I liked her in “Five Star Final.” Awwwwwwright! She might not have the physique of the blazing Blondell, but she’s sure got the attitude. And the pathos.

These folks made my runner-up list. Not that their talent is any less. No sir. But because I’m not so sure they’re not leading actor types as opposed to character actors: Celeste Holm, Audrey Totter, Jeanette Nolan, Jayne Meadows, Marie Windsor, Christine Lahti, Martin Balsam ( and my newly added ) Peter Lorre.

Hey Jaxxxon, I don't see Frank McHugh's name...anywhere.
"You build my gallows high, baby."

http://www.megramsey.com
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JackFavell
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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Hey Jaxxxon, I don't see Frank McHugh's name...anywhere.
D'OH! I expect my next dream about Frankie will be a nightmare... coming back to kill me because I left him off my top ten list.... the horrors! Frank with his distinctive "ha ha" but with a knife in his hand... now THAT'S SCARY. :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

Your list puts mine to shame! Allyn Joslyn and Jerome Cowan have always intrigued me, ever since I read the play Boy Meets Girl and pictured these two in the lead roles. I haven't seen all of Moonrise yet, but the mere mention of Joslyn has me salivating to get to it now.

Minor is your number two go-to man now? My old school sugar daddy would be Henry O'Neill:

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though if we were out of the classic era it would mos def be Michael Kitchen. heart heart
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CineMaven
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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Your heart has good taste, J.F.

[youtube][/youtube]

He is a bit of alright!!! ( I'll have to check out "Alibi." I like Sophie Okenedo too. )
"You build my gallows high, baby."

http://www.megramsey.com
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JackFavell
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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Oh, that was lovely! He's so quiet and deep, I adore him.
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movieman1957
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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Harry Davenport
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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JackFavell
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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Harry Davenport is ALWAYS good, I don't know whether I like him better as sweet grandfather in Meet Me In St. Louis, or as the rascal from The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer.

Maven, I think Alibi is one of those slow buildup Brit brain tease mystery movies that sometimes can leave a bad taste in your mouth - you know, did-he-or-didn't-he type things. I haven't yet had the guts to watch it, I don't want to know if he did! :D

I do think you would absolutely LOVE the House of Cards trilogy - To Play the King was the last of the movies I think, it's been a long time since I've seen them. Oh, they are brilliant, and chilling.
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movieman1957
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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Wendy, there was a third part to "House of Cards." The last episode was "The Final Cut." It had to do with some dealing Urquhart had back in Europe in his youth. It might not be as good as the first two but it was still good and oh that ending.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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CineMaven
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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I actually did see the first "House of Cards." The gray haired actor ( who has since passed away ) was a wonderfully Machiavellian S.0.B. That is if I have the right series you and Movie Man are talking about. If I do have it right...it was BRILLIANT!!! Politics...ahhhhh.

:twisted:

( Signed the petition, btw. )
"You build my gallows high, baby."

http://www.megramsey.com
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Professional Tourist
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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RedRiver
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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I was reminded of the riotously droll Roland Young. So matter of fact, he's hilarious! In TOPPER, he's funnier than both the lead players.
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JackFavell
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Re: Your favorite character actors

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Chris - I thought the one I mentioned was the third one, but I guess I was mistaken. I saw all three, just couldn't remember the titles. I agree the third was just a shade less good, but that doesn't mean anything since the first two were brilliant!

PT - of course, Miss Agnes is tops! My favorite three of her characters are as Aggie in Johnny Belinda, as Bruna in Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, and as the lazy, gossipy busybody Emily Hawkins in Since You Went Away.

Red - Roland Young is positively wonderful! I just love him. It astounds me that he could be so villainous in David Copperfield, he's so....eww! The perfect Uriah Heep. No one has ever played it better. And I just love watching the Topper films, he's so seriously dull that he's hilarious! Have you ever seen The Man Who Could Work Miracles? it's one of his best roles.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: Your favorite character actors

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I'm so bad at making lists like this because they are too many to name, far too many but a sample would be

Frank Morgan
Alan Hale
Thomas Mitchell

all three it could be argued were more than support they were certainly prolific in their movie making, a safe pair of hands and second leads for many a studio leading man.

Joseph Callelia
sara Allnut
Una O'Connor
Zasu Pitts
Allen Jenkins

my mind has gone blank, I shall have to come back when they grey cells are working again :roll: :D
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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