Classic Character Actors

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Thanks for mentioning Maureen O'Hara's book. It is one I have been wanting to look at for awhile. I guess, like Hitchcock, there was a dark side of genius where John Ford's concerned.

 

Back to the subject of Milburn Stone, a lot of people do not realize that before he settled into doing character parts, he had originally been groomed as a leading man by Republic. In a way, it's a disservice that people associate him mainly with playing Doc on Gunsmoke. He was a very talented actor.

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*Patricia Collinge*

 

To John Ericson in TERESA:

 

You'll never be a salesman, sonny.

[Dothery]

Back to the subject of Milburn Stone, a lot of people do not realize that before he settled into doing character parts, he had originally been groomed as a leading man by Republic. In a way, it's a disservice that people associate him mainly with playing Doc on Gunsmoke. He was a very talented actor.

 

 

 

I used to have fun "finding" him in some of the movies he made early on, and then teasing him about them when I saw him next. I told him about seeing "The Princess Comes Across," where he played a reporter and spoke one line, and he said six months later he got a part with TWO lines, and thought he was really moving along in his career ...

 

I spotted him wearing a false nose, playing Farragut, in "Reap the Wild Wind." It's the scene where Duke Wayne has to put the model of the ship in the graveyard of sunken ships. He actually got screen credit for that, although he was only in it for a minute or so.

 

In "Gunsmoke," he told me he was playing his grandfather, who was a gruff man on the outside but smiling inside. That was the key to "Doc." My favorite lines in it were in the scene where he's examining one of the other actors and says, "Cough." The guy coughs, and Doc says, "Cough." The guy coughs again, and Doc says, "How long you had that cough?"

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Interesting comments. Well, I am sure Milburn Stone had stories about Cecil B. DeMille, too, from working on REAP THE WILD WIND.

[LonesomePolecat]

> {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote}

> *Patricia Collinge*

>

> To John Ericson in TERESA:

>

> You'll never be a salesman, sonny.

This lady is absolutely brilliant in SHADOW OF A DOUBT

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*Berton Churchill*

 

In STAGECOACH:

 

I can't get over the impertinence of that young lieutenant. I'll make it warm for that shake-tail! I'll report him to Washington - we pay taxes to the government and what do we get? Not even protection from the army! I don't know what the government is coming to.

[Dothery]

Leon Ames was always a favorite of mine. I loved his singing "You and I" with Mary Astor in "Meet Me In St. Louis." A nice voice and a gentle presentation of a good father still in love with his wife after all their years together. I never forgot him in his earlier years and the wonderful actor he was with Paul Newman ... I don't remember the name of the movie, but he was talking about his son who died to the son who survived, Newman, and it made me cry.

[TopBilled]

>Leon Ames was always a favorite of mine.

 

I just finished watching him in a 1971 episode of The Men from Shiloh. He plays a gray-haired judge, and he's instantly recognizable (that voice of his especially). He lived quite a long life and continued to work until the mid-1980s.

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*Reta Shaw*

 

To Hayley Mills in POLLYANNA:

 

I run a clean kitchen! No shenanigans in here, and you clean up after yourself!

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*J. Farrell MacDonald*

 

In SUSANNAH OF THE MOUNTIES:

 

I pity the poor girl that would marry a man in this outfit.

[FredCDobbs]

Willard Robertson, the best corrupt Sheriff, mean Judge, and shyster lawyer money can buy!

 

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>Willard Robertson, the best corrupt Sheriff, mean Judge, and shyster lawyer money can buy!

 

Thanks, Fred, for mentioning him.

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*Colleen Dewhurst*

 

To John Wayne in MCQ:

 

You're a bear. I don't like bears.

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*Hugo Haas*

 

To Cleo Moore in THE OTHER WOMAN:

 

Your whole story's a cheap trick. I never even touched you. I couldn't have been that drunk that I wouldn't have remembered.

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*Inez Courtney*

 

In SUZY with Jean Harlow:

 

Guess I shouldn't kick. Two weeks is a long run these days.

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*Jerry Austin*

 

In SARATOGA TRUNK with Ingrid Bergman and Flora Robson

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*Charlotte Greenwood*

 

To Carmen Miranda in THE GANG'S ALL HERE:

 

That hat! I'd better watch my lampshades and bell-cords!

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*Moroni Olsen*

 

To Joan Crawford in MILDRED PIERCE:

 

You know, Mrs. Beragon, there are times when I regret being a policeman.

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*Nancy Walker*

 

To Phil Silvers in LUCKY ME:

 

I speak as well as anybody. In fact, weller.

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*E.G. Marshall*

 

In 12 ANGRY MEN:

 

I have a reasonable doubt now.

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*Beah Richards*

 

To Oprah Winfrey in BELOVED:

 

No matter what happen, God has led you home. So lay em' down Sethe, sword and shield. For God has led you home.

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*Charles Winninger*

 

To Fredric March in NOTHING SACRED:

 

You're a newspaperman. I can smell 'em. I've always been able to smell 'em. Excuse me while I open the window.

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*Shelley Winters*

 

In WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN?:

 

Men can be quite a bit lower than the angels.

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*Philip Ahn*

 

In IMPACT, when asked if he understandee English:

 

(nods) Also French, Italian, and Hebrew.

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*Nanette Fabray*

 

In THE BAND WAGON:

 

We're not fighting. We're in complete agreement. We hate each other!