"Officially" Unattractive Actors/Models

Cafe Society
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I’m not talking about actors/models that are supposed to be attractive but just aren’t. I’m talking about actors/models that are used in situations in which an unattractive person specifically is called for, and where the character’s unattractiveness will be highlighted in the scene or plot.

I’m wondering how that works and how these people think about it.

“OK, Jones, we have a scene in which we need someone really unattractive, who will really gross everyone out, and I thought right away that you’d be the perfect fit! The basic idea is that you will be held up as an example of a really really ugly person, and the audience will gaze at your body flaws in disgust. So waddya say? The price is good.”

I imagine there are some cases where the unattractiveness is artificially produced by make-up, and I guess in such cases the models/actors can keep some self-esteem intact. But in some cases it’s obviously not.

What got me to thinking about it just now was this Onion article (linked in another thread).

h ttp://www.theonion.com/content/node/30705 (NSFW)

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Steve Buscemi comes to mind :slight_smile:

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Anne Ramseyfits this too.

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[moderator] I’m going to move this over to Cafe Society [/moderator] and [poster] mention Allyce Beasley and her late (ex?) husband, Vincent Schiavelli.[/poster]

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we had a situation in high school drama class where one of the really good, hammy actors who was also about 50 lbs overweight wanted to audition for a track star piece. The teacher turned to him and peered over her glasses and said, “Dear, do you LOOK like a track star?” :eek:

I also fall squarely into the ‘officially unattractive’ category and always played the lunatic, or the harpy bitch wife, or the fat girl who got ditched for the prom, or the old maid sister, or whatever. Still wanted to be the Juliet, of course, but I drew my satisfaction from the idea that I was filling a niche.

It does ding the ole’ self esteem a little each time, but a lot of times we are going around getting called ugly anyway. So it’s rewarding in some ways because then you get to take the ugly on stage and get accolades, applause, (and in Hollywood, shitloads of $$$) for it. And, acting is a separation from yourself.

Philip Seymour Hoffman comes to mind.

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Marty Feldman is on this list.

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Going WAY back, Marie Dressler, who was a superb comedic actress but wasn’t going to win any beauty pageants.

I’d actually say quite a few character actors (before Hollywood became “All pretty people, all the time, in every role”). Margaret Hamilton, for example…she was NOT being cast for her beauty. For her looks, yes, but not for her beauty.

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I can think of many unattractive actors who’ve had success, but outside of the field of COMEDY, I haven’t seen many who were typecast as “the ugly guy.”

That is, John Candy’s weight and Marty Feldman’s weird face/eyes was part of what made them memorable in movie comedies. Producers of a comedy might say, “Get me a fat guy,” and John candy fit the order, or they might have said, “Get me a weird, goofy looking guy,” Marty Feldman suited the role.

But while, say, William Conrad was fat and Billy Bob Thornton is sort of ugly, I don’t think Conrad got many roles because he was fat, nor has Thornton gotten many roles because of his looks.

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Speaking of Allyce Beasley…there’s Curtis Armstrong, also from Moonlighting (and this week’s House season premiere!) … who may not be cast for his “ugly”, tho…more for his “creepy” or “gross”.

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First person to come to mind is Jack Elam. Great character actor and you can never tell what he’s looking at!

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Conchata Ferrellof Two and a Half Men

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She was in one of my favorite Cheers episodes from 1982, “The Coach’s Daughter,” which contained the following, moving dialog:

Lisa Pantusso: I want to be married and I want to have children. Roy is the first man that ever asked me to marry him, and I’m afraid he’s going to be the last.

Ernie ‘Coach’ Pantusso: Oh, come on honey. There must have been dozens of young fellas that proposed to you.

Lisa Pantusso: No, Daddy. Wake up. Roy is the first one, ever.

Ernie ‘Coach’ Pantusso: But you’re so beautiful, so…

Lisa Pantusso: Beautiful? Daddy, you have been saying that I’m beautiful ever since I was a very little girl. But look at me, not as my father, but like you were looking at me for the first time and please, try to see me as I really am.

Ernie ‘Coach’ Pantusso: [after looking deep into Lisa’s eyes] Oh my God, I, I didn’t realize how much you look like your mother.

Lisa Pantusso: I know. I look exactly like her, and mom was not b…
[Lisa pauses to reflect]

Lisa Pantusso: …comfortable about her beauty.

Ernie ‘Coach’ Pantusso: But that’s what made her more beautiful. Your mother grew more beautiful every day of her life.

Lisa Pantusso: She was really beautiful.

Ernie ‘Coach’ Pantusso: Yes, and so are you. You’re the most beautiful kid in the whole world.

Lisa Pantusso: Thanks, Daddy.

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Ms. Amanda Plummerseems to play freaky roles to go with her, er, unconventional looks. In fact, I could have sworn she played the sisterZelda in Pet Sematary but IMDB says it was a dude!

Coincidentally, just this morning I was talking about Joss Stone playing the legendarily ugly Anne of Cleves in The Tudors and wondered how she felt about it. I haven’t seen the show yet but I Googled some photos and it doesn’t appear that they did much as far as make-up. She did not look good.

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Rose Marie (famous for 'the Dick Van Dyke Show") and Anne B. Davis (Alice in “the Brady Bunch”) typically got parts as the ‘ugly duckling’ or old maid, with lots of jokes at their expense about being unable to get a man to like them.

Post “the Mamas & the Papas”, Cass Elliot attempted to get some TV or movie parts - on “the Carol Burnett Show” and such, but quickly stopped pursuing them as all she could get were parts mocking her weight.

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There are whole modeling agencies that specialize in “ugly” people.

You know, it might be bad for the self-esteem to be officially ugly, but it also might be good for the self-esteem to know that even though you’re ugly, people still want to watch you in movies.

What? Are you kidding me?

Steve Buscemi has made a whole career out of being the guy who is “funny looking. More than most people, even.”

Movies are absolutely filled with people who are typecast as the ugly guy or ugly woman.

Hey, in looking for a picture of Danny Trejo to give you as an example, I ran into this article: http://www.behindthehype.com/tag/mickey-rourke/

Heh. And searching on Linda Hunt in order to give you a female example, I found this one: http://alisasperspectives.blogspot.com/2009/02/back-to-hollywood-20-ugly-actors-today.html Though I have no idea why Helena Bonham Carter and Mike Myers are on that list.

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I think Conchata Ferrell is very attractive. A lovely complexion and beautiful eyes. From Roger Ebert’s review of the 1980 film Heartland:

Unrelated to her looks, later, because I want to mention it:

Now, Danny DeVito . . .

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Kathy Bates.

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Michael Berryman

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Well, Danny Trejo actually is an ex con, he was hanging near a movie set one day when they needed an ex con. oddly enough he got the job [source, an interview on a documentary about character actors] and Mickey Roarke is pretty hard looking because he boxed professionally and took a lot of shots to his face.

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Perhaps because of her willingness to uglify for a role? She did so in the TV miniseries Merlin (a guilty pleasure of mine, which is why it’s the first thing to come to mind) and IIRC a couple of times for her BF Tim Burton.