Your favorite character actors

[JackFavell]

Clore, their heads are the same shape!

You know, I love Alper in Saboteur, a film filled with great supporting players.

[mrsl]

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I've said this before but not on this thread I don't think, but two of my favorites are Rance Howard (Ron Howard's father), and Bing Russell (Kirk Russell's dad).

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[JackFavell]

I never knew that either Ron or Kurt had dads who were also actors! Thanks for the info, mrsl!


Bing Russell


Rance Howard

[clore]

I saw Kurt Russell and his father the other night in a rerun of THE FUGITIVE on Me-TV.

[RedRiver]

I saw that. I think every time Young Kurt was on the show, his dad turned up sooner or later. In one episode, Kurt was cast as Lt. Girard's son! I actually like Girard's character. He's not a bad man or a bumbling civil servant. He's just a cop doing his job.

[mrsl]

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Hi Jack:

Reference: Bing Russell and Rance Howard

Both of them have had careers as strictly character actors. Bing was the deputy sheriff on Bonanza (Clem) for a couple of seasons, but other than that I don't recall his ever holding any other role with any regularity. Unfortunately he passed away in 2003. If you look him up on imdB, there is a photo of the two of them at an event table and the similarity is striking. The only thing is, Kurt kept his dimples but on his dad, they turned into parantheses. But they are both quite good looking.

As for Rance Howard, I doubt if he EVER held a regular role, but I've heard Ron say very proudly, "Yeah, my Dad raised all of us on his character actors salary". Again, if you look him up on imdB, there is also a photo of the two of them, and if you cover both their heads, you immediately see that Ron is the spitting image of Dad. In fact, Rance has about 7 projects in the works right now. He has always been in great demand, and another who could have taken on actual roles and done any sort of part - drama or comedy and probably gotten on the A list. Rance, as is brother Clint, often in Ron's movies.

One of my favorite pastimes while watching classic western movies and T.V. shows is looking for either one of them as cowhands, cavalry, bartenders, members of posses', and/or criminal gangs. You'll usually see at least one of them.
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[JackFavell]

Thanks for the info, Anne, on both men. I do remember Clint Howard, Ron's brother, and now after thinking about it, I think Kurt mentions his dad in the Elvis Presley interstitial on TCM.

I love The Fugitive, so I've probably seen them on the show without even realizing it. I may have recognized Kurt, he looks the same now as he did as a kid, and of course we all knew him from the Disney movies he did.

Red, I love what you said about Gerard. He may be a hardheaded, unbending detective, but he's not evil. Morse should be better remembered now for his work on this show. He was great.

And speaking of character actors, my favorite episode of The Fugitive is the one with John MacGyver and little John Fiedler as feuding housemates, one who wants to give Kimble up to the police, and the other who doesn't. It's wonderful, very funny for this series.

[RedRiver]

John Mcgiver is always hilarious. I don't know that episode, though. There was a VERY short-lived TV show called MR. TERRIFIC. A super hero parody. McGiver played the government contact of the hapless hero. Or something like that!

[JackFavell]

I think that must have been the first time I ever saw John McGiver, (sorry for the mis-spelling). Although he did some Disney films too. I really loved Mr. Terrific, I remember, but what the heck? I was like 4 years old! Captain Nice was on right after I believe, which turns out to have starred one of my very VERY favorite actors, William Daniels. I don't know why I remember them, I think they must have been around the time Batman got popular so they were trying out shows with superheroes.

[RedRiver]

That's exactly what it was, Wendy. The Batman craze came out of nowhere. Suddenly there were parodies, record albums, even a Superman musical. By 1968, it had all passed. The musical, IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S SUPERMAN has a delightfully toe tapping, rock and roll derived score. The show probably didn't break any records in ticket sales, but the soundtrack is a blast.

"That's no nut, boy. That's CAPTAIN NICE!"

[JackFavell]

I remember a song from that Superman musical, my dad used to play (the piano) and sing this song for us when we were little.

[youtube][/youtube]

[RedRiver]

Adorable little tune! Simply infectious. Performed by a young Linda Lavin in the original cast.

[JackFavell]

Yeah, forgive the horrible piano playing in that video, it was the only clip I could find of the song that was decent.

[JackFavell]

Yay! That's fantastic! I think this is the wave of the future at TCM, casually throwing character actors into the mix, since there are only so many top tier stars to pick from.

I'm so happy about all of them, but Mary, Glenda and Hattie really stand out for me.

And Charles.

And Martin.

I'll be getting saddle sores from my couch in August.