What the title says. I'm looking for examples of your favorite scene stealers in classic film.
I'll open the bidding with mine, Thelma Ritter in Rear Window.
Okay, over to you.
What!!! No Gravy???
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Billie Burke in Everybody Sing (1938)
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Claude Rains in....everything.
"He was a poet, a scholar and a mighty warrior."
Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon.
shareOoh, beat me too it! He had such great lines and delivered them perfectly!
"I couldn't be more fond of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son you can always get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon. "
BTW, I was rewatching an episode of ST-NG called "The Long Goodbye" where Picard programs the holodeck with a noir setting, a la Sam Spade. All the Maltese Falcon characters are there with other names, including a fatman (played by Lawrence Tierney) named Cyrus Redblock - a linguistic nod to Sydney Greenstreet!
shareTwo by Mary Astor:
The Great Lie: Although I'm not sure it can be called "stealing." Whatever has been said about Bette Davis, she can't be denied credit for understanding where dramatic focus belonged in a given scene and, "for the good of the show," relinquishing the spotlight to a properly dominant player. It could even be said that she handed their scenes together to Astor on a silver platter. But it was Astor who filled that platter with goodies as the self-centered, petulant and temperamental Sandra Kovak.
The Palm Beach Story: From the moment she sails onto the screen (okay, it was a motor launch; no sail) in the film's second half, Astor is a whirlwind of non-stop banter and vivacious energy as the madcap Maude. Even with the likes of farceurs Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Rudy Vallee and Sig Arno sharing a shot, Astor is its glowing and sizzling center.
Poe! You are...avenged!
There are so many, but one of my all-time favorites is Mary Wickes, especially in The Man Who Came to Dinner - but then again I think she did it in just about everything.
Another: S.Z Sakall, especially in In the Good Old Summertime and - well, also in just about everything, even in Casablanca.
The time of the singing of the birds has come.
Lee Marvin in every supporting role.
shareDavid J. Stewart in Murder, Inc.
British comedienne Joyce Grenfell could steal scenes in any film that she was in. Catch her in 'Stage Fright' at the fair stall where she steals from Alastair Sim which is a great feat in itself.
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