Your favorite character actors

[JackFavell]

That's too funny! What did he play, a baddie, or a pal of Kojak?

[MissGoddess]

That's too funny! What did he play, a baddie, or a pal of Kojak?

A cleric in a (what else?) Greek Orthodox Church.

[JackFavell]

Of course! I remember Kojak being one of the better crime dramas on TV back then, I was just a bit too young to watch it. I had a crush on Kevin Dobson for about a week somewhere along the way. And Telly Savalas? He's great. Baby.

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[MissGoddess]

My mother watched it when I was little but I didn't remember much about it, so I started looking at it on Hulu and now I think Kojak is the greatest, baby. Love me some Telly.

Kevin Dobson is terrific, so's the whole cast. I love how many Greeks Telly got to work on it.

[ChiO]

I came from a tough neighborhood. I used to be a "Dirty Greek." But my father used to say to me, "When you grow up and realize what your heritage means, then they'll need a permit to speak to you." He was right. I'm a proud Greek. I carry my Hellenism like a badge of merit.
-- Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas

Wonder what he would think of his Goddaughter, Jennifer Aniston? Bet that as he held her after the baptism, he whispered, "I love you, baby, that's who."

[JackFavell]

There's a lot of really good acting on those early seventies cop shows. All the great character actors of that time show up on them. I can't remember who else, but my first introduction to people like Dane Clark and Elisha Cook Jr. were on those shows.

What??? Jennifer Aniston is Telly's goddaughter? That just seems weird. I can't for the life of me put those two in the same compartments in my mind!

[MissGoddess]

Yes, it's definitely two different generations with Anniston and Savalas...on so many levels, lol.

Great quote from Telly. He has an interesting picture hanging in his office on "Kojak", of a man that is either Savalas himself in period costume or a relative in what looks like a 19th century Greek military uniform. It's quite prominent in almost every scene that takes place in his office. No explanation so far in any of the episodes I've seen.

And I certainly saw most of the character actors I now know from movies, on TV shows first. Karl Malden was definitely a San Francisco cop to me, not a waterfront priest!

[JackFavell]

Absolutely! I was shocked when I found out that Karl Malden was in all those 'old' movies... the worst one was Fred MacMurray who seemed to keep going back back back in time for me.

[MissGoddess]

ha! that's a good way of putting it...first a sixties-seventies TV show, then Disney movies, then Double Indemnity, then pre-codes with Carole and Claudette, lol.

[ChiO]

Ward Bond, Broderick Crawford, Raymond Burr, William Demarest, Gene Evans, Joe Sawyer, Lloyd Bridges, E.G. Marshall -- met them all on TV first.

[MissGoddess]

I've certainly come around the other way, thinking now first of their movie career and later their TV shows, but there are some that won't budge.

Raymond Burr---he was definitely "Ironsides" to me (Mom didn't watch Perry) so it was a real shock when he scared me to death (white hair and all) in Rear Window.

William Demarest was "Uncle Charlie", I couldn't believe how far back he went (and with Fred, too), then, of course, William Frawly was and still is, "Fred Mertz".

Ward Bond was a movies only face to me as a kid. I didn't get to Wagon Train until a few years ago, thanks to DVDs and Encore.

Agnes Moorehead was "Endora", too, lol. TV can be a real game changer.

[Bronxgirl48]

[quote="JackFavell"]Bronxie, you and I are on the same wavelength with Oscar H. I absolutely adore him, think he's the best thing in the movie. Because he starts out so scary, he moves me much more later on in the film.




You're so right, Jackie. The panic and urgency in Oscar's voice to keep Marta from lowering the shades gets me every time. It's such a powerful moment. And the brilliance of his performance is that he's STILL scary, he's still the "black" blustery Uncle Chris, and yet as you say, we're moved by this old lion's attempts to hold on to life right up to the end.

"Is good!"


I had only seen Philip Dorn as Nazis, so for some reason, I never realized Papa was the same actor. I just recently saw him in the icky Blonde Fever, where he wasn't much better. He's gorgeous, though.[/quote



Yeah, BLONDE FEVER, eh. Check him out in UNDERGROUND -- very handsome in a stolid Dutch kind of way, lol.

Oh, guess what, I was channel surfing and came upon THE WESTERNER and whose face do you think was front and center for a second or two? Charles Halton! LOL

[RedRiver]

he did mention about seeing an "osteopath"

"Just don't put her on the expense account!"

I didn't know the Savalas/Aniston connection either. Two performers with so little in common. I like Jen. Not just because she's super adorable. She has personality. A lot of it. She's one Hollywood hottie who might be around after the beauty fades.

Not all George Stevens films hit home with me. GIANT is over-blown. ALICE ADAMS comes from such a painfully dull book it's bound to suffer. THE MORE THE MERRIER is very much like TALK OF THE TOWN. But it's silly where its counterpart has substance. Overall, I have a positive opinion of this filmmaker. Few directors have the batting average of Ford, Hawks and Hitchcock. None do, to be honest!

[JackFavell]

I'm pretty much with MissG on this, the ones she mentioned were definitely TV oriented.

E. G. Marshall is really weird for me... because my first introduction to him was as just a voice - on CBS Radio Mystery Theater. I don't know if I had seen him before and just didn't know he was that guy. The show was on just as I was going to bed from about age 12 on up to maybe 18 or 20 years old, and I LOVED his introductions, even better was when he took part in the episodes. His voice is so distinctive.

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Bronxie, I originally rushed to the computer to write that Halton was the undertaker in THE WESTERNER! but I got sidetracked here talking about other stuff.

Oh you're making me mist up talking about Uncle Chris.

Dumme gjet!

Red, I love Alice Adams and The More the Merrier. I also love a bunch of other Stevens films, but sometimes his insistence on embarrassing his characters really bugs me. I realize though that I like him more than I dislike those moments.

[RedRiver]

ALICE ADAMS is certainly well acted. Always fun to see the great Charley Grapewin! Hepburn is fine in it. I don't dislike the movie. It just doesn't excite me. I'll say one thing. This is one case where the movie is better than the book. Booth Tarkington's novel did nothing for me!