# Actors of either sex with a surprisingly wonderful body of work. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2009, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978 "2009-01-19T12:20:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/21 "2009-01-19T20:11:56Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > John Cazale. He only made four movies, but they are among the best ever made. Amen, although it’s actually five, all nominated for Best Picture Oscars. Six, if you count Godfather Part III (not that you ought), in which he appears in archive footage. Godfathers I & II The Conversation Dog Day Afternoon The Deer Hunter That’s a body of work and a half, so here’s to John Cazale. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/22 "2009-01-20T08:51:52Z")
Frances McDormand springs to mind: \*Burn After Reading Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day Something’s Gotta Give Laurel Canyon Almost Famous Wonder Boys Primal Fear Fargo Short Cuts The Butcher’s Wife Barton Fink (voice) (uncredited) Miller’s Crossing (uncredited) Darkman Mississippi Burning Raising Arizona \* As does Kate Winslet: _Revolutionary Road The Reader Little Children Romance & Cigarettes Finding Neverland Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Iris Enigma Quills Holy Smoke Hideous Kinky Titanic Hamlet Jude Sense and Sensibility Heavenly Creatures_ ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/23 "2009-01-21T08:40:03Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Actually, no “surprises” ever come up in these threads. People with large bodies of good work aren’t surprises at all. They’re “actors” as opposed to “movie stars” but they’re all well-known to most movie-goers. I have to agree with this. It’s a surprise that Meryl Streep has a wonderful body of work? William Macy? Kate Winslet? How about Katie Holmes? This isn’t a bad track record for someone considered a lightweight: Thank You for Smoking Pieces of April The Gift Wonder Boys Go The Ice Storm ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/24 "2009-01-21T08:46:55Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > I have to agree with this. It’s a surprise that Meryl Streep has a wonderful body of work? William Macy? Kate Winslet? > > How about Katie Holmes? This isn’t a bad track record for someone considered a lightweight: > Thank You for Smoking > Pieces of April > The Gift > Wonder Boys > Go > The Ice Storm I guess it depends on what you mean by “wonderful body of work.” If you simply mean “good movies that these actors have been in,” then sure Katie Holmes qualifies. But i’ve seen three of those Katie Holmes movies, and in my opinion each one was good _despite_ her presence, rather than because of it. Contrast that with the majority of Macy or Streep’s work, where their presence is often crucial to the overall quality of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/25 "2009-01-21T19:46:13Z")
I’ve noticed that, if a movie has Brad Pitt in it, it’s likely to be a pretty good ride. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/26 "2009-01-21T19:59:45Z")
How about Willem Defoe? The boy’s as ugly as homemade soap, but I’d pay good money to watch him read a phonebook. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/27 "2009-01-21T23:22:37Z")
Robert Duvall ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/28 "2009-01-22T05:04:09Z")
Michael Sheen. This is an actor who disappears into a role so completely that most folks would never associate any two of his roles with the same man. **Underworld: Rise of the Lycans** (2009) … Lucian **Frost/Nixon** (2008) … David Frost **Music Within** (2007) … Art **Blood Diamond** (2006) … Rupert Simmons **The Queen** (2006) … Tony Blair Very few people saw **Music Within** , but Sheen was astonishing as a brilliant man with Cerebral Palsy, and unrecognizably different in the **Underworld** films or as David Frost or Tony Blair. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/29 "2009-01-22T05:55:08Z")
Bruce Willis. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/30 "2009-01-22T11:18:55Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Michael Sheen. > > This is an actor who disappears into a role so completely that most folks would never associate any two of his roles with the same man. Bloody hell. I had to look him up and check that, but you’re right. I’d never have realised it was the same guy. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/31 "2009-01-22T17:34:48Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Michael Sheen. > > This is an actor who disappears into a role so completely that most folks would never associate any two of his roles with the same man. Sheen is phenomenol! I remember watching _Underworld_, and not even knowing who he was, and thinking, “That guy right there has IT.” He steals that movie right out from under the ‘stars’. And there’s more than a few Lucian fangirls who’re eagerly awaiting _Rise of the Lycans_ right now. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/32 "2009-01-22T18:29:28Z")
[Billy Crudup](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001082/) was in Inventing the Abbots, Sleepers, Big Fish and Almost Famous. And **Auntbeast** , I absolutely loved Tim Robbins in “The Pick of Destiny”. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/33 "2009-01-22T19:12:15Z")
Cate Blanchett ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978/34 "2009-01-22T23:52:16Z")
Add Oleanna to the William H. Macy list. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-of-either-sex-with-a-surprisingly-wonderful-body-of-work/481978.md?page=1)