They usually play the villain, but not in....

Anthony Zerbe as Shirley MacLaine's former lover and present-day choreographer in The Turning Point.

50 Is The New Cutoff Age.

The most obvious example would be Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou (1965).

jj

How about Dan Duryea in Storm Fear 1955, directed by Cornel Wild who defied the studios by casting Lee Grant at the time, she was blacklisted.

There is also Joseph Calleya in Algiers who was kinda of friend with Pepe Le Moko (Charles Boyer)

Wish I remember the name of the movie with Charles McGraw where he plays a undercover cop in a movie don't remember if the case was about drugs or conterfeit money.

Donald Pleasance, usually cast in unsympathetic, or sinister roles was endearing in The Great Escape.



"Barney Sloane...That's my new name...My old one's a little more Italian."

Not sure I could say that Rod Steiger only played villians, but he played many. However, he was remarkable in his deeply poignant role in The Pawnbroker.

The time of the singing of the birds has come.

Basil Rathbone alternated between playing villains and good guys-- excellent at both. Sir Guy of Gisbourne or the Marquis St. Evremond, then becoming famous as Sherlock Holmes. A couple of other nice guy parts-- "A Feather in Her Hat," 1935; "Make A Wish," 1937-- as a songwriter befriending a child singing star. He was sort of hero/villain as Wolf Von Frankenstein in "Son of Frankenstein" and Major Brand in "The Dawn Patrol."

Lionel Atwill played nice in a few films-- "Beggars in Ermine," "Balalaika," etc. I always expect his good guy characters to suddenly erupt in insane laughter, or to make off with the heroine.

Bela Lugosi as Tarnaverro turns out to be fairly benign in the Charlie Chan film "The Black Camel." Bela as Dr. Werdegast in "The Black Cat." Mysterious but basically good.

I think George Zucco played some good characters-- now there was an actor who just screamed out "Villain!"

Lon Chaney in "Tell It to the Marines." Tough but a good guy.

Charles Bickford started out playing tough guys, but later played some decent characters-- "The Farmer's Daughter," etc.

...from the get go, Edward G Robinson played villains and eventually acquiesced into benign sympathetic roles...

Edmund Gwenn was adept at playing both sides of the fence.

I love him (EGR) in Soylent Green!


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