# Actors forever playing one minor role **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2002, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887 "2002-10-25T20:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/21 "2002-10-26T22:43:13Z")
Clint Howard is usually the weird, creepy, should-be-behind-bars guy in a lot of movies. (Cf. Michael J. Pollard.) But lately he’s added “nerd staring at a monitor” to his acting skills. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/22 "2002-10-27T03:24:28Z")
This has long been a hobby of mine. A colleague and I would spend hours frittering away the work day playing the game we called _“Who the Hell is that Guy, Anyway?”_ For my money, the king of all the TV character actors is the unforgettable **Frank Nelson**. From Jack Benny, through the various incarnations of the Lucy Show to Sanford and Son, it was never a surprise to see Frank Nelson turn up as a snooty sales clerk or suspicious floor walker. He had a moon faceand a pencil thin mustache. Generally he’d have his back turned, someone would approach him, attract his attention, turn around and deliver his trademark “Yeeeeeeesss!” Here’s a link. [http://povonline.com/COL053.htm](http://povonline.com/COL053.htm) And another: [http://www.dannythestreet.com/franknelson/pictures.html](http://www.dannythestreet.com/franknelson/pictures.html) How about **Eric Christmas**? or **Arnold Stang**? or **Richard Libertini**? or **Burt Mustin**? ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/23 "2002-10-27T03:43:08Z")
Or **Paul Gleason**? Or **Ronny Cox**? Or **Alice Ghostley**? Or **Barry Corbin**? Or **Paul Dooley**? Or: **G.D. Spradlin, Roscoe Lee Brown, Margaret Hamilton, Edie McClurg, Vito Scotti, Sterling Holloway, Noah Beery, Charlotte Rae** or **Warren Oates**? Just don’t get me started. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/24 "2002-10-27T03:52:40Z")
**Jeremy Pevin** Now finally breaking out of his niche: the wise ass street smart kinda smarmy guy with a good heart just waiting to come out. I like his latest character in _Twilight Zone_ where he did just the opposite of what I just posted ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/25 "2002-10-27T05:44:17Z")
John Wayne. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/26 "2002-10-27T06:02:58Z")
James Tolken, who played a bald hardass cop in “Masters of the Universe,” a bald hardass Air Force officer in “WarGames” and a bald hardass principal in “Back to the Future.” FISH ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/27 "2002-10-27T06:10:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \* > \*\*John Wayne. \*\* Now that is funny… sad and true… but funny too.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/28 "2002-10-27T07:20:16Z")
The guy who played Karl Rove on “That’s My Bush”- he was in “Ghostbusters” (I and II) as well as “Wayne’s World”- he’s always playing the bureaucratic, snivelling type…businessman, you know the kind I mean. And Wayne Knight- the incompetent but lovable(?) slob- “Jurassic Park,” “Seinfeld,” “Rat Race”… ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/29 "2002-10-27T07:41:37Z")
Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like there were one or two guys who always played background mobsters in mafia movies in the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/30 "2002-10-27T20:46:39Z")
**Zoggie** : that’s the very same **William Atherton** mentioned in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/31 "2002-10-27T20:59:51Z")
"Here we go: how many actors can you think of that (in movies at least) always seem to play the same bit-part character? " ``` or "minor role" ``` I thought BIT-PART was the question? How does an actor who was the lead in over 100 movies and received nominations from the academy qualify as a “bit-part character”? If any of the Duke’s critics know their stuff, how about Hank Worden? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/32 "2002-10-27T21:11:28Z")
William Atherton didn’t play Karl Rove. Kurt Fuller did. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/33 "2002-10-27T21:42:39Z")
Mmm, didn’t watch “That’s my Bush” so I wouldn’t know. I should have specified that I was talking about the Ghostbusters reference. Bill Murray: “Yes Mr. Mayor, it’s true. This man has no dick.” ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2002, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/34 "2002-10-27T21:52:10Z")
I’ve just noticed that one I mentioned, William Sadler (playing the bad ex-military guy in _Die Hard II_) also played Death in the second _Bill & Ted_ film. I’m not sure if that makes him more versatile, or more desperate. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Barber\_s\_Underwear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/58f4c7/32.png) [@Tony\_Barber\_s\_Underwear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Barber_s_Underwear)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/35 "2002-10-28T00:26:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fish \* > \*\*James Tolken, who played a bald hardass cop in “Masters of the Universe,” a bald hardass Air Force officer in “WarGames” and a bald hardass principal in “Back to the Future.” \*\* Don’t forget a bald hard-arse admiral in “Top Gun” - “Your ego’s writing cheques your body can’t cash.” - Bubba. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/36 "2002-10-28T01:05:15Z")
Hmmm… A lot of the people mentioned here have broken out of their stereotypes once in a while. Just once in a while. For instance, Michael J. Pollard was kinda sweet in Steve Martin’s “Roxanne”. (Eccentric, yes, but a good guy.) I’ve seen him play other lovable eccentrics. After all, that adorable pug nose (I mean, PUG nose) can be cute if presented properly! Michael Ironside played a tough good guy in “Starship Troopers” and “Top Gun”, and produced the movie “Chaindance” (aka “Common Bonds”) where he played a tough-guy protangonist. So I guess there is still that common thread with these two guys—Pollard plays eccentrics, Ironside plays tough guys. Just not _creepy_ guys. Not all the time. Another character actor (who played a good guy in the series “Millennium” and in the film “Aliens”) is Lance Henrikson. He’s not unlike Ironside—he often plays creeps, but makes an effective good guy too, when given the chance. M. Emmet Walsh doesn’t always play slimy guys. He always plays a certain kind of old coot, but he can play either a lovable affable old coot, or a creepy slimy old coot. I’m always delighted to see heavily typecast people (like Henrikson, Ironside and Pollard) play something different. It was especially nice to see Henrikson get a _leading roll_ as a good guy (in “Millennium”) even though the series could be characterized as “dark”. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/37 "2002-10-28T01:29:53Z")
James Spader. In the movies I’ve seen him in, he’s been the snotty, über-yuppie. The kind of guy who usually ends up getting his ass kicked by the “regular guy” friend of the movie’s hero. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/38 "2002-10-28T02:19:28Z")
**Tom Noonan** has played a psycho killer in just about every movie I’ve seen im in. (Except **THe Monster Squad** , where he played the Frankenstein Monster – big change) And while **James Tolkan** has played th hard-assed bald tough guy in more movies than have been listed here (I saw him n stage in **Glen Garry Gelen Ross** , and I think he was in the movie, too), I jus want to poin out that he has been a regular in the A&E series **Nero Wolfe**. He played a bald, hard-assed FBI officer there, but he’s also had a lot of other roles. In some of them he isn’t ven bald! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/39 "2002-10-28T15:07:42Z")
Curtis Armstrong, “Booger” in _Revenge of the Nerds_. (So why do I come up with slimy creeps?) ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887/40 "2002-10-28T16:02:24Z")
I can’t believe no one has mentioned [http://www.fametracker.com/](http://www.fametracker.com/) They have a whole section for bit actors called (of course) “Hey! it’s that guy!” Also has ladies included and has about every person mentioned in this thread. Awesome site. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-forever-playing-one-minor-role/133887.md?page=3)