# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/21 "2014-05-16T17:01:15Z")
We watched the original _Day of the Jackal_ the other night and grew more and more astounded at the prevalence of cigarettes. It seemed like every character lit one up multiple times in every scene. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/22 "2014-05-16T17:19:12Z")
This isn’t exactly what the OP is looking for, but it’s related (and the best I can do): Lon Chaney’s only talkie “The Unholy Three (1930),” ends with somebody handing him some cigs as he boards the train to the Big House. I don’t recall whether or not Chaney smoked in this film, but he was already ill with some kind of respiratory cancer which killed him shortly after production wrapped. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/23 "2014-05-16T17:29:56Z")
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned John Wayne, one of the most popular movie stars of the fifties. It would be hard to say how many movies he smoked in. He used to do commercials for cigarettes. When he was dying of cancer he reversed his stance and did some well-remembered and poignant anti-smoking public announcements. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/24 "2014-05-17T02:05:13Z")
Not a movie character, but on **Burn Notice** , Sharon Gless chain-smokes. Almost makes me wonder if she is a chain-smoker in real life and had it written in to the script. I don’t understand how they can even film it, even if they are herbal. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/25 "2014-05-17T03:16:09Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > 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. I’m confused about this… > [@](#): > > Furthermore, California state law prohibits smoking indoors. That can be a problem for Mad Men, since the Emmy Award-winning AMC drama is based at L.A. Center Studios in downtown Los Angeles. > > Jon Hamm, John Slattery and the other Mad Men actors — and actresses — are reduced to smoking herbal cigarettes instead, during filming. [http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/mad-men-actors-forced-to-smoke-herbal-cigarettes](http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/mad-men-actors-forced-to-smoke-herbal-cigarettes) It’s OK to smoke clove cigarettes indoors but not tobacco? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/26 "2014-05-17T03:53:56Z")
Other than the fact that Clove cigarettes have tobacco in them, what are you confused about? It’s illegal to smoke tobacco indoors at a place of employment in California. So the actors have to smoke something else, instead. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/27 "2014-05-17T04:22:28Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Other than the fact that Clove cigarettes have tobacco in them, what are you confused about? It’s illegal to smoke tobacco indoors at a place of employment in California. So the actors have to smoke something else, instead. I assumed that it would be illegal to smoke anything indoors, not just tobacco. ---
**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 17, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/28 "2014-05-17T05:25:36Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > I assumed that it would be illegal to smoke anything indoors, not just tobacco. I don’t think that the problem is any kind of smoke _per se_, but the smoke produced by a substance deemed a health hazard. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/29 "2014-05-17T05:44:10Z")
Burgess Meredith, the Penguin, Batman. Meredith had quit smoking by the time he accepted the role as Penguin. The Penguin’s squawking was a result of the cigarette smoke irritating Meredith’s throat and was an attempt to stifle his coughing. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/30 "2014-05-17T14:23:02Z")
Clove cigarettes are not the same thing as the herbal cigs used for filming. I think it’s been well established that clove cigs are if anything worse for you than regular ones. The herbal ones are not exactly healthy, but have no particular downside except that pulling smoke from any source into your lungs isn’t particulately good for you. The original “Dominique” on _Max Headroom_ was a heavy smoker (IRL and on the British pilots) who died from lung cancer about the time the US series started; the replacement (who’s still around) was an ardent anti-smoker who was one of the first to insist on using herbal substitutes. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/31 "2014-05-17T14:47:38Z")
> [@BobArrgh](#): > > Not a movie character, but on **Burn Notice** , Sharon Gless chain-smokes. Almost makes me wonder if she is a chain-smoker in real life and had it written in to the script. I don’t understand how they can even film it, even if they are herbal. She quit partway through the run of the show, I think because she was given a grandchild to take care of. They frequently showed her with a patch. Then, in the series finale, for reasons obvious if you’ve seen it, she smoked one last ciggie. I thought it was quite poignant. ---
**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 17, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/32 "2014-05-17T23:29:06Z")
How could we forget Patty and Selma Bouvier? ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/33 "2014-05-18T08:50:32Z")
Didn’t Peter Stormare smoke a lot as Gaer Grimsud in Fargo? That scene where he sort of comes to life and chases down the police officer comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480/34 "2014-05-18T20:03:15Z")
The Carl Bernstein character in “All the President’s Men.” Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) to Bernstein: “Is there anyplace you _don’t_ smoke?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-characters-that-chain-smoke/688480.md?page=1)