George C Scott or Jackie Gleason?

I agree that Scott was great,(and one of the all time great actors of the century)and he obviously had the bigger role. Whether Gleason could have played Scott's role with as much menace is questionable. But every time Gleason is on screen he is just such a prescence. The last scene when Eddie comes in and we see him over Gleason's shoulder, Eddie has all the dialogue. But the fun is in watching Gleason's face. He does 4 little eye glances, over here, over there...they are so subtle, but they convey so much. He just inhabits this role as the ultimate "player", the big mahoff, so to speak. That comes from Gleason's own personal presence, and the way he plays it. So I actually prefer Gleason.

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Scott. Of Gleason's performance, one critic wrote, "It is the best use of a manikin by a director since Kazan photographed Burl Ives as Big Daddy."

In this movie it's Gleason in my opinion. He nailed the part perfectly, the delivery of his lines, even his voice when he is leaning over shooting is as authentic as one could get it. To me it is his rendition of this character in the short period of screen time that pushes the movie beyond a good movie about pool into a classic. When you are have confusing allegiances as to who you should be rooting for when they play against one another you know he did his job.

Now, as for who is best based on their body of work, I would have to go with Scott. In this film though, he is more of a replaceable part then Gleason is.

Gleason was excellent in 'The Hustler'. He was excellent in most things he was in. They don't call him 'The Great One' for nothing. That being said, the conflict between Newman and Scott is truly the soul of the film in my humble opinion. Scott was one of the finest film actors of all time. He made this film shine. Personally I would have loved to have seen Newman get Best Actor and Scott get Best Supporting Actor. Crime that neither did.

There are few actors I would rather see work than George C. Scott.

In any case, the film was an absolute triumph. I'll never get tired of seeing it.

Don't forget that while George C. Scott built a stellar career playing serious roles, the mostly-comic Jackie Gleason was also outstanding in The Hustler and a year later in Requiem for a Heavyweight.

Why didn't Gleason play more serious roles?

Scott's acting is fantastic, and Gleason's screen presence here is unmatched.

Hard to say. Scott refused the supporting actor nomination because he didn't believe in actors competing with each other. He may have had a good idea there.

George C. Scott