# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/41 "2006-05-03T04:38:51Z")
True Romance is the ultimate movie for scene-stealing bit parts, but several of the ones mentioned don’t qualify. Gary Oldman is close, but he was also in the hotel scene with Samuel L. Jackson: “And you’re you…BANG!” Brad Pitt was in several scenes: “And…some cleaning products…” “Condescend t’me, man, I’ll fucking kill ya…” “Would you guys like a hit? Okay, you go, and you keep going, and then you take a left…” Christopher Walken counts, but only because his elevator scene was left on the cutting room floor. I’d go with Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction, myself. His transition from respectful soldier to “He’d be damned if he was gonna let some slope put his greasy yellow hands on his son’s birthright…” was a thing of beauty. But for the Kevin Smith fans, Jay & Silent Bob’s scene in Chasing Amy was pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/42 "2006-05-03T04:42:07Z")
Marlon Brando as Jor-El in _Superman_. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/43 "2006-05-03T05:33:56Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] John Turturro in _The Big Lebowski_. [/QUOTE] Yes, talk about stealing the show! ---
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/44 "2006-05-06T19:19:50Z")
**Vincent D’Onofrio** as Orson Welles in **Ed Wood**. Awesome. Art ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/45 "2006-05-06T19:32:44Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] John Goodman in **Oh, Brother, Where are Thou?**. [/QUOTE] Unfortunately, Goodman was in two big scenes (but he really _was_ good). I’d say that George Carlin and Chris Rock in **Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back** were great. **Silent Movie** had a lot of good one-timer’s. Burt Reynolds, Paul Newman, Anne Bancroft, Liza Minelli, and James Caan were all great. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/46 "2006-05-06T20:11:33Z")
Technically, this doesn’t qualify because the character appears in just one brief later scene and has only one line. Orson Welles was brilliant as Cardinal Wolsey in his scene with Thomas More in _A Man For All Seasons_. Of course, Bolt’s dialogue was also brilliant, so that was a major factor. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/47 "2006-05-06T20:19:07Z")
Anthony Hopkins was in two short expository scenes of Mission Impossible II; I’d give him the nod. Right before his first scene with Tom Cruise there’s a shot of him watching a parade from his hotel room and the look on his face says volumes about the horrors he’s seen in his day. And then immediately after he banters and spars good-naturedly with Cruise. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981/48 "2006-05-06T22:35:45Z")
[QUOTE=rowrrbazzle] Technically, this doesn’t qualify because the character appears in just one brief later scene and has only one line. Orson Welles was brilliant as Cardinal Wolsey in his scene with Thomas More in _A Man For All Seasons_. Of course, Bolt’s dialogue was also brilliant, so that was a major factor. [/QUOTE] Would Welles qualify in The Third Man? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-by-an-actor-in-only-one-scene-of-a-movie/354981.md?page=2)