Recently, I opened a webpage titled "Greatest Character Actors of all time".
With all due respect to the people listed, as some of them are very good, I feel that the persons putting the list together are ignoring the classic character actors of the past.
This old movie lover (I am 73 as of this post) has seen some of the best character actors in the older movies.
[deleted]
Anyone who grew up on '70s disaster flicks knows that George Kennedy was the G.C.A.O.A.T.
https://moviechat.org/nm0001421/George-Kennedy
George was great. He could do drama and comedy with equal ease.
shareJohn Cazale
shareWho doesn’t love a great character actor? If I can indulge myself here, I’ll list off some of the best, old and new, who have impressed me over the years:
Thelma Ritter
Charles Durning
Margo Martindale
Paul Giamatti
Veronica Cartwright
Peter Lorre
Dianne Wiest
Ben Mendelsohn
Jessie Buckley
Lucas Hedges
Patricia Neal
Luis Guzman
Lin Shaye
Bill Nighy
Tilda Swinton
I guess I could go on forever. There’s so many talented workhorses out there who rarely get top billing but never disappoint.
Yes, and that's why I mentioned the books by Rupert Alister about the great character actors and actresses of the past. "The Name Below The Title". There are several books and are available on Kindle on Amazon.
shareSaw some terrific choices here.
I haven't seen one of my faves...
Philip Seymour Hoffman
He could do anything. And do it well. Plus I like he didn't resort to the extremism actors such as Christian Bale, Jared Leto and Daniel Day Lewis do.
He could just be himself, in his own body, and play pretty much any type of character.
Great submission ! This guy had a range, so versatile.
shareThanks. Yeah I checked one out a couple weeks back, just because he was in it....
"Love Liza"
Just an ok movie, but he's terrific in it.
Great actor.
Huge loss, it's a shame.
Used to follow this series almost religiously and it's where I first spotted him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YlWgTy2o7w
I think the last thing I saw him in was this https://moviechat.org/tt1972571/A-Most-Wanted-Man. So there's a bit of irony there.
Yeah, I was saddened to learn of his death also. The guy was a truly talented actor, not just your run of the mill, Hollywood, handsome action hero.
Have you seen the YouTube video "Phillip Seymour Hoffman is a creepy Pervy jerk"? It's one of my favorites.
Also, "Nicholas Cage Loses His Sh*t"
Is John Lithgow considered a character actor. He's one of my favorites.
shareYes he is.
shareThen he's one of the best. He's got great range as an actor. he has the ability to shift between comedy (3rd Rock from the sun), drama (The Old man) and complete psycho (Dexter) with complete ease.
shareI agree with you on that point, but the point of my post was, without taking anything away from Lithgow or the other fine character actors of today, that if it wasn't for the great character actors of the past, the Oscar category for Best Supporting Actor would not exist.
shareGotcha. How about Donald Pleasance. Always enjoyed his work.
shareJust watched him last night in "Halloween". John Carpenter scored big getting an actor the caliber of Donald Pleasance to agree to appear in his film.
Interesting thing about him in that movie. You will notice that his name appears before the title. Something I also noticed in the TV show "Taxi". Judd Hirsch's name appears before the title.
I think those instances were things that the producers did to entice the star to appear in the movie/TV show.