This guy was so greatthey don't make character actors like this anymore. I just love every performance.
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FillCorey — 20 years ago(May 05, 2005 09:24 AM)
I know what you mean, and there's some truth to it, but I have to disagree. (BTW, I've chosen a quote below from another great character: Strother Martin) If a "character actor" is someone who tends to play the "same" roll, or variations on the same theme, in all of their work, but does it with great skill and finesse, then there are plenty out there. The ones we all see and recognize, but never remember their names. I'm thinking of M.Emmet Walsh, Geoffrey Lewis, Lee VanCleef, Cliff Curtis (everything from Islamic bad guys, latin thugs, Polynesians, etc. and ALWAYS great); and a bunch more. It might actually be kind of fun to make a list of great character actors, by some definition. Personally, I've always thought of Jack Nicholson as the greatest character actor of them allso manyof his rolls are variations of the same precariously balanced, dangerous, unpredictable, sociopathic personality!
"What we have hereis a failure to communicate." -
knsevy — 20 years ago(May 05, 2005 03:42 PM)
I don't know about Nicholson. Sure, he often plays precariously-balanced, dangerous, unpredictable sociopaths, but he also did a good job as President Nixon.
No, wait. You're right.
And thanks for reminding me about M. Emmett Walsh. I love him in just about everything he does, especially 'Cannery Row'. But you notice a trend? Most of those guys you mention are OLD, and not doing a whole lot of work, anymore. I don't see enough younger character actors moving up into the ranks to replace the losses. -
FillCorey — 20 years ago(May 06, 2005 08:51 AM)
Yeah, I'm with you, sort of. I wonder if you could make an argument that the decline of the studio system has contributed to the demise of the professional character actor? The kind of actors who made a great living because they were always under contract and "on call" to fill the cliche parts as clerks, bad guys, best friends, parents, cops, etc. Many of these people eventually got noticed for the little extra details and nuances they could bring to the parts and create more interest(Jack Elam, Strother Martin). Nowadays, I'm thinking you see a lot of this in TV commercials and the bit parts on "Law & Order" (mostly Broadway actors between jobs).
But I still think a list could made of recognizable actors who regularly show up in stock roles. Check out Cliff Curtis at this website and see if you remember him from Whale Rider; Three Kings, or Training Day. Or Luis Guzman, who has played more undercover cops and latin gang thugs than I can countbut he's GOOD, and has shown comic talent as well.
Maybe it's "social mobility": character actors aren't so trapped into their pigeonholes, anymore, and are free to rise in the movie world.
"What we have hereis a failure to communicate."