MarshaKatz Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 We need the backbone actors of movies as "Stars of the Month" - The "Character" actors who have given so many indelible performances and who have consistently been the backbone for the "leading man" or "leading lady". Please schedule Eve Arden, Walter Brennan, Charles Coburn, Agnes Moorehead, Donald Meek, S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, Misha Auer, Allyn Joslyn, Donald Crisp, Anne Revere, Gladys Cooper, Eugene Pallette, Mary Boland, Alice Brady, Billie Burke, Mary Wickes, Jerome Cowan, Edmund Gwenn, Ruth Donnelly, John McIntyre, Barry Fitzgerald, Jack Carson, Gale Sondergaard, Fay Bainter, Nigel Bruce, Henry Daniel, etc., etc., etc. The list is endless. TCM has so many "character" actors to choose from. THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE "CHARACTER" ACTOR TO BE NAMED STAR OF THE MONTH. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 We need the backbone actors of movies as "Stars of the Month" - The "Character" actors who have given so many indelible performances and who have consistently been the backbone for the "leading man" or "leading lady". Please schedule Eve Arden, Walter Brennan, Charles Coburn, Agnes Moorehead, Donald Meek, S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, Misha Auer, Allyn Joslyn, Donald Crisp, Anne Revere, Gladys Cooper, Eugene Pallette, Mary Boland, Alice Brady, Billie Burke, Mary Wickes, Jerome Cowan, Edmund Gwenn, Ruth Donnelly, John McIntyre, Barry Fitzgerald, Jack Carson, Gale Sondergaard, Fay Bainter, Nigel Bruce, Henry Daniel, etc., etc., etc. The list is endless. TCM has so many "character" actors to choose from. THE TIME HAS COME FOR THE "CHARACTER" ACTOR TO BE NAMED STAR OF THE MONTH. It would be great if TCM was to feature the character actor as SOTM; One actor per day. Of course then we would have to decide who the 30 or 31 actors are! But that would be fun. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted June 16, 2015 Share Posted June 16, 2015 It would be great if TCM was to feature the character actor as SOTM; One actor per day. Of course then we would have to decide who the 30 or 31 actors are! But that would be fun. Something like singing cowboys (which they did a few summers ago) and pin-up girls (this summer) helps pave the way for character actors as SOTM. The group SOTM thing has been fairly successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesbaby Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Walter Brennan, who was in everything... One of the greatest character actors ever Donald Crisp, who was in most everything and started in the silent movies (he was the "bad father" in Broken Blossoms) Hattie McDaniel, who was the maid in everything John Carradine One of my personal favorites (and I have a cat named after him to prove it) Nigel Bruce One of my favorite ever female character actors is Mae Robson Either a Star of the Month for character actors or a month like major stars. Definitely. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElCid Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 How about Marie Windsor? Perhaps do 2-3 stars per day? That way you could actually do 60-90. This would permit TCM to find movies to which they can get the rights and still show best of the character actors' works. Incidentally, I think this would work very well for Summer Under the Stars as well. Do 2-3 character actors per day and do not do any SUTS actors who have been featured in past five years (maybe 10). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 How about Marie Windsor? Perhaps do 2-3 stars per day? That way you could actually do 60-90. This would permit TCM to find movies to which they can get the rights and still show best of the character actors' works. Incidentally, I think this would work very well for Summer Under the Stars as well. Do 2-3 character actors per day and do not do any SUTS actors who have been featured in past five years (maybe 10). Another way to do this would by studio for a given era; e.g. WB character actors of the 30s. Have the host discuss a handful of the actors and the time period then show 4 - 5 films that featured these actors (and of course in most cases each film would feature multiple character actors in various combinations). Do a different studio \ time period each night. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlk44 Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 Eric Blore was good in so many films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Gorman Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 JOHN ANDERSON (1922-1992) was in so many movies it shouldn't be too hard to find enough movies where he was featured to show for a day. I saw him on Friday in "The True Story of Lynn Stuart" with Betsy Palmer and Jack Lord. He had a big part in the 1975 Howard (Hikmet) Avedis film THE SPECIALIST with Adam West, Ahna Capri, Marlene Schmidt, Alvy Moore and Harvey Jason. Anderson is 'Pike Smith' and he's mean and nasty in this tale of corruption. (Theme song of THE SPECIALIST vocalized by Lou Rawls). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessieB Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 I would like to see the fabulous character actress, Mercedes Mc Cambridge as SOTM!! She is quite a spectacular character. I think she deserves the honor. I love the idea of more Character Actors/Actresses as SoTM. Maybe someone will listen..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted August 6, 2016 Share Posted August 6, 2016 I've been thinking about this concept-- and remembered we had a thread about it. A few nights ago I watched Marjorie Main in TISH, a 1942 MGM comedy-drama where she plays the title character and is billed first. She did a lot of MGM films that are in the TCM/Turner library. And all those Ma & Pa Kettle films at Universal proved she could make it as a star in her own right. She seems like an obvious choice for TCM to honor as a Star of the Month. And it would be a great follow-up to the recent month-long tribute for Marie Dressler. Plus this would help open the door for all the other character actors and actresses. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tikisoo Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Eric Blore was good in so many films. But he always played the same charactor. Do we want to see an entire block of movies where the charactor actor has little range? This seems to hold true for many great charactor players; Edward E. Horton, Charlotte Greenwood, Eve Arden. It's a bit tougher to name "versatile" charactor actors. While Jack Carson, Walter Brennan & Charles Coburn played various charactors, they were often more supporting actors than charactor actors, sometimes getting top or second billing. Jack Carson's performance in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and THE GOOD HUMOR MAN for example. Trying to name a versatile charactor actor, I can only come up with a few: Thomas Mitchell who is almost unrecognizable as both Uncle Billy & Gerald O'Hara. Eugene Pallette started out as a romantic leading man before becoming the butterball bumbling charactor he perfected later on. Alan Hale has been tough, cute and a light dancer in several different roles. And don't forget George Tobias, who's had every accent from war films to comedies playing various roles before becoming Abner Kravitz. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaykitties Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Eric Blore, Edward Everett-Horton, Allen Jenkins, Frank McHue, Hattie McDaniel, John Litel, Eugene Pallette, Glenda Farrell, Eve Arden, Alice Brady, Alan Mowbray, Walter Connolly, George C Stone, John Ridgely, Spring Byington, Ruth Donnelly, Gale Patrick, Jack Carson, Allyn Joselyn, Jerome Cowan, Nigel Bruce, Gladys Cooper, Lee Patrick, Ward Bond, Cesar Romero, Minna Gombell, Nat Pendleton all should be Co Star of the month 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tikisoo Posted November 19, 2016 Share Posted November 19, 2016 Can you elaborate on that tired list Kay? What are you saying? The other posts in this thread already named those on your list and possible ways to structure them as SOTM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopBilled Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 A year and a half after your original post, Marsha-- you got your wish! Character actors (and actresses) will be Stars of the Month in April 2017. I've listed the ones who will be featured over eight different days in the April SOTM thread: http://forums.tcm.com/index.php?/topic/125393-character-actors-sotm-april-2017/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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