Emily Dean Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Get ready everyone here they come, those actors who add the condiments to our movies, who are your favourites? I know mine!! Eve Arden George Sanders James Gleason Eddie "Rochester" Anderson William Demerest Eric Blore Edward Everett Horton Lee Patrick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FletcherChristian Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Edward Everett Horton. He made everything he was in good. The Fred Astaire /Ginger Rogers movies have the best character actors. They're everywhere. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewhite2000 Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Yes, the Astaire/Rogers movies are just loaded with them. Besides Horton, you've got Eric Blore and in one movie Victor Moore. The first character actor I genuinely became aware of in my early years of embracing classic movies had to have been Thomas Mitchell. In the much-vaunted year of 1939 alone, Mitchell had possibly the greatest single year in character actor history: winning Best Supporting Actor for Stagecoach, but also appearing in Gone With the Wind, Only Angels Have Wings, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 I like 'em ALL, EMILY! Your list looks prety much like mine but for a few absentees..... ALLAN JENKINS CHARLES LANE NED SPARKS WALTER BRENNAN PERCY HELTON WARD BOND ALAN HALE DUB TAYLOR DABS GREER JOHN QUALEN To name but a few...... Sepiatone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomJH Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 While he was the star of a few films, Claude Rains was primarily in character support. He could be sympathetic, he could be villainous, or he could be an engaging rogue, as in his most famous role as Louie Renault in Casablanca. Rains could make you hiss him in one film while shedding a tear for him in another. He was a great actor. Think, too, of all the classics in which he participated. Aside from Casablanca there was, among others, The Invisible Man, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Kings Row, Notorious and Lawrence of Arabia. Rains is probably my favourite character actor, while there are so many others I could name as well. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RipMurdock Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Paul Fix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Dean Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 Rains is probably my favourite character actor, while there are so many others I could name as well. Cannot agree with you more TomJH...just saw him yesterday in "Deception" with his best actress, Bette Davis. For any of you really interested in getting to know about your "characters" there is a great book: "Also Starring...Forty Biographical Essays on the Greatest Character Actors of Hollywood Golden Years" by Cynthia and Sara Brideson. Great reference for this month's Character Actors: Star of the Month" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 So Eve Arden was the only woman character actor. . . . Don't forget Helen Broderick adding to the chemistry in the Rogers/Astaire movies. And Aileen McMahon. And May Robson. And Nina Mae McKinney. And Theresa Harris. And Dorothea Kent. And Joyce Compton. And Penny Singleton. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FletcherChristian Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Oscar Levant. Sardonic actor, also a big time talent on the piano. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceA Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I like Nat Pendleton, Mike Mazurki, Eugene Pallette and Patsy Kelly. Would you consider Peter Lorre a character actor? If so, then he's one of my favorites, as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Paul Fix This tickles me as I've made it a daily habit to watch "The Rifleman" reruns on METV every afternoon. And where( sorry,can't resist) Paul is a FIXture on that show! Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Don't think I've seen the names of Charles Coburn and William Frawley mentioned yet in this thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I would have added Bill, but my list WAS getting kind of lengthy. Never too fond of Coburn though. Oh, he's alright sometime, but I tend to think of character actors(and actresses) as usually being seen in a wide variety of different types of peope and personalities. And Coburn always( to me) seems to be placed as the same kind of guy in almost every role he does. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golightly11 Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Oscar Levant. Sardonic actor, also a big time talent on the piano. I've loved Oscar Levant in everything I've ever seen him in! He basically just played himself most of the time, but I love it! His wit was terrific and his skills on the piano weren't too shabby, either. I think he was great in the Barkley's of Broadway, An American in Paris, Humoresque, Romance on the High Seas-- he was constantly a treat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagebrush Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 I already mentioned Conrad Veidt as my favorite. Some others are: Ralph Bellamy in his supporting roles Jane Darwell Richard Hayden Beulah Bondi Felix Bressart Thelma Ritter Donald Crisp Agnes Moorehead Lionel Barrymore the entire group of supporting players in Preston Sturges films the entire group of supporting players in Frank Capra films Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golightly11 Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Herbert Lom. I made a whole thread about how underrated I think he is. He was always great and fascinating to watch. The Seventh Veil, The Ladykillers, Night and the City, War and Peace, Spartacus, the Pink Panther series... I could go on. As for another character actor, I just love it whenever Harold Huber pops up! And he does, a lot. He was great in The Thin Man (the perfect part for him) and A Slight Case of Murder, with Edward G. Robinson. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FletcherChristian Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 I've loved Oscar Levant in everything I've ever seen him in! He basically just played himself most of the time, but I love it! His wit was terrific and skills on the panio weren't too shabby, either. I think he was great in the Barkley's of Broadway, An American in Paris, Humoresque, Romance on the High Seas-- he was constantly a treat! Agreed. Levant has always been a favorite of mine too. He was a nice foil for those big MGM musicals back then, and a sharp minded talent with some absolute serious skills at the piano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FletcherChristian Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 GUY KIBBEE He was great. Those early Warner films were great for support actors. Kibbee spent most of his on - screen time trying to hook up with Joan Blondell. Movie after movie, he never gave up. Other chorus girls came and went, Ginger Rogers to Loretta Young, but it was Blondell that he wanted most. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lydecker Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 If you love character actors (and I really, really do) check out the bios of some of your favorite character actors who are being saluted in another thread -- The 100+ Club (as in 100 or more performances in feature films.) So far we've got salutes to: Regis Toomey, Mary Treen, Frank McHugh, Jane Darwell, Addison Richards, John Litel, Doris Lloyd, Nat Pendleton and Clara Blandick. Next up: Edward Brophy! Lydecker 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Dean Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 Oscar Levant. Sardonic actor, also a big time talent on the piano. I purchased and read a biography of Oscar Levant and first and foremost he was a truly gifted pianist and a great friend of George and Ira Gershwin. It is really too bad he never starred in a film with Eve Arden...there wouldn't have been a line left to the main actors. You can access some of his interviews on You Tube to get a view of him unscripted. However it is well known, especially in the MGM musicals that he inserted his own lines into the films. Yesterday he was in "Humouresque" with Joan Crawford and John Garfield and I could have sworn he had a line that he later repeated in "An American In Paris". The scene he had in "An American in Paris" where he was the orchestra, conductor and audience is most reflective of his ego. The method they used for filming that sequence is very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagebrush Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 The scene he had in "An American in Paris" where he was the orchestra, conductor and audience is most reflective of his ego. The method they used for filming that sequence is very interesting. That is one of my favorite film scenes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyCronin Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 What is a "Character Actor" versus a "Supporting Actor"?....I like Frieda Inescort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FletcherChristian Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 I purchased and read a biography of Oscar Levant and first and foremost he was a truly gifted pianist and a great friend of George and Ira Gershwin. It is really too bad he never starred in a film with Eve Arden...there wouldn't have been a line left to the main actors. He was an interesting person, so no doubt it's a good read. He was probably the biggest Gershwin fan...he recorded a really cool version of "Rhapsody In Blue". I don't think he was the easiest person to get along with. But musicians are interesting people, and that's what makes them fun. One of my favorite of the big MGM color musicals is the Band Wagon. So, that along with An American In Paris is what I think about when I think of Oscar Levant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 The scene he had in "An American in Paris" where he was the orchestra, conductor and audience is most reflective of his ego. The method they used for filming that sequence is very interesting. And an idea they got no doubt, from BUSTER KEATON's "THE PLAYHOUSE" (1921) Sepiatone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Movie Collector OH Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 What is a "Character Actor" versus a "Supporting Actor"?....I like Frieda Inescort. Somebody who is a "character" and just does their thing, and everybody's just waiting for them to come out and do their thing. No "method acting" necessary (or wanted). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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