# Best performance by an actor in only one scene of a movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981 "2006-05-01T18:43:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/21 "2006-05-02T06:07:24Z")
Liza Minnelli in The Sterile Cukoo. There is one scene were she is talking on the phone, pleading with a boy not to break up with her. It is so raw, so pathetic, so real - Liza was nominated for an Oscar for the role, but that one scene alone is a master class in acting. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/22 "2006-05-02T06:16:02Z")
Brad Pitt’s abs in **Thelma and Louise** ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/23 "2006-05-02T12:00:01Z")
I’ll mention, though not raise to a level of “best perfromance,” simply because I just saw it last week, William Hurt in _A History of Violence_. If pressed for the best performance, I’d need to see a list that included the afore-mentioned, Alec Baldwin and Christopher Walken. Walken also gets my vote for his _True Romance_ tour de force with Dennis Hopper (who himself is ineligible for the category because of other scenes in the movie). And would the fact that you never actually see Val Kilmer in _True Romance_ rule him out? Mickey Rourke’s part in _Body Heat_ is worth a mention. Not a winner, I suspect, but noteworthy. I’d vote for expanding the category a little by including actual screen time as a means of subdividing the nominees into “brevity” groups. Alec Baldwin’s screen time is rather lengthy even if he’s just in that one scene. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/24 "2006-05-02T12:01:22Z")
[QUOTE=Quixotic] I agree with Alec Baldwin in _Glengarry Glen Ross_; he was also very good in _Elizabethtown_ and _Fun With Dick and Jane_ in similarly small roles. To add another nomination: William Hurt in _A History of Violence_. Ed Harris was also very good, but was in more than one scene (though probably less than ten minutes total). [/QUOTE] I’m just now seeing the Hurt reference. Sorry! ---
**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:** [May 2, 2006, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/25 "2006-05-02T12:19:16Z")
[QUOTE=glee] I know it’s TV, not the movies, but Martin Sheen’s performance in the first episode of ‘The West Wing’ changed his intended role from occasional cameos to a full part. Spell-binding. 🆒 [/QUOTE] And Disco Stu has turned a thirty second gag on the Simpsons into an entire career! ---
**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:** [May 2, 2006, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/26 "2006-05-02T12:31:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Alec Cawthorne as Inspector Doppler in Sleuth. It’s a mystery as why he never appeared elsewhere. The actor who played this role (not Cawthorne) in the _stage_ version got a lengthy and interesting bio in the Playbill, which was pretty clever and revealing. The Guy who played Detective Inspector Tarrant and the Constable also had interesting bios. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2006, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/27 "2006-05-02T12:52:59Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] Liza Minnelli in The Sterile Cukoo. There is one scene were she is talking on the phone, pleading with a boy not to break up with her. It is so raw, so pathetic, so real - Liza was nominated for an Oscar for the role, but that one scene alone is a master class in acting. [/QUOTE] While it may be a great scene, Minnelli was the **star** of **A Sterile Cuckoo** , and appeared in nearly all the scenes, thus disqualifying her. ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/28 "2006-05-02T13:01:29Z")
[QUOTE=Quixotic] William Hurt in _A History of Violence_. Ed Harris was also very good, but was in more than one scene (though probably less than ten minutes total). [/QUOTE] I agree with both of those. It was a weak movie to me, but Hurt was phenomenal. He was actually nominated for best supporting actor this year. Clooney won for _Syriana_. Choosing between them is tough. ---
**Author:** ![vertizontal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ad7895/32.png) [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/29 "2006-05-02T14:24:32Z")
[Marcel Marceau](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075222/quotes) in **Silent Movie** ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/30 "2006-05-02T15:46:46Z")
Phil Hartman in So I Married An Axe Murderer comes to mind. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/31 "2006-05-02T15:54:58Z")
James Cagney in “Ragtime.” ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/32 "2006-05-02T15:56:21Z")
You say Christopher Walken in **True Romance**? Well, I’ll see your Walken and raise you a **Gary Oldman** from the same film. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/33 "2006-05-02T16:18:58Z")
Great one **Leechboy** , Phil Hartman aka Vicki, is exactly what I was looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/34 "2006-05-02T17:00:08Z")
She was in more than one scene, but the girl (Joy Page) who played the young refugee’s new bride (Annina Brandel) in _Casablanca_. “If a person did something really bad, even if she did not want to …” A remarkable performance. Remarkably sexy in some way that is really, really sick. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/35 "2006-05-02T18:40:28Z")
[QUOTE=Zakalwe] Ned Beatty in **Network** [/QUOTE] This was going to be my nomination. “You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale!” Great, great scene. Beatty knew he had something special and he absolutely rocks the house. ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/36 "2006-05-02T19:18:43Z")
Does Robert Duval as Col Kilgore count? Best Exit ever by a character, ever! (Note I refer to the original cut and not the godawful Redux scenes) ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/37 "2006-05-02T19:26:06Z")
[QUOTE=Dooku] Wilford Brimley in **Absence Of Malice**. [/QUOTE] He also had a great cameo in an episode of Seinfeld. “Do you like golf, Mr. Kramer?” Scariest damn postmaster general ever! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/38 "2006-05-02T23:43:42Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] **Christopher Walken** in **Pulp Fiction**. [/QUOTE] Second! ---
**Author:** ![gerb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3bc359/32.png) [@gerb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gerb)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/39 "2006-05-02T23:44:19Z")
If you’re talking one scene. Brad Pitt in True Romance. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/40 "2006-05-03T03:29:00Z")
[QUOTE=Quixotic] To add another nomination: William Hurt in _A History of Violence_. [/QUOTE] As I just saw this flick last night, this was the performance that immediately popped into my head. Loved the Amish look! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981.md?page=3)