# Movie characters that chain smoke **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480 "2014-05-14T23:45:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/1 "2014-05-14T23:45:19Z")
I’m looking for the name of the actor, character and movie in which someone smokes like a chimney. Hopefully, we will come up with the name of the person who should have died of lung cancer before the movie was released by the studio. For example Humphrey Bogart, Rick Blaine, Casablanca Mel Gibson, Porter, Payback ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/2 "2014-05-14T23:58:12Z")
William B. Davis was the [Cigarette Smoking Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smoking_Man) on X-Files. Not dead. ---
**Author:** ![Vashbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Vashbul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vashbul)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/3 "2014-05-15T00:32:01Z")
Popeye, Sailor, many titles ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/4 "2014-05-15T00:34:37Z")
Any Tarantino character. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/5 "2014-05-15T00:41:49Z")
Matthew McConaughey, Rusty Cohle, **True Detective** Woody Harrelson, Officer Brown, **Rampart** Catherine Tramell, Sharon Stone, **Basic Instinct** ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/6 "2014-05-15T00:44:17Z")
keanu Reeves, John Constantine, Constantine. Dying of lung cancer was actually part of the plot. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/7 "2014-05-15T01:49:02Z")
Everyone in _Good Night, and Good Luck._ ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/8 "2014-05-15T02:07:54Z")
Billy Bob Thornton’s barber Ed Crane in the Coen Brothers film _[The Man Who Wasn’t There](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243133/reference)_. ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/9 "2014-05-15T18:17:16Z")
Roy Scheider, Joe Gideon, **All That Jazz** ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/10 "2014-05-15T18:28:59Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > William B. Davis was the [Cigarette Smoking Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smoking_Man) on X-Files. > > Not dead. To be fair, Davis the actor had quit smoking years before being cast and asked not to be made to smoke tobacco. His ciggies were made from herbs or something. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/11 "2014-05-16T03:25:38Z")
In “Capote”, the actress who played Harper Lee always had a cigarette. Ms. Lee is currently pushing 90 years old. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/12 "2014-05-16T03:36:18Z")
Everyone in the Flight Command Center in _Apollo 13_ was chain-smoking up a storm. Ironically, while the astronauts themselves didn’t smoke, Jack Swigert (played by Kevin Bacon) died from lung cancer in real life. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/13 "2014-05-16T10:29:16Z")
Clint Eastwood as Blondie in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/14 "2014-05-16T10:50:40Z")
Robert De Niro, Jack Walsh, Midnight Ru ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/15 "2014-05-16T10:50:58Z")
James Bond deserves mention. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/16 "2014-05-16T11:12:03Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Matthew McConaughey, Rusty Cohle, **True Detective** This was the first thought I had. I don’t know if Matthew McConaughey smokes IRL, but I don’t see how an actor could smoke like he did in that show and not get hooked. Yikes! . ---
**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:** [May 16, 2014, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/17 "2014-05-16T11:13:35Z")
Elliot Gould as Phillip Marlowe in “The Long Goodbye”. I don’t think he’s ever NOT smoking in that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/18 "2014-05-16T12:50:07Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > This was the first thought I had. I don’t know if Matthew McConaughey smokes IRL, but I don’t see how an actor could smoke like he did in that show and not get hooked. Yikes! > > . Mconaughey is precisely infamous for smoking… something. In any case, I remeber an interview with John Hamm in Conan when he admitted that, because of regulations, the cigarettes in the show were herbal fakes, complaining about the foul taste. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/19 "2014-05-16T14:51:51Z")
Eileen Ryan, who played Gladys, in **Eight Legged Freaks**. Smoking was kind of a plot point, since the hero needs a book of matches at the climax. ---
**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:** [May 16, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/20 "2014-05-16T16:16:35Z")
Not a movie character, but I think Selma Diamond on “Night Court” deserves a mention. I recall one episode where she talked about buying an exercise bike, and someone asked her how far she rode every day. Her response was something like “I don’t know - I took off the speedometer to make room for the ashtray.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480.md?page=2)