# Favorite TV/movie where an actor "Chewing up Scenery" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-tv-movie-where-an-actor-chewing-up-scenery/184874 "2003-06-27T22:50:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-tv-movie-where-an-actor-chewing-up-scenery/184874/41 "2003-07-02T02:38:26Z")
Kenneth Branaugh, as Gilderoy Lockhart in **Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets**. Of course, it was the type of role that HAD to be over-played to be effective. 😉 Oh, and a second vote for **Withnail & I** , both for Richard E. Grant (Withnail) and Richard Griffiths (Uncle Monty). Griffiths seems particularly gifted at playing a boorish old fop…he was Uncle Dursley in the Harry Potter movies, too. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-tv-movie-where-an-actor-chewing-up-scenery/184874/42 "2003-07-02T02:58:05Z")
**Dennis Hopper** in pretty much everything. ---
**Author:** ![skin2skin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@skin2skin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skin2skin)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-tv-movie-where-an-actor-chewing-up-scenery/184874/43 "2003-07-02T03:44:01Z")
**Christopher Walken - _At Close Range_ Val Kilmer - _Tombstone_ Nathan Lane - _The Birdcage_** ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-tv-movie-where-an-actor-chewing-up-scenery/184874/44 "2003-07-02T04:04:12Z")
“Listen up ya primitive screwheads” This far and no mention of **Bruce Campbell** in the _Evil Dead_ trilogy? Army of Darkness is especially enjoyable for me. He’s such an arrogant ass in that one. “This is my BOOMSTICK!” ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-tv-movie-where-an-actor-chewing-up-scenery/184874/45 "2003-07-02T05:18:44Z")
I’ll mention **Carole Lombard** and **John Barrymore** in _Twentieth Century_, not to mention many of their other roles. And I’ll agree with **Crunchy Frog** on Bruce Campbell’s performances in those movies. In fact, I was watching _Army of Darkness_ as Crunchy posted that. I enjoy that pretty bad movie immensely. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-tv-movie-where-an-actor-chewing-up-scenery/184874/46 "2003-07-03T00:22:56Z")
Another vote for Peter O’Toole. Magnificent as Henry II in “The Lion in Winter” and “Becket”. ---
**Author:** ![MrSarcasticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@MrSarcasticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSarcasticus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-tv-movie-where-an-actor-chewing-up-scenery/184874/47 "2003-07-03T00:47:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Degrance \* > \*\*And while we’re on comic book adaptations I think an honorable mention needs to go to J.K. Simmons who played J. Jonah Jameson in Spideraman. > \*\* I still say R. Lee Ermey was born to play that role. You can’t bring up over-the-top performances without mentioning Rod Steiger, especially in his later years. At the end, he was pure Cure 81. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-tv-movie-where-an-actor-chewing-up-scenery/184874/48 "2003-07-03T02:15:58Z")
Sid Haig in “Jason of Star Command,” an old Saturday morning kid’s TV show. He played the villian, and when Jason thwarted him, you could practically see smoke coming out of his ears. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-tv-movie-where-an-actor-chewing-up-scenery/184874/49 "2003-07-03T03:22:47Z")
Since I did so well nominating Peter O’Toole, I’m going to nominate **Rosiland Russell** – specifically her role as Mame Dennis in Auntie Mame (1958) – as the most enjoyable scene-chewing actress. She had everything – sophistication, screwball physicality, good lucks, devastating quips and high-energy. You see in long stretches of her other movies but none so brilliantly as AM. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-tv-movie-where-an-actor-chewing-up-scenery/184874.md?page=2)