# Best acting by actors who aren't actors. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2006, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178 "2006-11-05T11:41:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/21 "2006-11-06T01:52:49Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] **Levon Helm** , the drummer for _The Band_, was excellent as Ripley in _The Right Stuff_. [/QUOTE] He was in Coal Miner’s Daughter, too, and has apparently gone on to do more acting. How about Chris Isaak in Silence of the Lambs? Annoying multi-talented, handsome people. (Combination: grrr and drool, in his case…) ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/22 "2006-11-06T01:54:03Z")
I think Donnie Wahlberg has improved immensely. He surprised me in **Dreamcatcher** and when I saw him in the last **Saw** he was so unrecognizable to me all around that I wasn’t sure _who_ the actor was. So, he’s done pretty well and may even be better than his brother. Guess that remains to be seen though. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/23 "2006-11-06T02:01:12Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] **Levon Helm** , the drummer for _The Band_, was excellent as Ripley in _The Right Stuff_. [/QUOTE] I was – hell, I still am – going to nominate Sam Shepard for the same film. ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/24 "2006-11-06T02:09:42Z")
**Dr. Haing S Ngor** won an Oscar for his role in the _Killing Fields_, his first role (he continued acting after that). And, um, **Patrice Donnelly** for her role in _Personal Best_. Groundbreaking cinema. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/25 "2006-11-06T02:42:14Z")
Granted, he was playing himself, but I thought Howard Stern was great in “Private Parts.” Joe ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/26 "2006-11-06T02:49:26Z")
The guys in the movie _Miracle_ - instead of trying to teach actors to play convincing hockey, Gavin O’Connor taught hockey players to act. Even thought I know how the movie is going to end, I cheer anyway! ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/27 "2006-11-06T03:27:21Z")
Comedians seem to make surprisingly good actors, in general: Drew Carey, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Dudley Moore, Robin Williams, Eric Bana (although he was an awful comedian), Paul Hogan, Peter Sellers, Jerry Lewis (_King of Comedy_ only), Dick van Dyke, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Ellen deGeneres, Roseanne Barr, and I’m sure a lot more I can’t bring to mind right now. Exceptions to this would include Jerry Seinfeld and Peter Cook. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/28 "2006-11-06T03:39:07Z")
[QUOTE=Annie] Dexter Gordon was robbed of an Oscar for [Round Midnight](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090557/) by that bratty upstart, Paul Newman. Fie! Fie on the academy! 😛 [/QUOTE] Dex also had a beautiful, wordless role as a patient in [Awakenings](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099077/). By the time the movie came out he had died, so his silence–he just sat in the rec room of the hospital, playing old songs on the piano–was especially ghostly. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/29 "2006-11-06T05:19:12Z")
**Bob Barker** was pretty funny in _Happy Gilmore_. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/30 "2006-11-06T05:26:59Z")
Gotta mention all the non-actors in the old Italian neo-realist movies from the '40s and '50s. I just saw [The Bicycle Thief](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040522/) and as far as I’m aware, most if not all of the people in that were plucked right off the streets of Rome. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/31 "2006-11-06T05:40:26Z")
[QUOTE=zamboniracer] I don’t know if this counts or not, but if I am correct [Elaine Miles’](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0587111/) first part was on _Nothern Exposure_ as the doctor’s Eskimo receptionist. She wasn’t an actor before she was on the series, and she was great on that series. According to IMDB “She got the role of Marilyn on ‘Northern Exposure’ by accident - she had originally brought her mother in to audition, but the producers decided they wanted someone younger for the part and cast Elaine instead.” [/QUOTE] Wasn’t that also true of the woman who played Ruth Ann in the series? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/32 "2006-11-06T06:11:15Z")
Jackie Robinson played himself in _The Jackie Robinson Story_ and did a good job. As far as I can tell, he didn’t do one other bit of acting. I think it’s a little different for a sports star to play himself than for Howard Stern, who is not so much playing himself as playing his persona. I could be wrong. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2006, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/33 "2006-11-06T12:51:34Z")
Alan Alda pointed out that MacLean Stevenson (Col. Blake on TV’s _M.A.S.H._) didn’t really come on board as an actor – he was basically a gag writer who got “promoted” to the role, and who could do comedy well. But he managed some vwery good acting in serious scenes on the show. Some people made the same claim about Chevy Chase – he was a gag man who became a front man for comedy, but who then ended up acting. His early stuff wasn’t great, but I liked him in **seems Like Old Times** and **Fletch** , and he was just on Law and Order. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/34 "2006-11-06T12:58:03Z")
Lenny Montana as Luca Brasi in The Godfather. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/35 "2006-11-06T14:17:50Z")
I agree that the Rock and Andre the Giant did pretty well in acting roles, but I don’t think that they qualify for this thread. They are actors by trade, just a different type of acting. One of my favortie recent episodes of SNL is hosted by the Rock. Nick Cottrel and Daddy Peepers were hiilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/36 "2006-11-06T14:26:20Z")
Usher recently played Billy Flynn in Chicago, and was surprisingly good in the role. The theatre phase for this is “stunt casting”–putting anyone on stage who can fill the seats, regardless of previous stage experience. It has kept Chicago and Beautiy and the Beast going for years. It isn’t necessary seen as a bad thing, though some choices have been dreadful. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/37 "2006-11-06T14:57:43Z")
Waylon Payne is better known as a musician than as an actor, but he blew me away as Jerry Lee Lewis in _Walk the Line_. He was also in a recent episode of CSI, but I missed it. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/38 "2006-11-06T15:47:15Z")
Pretty much the entire cast of Rabbit Proof Fence, especially the three lead characters. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/39 "2006-11-06T15:57:33Z")
Harvey Pekar (the real one) in **American Splendor**. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178/40 "2006-11-06T16:44:41Z")
It’s not uncommon for people to cast a non-professional child actor in a role: Pelle Hvenegaard had never acted before his appearence in **Pelle the Conqueror** , but, of course, he was literally born to play the part, since he was named after the character (from the book). Victoire Thivisol was astonishingly good in **Ponette** , and was four when the movie was filmed. There were debates on whether she did was actually acting, but certainly looks like it. Millie Perkins got good reviews in **The Diary of Anne Frank** ; it looks like she had not acted previously. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-by-actors-who-arent-actors/379178.md?page=3)